Grant may be a goldmine

DANDENONG company Ausmelt has been awarded $1.1 million in federal grants to further develop a new chemical to help the mining industry.
Managing director Paul Abbott welcomed the funding and said it would greatly help the research.
He said the chemical would allow mined minerals to be smelted if they became oxidised and so reduce waste.
Mr Abbott added the unique chemical would help mines recover more oxidised materials such as copper, gold and platinum group metals.
“We as a company have already put a significant investment into this ourselves and have conducted both lab tests and plant trials,” he said.
“We have also worked with platinum products in South Africa and copper and gold in Chile and Peru.
“We hope to start export sales of this chemical, too,” he said.
Mr Abbott said Ausmelt had developed a good reputation in smelting but was now trying to get into the chemical industry.
“It has taken us a bit longer than we had expected to break into the chemicals but this grant will really help us in furthering our work,” he said.
The Kitchen Road company won the grant through the Commercial Ready program.