:: Electric Sparks Dangers in Solvent Extraction

SX plants normally operate well below the flashpoint of the organic solvent and have generally been assumed to be inherently safe. This assumption changed dramatically in February 2002 when a catastrophic fire occured in a new SX plant at the Olympic Dam copper mine in South Australia. Subsequent investigations pointed to an electrostaic discharge as the cause.

In the March 2005 issue of Mining Magazine, Graham Hearne considers the causes of electrostatic hazards in SX and how they might be avoided (pps. 32-33).