A major mining company in the Middle East (hereby referred to as 'the Company') is leading the development of responsible and sustainable mining across phosphate, aluminium, gold, copper and critical minerals. Their phosphate operations produce close to 11.6 million tonnes of ore per year, while their beneficiation plant produces up to 5 million tonnes of concentrated phosphate rock per year.

Phosphate processing operations produce significant amounts of waste materials, containing phosphorus pentoxide (P2O5), which are stored in slimes and flotations tailings.

The treatment of phosphate slimes, floatation tailings and phosphogypsum presents several challenges, including low phosphorus concentrations, high impurity levels, and inefficient extraction processes. These difficulties result in millions of tonnes of untreated phosphate waste streams and significant challenges related to tailings storage and land preparation for these waste streams.

The Company produces 10 million tonnes of phosphogypsum annually from Phosphoric Acid Production. About 9.5 million tonnes of phosphate tailings and slimes are produced from beneficiation of phosphate rock.

This is a substantial challenge for the phosphate industry globally. These waste streams contain vast quantities of phosphate and place strain on storage facilities.

There are various projects focused on extracting value from tailings and phosphogypsum, but their development is at low TRLs. These have not yet demonstrated capability at scale.

A solution is needed to:

- Establish an innovation to treat phosphate slimes and floatation tailings, ensuring minimal environmental release and a simple process flow sheet.

- Develop and implement innovative extraction and beneficiation methods that can efficiently concentrate and/or extract phosphate and other valuable components from phosphate slimes and floatation tailings.

- Develop and implement alternate process that can efficiently extract value from phosphogypsum.

The solution must also fulfil the following requirements:

- Technology Readiness Level (TRL) of 4 and above

- Should not consume high amounts of energy or water, or create significant emissions

- Cannot create complex processes or waste streams

The goal of this challenge is to find solutions that leave zero waste by both extracting valuable elements from slimes and tailings and re-treating phosphogypsum into useful materials.

Phase 1 - Submission Period

Suppliers are invited to submit their short-form solution to the challenge by Tuesday 17 December 2024 for evaluation by Austmine and The Company.  

The solution submission questions can be viewed here.

A shortlisting process takes place and successful companies are invited to participate in phase 2.

Phase 2 - Evaluation Period
Shortlisted suppliers will be invited to a technical briefing, where each supplier will be able to gain more information about the challenge. This will allow you to refine your proposed solution prior to the Pitch Session.

Following the technical briefing, suppliers will pitch their solution directly to The Company online. This is the opportunity to ‘sell’ your solution and gain feedback from operational teams, presenting directly to the Company team.

Phase 3 - Full Proposal Submission
Following the Pitch Session, a final shortlisting of suppliers takes place. The remaining suppliers are invited to submit their formal technical and economic proposals.

Winner Announced
The Company will select the best fit solution/s for the challenge and the supplier will work directly with them to trial the technology and implement the solution. 

Unsuccessful submitters are notified in writing by Austmine.

Submission deadline - Tuesday 17 December 2024

Technical briefing - Wednesday 22 January 2025

Pitch sessions - Wednesday 29 January 2025

Final proposal deadline - Wednesday 12 February 2025