SandLix, Anglo American’s novel heap leach process, it says directly addresses some of the most pressing challenges facing the industry when it comes to future copper supply.
The miner states: “Two major trends are set to drive the demand for copper in the coming decades: the urgent need to decarbonise the global economy (the energy transition), and the drive for improved living standards for a growing and urbanising population. At present, the copper industry is experiencing the depletion of existing orebodies and many of the world’s remaining copper deposits are situated in regions that make treatment more difficult, with significant water scarcity and pressures to reduce energy consumption.”
SandLix
has been specifically developed to economically treat low-grade, complex ores, while being far less energy and water-intensive than conventional processes, such as flotation. Anglo says that in 2025, the development of this innovative technology – which has been ongoing since 2018 – has made significant progress in its journey towards commercialisation.
“Through a methodical, risk-adjusted scale-up strategy, SandLix has been proven to deliver exceptional results across diverse ore types, while maintaining performance as it scales from laboratory testing to pilot scale.”
process. The trials achieved outstanding extraction rates of 80% to 90% within 250 days across multiple copper ores, both from Anglo American and third parties.
The next step was to scale up the technology for real-world testing. This involved the development of a Containerised Heap Leach Reactor (CHLR) – 400 times larger than laboratory testing scale – to enable the testing of 50 t samples, validating chemistry and heat transfer at commercial lift heights.
These pilot columns started in South Africa in 2024, testing material from Anglo’s global operations, and will also be set up in Chile to test a variety of ores and conditions. “By mid-2025, the first pilot column reached completion and demonstrated excellent results that confirmed scalability of the technology to commercial lift heights.”
In the third quarter of 2025, SandLix reached a significant milestone in its development journey, with the testing of a 15,000 t heap prototype at the El Soldado copper mine in Chile coming to completion. “This marked a major step towards commercial-scale production, successfully demonstrating commercial-scale fluid and heat dynamics with precise control, and confirming geotechnical design criteria.”
The next stage, currently under development, is a commercial-scale system demonstration to confirm process integration and continuous operation, Anglo says “moving the industry ever closer to unlocking more efficient, affordable and sustainable copper production.”
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