The global mining and beneficiation pharmaceutical industry is undergoing unprecedented changes driven by policies, technological breakthroughs, and market demand. The traditional sodium cyanide market is rapidly shrinking, and environmentally friendly drugs are entering a stage of large-scale substitution under the dual promotion of policy dividends and cost optimization. At the same time, emerging gold producing regions such as Central Asia and West Africa are releasing concentrated demand, and leading enterprises are accelerating their global layout. This issue provides you with a summary of the latest developments in the past half month.
On March 24th, the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) officially added sodium cyanide to the list of substances authorized under Annex XIV of the REACH regulation, initiating an 18 month authorization application process. This means that from September 2026, all companies using cyanide within the EU must obtain specialized authorization, otherwise they will be prohibited from operating.
industry impactEuropean gold refining centers such as Switzerland and Belgium will be forced to adjust their procurement strategies, prioritizing mines that use environmentally friendly chemicals as suppliers. According to the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA), this will affect approximately 30% of the global refined gold supply chain.
On March 26th, the Ministry of Natural Resources officially released the "Green Mine Construction Standards (Revised Edition 2025)", which for the first time included the "green substitution rate of mineral processing agents" in the national green mine evaluation system. The document clearly requires that the proportion of environmentally friendly chemicals used in newly built gold mines should not be less than 30%, and strive to reach 50% by 2028; The existing mines need to achieve a replacement target of 30% by 2027.
Policy interpretationThis is the first time at the national level that quantitative requirements have been put forward for the substitution rate of mineral processing reagents, which will directly promote the large-scale application of environmentally friendly reagents such as thiosulfate and thiourea. According to estimates, this alone will release approximately 2-2.5 billion yuan/year of market space for environmental protection drugs.
On March 28th, the Ghana Mining Commission announced the implementation of a cyanide import permit system, which requires approval from the commission for all cyanide imports. The total import volume will decrease by 5% annually until a cumulative reduction of 40% by 2030. Ghana, as the largest gold producing country in Africa, this move will have a demonstration effect in the West African region.
On March 29th, the Chilean Ministry of Mines released the "Priority Procurement Catalogue for Green Mineral Processing Agents", which included thiosulfate, glycine, thiourea, and halogen reagents in the first recommended list. According to the "Toxic Substance Reduction Act for Mining Areas" passed at the end of 2024, state-owned enterprises such as Codelco must prioritize the procurement of products listed in the catalog.
GreenGold Australia and the Kalgoorlie Gold Mine in Western Australia jointly announced that the glycine gold extraction technology has completed six months of industrial operation, marking the official entry of the technology into the commercialization stage. Running data shows:
Average gold leaching rate:89.2%(Original cyanide method 85.5%)
Cost per ton of mineral reagents:2.5 dollars(Cyanide method costs 2.3 USD)
Tailings toxicity: meets the strictest environmental standards in Australia
Drug recovery rate:83%Realize circular utilization
industry evaluationThis is the world's first cyanide free gold extraction technology that has completed industrial validation, marking the first time that environmentally friendly chemicals have achieved substantial cost catch-up with traditional cyanide methods.
CyPlus, a Canadian company, announced on March 25th that the fourth generation thiosulfate stabilizer has officially been supplied to the global market. This product can extend the half-life of the drug in the circulating solution from 72 hours to300 hoursAbove, the volatilization of ammonia has decreased85%Reduced consumption of thiosulfate40%。
market reactionChile's National Copper Company has signed the first batch of 2000 ton procurement agreements for the process renovation of its three copper gold mines.
Mintek Research Institute in South Africa and Anglo American Resources jointly announced that they have completed the basic design of the first industrial device for "thermophilic bacteria pretreatment+thiourea leaching". The device is designed for an annual processing capacity1 million tonsThe processing object is a high arsenic gold mine (As 4.5%) in Ghana, which is expected to be put into operation by the end of 2026.
technical indicators：
Expected total recovery rate:Over 85%
Preprocessing time: 7 days
Extraction time: 6 hours
Arsenic stabilization rate:99.5%
The "nano lotion micro fine gold collector" jointly developed by Central South University and Shandong Gold has passed the scientific and technological achievements appraisal organized by the China Gold Association. The appraisal committee believes that this technology has reached the international leading level.
Technical Highlights：
Improved flotation recovery rate for -10 μ m fine gold particles (accounting for 35%)13.5 percentage points
Improvement of concentrate grade20%
Reduced drug consumption per unit28%
Industrial verification has been completed at Sanshan Island Gold Mine
According to the latest data from the General Administration of Customs, the export value of mineral processing agents in China reached292 million US dollarsYear-on-year growth34%The export value of environmental protection products increased year-on-year45%, as a percentage of the total export value39%Set a new historical high.
Performance of major export markets：
| region | Export value (USD 10000) | year-on-year growth | Proportion of environmental protection category |
|---|---|---|---|
| Five Central Asian countries | 4100 | +56% | 71% |
| West Africa (Ghana, Mali, Burkina Faso) | 3400 | +42% | 52% |
| South America (Chile, Peru) | 3000 | +29% | 61% |
| Southeast Asia | 2400 | +46% | 47% |
According to statistics from the China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association, the domestic market size of mineral processing agents in January and February 2025 is expected to be approximately780 million yuanYear-on-year growth8.8%Among them:
| category | Sales revenue (in billions of yuan) | year-on-year growth | market share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Traditional Sodium Cyanide | 5.4 | +0.5% | 69.2% |
| Thiosulfates | 1.4 | +33% | 17.9% |
| Thiourea class | 0.5 | +19% | 6.4% |
| halogens | 0.2 | +36% | 2.6% |
| Other environmental protection categories | 0.3 | +46% | 3.9% |
key trendsThe total proportion of environmental protection categories has broken through for the first time30%, reaching 30.8%, an increase of nearly 5 percentage points from the end of last year.
| raw material | Current price (yuan/ton) | Monthly increase | Annual increase |
|---|---|---|---|
| Liquid alkali (32%) | 1250 | +4.2% | +28% |
| sulfur | 1620 | +5.2% | +31% |
| urea | 1780 | -2.5% | -18% |
| bromine | 24300 | -1.8% | -11% |
| Sodium cyanide | 10200 | +3.0% | +10% |
Cost transmissionIn late March, three more mineral processing agent companies issued price adjustment notices, with a cumulative increase of 5-10% for traditional sodium cyanide products and stable prices for environmentally friendly products.
On March 27th, Zijin Mining announced that180 million yuanStrategic investment in a research and development enterprise for environmental beneficiation agents in Fujian, holding shares28%Both parties will jointly develop a specialized formula for thiosulfate targeting high copper gold mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo, with the goal of increasing the recovery rate of associated gold from 83% to over 90%.
On March 26th, Shandong Gold and Changchun Gold Research Institute signed a strategic cooperation agreement to jointly establish the "Gold Green Extraction Joint Laboratory". The laboratory will focus on environmental protection pharmaceutical solutions for deep high arsenic and high carbon gold mines in the Jiaodong region, with an initial research and development budget of 60 million yuan.
On March 28th, Chifeng Gold announced the completion of the acquisition of a controlling stake in an environmental beneficiation agent enterprise in Jiangsu, increasing its shareholding from 25% to 51%. The enterprise produces 20000 tons of thiosulfate annually and has a revenue of 160 million yuan in 2024.
SolvayOn March 25th, it was announced that an agreement had been signed with a mining company in the Democratic Republic of Congo to build Africa's first bio based mineral processing agent production base
BASFOn March 27th, it was jointly announced with Barrick Gold that the thiosulfate technology had completed industrial validation at a gold mine in Tanzania, with a recovery rate of 91.5%
clariant On March 29th, we acquired a distributor of environmentally friendly chemicals in Peru, further expanding our presence in the South American market
Win CreationOn March 30th, a new generation of glycine gold extraction aid was released, which can increase the leaching rate by 3-5 percentage points
On March 26th, the Navoi Mining Consortium in Uzbekistan announced that a Chinese engineering company had won the bid for its cyanide free gold mine construction project. Total project investment520 million US dollarsDesign annual processing capacity10 million tonsUsing the thiosulfate process, it is expected to be put into operation in 2027, with an annual consumption of approximately 15000 tons of environmentally friendly chemicals.
On March 28th, the groundbreaking ceremony for Ghana's first cyanide free gold mining project was held in the Takwa region. Total project investment480 million US dollarsAdopting the thiourea+resin adsorption process, with a designed annual processing capacity of 6 million tons, it is expected to be put into operation in 2027 and will become a demonstration project for green mining in West Africa.
Chile's National Copper Company announced on March 27th that the thiosulfate process renovation of its five copper bearing gold mines has officially started, with a total investment of350 million US dollarsIt is expected to be completed by the end of 2026. After the renovation is completed, the annual use of cyanide will be reduced by 12000 tons, and the demand for environmental protection chemicals will be increased by 25000 tons.
With the launch of the EU authorization process and the implementation of new green mining regulations in China, the exit speed of traditional sodium cyanide will exceed expectations. It is expected that by the end of 2026, the global market share of environmentally friendly mineral processing agents will increase from the current about 30% to over 38%.
A single technological route is difficult to cope with complex ores, and multi technology integration solutions such as "pretreatment+environmentally friendly leaching", "bio chemical coupling", and "flotation leaching synergy" will become mainstream. 2025 is known as the "year of technological integration".
With the concentrated release of demand from emerging gold producing regions and the increasing emphasis on the security of key mineral supply chains in various countries, Chinese pharmaceutical companies are accelerating their production capacity layout in Central Asia, Africa, South America, and other regions. It is expected that in the next three years, 5-8 companies will establish production bases overseas.
The mining and beneficiation pharmaceutical industry is currently in a critical period of transformation. The three forces of policy driven, technological breakthroughs, and market demand are reshaping the industry landscape.
For pharmaceutical companies, technology leaders will receive market premiums, those with sufficient production capacity will seize market share opportunities, and global layout players will gain incremental space. For mining companies, the selection of mineral processing agents is shifting from "cost considerations" to "strategic decisions" - it not only determines the current economy, but also affects future compliance capabilities, ESG ratings, and capital market valuations.
The choice of medicine is the choice of the future. 在这场深刻的行业变革中，唯有主动应变者，方能行稳致远。
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