From what I understand to get a patent one has to make a discovery that no one else has done to date.
Smelting requires heat and any source should suffice.
So where is the discovery?
I think they probably have a moderately strong case. It'll take at least another year or two to resolve the patent process, in my mind, but I'm guessing that the odds are slightly better than 50/50 that they'll eventually be successful.
Minor variations on an existing process can often be patented. Look at smart phones as an example, there are literally thousands of separate patents that relate to phones. To an untrained observer, many of them can appear to be pretty much the same. Of course, this point can also work against KWG.
With respect to your question about whether a substitute heat source would qualify as a separate process that is patentable, I would suggest considering situations whereby a different energy source is used in other industrial processes and applications. Further, the NG reduction method that KWG is trying to patent is further individualized by the inclusion of a catalyst to the process, so it's not just a case of simply a unique heat source.
I hope they make this work. This will also have a huge benefit for Noront at some point in the far distant future, once Noront starts to toy with the idea of developing their own chromite resources.
