KLEN INTERNATIONAL: the next generation of fire assay in a world of sustainability

 In 1987, the United Nations defined sustainability as “meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” 

In 2024, sustainability is now even higher on the priorities of all multi-national and large corporations. With the moral and social imperative to adopt more sustainable practices, companies in well-established and already heavily regulated industries, like mining, are looking outside to find opportunities to innovate their practices and processes within their own sustainability requirements.

For many years now, the assaying community has considered KLEN International a leader in fire assay flux manufacturing, especially when it comes to sustainability. The latest exciting innovation from KLEN is to offer the marketplace a lead-free alternative.

KLEN’s lead-free fire assay flux is an environmentally friendly replacement for lead-based fire assay, on-site and in the laboratory. KLEN’s lead-free fire assay flux ensures no hazardous lead is used on site or left as hazardous waste.

So, if you don’t like the cost implications and the long-term lease and contractual requirements of recent alternative technologies and methods, then KLEN may well have another option for you.

With your own expertise and adjustments to some of your existing fire assay processes, KLEN can help create a protocol that has all the benefits of the traditional precision and consistency of fire assaying without the hazardous nature of lead.

 All the advantages, none of the hazards

Fire assay technology and basic gold refining date back as far as 550 BC. By the 1500s, the assaying and the assayer were becoming very prepared, instructed and proficient in the art of assaying — but the process has remained relatively unchanged since.

Since starting out in fire assay flux manufacturing in 1991, KLEN International has grown quickly and, has for some time now, been considered the cleanest and most consistent quality flux on the market with the lowest levels of gold (and silver where required). With the recent new technologies in the market, the fire assay process still has an important part to play due to the very low-level detections, high accuracy and its long-understood history.

Given its similarities to the lead-based flux, KLEN’s new lead-free fire assay flux has all the same advantages of using existing assay equipment and, most importantly, provides the low detection levels required, all without the use of hazardous lead.

The lead-free process, while being the same in theory, will need adapting in practice. Each lab will carry out its own research and development to find the right adjustments to suit their own particular needs in the same way they would for standard flux use. KLEN will provide a framework that will then be customised by each lab. The actual recipe of ingredients, the adjustment of furnace and cupellation heat, the process of removing slag and other standard practices may need tweaking. This, like any other process within a lab environment, becomes the intellectual property of that lab, including the final recipe.

A lead-free flux means:

• No lead and therefore no lead disposal costs
• No lead related blood testing of employees every three months or as required and dictated by past lead results and local regulations
• No requirement for lead based safety clothing and equipment
• No administration costs associated with lead and to the requirements of the regulatory departments
• No Capex or investment requirements
• No requirements for any new and expensive equipment
• No general Dangerous Goods (DG) and hazardous charges
• No costs associated with shipping hazardous lead material by air, road, rail and sea
• No hazardous surcharges and hazardous handling or documentation fees related to lead

Committed to ESG

Although KLEN International is celebrating its 50^th year in the chemical industry, it has been driving sustainable changes in the mining industry since entering the market in December 1991.

Some examples of this are:

At KLEN, steel drums have been phased out and replaced with bags. Steel drums were difficult to dispose of and often had to be cleaned before transporting or disposing of which could be difficult and costly. Transporting was also extra costly given the cubic and weight measurements. Bags are much more compact and can be rolled and compacted into small easily transported bundles. This solution is easier to dispose of and far less expensive.

KLEN has achieved the changeover of 70% of powdered fluxes to granular, meaning less lead dust at no extra cost to the market. Lead dust has always been a major issue to the environment and to personal OH&S. Granular flux is less dusty and therefore provides an immediate improvement to powdered fluxes. KLEN worked closely with its lead partners to achieve this outcome that ultimately was not only great for its market, but also its own internal manufacturing and operations.

In 2012 KLEN’s proudly family-owned business became part of a large multinational organisation, VWR (now Avantor). As part of the change, KLEN was able to have a purpose-built manufacturing plant built for its operations in the northern suburbs of Perth, Western Australia. As a result, KLEN has worked closely with the state and local governments to ensure a safe and sustainable operation was implemented including how it uses, stores and treats water.

With the new plant came the ability to look after its own employees with dedicated lead areas that contain the hazardous substance. These are controlled rooms, with no lead dust migration allowed outside of these areas. KLEN also implemented food factory processing ideas and processes such as the use of clean/dirty locker rooms. These are rooms that contain showers in the middle where employees can remove possible contaminated clothing in one side of a room (dirty) before heading through showers to the other side (clean) to re-dress. This is just one example of many processes implemented at that time.

All these efforts are supported by KLEN’s solar powered site, with 277 panels generating 102KWp. This brings an estimated carbon dioxide avoidance of 105.7tpa.

In addition to its innovative practices, KLEN is constantly inspecting process developments that will minimise waste and improve our OH&S. KLEN has a requirement not only to itself, but also its employees, its neighbours and its clients to continually improve. To ensure this happens, the company is constantly developing and innovating its processes.

Examples of some of the programmes it has implemented and are dedicated to are the Lean Management Programme, Daily Management Systems and the popular Gemba Walk.

The company is also proudly certified in the ISO Managements Systems 9001 (achieved in 1994) and 17034 (achieved in 2018), which KLEN was proudly the first of its kind to achieve.

If as a laboratory manager or executive you would like to know more about the new and exciting opportunity of lead-free flux, please do not hesitate to contact KLEN through either of the email options below. 

Karl Cherrie – Sales Manager [email protected]  

Angus McGuire – Americas & African Regional Manager [email protected]