Minerals Processing

Minerals processing involves a range of activities encompassing exploration, mining and manufacturing of resources. Beneficiation, a form of minerals processing, is where the valuable mineral resource is separated from other low-value materials for further processing.

NSW leads Australia in minerals processing, with substantial infrastructure in steel, aluminium and cement production, as well as refractories used to produce a range of materials such as linings for furnaces, kilns and incinerators.

Major minerals processing facilities in NSW include Hydro Aluminium’s Kurri Kurri aluminium smelter in the lower Hunter Valley and BlueScope Steel’s Port Kembla Steelworks. Port Kembla Steelworks, located in the heart of the State’s high grade coking coal region of the Illawarra, is where coal, iron ore and limestone are transformed into iron and steel. The value of major mineral and processed metal exports from NSW was an approximate $16 billion in 2009-10.

Processing of gold at Cadia Valley Operations