Orica aims to make a safer working environment through assisting those working with sodium cyanide to employ safe and efficient handling practices.

Used in the leaching process to extract gold from ore, cyanide is an important chemical in the mining process. In addition, Orica offers a wide range of products and services designed to support its safe and efficient handling in the mining and mineral processing industries.

Australia prides itself on safe working environments and companies like Orica must ensure that safe and efficient handling practices are in line with modern safety standards. Failure to comply with these standards can have severe consequences, with compliance fines ranging as high as $3 million per safety breach.

Poorly managed safety cultures can lead to breaches of safety, so high standards of auditing must be maintained to prevent OH&S issues from reaching the workplace.

To ensure compliance with the industrial codes and regulations, Orica has looked to utilise external expertise to further enhance its offering. Cyanide can be shipped to site as a solid to reduce the risk associated with loss of containment during transportation to the mine site. Once on site, the solid sodium cyanide is converted to its liquor form using Orica’s Sparging dissolution system, ready for use in the mining process.

Being a signatory of the International Cyanide Management Code (ICMC), Orica is committed to ensuring safe handling and management of cyanide. For more than four years, SAGE has supported Orica in its service delivery program for their Sparge dissolution facilities.

Orica’s Cyanide Sparge dissolution system delivers significant reduction in the risks associated with loss of containment during transportation, handling of cyanide on-site, the eliminating the hazardous packaging waste and enabling operators to be isolated from the any hazards during the process. 

Learn more about SAGE's solutions in resource management.