Gravitas® co-creates sustainable separation, process solutions through strategic partnerships
Separation or process solutions for commodities from chrome to iron ore must comply, or exceed, any mining company’s Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) strategy. This is where a holistic separation solutions technology provider like Gravitas® Minerals can co-create an optimal solution based on its 40 years’ collective experience in commodities, technologies, and systems.
“We provide technologies that have a low carbon footprint that can recover and reuse scarce resources, such as water, and produce minerals that are much leaner,” says Gravitas® Minerals Chief Executive Tebogo Kale. The end product has a much higher value, in addition to less tailings deposition, which ultimately mitigates the client’s environmental liability and reduces costly rehabilitation measures.
A key aspect of Gravitas®’ approach is offering a process guarantee to derisk clients’ projects, ensuring they achieve their ESG goals in a sustainable manner. “The biggest value driver for us as Gravitas® is our process knowledge and collaborative partnerships,” highlights Kale. The technology provider understands different systems for different commodities and designs customised solutions. Its values are building longstanding client relationships, constantly improving and innovating, and being accountable and ethical in everything it does.
“We co-create sustainable mineral separation solutions based on our extensive process knowledge and collaborative partnerships,” says Kale. For example, Gravitas® has partnered with Fluid Systems (Dewatering), MetQ (Spirals), and Magquip (magnetic separators) to ensure it provides an extensive range of fine mineral separation technologies. From these technologies, using its flowsheet development and process integration capability, it is able to find suitable solutions for clients.
Gravitas® also stands out for its innovative technologies. “Our overall capability is very broad now,” Kale says of Gravitas®’ growth and development over the years. “If you look at our value chain, we start with our clients from a grassroots level because our aim is to co-create. We do not just propose a one-size-fits-all solution.”
Instead, as an important first step, Gravitas® interrogates the most pressing pain points its clients are experiencing in their operations. “Something that is very close to my heart is our customer journey. From the day we interact with the client, it becomes a journey with the customer, up until the solution.”
Key to Gravitas®’ partnerships is the development of their own technologies, which are at the forefront of the company’s innovation. The company has developed modular systems for both materials and commodities, including pilot systems for the beneficiation of tailings and run-of-mine material. They have also developed modules that recover 90% of water while producing a stackable product.
Gravitas® offers gravity separation for high-capacity fine mineral separation using a water-only process in the form of its Optima Separator. Magnetic separation provides for the separation of paramagnetic ultrafine material such as iron ore, chrome, and manganese by means of the SuperMag™ unit. Finally, ultrafine dewatering is available for dewatering and desliming at 50 micron.
“We are able to supply test units in order to give our clients proof of concept, so they have peace of mind in getting a viable solution tailor-made for their requirements,” adds Kale. “Our strategic focus is growth through technology adoption and to be a trusted partner for our clients in a range of commodity sectors.”
Kale concludes: “Our solutions-based approach brings people and technology together for the purpose of co-creation,” concludes Kale. This approach, which places the triple bottom line at the heart of their partnerships, ensures that Gravitas® is not only meeting but exceeding industry standards in sustainability and client satisfaction.”