At the beginning of the second quarter of 2025, the global mining and beneficiation pharmaceutical industry is ushering in a new wave of transformation. From the breakthrough in lithium extraction reagents from South American lithium mines, to the industrial validation of solutions for difficult to process gold mines in Africa, and to the transmission effect of the European carbon border regulation mechanism on the supply chain, the industry is evolving towards green, efficient, and customized direction at an unprecedented speed. This issue's news will summarize the key developments of the past month for you.
Starting from April 1st, the transition period of the EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) has entered its third phase, requiring importers to report the implied emissions of their productschemical productsClearly included in the scope of the report. This means that mineral processing agents and their downstream products (such as refined gold products) exported to the EU need to provide certified carbon footprint data.
industry impactThe three major gold refineries in Switzerland (Valcambi, PAMP, Argor Heraeus) have issued a notice to suppliers requiring all beneficiation agents to be accompanied by ISO 14067 carbon footprint certification from 2026 onwards. Several mines in South America and Africa have begun to reassess their supply chains for mineral processing agents, with a significant increase in the priority of purchasing environmentally friendly chemicals.
On April 10th, the Canadian Parliament passed the second reading of the Federal Tailings Management Act, which explicitly states:The residual concentration of highly toxic chemicals in tailings shall not exceed the environmental threshold, and the operating enterprise shall complete the harmless land reclamation within 20 years after the closure of the mineOnce the bill is officially implemented, it will force mines that use traditional cyanide processes to significantly increase tailings treatment investment or accelerate the shift towards low toxicity/non-toxic beneficiation agents.
market reactionA mine in British Columbia, Canada, which produces 10 tons of gold annually, announced that it will advance its environmental renovation plan, originally scheduled to start in 2026, to 2025, with an estimated investment of CAD 45 million to fully switch to the thiosulfate system.
The National Development and Reform Commission released a draft for soliciting opinions in mid April, proposing to include the development and production of "low toxicity, non-toxic, biodegradable new mineral processing agents" in the listEncouragement categoryCatalog, while including "high toxicity, high environmental risk traditional mineral processing agents (some varieties)"restriction classThe industry expects that after the policy is implemented, it will drive a batch of outdated production capacity to exit, and at the same time release about 1.5-2 billion yuan of market space for environmental pharmaceutical companies every year.
The African Mining Association (AMA) and the United Nations Environment Programme have released the "African Green Mining Guidelines", which list the environmental performance of mineral processing agents as a core indicator and recommend low toxicity/non-toxic technologies such as thiosulfate, thiourea, and glycine as priority options. The guide also proposes a goal of reducing cyanide imports by 30% in major gold producing countries in Africa (Ghana, Mali, Tanzania, etc.) by 2030.
On April 8th, Codelco, the Chilean national copper company, collaborated with an environmental pharmaceutical technology company toTen thousand ton thiosulfate gold extraction projectFormally put into operation. The project deals with high copper gold ore containing 2.8% copper, using the "thiosulfate+stabilizer+resin adsorption" process, with a designed annual processing capacity of 3.6 million tons of ore and 5.2 tons of gold.
Technical Highlights：
New stabilizer reduces thiosulfate consumption by 42%
Resin adsorption technology replaces traditional activated carbon to avoid cyanide dependence
The comprehensive recovery rate is 91.3%, which is 16 percentage points higher than the original cyanide method
Industry significanceThis is the world's first project to achieve large-scale industrial application of thiosulfate in the field of high copper gold mines, providing a replicable technical model for similar mines.
A gold mining company in Australia announced that its glycine gold extraction project, in collaboration with Curtin University, has completed 12 consecutive months of industrial operation. The data shows that:
The average leaching rate is 89.7% (original cyanide method 85.2%)
The cost of pharmaceuticals has decreased by 37% compared to the initial stage (scale production+by-product recovery)
The toxicity testing of tailings leaching fully complies with the strictest environmental standards in Australia
Next stepsThe technical team has initiated the research and development of second-generation glycine derivatives, with the goal of reducing the overall cost to the same level as cyanide method by 2027.
The Mintek Research Institute in South Africa has released the latest results: for ultra difficult to process gold concentrates containing up to 22g/t arsenic, the "thermophilic bacteria pretreatment (7 days)+thiourea leaching (6 hours)" process is adopted, with a total recovery rate of 84.6%, which is 19 percentage points higher than the traditional "roasting+cyanide" process, and energy consumption is reduced by 45%, and SO ₂ emissions are reduced to zero.
Commercialization progressThe technology has been authorized to an international mining giant, and plans to build the first industrial demonstration plant in Ghana, expected to be put into operation by the end of 2026.
The "Microemulsion Fine grained Gold Collector" jointly developed by Central South University and Shandong Gold Group has passed industrial trials. For the high clay ore (-400 mesh content 45%) in the deep part of Jiaojia Gold Mine, this agent enhances the ability to capture fine gold particles through a nano scale microemulsion structure, resulting in a 6.8 percentage point increase in flotation recovery and a 12% increase in concentrate grade.
market prospectsWith the depletion of shallow resources, the proportion of deep high mud minerals continues to rise, and this technology is expected to be promoted and applied in old mining areas such as Jiaodong and XiaoQinling.
According to statistics from the China Petrochemical Association, the total size of the domestic mineral processing agent market in Q1 2025 is approximately 1.12 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 7.8%. among which
| category | Market size (in billions of yuan) | year-on-year growth rate | market share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Traditional Sodium Cyanide | 8.1 | +1.2% | 72.3% |
| Thiosulfates | 1.8 | +31% | 16.1% |
| Thiourea class | 0.7 | +22% | 6.3% |
| Other environmental protection categories | 0.6 | +45% | 5.3% |
noteworthyThe total proportion of environmental protection has reached 27.7%, an increase of nearly 5 percentage points from the end of 2024.
| raw material | Current price | Quarterly increase | Annual increase |
|---|---|---|---|
| Liquid alkali (32%) | 1180 yuan/ton | +2.6% | +18% |
| sulfur | 1520 yuan/ton | +4.8% | +21.6% |
| urea | 1880 yuan/ton | -3.6% | -14.5% |
| bromine | 25200 yuan/ton | -3.1% | -10% |
| Sodium cyanide (domestic) | 9800 yuan/ton | +1% | +5.4% |
Cost transmissionSome small and medium-sized mineral processing agent enterprises have issued price adjustment notices, with an average price increase of 3-5% for traditional sodium cyanide products, and environmental protection products have not yet followed up due to technological premiums.
Zhonghua Blue SkyThe Hunan Yueyang Environmental Protection Mineral Processing Agent Base, with a total investment of 1.2 billion yuan, has officially started construction. It is planned to produce 50000 tons of thiosulfate and 30000 tons of environmental protection composite agents annually, and is expected to be put into operation in Q3 2026.
Yabao CompanyAcquiring a Chilean environmental pharmaceutical company and obtaining its halogen gold extraction technology patent, with the intention of expanding its product line in the South American mining market.
Jiangsu Qiangsheng: Signed a strategic agreement with Xizang Huatailong Mining to customize and develop special reagents for associated gold recovery for its Jiama copper polymetallic mine. The first batch of 500 tons has been delivered.
BASFA pilot plant for bio based mineral processing agents has been built in Ludwigshafen, Germany, with plans to launch commercial products by 2026.
Jiangxi Copper's investment platform strategically invested 150 million yuan in a research and development enterprise for environmental beneficiation agents in Jiangxi, holding a 30% stake. Both parties will jointly develop efficient recovery agents for associated gold and silver in Dexing Copper Mine, with the goal of increasing the associated gold recovery rate by 5-8 percentage points.
Zijin Mining and Changchun Gold Research Institute signed a strategic cooperation agreement to jointly establish the "Gold Green Extraction Joint Laboratory", focusing on tackling environmental protection pharmaceutical solutions for difficult to process gold mines. The initial R&D budget is 50 million yuan, focusing on the thiourea system and biological pretreatment technology for high arsenic and high carbon minerals.
newmont Release a new version of the 'Sustainable Supplier Guidelines', requiring all mineral processing agent suppliers to pass ISO 14064 carbon verification by 2026 and prioritize the purchase of' green certified 'products.
BarrickThe "Cyanide Free 2030" plan has been launched, announcing that all mines under its umbrella will achieve zero use of cyanide by 2030. Currently, thiosulfate transformation has been initiated in two mines in Nevada.
Anglo American Renewal of a five-year technology cooperation agreement with Mintek in South Africa to jointly promote the commercialization of bio chemical coupling gold extraction technology.
On April 15th, the China Gold Association released the "Application Guidelines for Green Gold Mine Mineral Processing Agents" (draft for comments), which clarifies the applicable conditions, technical requirements, and environmental monitoring methods for various environmentally friendly mineral processing agents. It is expected to become an important technical basis for the construction of green mines in China after its official release within the year.
Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan have recently introduced policies to encourage foreign investment in the development of their gold resources, while imposing stricter restrictions on the use of cyanide. In Q1 2025, China's exports of mineral processing agents to Central Asia increased by 52% year-on-year, with environmental protection accounting for 63%.
exponentThe Navoi Mining Consortium in Uzbekistan plans to invest 300 million US dollars to build two new gold mines, and has explicitly requested the use of cyanide free processes. Currently, the technical solutions for thiosulfate and thiourea are being evaluated.
The development of high arsenic and high carbon gold mines in countries such as Ghana and Mali has entered an active period. Due to the inability of traditional cyanide methods to effectively process such ores, technological routes such as thiourea and halogens have opened up an opportunity window. An international engineering company has signed an agreement with the Ghanaian government to build the first large-scale gold mine using the "thiourea+resin adsorption" process, with a designed annual processing capacity of 5 million tons.
The high copper gold mining concentration areas in Chile and Peru continue to release demand for environmental protection renovation. Chile's National Copper Company plans to invest $500 million over the next three years to transform all of its copper bearing gold ore beneficiation processes into thiosulfate systems.
In the next 3-5 years, the mineral processing agent market will take shapeTraditional cyanide+four environmental pillars (thiosulfate/thiourea/halogen/glycine)+biotechnologyThe diversified pattern and different technological routes form relative advantages in different types of ores.
With the increasing complexity of ores, standardized products are becoming increasingly difficult to meet demand. Enterprises that can provide the full chain service of "ore diagnosis formula customization process optimization" will gain higher customer stickiness and bargaining power.
Carbon footprint certification, non-toxic certification, and biodegradable certification are transforming from differentiated selling points to basic conditions for market access. 2025 is known as the "first year of green certification for mineral processing agents", and it is expected that over 70% of mining customers will make green certification a prerequisite for procurement in the next three years.
The green transformation of the mining and beneficiation pharmaceutical industry has shifted from a "multiple-choice question" to a "mandatory question". Enterprises that can quickly adapt to policy changes, master core technologies, and deeply bind with mining customers will occupy a favorable position in the new round of industry reshuffle.
For mining enterprises, the selection of beneficiation agents is becoming a strategic proposition that determines their competitiveness, compliance costs, and sustainable development capabilities in the next decade.The choice of medicine is the choice of the future.
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