All posts by Paul Moore

Kinross refocuses ESG efforts for the future

Comminution of minerals, Environmental, Equipment maintenance, Mineral processing, Mining consumables, Mining equipment, Mining maintenance, Power supply for mines, Sustainable mining

Gold mining major Kinross has released its 2022 Climate Report in which J. Paul Rollinson, the President and Chief Executive Officer discusses how it is translating ESG Strategy into Climate Change Action. He states: “We continue to take important steps to address climate change through renewable energy projects, power purchase agreements, electric autonomous haulage partnerships, and energy-efficient opportunities across our sites.”

Kinross remains committed to a comprehensive GHG reduction plan and has already set an interim intensity reduction target of 30% per ounce produced of Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions by 2030 based on our 2021 baseline of 970 kg of CO2e per Au eq oz produced.

It says its Climate Change Strategy is multifaceted and enhancing the resilience of our business to climate change is one of the five key focus areas of the strategy. “Growing the role of renewable energy in our overall energy portfolio is integral to our strategy, as renewable energy sources contributed 22% to the total energy we consumed in 2022.”

For example, its Tasiast solar project at the Tasiast mine in Mauritania is currently under construction and, once completed, will reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, contributing to overall company GHG reduction targets. The Tasiast solar plant is a key component of the Climate Change Strategy. At a capital cost of $55 million, we expect the Tasiast plant to provide annualised fuel savings of 17 million litres of heavy oil, with a payback of less than five years. This translates into an 18% reduction of GHG emissions from the power plant over life of mine. Annualised GHG emissions reductions are estimated at 50 kilotonnes CO2e and 22.5% of Tasiast’s energy generation will be from renewables.

Approximately, 90% of Kinross’s emissions come from the power grids it relies on and the mining fleets it has deployed in our operations. “We continue to work with local energy providers for low-carbon options such as the power purchase agreement for 100% renewable power in place at our La Coipa mine in Chile. As to our fleets, we are in discussions with the Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) to explore conversions to Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs) as the technology develops.”

Kinross also continues to assess and implement energy efficiency projects which are not only positive business decisions, but that also reduce its energy use and carbon footprint. Most of these initiatives are generated, assessed and executed by its site teams as part of normal operations.

Fort Knox in Alaska continues to improve the energy intensity of its mill by using autogenous grinding (AG), which optimises energy efficiency versus throughput, along with other improvements throughout the mill. At the mine haul routes were also re-designed and optimised to be shorter to the Victoria Creek waste pads.

At Tasiast, energy intensity improved year-over-year by 35% to 726 MJ/t of ore processed from 1,130 MJ/ t processed, a significant improvement due to a 75% increase in tonnes of ore processed. Energy efficiency savings and fuel savings were obtained when running powerhouse two at better efficiencies. Haul routes were also shortened reducing the number of trips required. A QA/QC program led to a reduction in the number of blast drill holes that needed to be redrilled.

At Round Mountain in Nevada, Kinross completed a strategic optimisation project, recommissioning an electric shovel to reduce the use of a diesel-fuelled loader. The project was completed in September 2022. In the fourth quarter, the mine saved over 60,000 litres of diesel fuel, and a reduction of 162 tCO2e, due to using the electric shovel in place of the diesel loader. The project is anticipated to achieve monetary savings of approximately $7 million over four years. Over at the Bald Mountain mine, also in Nevada, relocation of fuel skid close to the hauling path of trucks to minimise travel time to the fuel skid.

At Paracatu in Brazil, a hauling fleet optimisation project led to using the existing fleet to produce the required hauling capacity in the mine plan, removing two scheduled purchases of haul trucks from the mine-plan. Two loaders were also replaced with a Cat 7495 electric rope shovel.

As approximately 90% of Kinross’ current Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions are from mine fleets and power generation, a significant part of its GHG reduction strategy also involves strategic partnerships with equipment manufacturers and energy suppliers.

Initiatives underway include an agreement with Komatsu to take an active role in its zero emission haulage solution, which will target the development of zero-emission haul trucks. Kinross is providing team members, application data, fleet performance requirements and the joint analysis necessary for assisting in product development and evaluation throughout the journey to a net-zero large-scale mining vehicle.

Kinross has also been supporting research since 2018 through an industry consortium with the Canadian Mining Innovation Council (CMIC) to develop a Conjugate Anvil Hammer Mill (CAHM) and MonoRoll, a new crushing and grinding system that could radically reduce energy use in comminution circuits. The project is currently in pilot scale testing, after which mine site testing will occur.

Work is also underway with research and innovation opportunities such as hydrogen power, battery technology, and carbon sequestration and mining electrification.

 

 

Metso Performance Centers – expert services and prescriptive maintenance

Automation, Bulk handling, Comminution of minerals, Equipment maintenance, IoT, Mineral processing, Mining consumables, Mining maintenance, Mining people, Mining safety, Mining services, Mining software

In April 2023, IM Editorial Director Paul Moore toured Metso’s state of the art Performance Center in Santiago, Chile with Pablo Zuniga – Metso’s Remote Services Manager (pictured at the facility above). The facility is just a small part of Metso’s office space in the city but an increasingly important one as mining houses look to maximise efficiency using the latest available technology.

Metso started to build the Performance Center back in 2019, with all the construction completed between April and mid-year 2020. Zuniga joined in January 2020 – having spent about 12 years working with mining companies in processing plant maintenance roles – first with Codelco and then with Antofagasta Minerals. He told IM: “I am an electronic engineer – and started in mining as an instrumentation supervisor in the Codelco Andina concentrator plant. I then moved into a reliability management role at that operation – before moving to AMSA’s Antucoya where I held the role of Reliability Superintendent. So, my experience has involved working with concentrator plant equipment and specifically maintenance and reliability aspects. This involved looking at solutions related to preventive, predictive and prescriptive maintenance.”

He explained that in mining concentrator plants you can have the control systems, advanced process control (APC), model process control and overall automation systems. “But you also have individual areas of automation – plus additional tools – such as using machine learning or instrumentation to monitor asset health in order to try and predict what is going to happen based on historical data as well as the original equipment specifications, set points and limits which of course as the equipment supplier we are the most knowledgeable in. You can start to map the behaviour of a piece of equipment in this way.”

What you are trying to do is detect specific failures and for that you need also expert information that includes knowing the limits for each kind of signal. For predictive maintenance you must find a way to predict failures – to some extent you know how it is going to behave as you have experts with deep equipment experience as well as the manuals with all the information and values related to the equipment.

Prescriptive maintenance is a combination of human expertise and machine learning

He continued: “But you can then add a layer – using machine learning and cloud computing to get information from the site with different IoT tools. You get signals from the site, upload those signals to the cloud and to some kind of hard-wired infrastructure to process that raw data. At that point you do need the historical data to show examples of the behaviour of the equipment in different situations, such as a reaction to changes in ore chemistry, and build up algorithm-based models that are going to predict a failure without having to have a human expert monitoring it. But it doesn’t rely on algorithms alone – you also have to almost ‘teach’ the model for each mode of failure.”

Metso is building these models for diverse types and models of equipment at the Performance Center. Once the model is in place it has two things to offer the customer – it of course has human experts remotely monitoring data to predict and prevent problems and failures. “Then you also have the machine learning based models looking for potential failures 24/7. The expert is doing the prescriptive part – you can predict a failure but then the expert validates it and then based on their experience decides what they believe is happening and why, and then opts for the right action or response for the site to avoid that failure. This is the essence of prescriptive maintenance.”

So why did Metso need a dedicated Performance Center facility and was it driven by Metso or by the customer? “I would say initially it was Metso-driven – as we were looking to develop these kinds of remote services based on machine learning and cloud computing. We wanted to use digital intelligence to help the customer increase efficiency in a better way – use more technology to assist the client combined with our expert knowledge in our own equipment. The establishment of a Performance Center was needed as it would be hard to conduct prescriptive maintenance on the customer’s own site. They are more focused on operations and scheduled maintenance rather than detailed signal analysis.”

Also having a centrally located Performance Center in the city enables Metso to be more inclusive – it can have expert engineers based there that for whatever reason are not physically able to go to the actual sites due to factors such as age, gender, or disability. “For example, we have engineers here that are in their 70s but with unique experience. At the other end of the scale young people are much more likely to stay with Metso long term if they are not having to live on remote mining sites.”

Santiago’s Performance Center is complemented by Metso Performance Centers in Espoo, Finland and Changsha, China. In Santiago, there are currently 11 engineers supporting the Chile Center – some of them are not based in the Performance Center but provide remote infrastructure and software development or programming support. The human expert part of the monitoring is during normal Chilean day shift hours, not 24/7, but the technical platform and tools are operating all the time. The experts are divided by technology, not by mine – so currently there are crusher and screen experts, plus a mill expert for both horizontal and vertical mills, as well as an analyser expert monitoring Metso Courier and PSI on-stream analysers. The Center has also begun monitoring Metso pumps and grinding mills at customer mines.

IM asked Zuniga for examples of failures or failure predictions that have been identified for mining clients. “A common one is related to dust and fines in the crushing area which can start to cause oil contamination in the crusher if the hydraulic system is not very well sealed. This contamination can eventually damage the equipment. Using the pressure of the hydraulic system, and the differential pressure at the filter, we can detect when this type of contamination is increasing before it gets to a critical stage. The customer can then change the filter to avoid equipment stoppages later. A failure is always more costly than a planned shutdown.” From the Performance Center, Metso is monitoring large cone crushers including the MP800, MP1000, MP1250 and MP2500.

Metso monitors large cone crushers from its Performance Center in Santiago including the MP2500

For Courier analysers, the Performance Center is doing online calibration. “When you are operating a flotation plant you need to know what the percentage of copper is in the cell feed and the overflow froth. This information allows the operator to adjust parameters such as the reagent delivery. So, the accuracy of the Courier is crucial – and our monitoring helps ensure the precision of those analysers.” The site takes regular samples and use certified measurements of copper content in the feed and froth and the tails – Metso compares that with the Courier data and if there is any difference, even 1 or 2% then the Courier is recalibrated. This recalibration is done normally once or sometimes twice a week. One Courier can have up to six flows and a major mine can have multiple Couriers.

The Performance Center is currently only monitoring Metso equipment – and beyond the recognised quality of the Metso equipment in the first place, having this prescriptive maintenance service helps to act as an added differentiator for customers. It is offered to customers as a value-added service – but also for some new equipment it is part of a warranty package for one year. It can also be added as part of an upgrade, or form part of a fixed maintenance or Life Cycle Services contract with a site. It is entirely retrofittable to existing equipment.

So, what has been added since inception and how will these services grow and evolve going forward in both Santiago and elsewhere? “We started only in 2020 with an MP1250 cone crusher. Now we have all the Metso MP crushers able to be supported from the Centers. We then added HP crushers and will soon offer these services for MKII and MKIII Superior primary gyratory crushers as well. We have the PSI and Courier analysers, as well as screens and pumps. Later in 2023 we are adding more grinding mills – we already have two connected and are adding two more. This includes both SAG and ball mills, and both gearless and gear driven. In addition to these technologies, in Espoo, Finland, they are monitoring pressure and belt filters.”

IM Editorial Director, Paul Moore, at the Metso Performance Center in Chile

The Performance Center in Santiago is not just monitoring equipment located in Chile. It is also monitoring crushing equipment in Panama, as well as supporting the monitoring of equipment for the Performance Center in Finland looking at signals for crushers and other equipment in Europe, South Africa and Finland. Likewise, if the Chile Performance Center were to connect a filter press – then Finland could perform a similar function. “We work together to transfer knowledge and to share experience and best practices. All the infrastructure that we have is cloud based and you can see the information from anywhere.”

How does the Performance Center interact with the customer? They have user interface visualisations: “We have two comms channels – the customers receive email alerts that inform them on what we are seeing and what the potential failure could be and what could be the impact of that failure, plus the actions they need to take to avoid that failure. We also have regular scheduled meeting with customers where we summarise which actions they have impending. We also have some kind of contact with every customer on a daily basis.”

Usually, the main Metso contact at the customer site for these meetings is a senior engineer, who reports to the superintendent of the plant and ultimately to the plant manager; but the superintendent is also part of any maintenance and operations communications especially for any serious or critical issues that arise during remote monitoring.

How fast is demand for these remote services growing? “At the beginning because it was new, customers were quite conservative, as is typical in mining. Or they wanted proof of the value before committing to it. So, we started offering it as a free add on as part of other services. Our first customer, a major Chilean copper mine, used the remote monitoring for seven months as part of a pilot then immediately recognised the value of the service and committed to continue on a paid for basis. Now we have more equipment supported with our customers, spanning a range of different technologies. And we are now in the process of starting monitoring for them at their other concentrator plant.” Zuniga emphasised the important of liaising with the right person at the site – ideally someone in the maintenance team – to be able to demonstrate the value.

Looking to the future and the metaverse

The scope of the Performance Centers is continuing to widen under its provision of Expert Services. “Today at the Performance Center we are not only doing remote monitoring. Today in mining you have Industry 4.0 and all the technologies you could be applying – these also have a sustainability benefit as well – what we in Metso call Planet Positive. We started with IoT, Big Data, Cloud Computing and Machine Learning for our predictive and prescriptive maintenance. We also have an Automation offering, which includes Advanced Process Control (APC), Advanced Instrumentation, Digital Twins and Model Process Control (MPC). Now we are adding augmented reality and virtual reality in various kinds of applications.”

These have two different uses – AR is when you can mix reality with some kind of digital element, like a hologram. Metso uses that to assist the customer in the field. So instead of having an expert travelling to the site which might take two days, they can use AR from here in Santiago. “The engineer or supervisor at the customer site puts on special AR HoloLens glasses and we can then see what they are seeing and deploy distinct types of help using the glasses. We are also creating a metaverse, using VR to have digital versions of our equipment within a virtual platform to be able to teach people using avatars in an interactive way about the different parts and dimensions – they learn much faster this way than from a presentation or a written manual. We are already doing this for training customers today. We also use it at mining tradeshows.”

Zuniga hired a specialist IT company in Chile called Minverso to create a Metso metaverse, based on Metso’s equipment and experience. “It also allows global based training – you could have a trainer in Chile and the trainee in South Africa as an example as it just needs an internet connection with voice chat. We have developed this metaverse capability in Chile, but we are now working with the Metso Training Academy in Finland to expand the platform and make it available to Metso teams in different countries to offer to customers.”

Torsa’s stockpile safety system at Antapaccay receives accolades

Base metals, Bulk handling, Equipment maintenance, Mine surveying, Mineral processing, Mining safety, Mining services

Torsa has undertaken a successful project to develop a state-of-the-art safety system for the stockpiles at Antapaccay copper mine in Peru, owned by Glencore. The main objective of this solution was to implement an operator alert system for stockpiles, aiming to prevent incidents related to the operator’s position on the  feeders. The system was entirely customised to meet the specific needs of Antapaccay.

The project involved an analysis of the feeder locations and the interaction between various mining equipment and these elements. The solution provided a user-friendly interface that informed machinery operators about the risks in their work area. It offered visual and auditory alerts only in the presence of a genuine risk, making it an effective tool for enhancing safety in the work zone.

The comprehensive scope of work executed by Torsa included development of the Stockpile Alert Solution based on the previously reviewed technical proposal and performing detailed engineering to define key data for system development, including the identification of risk zones. Torsa also supplied the necessary equipment for the implementation of the security system and ensured smooth installation and commissioning, plus provided comprehensive training to the operators.

The system reports to the Torsa Cloud platform, enabling seamless connectivity and centralised monitoring. Clients can configure various types of alerts according to their specific requirements. The platform also allows access to real-time information from any internet-connected device.

The reliability and effectiveness of the project also led to Antapaccay receiving recognition from the ISEM (Institute of Mining Safety in Peru) for the system. It also won the Excellence in Risk Prevention Award 2022 organised by RIMAC. This award was granted in the category of ‘Best Business Initiative in Occupational Risk Prevention’ thanks to the stockpile safety system.

Repeat orders for Jaw Gyratory Crushers in Australia for FLS

Comminution of minerals, Equipment maintenance, Mineral processing, Mining consumables, Mining maintenance

In Australia, FLSmidth has received an order to deliver two of its Jaw Gyratory Crushers of model BK 63-75 to an underground mine in New South Wales. The recent order makes it the fifth and sixth Jaw Gyratory Crushers for this project, as it follows several already successful project deliveries of the same crusher type since 2010 for this customer.

FLS stated: “As with the previous orders, we deliver true performance to our partner: Each crusher can process up to 3,000 t of ROM gold ore per hour, while the unique feed opening design allows for the processing of even very large blocks, which often occur in the initial crushing phase.”

The Jaw Gyratory Crusher Pro is engineered to handle bigger chunks of material than comparable gyratory crushers of the same mantle diameter. “This gives you greater flexibility in your crushing operation, and reduces the tendency for bridging in the feed zone. Despite being capable of handling large feed materials, the Jaw Gyratory Crusher Pro still delivers a fine and uniform product thanks to its higher crushing ratio. The main characteristic of our jaw gyratory crushers is their enlarged feed opening, which is located on one side of the crusher only. It is normally serrated and, together with the upper part of the mantle, it forms the initial crushing zone. The coarsely crushed material is then reduced to the desired product size in the crushing chamber below.”

The optimised crushing chamber with huge feed opening also ensures high throughput rates; less tendency of bridging and a high crushing ratio. It allows for two crushing stages, a more fine and uniform product  plus low operating and wear costs. It still combines all the advantages of a common gyratory crusher, including hydraulic adjustment of crushing gap to compensate for wear and a hydraulic main shaft adjustment for overload protection as well as a gyramatic monitoring and control system. It has direct drive via a disc-pack coupling with floating shaft and safety coupling, a cyclo-palloid spiral bevel gear for smooth operation and use of high-capacity drive motors; plus high starting torque allows the starting of the crusher under load in emergencies.

 

North America’s first Sandvik battery bolter gets to work at Tanco in Canada

Equipment maintenance, Mine shafts and equipment, Mining consumables, Mining equipment, Mining maintenance, Mining safety, Mining services

A milestone in the world of battery electric ground support equipment was reached in Canada earlier this year when Tantalum Mining Corp of Canada (Tanco) near Lac Du Bonnet, Manitoba, working with Sandvik Mining & Rock Solutions Key Account Manager Ivan Magdic, deployed Canada’s and North America’s first battery electric Sandvik DS412iE bolter.

It enables zero emissions operation including while tramming, thanks to its electric driveline including a battery package and electric motor, reducing thermal load and therefore requirements for ventilation capacity underground.

The world-famous Tanco underground operation has mined a LCT pegmatite (lithium, caesium and tantalum) commercially for over 50 years. Scott Rankmore, Tanco Mine Operations Manager told IM: “The DS412iE was delivered in early February 2023. With the assistance of Sandvik’s technicians and trainers, the miners selected to run the bolter have done an exceptional job of learning the machine and becoming proficient in a short period of time. It has operated without any major downtime and the production rate has been excellent.”

Rankmore added that the DS412iE runs off a cable while bolting and has the ability to charge the battery while it is plugged in and drilling using Sandvik’s patented charging system. “The battery is used for tramming purposes but can also drill many holes while using the battery only and not plugged in. For example, we have had the Sandvik bolter still working while the power was cut off in the mine for other reasons.”

Sandvik adds that beyond the driveline, the DS412iE is a bolter for 4 m x 4 m size headings combining a safe, ergonomic working environment with high levels of automation. Equipped with a completely new carrier, a high frequency rock drill, an intelligent control system and an ergonomic cabin, the DS412iE offers high levels of safety and efficiency providing peace of mind for all types of rock reinforcement operations. With different bolt lengths, it enables wider bolt selection. Automatic resin shooting and cement mixing system ensure a high quality rock reinforcement process.

It offers up to 35% high penetration rate than previous models plus up to 90% automatic bolt installation. The i-Class platform also allows integration with Sandvik’s digital offering including iSURE®, MySandvik Remote Monitoring Service, OptiMine® and AutoMine®.

But what led Tanco to invest in a battery electric machine – what were the main drivers and priorities? Rankmore: “To put an electric vehicle in our mine where we are mining for ore that supports the electric vehicle market was an obvious move. I feel it is partly Tantalum Mining’s responsibility to prove that electric vehicles can be a viable option in all types of settings.” He added that Tanco going forward in terms of its fleet evolution intends to do everything it can to support the electric vehicle market.

In terms of maintenance and service to help support the machine, Tanco has an agreement in place where Sandvik has a technician on site on a one week on, one week off schedule. Tanco has also invested in Sandvik’s battery as a service agreement that has it covered if for some reason the battery on the unit fails and needs to be maintained or changed out in short order.

Sandvik’s BEV momentum accelerates as it commits to Electric Mine 2024 Platinum Sponsorship

Automation, Environmental, Equipment maintenance, Mine ventilation, Mining consumables, Mining equipment, Mining maintenance, Mining services, Power supply for mines, Sustainable mining

The Electric Mine 2024 has come out of the blocks with a world-leading OEM and top battery-electric mining technology innovator in one of the top sponsorship slots. We are delighted to announce that we will be working closely with Sandvik Mining and Rock Solutions over the next year as one of only two Platinum Sponsors of the event. Amongst other things this will include a Sandvik BEV customer panel in the conference line-up, a Sandvik electric machine at the event plus Sandvik having one of the larger ‘Gigawatt’ booths in the exhibition.

It is entirely appropriate that Sandvik should be one of the companies headlining The Electric Mine 2024 two years on from the landmark 2022 event in Stockholm, where Sandvik was also one of the two major sponsors. But things have really accelerated since then – some mining companies, including juniors, mid-tiers and majors – have already taken the next step and committed to all-electric primary Sandvik fleets for their operations, both established and in-development – including Newcrest Brucejack, Torex Gold Media Luna, Foran Mining McIlvenna Bay and Rana Gruber in Storforshei to name a few. Others are starting new pilots and trials with Sandvik BEVs or are part way through them.

Not only that but there have been major technology steps forward as well – including a higher-capacity battery for Sandvik’s BEV loaders and trucks that delivers 36% more energy in the same envelope. And the company is establishing a new production unit in Malaysia for manufacturing underground loaders and trucks in an effort to answer growing demand for its BEVs. Plus the long awaited autonomous plus electric question has already been answered with the LH518iB – the AutoMine-ready version of the 18-t-payload LH518B.

Moving to drilling, with the DD422iE jumbo, DS412iE bolter and DL422iE production drill, Sandvik has a full range of electric options underground already. While the AutoMine® Concept Underground Drill, a cabinless BEV drill, shows what is coming in the future. On the surface, its full electric concept rig is an ideal platform to build on as the OEM works towards its stated goal of having a complete range of electrified surface drilling solutions in all hole sizes by 2030.

Finally – what also makes Perth an ideal hub for the event in 2024 is that Sandvik is playing a central role in the electrification of Australian underground mining. The world’s leading underground contract mining market is a great place to hold an event like this. Contract mining giant Barminco this year is deploying Sandvik’s largest BEV, the TH665B, at AngloGold Ashanti’s Sunrise Dam operation in WA. The other global contract mining major Byrnecut has agreed to purchase six of the all new LH518iB machines with AutoMine® for use in Australia. The OEM is supporting all of these operations and more with a recently opened purpose-built workshop and warehouse in Perth.

For more information on the event, please see the new website entirely updated for 2024: www.theelectricmine.com

Kal Tire and tyre circularity in Chile

Environmental, Equipment maintenance, Mining consumables, Mining equipment, Mining maintenance, Mining services, Sustainable mining

In April 2023, IM Editorial Director, Paul Moore, toured Kal Tire Chile’s unique mining tyre recycling facility near Antofagasta with Rodrigo Reyes, Kal Tire Chile Recycling Plant Manager and Carlos Zuniga, Kal Tire Chile General Manager. There have been many attempts around the world to start up meaningful large mining tyre recycling capability based on pyrolysis – some remain on a small scale, but many others have closed either due to fires and safety incidents, or failure to get consistent results or have failed to achieve sustainability goals in terms of actual production of saleable byproducts.

Kal Tire’s Rodrigo Reyes & Carlos Zuniga faced up to many challenges to achieve a world leading process and facility

Canadian tyre management and service company Kal Tire has uniquely succeeded in establishing the world’s first commercial mining tyre recycling operation in La Negra, Chile – getting it right both in terms of the process itself, with saleable byproducts, but crucially doing so in a country where mining tyre recycling is now mandatory under the REP Law.

It is a serious business – if the law is not complied with, the tyre importer could be fined and unable to import any further tyres to Chile for a full year. And a number of other countries are looking at what is happening in Chile – already Peru is looking at enacting its own similar legislation and a number of Peruvian delegations from both the government and mining groups have visited the Kal Tire facility. The plant, known in Chile as RNG which stands for Reciclaje Neumaticos Gigantes (RNG), basically translated as Giant Tyre Recycling, has been developed over several years. The operation is now managed by a JV set up between Kal Tire and Mitsui & Co. in 2022.

The business case

It took a lot of effort and hard work dating back as far as 2016 – but it is now paying off – Bridgestone is now recycling its used tyres in Chile. The REP Law came into force in January 2023, and requires companies that import mining tyres to collect and recycle 25% of used tyres. But by 2027 the mandated recycling figure will increase from 25% to 75%, and by 2030, the target will further increase to 100%. As of today, all the many thousands of legacy tyres at mine sites, many of which are buried, are not affected by the law, but this could change in the future, and many mines may choose to deal with these tyres purely for sustainability reasons.

The customer is responsible to deliver the used tyres to the plant but Kal Tire can also offer this as a service if needed. The first stage of the process is a weigh bridge to confirm the weight of the tyres coming into the facility. According to the Chilean law, any tonnes of tyres that enter the facility must be accounted for in terms of the recycling process and resultant products.

The process begins with cutting each large tyre into pieces

It effectively becomes a closely monitored circular economy once the tyres cross the threshold. A certified scale is used that is recalibrated every six months. Another aspect is that Kal Tire charges customers based on the tons received. The mandated recycler and therefore the most likely customer is whoever imported the tyres that are now to be recycled into Chile in the first place – so in most cases this will be the big tyre makers – effectively Bridgestone or Michelin.

At the same time while the mines are not mandated to recycle their used tyres – they still have an environmental responsibility to do it and some are looking at it for that reason – during the IM visit, the first 63 in Bridgestone tyres arrived from El Abra mine, but up to this point, the facility had been recycling an initial volume of 2,500 t of Michelin 63 in tyres sent from AMSA’s Los Pelambres mine in 2021 – initially 100 tyres then the full batch after their executives came to see it themselves. This was a private arrangement outside of the REP Law. All these tyres were recycled as of May 2023 following the IM visit.

The plant is also highly certified – as an example it is undergoing ISO5001 inspections in terms of energy management, expected to be awarded later this year, and recently received International Sustainability and Carbon Certification (ISCC) PLUS certification verifying that its mining tyre recycling facility in Chile processes circular feedstocks. This will allow the products to be saleable in the European market.

From gate to market

After the tyres are weighed, they are stored – and Kal Tire has the right to store up to 4,000 t of 57 in and 63 in tyres on its property. Once the tyres are recorded and registered they are ready to begin the actual preparation and move to a cutting area, which uses a pair of specialised cutting machines. The tyres are thoroughly cleaned of dirt and dust first as this increases the cutting efficiency but also reduces contamination during the thermal conversion itself. The cutting machine is semi-automated, with the initial speed of the mechanism being inputted but then it carries out the cutting independently. The tyre is cut into six pieces, and after that each of the six pieces is put into the secondary cutter and cut into three pieces – so in total each large tyre ends up in 18 pieces. The process is intensive, but overall is it much cleaner than other processes that involve ripping or shredding tyres – less dust is created plus the regular pieces are much easier to handle.

IM’s Paul Moore with Rodrigo Reyes in front of the reactors in April 2023

The pieces are then moved to the business end of the plant – the two thermal conversion reactors themselves. Each one has a 20 t/d capacity. The tyre pieces are loaded into the reactors using a specially designed conveyor belt starting from the rear of the reactor to the front. At this stage Kal Tire still knows which particular used tyre is being recycled and the pieces are weighed a final time before being added. The authorities only want to know that the tonnage that entered the plant was recycled, but some mines also want to know what specific tyres were recycled. For Kal Tire the weighing is very important as well – due to mass balance calculations at the end of the process – comparing the tyre weight to derived products including fuel oil, carbon black, steel etc.

It is a very sequential process – one is being cooled down ready for a new batch while the other is working at high temperature. In the combustion chamber, the grey casing surrounding the reactor, temperatures reach over 500°C with temperatures inside the reactor itself varying based on the recipe required for the tyre structure and compound that will be processed. The process starts with LPG fuel but after a certain number of hours, syngas from the process starts to be produced which is reused in the heating process – another aspect that is unique to Kal Tire’s facility. This both reduces LPG consumption. The reactors constantly rotate the batch mass to transfer the heat evenly through all the tyre pieces.

So where did the design come from? Kal Tire initially asked an Italian company to design and assemble a system based on its needs – this was done initially in Italy including testing and review by a Kal Tire team, then it was disassembled and shipped to Chile for reassembly.

From when the burner is switched on to when it is switched off is 24 hours – this includes the heating and pyrolysis. This is followed by another 10 hours of cooling after which the direction of rotation also changes after the temperature finally drops to 80°C so that a screw system is able to recover the carbon black which by now is in a powder form. This is one of three products obtained along with tyre pyrolysis oil or TPO, a condensate from some of the gases produced by the burning rubber, and the steel cord itself. Some 6 t of steel cord is all that is left after all the carbon black is removed and by that stage has coalesced into a worm like structure – this is removed by a dedicated truck and then the process is complete. Some of the gases that cannot be condensed during the process are sent to a light oil tank where the gases are condensed using a water cooling system – some of this can then be sent back to the burner, again contributing to energy efficiency. In the combustion chamber heat is also recirculated.

The number one challenge, more so than getting required permits for the site, sourcing tyres themselves, or anything else – was getting this sequential process right. Reyes told IM: “From the very beginning the target was to be able to open the reactor and have steel without any rubber. And we were quickly able to do that, within 26 hours. But doing it at that speed means the syngas is generated over a short period such that it would not be able to be used in the process – and we would have no option but to flare it off, and that is not something that fits with our environmental and sustainable goals. You need to have the right ramp up of temperature over time at the right pressure to produce the syngas at a rate where it could self-fuel the process.”

One of the main characteristics of the Kal Tire plant versus other pyrolysis facilities is also that it is an automated system. Both lines can be digitally managed from the nearby control room and there is an emergency shutdown procedure if needed. Also if the system flags up any issues such as pressure exceeding set parameters, it will automatically put the plant in a safe condition mode where a valve is opened to relieve pressure and all the gases sent to flare. The reactors run 24/7 with the control room always staffed by two people – with teams operating on two 12 hour shifts.

Preparing the way for future expansion – and there is plenty of room to do it

Final products from OTR tyres

On to the final products – already today Kal Tire is selling its derived oil, steel and carbon black in the immediate region but at a relatively low price. This includes carbon black to the regional plastic, explosives and rubber industries, with the steel going for scrap to a steelmaker in Santiago.

To enhance the saleability of the carbon black a lot of R&D is going on at the site’s own lab and at Kal Tire’s Canada facilities. The powder from the process has high fines and volatiles and the research sees it go through a process of heating, milling and pelletising, with different pellet sizes aimed at different markets.

The heavy and light oils from the process are mixed in a tank and filtered to one product. Some of this oil is refined by a customer to a usable diesel similar to marine fuel, while some of the oil goes to the explosives market for mixing with ammonium nitrate in ANFO. Kal Tire has also bought its own 50 kW generator, and is already testing combinations of its refined oil with standard diesel along with additives to operate it.

Future potential

Overall, the RNG has the capacity to recycle 7,300 t per year of large mining tyres. The growth plan for Kal Tire at the site has the potential for the plant to expand to 22,000 t/y by the addition of two more pairs of identical reactors. There is no doubt this will happen and the area is already being prepared for it, but the exact timing will depend on the timing and size of new contracts. The existing storage and cutting area is sufficient to allow for this. And this will be badly needed as all the mining tyres imported since the beginning of 2023 start to filter through the system under the REP Law. Notably despite some noises, no other mining tyre recycling facilities on this scale or with this sophistication and sustainability have yet been developed in Chile.

Epiroc progresses its auto-bolting with SDAs & pumpable resin

Automation, Equipment maintenance, Mine shafts and equipment, Mining consumables, Mining equipment, Mining maintenance, Mining safety, Mining services, Mining software, Steel and iron ore

At the Epiroc World Expo 2023 in Orebro, Sweden, attended by IM, Peter Bray, Epiroc Global Product Manager – Rock Reinforcement Equipment presented the latest Boltec E10 S ABR – the latest and most advanced incarnation of its Boltec E10 and M10 models first introduced in 2021, which introduced previously unavailable autonomous functionality to full mechanised bolting. In this case the ABR stands for Auto Bolt Reload.

Bray stated: “Those of you that have seen a Boltec before – there are a lot of similarities but also some important differences in the bolter carrier magazine. We have the ability to have 44 bolts in the magazine, using an overhead gantry to pick up four bolts at a time and drops them into the feed magazine where a total of eight bolts can be held.”

The overall design of this set-up began in 2016, with the first proof of concept machine delivered to LKAB’s Kiruna iron ore mine in northern Sweden in early 2020. “This was originally just a six month field trial but since that was completed successfully they decided to continue to rent that machine, which is still in operation today more than three years later.”

From that work, Bray said it has seen that the reloading system works very well and is very reliable. “The heart and soul of the machine is the bolts themselves – self drilling anchors – used with a pumpable resin.” The back of the machine has two tanks – one white, one black. These contain the two main components of a polyurea silicate resin – Epiroc uses Weber Mining’s POTENTIA® THIXO – and it isn’t until the components are mixed together that the chemical reaction actually starts.

There are two individual gear pumps that pump the components via hoses to the mixing point, with the pumps controlling the flow and pumping pressure at all times – and they are controlled via the Boltec’s Rig Control System (RCS). If anything is out of the set parameters, pumping can be stopped immediately. The components are mixed using static mixers that fold them together over and over again until you have a complete mix. The mixed resin is pumped via an injection cup that is held against the base of the SDA bolt with approximately 500 kg of feed force to ensure a good injection seal as well as pushing the bolt and plate hard up against the rock surface. The mixed resin flows up inside the bolt via the flushing hole and then out through the drill bit to fill the bolt hole from the top down. When resin is seen coming out from behind the plate, it is an indication that all cracks and voids inside the bolt hole are filled and that the bolt is fully encapsulated.

There is one extra element on this machine which makes it all repeatable. “After every injection sequence, we flush the static mixer element with biodegradable grease. If this was not done, the remaining resin inside the mixer element would harden resulting in more or less a one use item. The flushing grease is very effective, with up to 300-500 injection sequences before we need to change out the mixer element.”

The machine at the Epiroc World Expo 2023 was a new prototype bound for Boliden’s Garpenberg Mine, Sweden. “What we are going to be doing there is building on what we already know works – the mechanised bolt reloading system. We also did a field trial in 2022 at Boliden’s Kristineberg Mine which was primarily to test the new machine software for automated drilling and installation of bolts. Now we will combine the two together for operation of the ABR at Garpenberg starting in August 2023.”

The machine will be used for autobolting. It also has the same teleremote cameras that are used on Epiroc Simba production drills. Bray concludes: “When it comes to the automation of bolting – we have had the technical ability to do it for many years – the first fully autonomous Simba was running in the early 1990s as well as the first Simba teleremote control system. Boomers have had the ability to conduct automated face drilling since the mid-1990s. The bolts themselves where the remaining missing piece. Because when we are installing bolts, especially in bad ground conditions, if you are trying to shoot resin cartridges into a partially broken hole with some smaller rocks inside, the cartridge gets stopped so you lose the ability to autonomously bolt. Misalignment if you are trying to bolt through mesh is another problem. But by using a self drilling anchor or SDA, the bolt is the drill string – you drill it in and inject it with resin – there is no misalignment as the bolt stays centred at all times. You also aren’t worried about pushing something past fractured rock. It was the use of SDAs with pumpable resin that opened the door for autonomous bolt installation.”

Other features of the machine displayed in Orebro included a mesh handling boom, which picks up sheets of mesh and holds them in place for bolting through them. It is capable of many degrees of movement through multiple rotation units. As an example, LKAB Kiruna has used its machine for a lot of rehab work in an area damaged by a seismic event so they can install mesh with no one having to go in front of the Boltec. At Kiruna an operator has also never had to once come out of the cab to manually load the feed magazine. The next stage will be moving the operator to a remote office for tele-remote operation.

Thiess and Epiroc celebrate a million autonomous drilled metres at Lake Vermont

Automation, Coal technology, Equipment maintenance, Explosives and blasting, Mining equipment, Mining services, Mining software, Sustainable mining

In 2019, Thiess was the first mining services provider to deploy an Epiroc Pit Viper drill fitted with an autonomous drilling system (ADS) and has since expanded its fleet with additional autonomous drills now in operation. Thiess’ fleet of autonomous Epiroc drills has now achieved a significant milestone, safely drilling more than one million lineal metres at the Lake Vermont coal mine in Queensland.

Thiess Group Executive Assets, Technical Services and Technology Ramesh Liyanage and Epiroc Business Line Manager Drilling Solutions Alex Grant joined team representatives including Colin Mulligan, Operations Manager at Thiess, on-site this week to celebrate the achievement.

Liyange recognised the milestone as an opportunity for Thiess and Epiroc to celebrate their collective success, proving the drills capability in a complex mining setting. “Drilling more than one million lineal metres without an operator in the machine is a significant milestone and a reflection of Thiess’ ongoing commitment to increasing operational efficiency and safety outcomes through technology and innovation.”

Thiess Group Executive Chair and CEO Michael Wright said: “It’s through our relationships with leading equipment manufacturers such as Epiroc, that we’re able to support our clients with innovative products and services to meet their sustainability and production goals.”

At Lake Vermont, the multi-pass drills operate remotely from the site’s office, working autonomously for up to 22 hours per day. These drills employ advanced guidance technologies to precisely drill holes according to the specified location and depth in the drill plan. With the current multi-pass capability, operators can drill holes ranging from 171 mm to 270 mm in diameter and reach depths up to 72 m.

The drill program is also unique in its implementation of a number of ‘firsts’ including the first Epiroc fully autonomous Pit Viper 275 to operate at a coal mine in Australia, the first project with a fleet of multi-pass fully autonomous rigs drilling side-by-side globally and Thiess being the first mining services provider to autonomously drill one million multi-pass lineal metres, globally.

Epiroc President and CEO Helena Hedblom said: “We are proud to celebrate a momentous milestone with our valued customer, Thiess, as we reach the remarkable milestone of autonomously drilling one million metres together. This achievement underscores our strong partnership and commitment to delivering cutting-edge solutions in the mining industry and demonstrates the power of collaboration setting a new benchmark for the future of autonomous drilling.”

Thiess is exploring the application of this technology to its projects in the Americas.

NHL hails first all-domestic Chinese ultraclass mining truck

Bulk handling, Coal technology, Equipment maintenance, Mining consumables, Mining equipment, Mining maintenance, Mining services, Power supply for mines

On July 12, the leading Chinese mining truck OEM Inner Mongolia North Hauler Joint Stock Co (NHL) and Chinese coal giant CHN Energy through its division Zhunneng Group held a delivery ceremony for a 300 ton class diesel-electric drive dump truck at the Haerwusu opencast coal mine.

The truck is unique is that it is the first large mining truck in China to be constructed mainly of Chinese-made components – including the engine, electric wheel motors and other major parts.

Zhang Jufu, Director of the Investment Planning Department of the Autonomous Region’s Office of Industry and Information Technology, Bai Guosheng, Deputy Director of the Baotou City Bureau of Industry and Information, Guo Haiquan, Deputy General Manager of NHL, Cao Yong, Deputy General Manager of Zhunneng Group, and other relevant personnel attended the delivery ceremony.

​NHL said that the delivery of the 300 ton ‘domestic mining dump truck’ is testament to the depth of cooperation between NHL and Zhunneng Group who are jointly promoting the benefits of localised construction, “breaking the dual monopoly of imported product technology and price,” and its advent also marks the breakthrough of high-powered diesel engines for mining heavy trucks in China.

It added that many the development of domestic core technologies such as electric drive systems has enhanced the comprehensive strength of China’s key basic components, basic materials, basic processes, industrial technologies and other aspects of mining trucks, which collectively is highly significant and an important milestone in the development history of electric wheel mining trucks in China.

This model is the first domestic large mining truck with independent intellectual property rights, which is equipped with a high speed diesel engine developed by domestic manufacturers and equipped with an engine intelligent supervisory control system. For the next step, NHL says it will continue to cooperate with Zhunneng Group to successfully trial the truck, continuously improve its performance, and build it into a mining truck with high reliability, high durability and higher quality.

At the ceremony, Zhang Yaobin, President of the Product Research Institute of NHL, delivered the truck’s symbolic “golden key” to Wang Jiming, Deputy Mining Director of Halwusu opencast coal mine. Zhang Jufu, Bai Guosheng, Cao Yong, Guo Haiquan and Wang Jiming together cut the ribbon for the truck.