In May 2002, Australia's Intec and Canadian based Ivanhoe Mines announced that the latter had negotiated exclusive rights to use the already developed Intec copper-gold process at the Turquoise Hill project in Mongolia. This could become the first commercial application of the new hydrometallurgical technology. Ivanhoe has also negotiated similar licences worldwide for the variations of the Intec base metal process, which also recovers the precious metal components of sulphide ores.

Meanwhile, in March, Outokumpu Technology announced its intention to build a demonstration plant at Pori in Finland to test the HydroCopper process. This unit is scheduled for start up in 2003.

Both these patented processes are claimed to be economic for relatively small-scale operations and both use chloride leaching to extract copper and other metals; they differ in the way that the lixiviant is produced within the process and in the way the copper is recovered.

These processes, and others, such as the Cuprochlor process, developed in Chile, have been comprehensively reviewed by Kyran Casteel in the September 2002 issue of World Mining Equipment ("Ions in the fire" pps. 50-56).

For further information on MEI Online:
HydroCopper process: Hydrometallurgy News March 26th and May 10th, 2002
Cuprochlor process: Hydrometallurgy News 26th June 2002