Dundee Precious Metals Opens New Sulphuric Acid Plant in Tsumeb

South Africa: Dundee Precious Metals, a Canada based mining company, has established a sulphuric acid plant in Tsumeb, under its new venture. The construction of plant started in 2013 with an investment of USD0.29 billion. It is one of the modern technology equipped plant and has the largest capital investment of the country. The new plant has production capacity of around 230-280 thousand tons of sulphuric acid per annum. The new sulphuric acid plant is anticipated to eliminate around 95% of harmful and hazardous air pollutants. High technology instruments are installed in the plant to control the emission of sulphur dioxide in the environment and convert it to sulphuric acid.

TechSci Research depicts that by the setup of new sulphuric acid plant in Tsumeb with air pollutants control system is expected to be advantageous for both the environment and smelting industry. Capacity addition of sulphuric acid in South Africa would strengthen the global sulphuric acid market. 

According to the upcoming report by TechSci Research, “Global sulphuric Acid Market, By Manufacturing Process (Lead Chamber and Contact Process), By Raw Material (Sulphur, Exhaust Gases, Pyrite), By End-Use Industry (Fertilizers, Chemical etc.), By Region, Competition Market Forecast & Opportunities, 2011-2025”, Global sulphuric acid consumption was more than 230 million tons in 2015, which is growing at a healthy pace. The sulphuric acid market is generally categorized as captive and merchant, where captive dominates the global demand. Captive sulphuric acid is consumed internally by the consumers, while merchant sulphuric acid is available for sale in the market for consumer who depend on acid produced as a by-product. Merchant sulphuric acid drives the global trade. The key raw material used for the production of sulphuric acid is sulphur which is obtained from fossil fuels and sulfide ores.  Growing demand for captive sulphuric acid in fertilizer and industrial sector is expected to boost the sulphur-based production of sulphuric acid.