Metals technology company Boston Metal expects to start commercialisation in Brazil in early 2025. The company, which has developed molten oxide electrolysis (MOE) technology to improve metals extractions, initially will focus on extracting so-called "high-value" metals from tin slags at its plant in Minas Gerais state.
The move is part of the company's effort to offer greener metals to the market and comes at the time when the company is developing MOE technology in the US to produce green steel.
Metals reporter Carolina Pulice talked with Boston Metal's Brazil commercial director Gustavo Macedo about MOE technology and the company's plans for the future. The interview has been translated from Portuguese.
Can you explain what MOE technology is?
MOE technology was developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the 1980s. It uses the electrolysis process on metals, a process that has been known for a long time. What is different about MOE is that its platform can be used to separate an infinite number of metals.
Our company started to use MOE technology in iron ore to make it greener. After it has gone through the electrolysis process, iron is practically pure and releases only oxygen and then [you have] green steel.
The great advantage of this process on iron ore is that you can use the metal with any grade, different from the hydrogen route that demands high contents of iron ore.
And what will the operation in Brazil be like?
Our focus in Brazil is to extract three metals from local tin slags — tantalum, niobium and tin — from our plant in Minas Gerais state. It is a rich region and has plenty of cassiterite, with a lot of mining waste available.
At our new plant in Minas Gerais, we will start producing ferro-tin and a ferro-tantalum niobium alloy. We are already operating our pilot and demonstration plants. We plan the first commercialisation at the beginning of 2025.
Our main market is likely to be China, where we will export our material to be used in the electronics industry.
The move comes at a time when more consumers are demanding greener supply chains. And this is an advantage for us because Minas Gerais state can already secure 100pc renewable electric energy.
The global tantalum chain is very complex because more than half of this metal comes from conflict regions in Africa.
Can you tell us a bit more about Boston Metal's operations in the US?
Our goal there is to develop MOE technology for the production of green steel. Steelmakers would add this process to their operations by replacing their blast furnaces with MOE technology, allowing them to produce pure iron by utilising electricity instead of coking coal.
Our headquarters in the US is already at the stage where they are building our first demonstration plant.
MOE technology at present demands 4MWh of energy per tonne of steel. Electric arc furnaces that process scrap currently have consumption of 0.5-0.8MWh/t.
