Jubilee and Mintek are pleased to announce the successful completion of the development programme for the ConRoast Smelting Process. In March 2010 the  demonstration DC-arc furnace passed the significant milestone of smelting 50 000 tons of material containing platinum group metals (“PGM”) as part of thedevelopment of ConRoast.

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Leading industry exhibition Petro.t.ex together with the Corrosion Institute of Southern Africa (CorrISA) and NACE International are offering a one day workshop on industry standards and test methods for selecting and qualifying metallic materials for the use in sour service specifically refineries and oilfields.

An update on the current international standard ISO15156/NACE MR0175 (Sulphide stress cracking resistant metallic materials for oilfield equipment) will be provided, together with information on other acceptable and most appropriate test methods and material recommendations. These include:

• NACE MR0103 – Materials resistant to sulphide stress cracking in corrosive petroleum refining environments
• NACE TM0284 – Evaluation of pipeline and pressure vessel steels for resistance to hydrogen-induced cracking
• NACE TM0177  – Laboratory testing of metals for resistance to specific forms of environmental cracking in H2S environments
• NACE TM0103 – Laboratory test procedures for evaluation of SOHIC resistance of plate steels used in wet H2S service).

The organisers have been fortunate to secure Dr Chris Fowler (BSc MSc PhD CEng FIMMM, Vice President Elect NACE International, Global Director Bodycote Corrosion) from the UK to host this workshop.

A question and answer session will also be included, and participants are encouraged to provide questions in advance so that some preparation can be undertaken. 

In addition, Chris Fowler and Tony Keane (Executive Director of NACE) will be available at the exhibition for the duration of the event (9 to 11 June) – at the joint CorrISA/NACE stand, which offers an ideal opportunity to engage them on your materials and corrosion-related problems in your plant.

Continuous Professional Development (CPD) accreditation has been applied for.

Who should attend this MR0175/ISO 15156 One Day Workshop?

• Materials/metallurgical engineers responsible for refinery and oilfield equipment
• Manufacturers of metallic components for refinery and oilfield equipment
• Metallic materials supply chain employees/buyers
• Purchasers of finished metallic components
• Refinery and oilfield service company design engineers and mechanical designers
• Drilling and production company employees involved in tubing and casing program specification and completion design

Why should you attend?
Industry experts will provide first hand information and answers on:

• Selecting materials that comply with the relevant standards
• Avoiding costly failures due to corrosion of equipment and components
• Minimising the health and safety risk to the public, personnel, and the environment due to corrosion induced failures
• Properly implementing MR0175/ ISO15156 specified materials
• Finding the latest changes made to the relevant standards by the NACE/ISO Maintenance Panel
• Protecting metallic components from sulphide stress cracking, stress corrosion cracking, and other mechanisms of cracking caused by H2S
• Sour Service test methods

Date: 10th June 2009
Where: Gallagher Estate Midrand (Running alongside Petro.t.ex, PPV and Watertec)

Cost R1995-00 Excl of VAT, this includes coffee, tea, lunch. And Free Access to Petro.t.ex, Pumps, Pipes & Valves and Watertec Exhibitions.

Contact Persons:
Mark Burridge: (021 713 3360) or
Deon Slabbert: (011 709 4511)

Braemore Resources plc confirms the occurrence of an operational incident at a furnace at Mintek’s ConRoast smelting facility in Johannesburg, South Africa on Friday, 27 March. A full enquiry will be completed; however preliminary investigations suggest superficial damage to the plant and minimal impact on production. Safety procedures were strictly adhered to and no personnel were injured in the incident.

Initial estimates anticipate a cost of full repair to the operating infrastructure of the furnace of R1.5 million , to be jointly incurred by Mintek and Braemore. The majority of this cost will be for the repair and replacement of electrical cables. The furnace is anticipated to return to full production within 10 days.

The incident was caused when water from a water leak came into contact with molten material, which instantly vapourised the water, causing a series of minor explosions. This is the first incident of this nature in five years of operating the ConRoast technology at Mintek and occured during a period of trialling high sulphur content material in the furnace. The incident further supports the requirement of a complete ConRoast process, which under normal operating procedures removes all sulphur from the feed material through a roasting step.

Normal operating conditions take into account the hazards associated with such an event and the nature of the ConRoast technology allowed the incident to be quickly contained.