Cuperex CEO John Beachy: Phenomenal discovery of processing copper ore

“It is still a phenomenal discovery, a revolutionary process turning low grade copper ore concentrates into 98%-pure copper crystals without the need for smelting,” Beachy Head told International MetalWorking News- Middle East & Africa (IMNE)

A South African company that said it would change the face of copper ore processing globally with its ground breaking technology and convinced investors to part with US$50 million, has failed to perform, and has been placed under financial rescue plan.

It all started when in 2006, when Cuperex Director Dr Gerard Pretorius was experimenting with excess malachite the company was importing but could not sell as a jewellery-grade product as it intended.

While trying to find ways of extracting the copper from the malachite other than the traditional cementation processes Pretorius tried a new mechanism that involved continual stirring. He was however making the mistake of stirring away the nucleus preventing the crystals from growing until one Sunday he left his experiment to go to church.

When he came back from church, lovely copper crystals had grown on the iron without contaminating it. This accidental discovery was the birth of a world patent which Cuperex took to investors. The company had told its financiers it intended to become a leading copper producer through the roll-out of its world-patented technology, a radical shift from traditional electrowinning.

But things went belly up due to apparent insufficient low-grade copper ore yields available to Cuperex and the cash flow monster started blowing smoke.

Cuperex CEO, John Beachy Head is still upbeat however after explaining that a “speed wobble” in the operation had forced them into financial rescue.

“It is still a phenomenal discovery, a revolutionary process turning low grade copper ore concentrates into 98%-pure copper crystals without the need for smelting,” Beachy Head told International Metal Working News- Middle East & Africa (IMNE)

When a small plant was constructed at Spectakel, near the small Northern Cape town of Springbok, in 2012 it was reported that it would have a capacity to produce 200 t of copper a month with a second 1000 ton a month plant at nearby Concordia, in the pipeline.

Mining Weekly Online journalist Martin Creamer interviewing Cuperex’s Dave Lake at the time reported that payback on the R24-million 2 400 ton/year Spectakel facility was expected to be less than one year. Investors had ploughed US$5 million into the project.

But Beachy Head explained that low copper yield had dunked Cuperex into a cash flow crisis. “It is not all doom and gloom however, we are in a financial rescue process because there is still hope based on the patented new technology. We will make it work, it is just taking longer than we expected,” Beachy Head said.

The technology still has the potential to change the face of copper ore processing. It can be scaled down to match small seemingly insignificant deposits at the mine site. This means that high-value copper rather than low-value ore is transported, a huge cost saving in the operation.

 “This process of turning concentrate into pure copper is completely new technology in the industry”, Dr Pretorius at the time demonstrated the process to the media by growing and harvesting copper crystals hydrometallurgically at desktop scale. The technology is radically different from the traditional conversion process of concentrate into copper which requires significantly more capital expenditure, more electricity and equipment. In contrast, the Cuperex technology can make the production of as little as 50 ton a month which by industry standards is not financially viable, into a positive account.

Spectakel has 25 000 ton of copper and Concordia 70 000 ton, which Cuperex secured two years ago in order to prove its technology to the world. Lake told Mining Weekly at the time that the advantage of beginning at Spectakel rather than the deeper Concordia is that the oxide ores were near the surface.

 “The company is positioned to be a copper maker and it will not be renting or selling its technology”, Lake was reported as saying. He said the company expected to be producing copper from dumps, heap leaches, tailings dams and oxides stockpiled on surface by copper producers focused on the deeper copper sulphide ores.

It almost looked too good to be true but it did not deter investors. Beachy Head however reassured IMNE that the technology was “solid” and an industry breakthrough that will pull Cuperex through its financial crisis”

By: Johan Schronen