Picture: THINKSTOCK
Picture: THINKSTOCK

BIOMIN, a privately run company deploying bacteria to unlock gold from problematic ore bodies, has been bought by Finnish mining technology and engineering giant Outotec, giving the South African company a bigger platform from which to market its technology, said Biomin MD Jan van Niekerk.

The deal was concluded in November and has given Outotec the unrivalled ability to offer prospective clients the three major technologies used to extract gold from refractory ore, which is rich in sulphides that lock up the gold, making it difficult to extract using conventional methods.

Outotec can now offer Biox, which is the patented bacteria technology on which Biomin sustained itself for two years, pressure oxidisation and roasting.

The Biox technology was developed within Gold Fields, which then sold the Biox division to the managers running it in April 2013.

Biomin operated as a standalone business for more than two years, and now has Biox plants in SA, Australia, China, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, with another being commissioned at a gold and molybdenum project in the Philippines.

Outotec had been interested in buying Biomin for "quite a while", certainly dating back to when it was contained in Gold Fields, Mr Van Niekerk said.

The price was confidential, he said.

Biomin has relocated to the Outotec offices in Centurion.

Biomin, which was doing its own research and development in conjunction with universities in SA, would now have access to the research and development division within Outotec’s Finnish offices, Mr Van Niekerk said.

"It was one of the biggest factors in making the decision to accept the Outotec offer. We’ve got a great technology and did well on our own, but being part of this firm means we have access to a bigger support base in marketing, technology development, research and implementation," he said.

The other advantage coming from the deal was the ability within the company to now offer a total package to prospective clients of the technology and a completed plant, as Outotec also builds its own plants.

"We can now supply the technology and the equipment, a whole process solution to clients rather than just the technology as we did as Biomin," Mr Van Niekerk said. "Our technology is fully established and we need a bit of work to develop a plant we can supply as an option."

Biomin had considered offering smaller plants as a total package, but it was just too small to effectively offer the full solution, even in partnership with engineering firms, he said.