Australia-based manganese developer Firebird Metals has partnered with Sedgman, a CIMIC Group company, to support the technical marketing of its innovative calcining kiln both in Australia and globally, excluding China.  

This collaboration aims to commercialise the technology worldwide, in response to the increasing demand for energy-efficient mineral processing solutions.

Firebird’s calcining kiln, currently patent-pending, offers higher energy efficiency than existing alternatives, claims the company.

The kiln has demonstrated the potential to reduce energy consumption by up to 70% during trials of the pilot scale kiln.

The technology operates at just 80-100kWh per tonne of feed, compared to over 300kWh for conventional kilns.

This translates to cost savings of about $30 per tonne of product, which is roughly 5% of total production costs.

The scalability of the calcining kiln technology extends its application beyond manganese mineral processing to other industries, including iron ore beneficiation and lithium sulphate production.

Firebird said that the company has already received international inquiries about the technology, and with Sedgman's support, it is well-positioned to meet the growing market demand for energy-efficient processing solutions.

Firebird managing director Peter Allen said: “Partnering with Sedgman is a key step forward for Firebird as we look to commercialise our ground-breaking calcining kiln in the international markets, and support the ongoing and exciting work of our innovative research and development technical team in China.

“Sedgman is an industry leader that has been pioneering the use of new process technologies to improve the performance of processing plants for over four decades. Sedgman brings a proven track record of commercialising novel equipment and solutions to advance efficiency within our industry.

“Firebird’s calcining kiln presents not only an opportunity to improve the cost efficiency of our processes as we become an effective producer of manganese-based cathode materials, but also an opportunity to bring that same efficient and emerging technology to the global mineral processing industry"

Earlier this month, Firebird signed a nonbinding memorandum of understanding with French miner Eramet for the supply of manganese ore to its China-based plant.