Archives: Gem stone mining

The Cullinan diamond mine, in South Africa, led the way in Petra Diamonds’ first half fiscal year 2019 results, with run of mine (ROM) from the underground block cave up 30% year-on-year to 785,444 ct. Petra’s overall group production rose 10% year-on-year to 2.02 Mct (1.84 Mct in H1 2018), while ROM output rose 13%[…]

A Natural Resources Canada-backed research project is looking to devise remote predictive mapping (RPM) methods aiding exploration in the north of the country. The Vancouver Island University (VIU) research project will, the university says, “provide a unique opportunity to examine the glacial landscape of Canada’s North”, resulting in new mapping methods to help identify sources[…]

The Tongo diamond project in Sierra Leone, currently being developed by Newfield Resources, is set to benefit from DebTech’s X-ray diamond recovery technology, the diamond processing technology specialist reports. Working in collaboration with project house Paradigm Project Management, DebTech is to supply a dry unit – the CDX118CD dual wavelength X-ray sorter – to the[…]

The Australian Government Department of Industry, Innovation and Science recently announced that the joint venture (JV) between Qtec, Wallis Drilling and the University of Western Australia has been awarded a three‑year grant from the Cooperative Research Centres Program (CRC-P) up to the value of A$2.8 million ($2 million). Qteq, as the award recipients with Wallis[…]

Myanmar’s parliament has passed a new law governing the gemstone sector. According to international anti-corruption NGO Global Witness, “the law may do little to reform the notoriously corrupt, conflict-tainted, multi-billion dollar jade sector while allowing companies involved in illegal activities and human rights and environmental harms to secure access to the valuable mineral.” The law’s[…]

De Beers Canada, having successfully “winterised” the conventional power solution at its mines in northern Canada, is now looking at a 100% renewable electricity solution for its recently-acquired Chidliak diamond project, CEO Kim Truter told attendees at the Energy and Mines World Congress in Toronto this week. While the Chidliak project is located on Baffin[…]

Wi-Fi, cellular and GPS antennas play a vital role in bringing wireless coverage to the remote areas of mines both above and below ground. With operations taking place in difficult and remote environments, a reliable and effective communication system is an essential requirement to ensure safety and allow uninterrupted communication during routine mining processes. Why[…]

Last week, more than 200 leaders in the Latin American mining industry met in Santiago, Chile, for Digitalization in Mining – Through the Rock, a two-day summit, hosted by Sandvik. This event focused on leading-edge mining technology, and the digitalisation journey contemporary mines face, Sandvik said. “Digitalisation is helping companies to grow and optimise their[…]

Symantec Corp has introduced Industrial Control System Protection (ICSP) Neural, the industry’s first neural network-integrated USB scanning station aimed at helping organisations protect critical infrastructure from the physical consequences of cyber attacks. ICSP Neural uses artificial intelligence to prevent known and unknown attacks on Internet of Things (IoT) and operational technology (OT) environments by detecting[…]

Sandvik says it understands the underground hard-rock mining industry’s need for productive and safe mining with battery-electric vehicles and, as a result, is working on even more solutions to cater to this demand. Innovations and ideas for these future solutions are being discussed and validated in customer forums, participated by several major mining houses, and[…]