42 | South Waikato: Blue Pacific Minerals Zeolite – a mineral with diverse uses T Virginia Wright Applications for zeolite cover six sectors – household, agriculture, soil and turf, health and beauty, industrial, and environmental. REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT The offices of Blue Pacific Minerals Ltd can be found in Tokoroa, not far from Ngakuru, where the natural deposit of zeolite – which is at the core of their business – can also be found. The mineral zeolite is a crystalline form of clay characterized by an “open porous nature” and that porous quality is part of what makes this mineral particularly useful in a world increasingly aware of the need to care for the environment. The different uses that Blue Pacific Minerals have developed for its natural zeolite are the result of in-depth research, study and field trials designed to work out how best to maximise its unique characteristics as Managing Director Dave Hill explains. “There’s a lot of international literature around the uses natural zeolites can have, but because our geology in New Zealand is very young, our material has an immature, open and light structure which is unique. So we’ve had to develop and validate useful applications for our “young” zeolite which are different to those of other international zeolites.” Over the last 25 years they’ve identified and developed applications around their zeolite’s open spongelike nature with products covering six sectors: household, agriculture, soil and turf, health and beauty, industrial, and environmental. “It’s been a constant process of applying the characteristics of the ore we have in New Zealand to these different sectors,” explains Dave. “Finding its key unique attributes then commercially monstering those attributes into the markets that can use them – because that becomes your IP, and from there you can develop a sustainable business.” At the core of its usefulness is its open spongelike structure which means that once dried out it’s a very absorbent material. Its other unique feature is that it has a high “cation exchange capacity” (CEC) which means it can hold onto, retain and exchange nutrients, and what that means is best explained with some easy examples. It can be used to absorb oil and fat like the waste from a barbeque; for kitty litter, where it not only absorbs the cat pee, but also scavenges the ammonia smell that comes with it, and as an exfoliant in skincare products because of its de-toxifying abilities and grittiness, but also because instead of polluting the wastewater system, it works to absorb other pollutants in the water; it’s blended into high-traffic turf areas such as the greens on golf-courses or the pitches in stadiums because it not only helps retain the water in the soil profile but it stops the nutrients disappearing so they remain available to the grass. In agriculture it’s both a mineral supplement and a useful addition to the bedding used in calving sheds and herd homes. Industrially it’s commonly used in construction linings where it absorbs the toxic volatiles involved in the manufacturing of construction materials. While all these uses collectively help to improve the environment, it’s the high cation exchange capacity which makes it especially useful in cleaning up contaminated waterways due to its particular ability to pick up rogue nutrients such as excess nitrogen whether it’s from an industrial process or from agricultural run-off. While that wasn’t necessarily what drew the three people behind Blue Pacific Minerals, Jamie Mikkelson, Paul Tidmarsh and Dave Hill, to the mineral to begin with, it’s grown in importance for obvious reasons since they started working with zeolite over 25 years ago. “Caring for the environment wasn’t part of the narrative when we bought the business,” says Dave. “But we needed to develop it, and the opportunities the zeolite itself presents, and the products we’re making with it, do have a very positive environmental bent to them, so it really does fit in with the narrative that we now see around us and it’s become a significant part of our agenda going forward.” Feedworks is changing the Agriculture Industry. Feedworks are proud to support Blue Pacific Minerals www.feedworks.co.nz PO Box 530, New Plymouth 0800 584 569 We take pride in our ability to introduce new technologies, see their development through research, market investigation, commercialisation and finally a valuable profitable outcome for our customers. , , , .
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