Tag Archives: Aeris Resources

Aeris Resources looks to solve Stockman recovery challenges with Albion process

Base metals, Comminution of minerals, Environmental, Mineral processing, Mineral project development, Mining equipment, Mining services, Sustainable mining, , , ,

Aeris Resources has provided an update on the feasibility study underway on its 100% owned Stockman project in Victoria, Australia, guiding for a development path that includes ultrafine grinding and the Albion Process from Glencore Technology.

Andre Labuschagne, Aeris’ Executive Chairman, said: “We are very excited with the potential of the Stockman project. Since acquiring Stockman as part of the Round Oak acquisition in July 2022, our technical teams have materially advanced the project.”

With a recent update to the mineral resource estimate for the Currawong deposit, the company now intends to mine only Currawong for the first 12 years of operations, at a rate of up to 850,000 t/y of ore, he added.

“Mining Currawong simplifies the operation compared to the previous plan of mining Currawong and Wilga concurrently, whilst also reducing up-front capital,” he said.

The processing strategy will involve two stages: the mine site processing plant will have a simplified flowsheet producing a high-grade copper concentrate and a bulk concentrate containing copper, zinc, gold and silver. The copper concentrate will be transported to market while the bulk concentrate will be trucked to a regional offsite processing facility. The offsite processing facility will use ultrafine grinding and the Albion Process to produce separate copper, zinc and precious metals saleable products.

Labuschagne said: “The addition of the Albion Process has potential to provide a step change in metal recoveries and materially improve project economics. An initial desktop study has been completed with the technology vendor, utilising the recent feasibility study and metallurgical test work results. A number of potential locations for the off-site processing facility have already been identified.

“The Albion Process technology is in operation at multiple locations globally, processing copper, zinc and precious metals. This is well established, oxidative leaching technology proven to treat a wide range of concentrates with high metal recoveries.”

The Albion Process uses a combination of ultrafine grinding and oxidative leaching at atmospheric pressure to work. It also tolerates a more variable feed and lower grade than other processes, according to Glencore Technology, meaning it can make some projects feasible and profitable where alternative technologies could not. The sulphides in the feed are oxidised and valuable metals liberated, with the economic metals recovered by conventional downstream processing. Test work requires only small sample masses with no pilot plant, Glencore Technology says.

The process has produced high recoveries in refractory gold and in base metal concentrates at the six Albion Process plants in operation across the globe, according to the company.

Labuschagne says opportunities to further improve other aspects of the operations, its ESG footprint and project economics have also been identified, which are progressing.

He added: “The feasibility study will now focus on verification of the metallurgical, flowsheet and economic assumptions associated with incorporating the Albion Process into the project. We are targeting to finalise the feasibility study in the second (June) half of 2024.”

The Stockman project was acquired by Round Oak Minerals Pty Ltd (ROM) from Independence Group NL (IGO) in December 2017. Aeris subsequently acquired the ROM businesses, including the Stockman project, in July 2022.

In 2019, ROM completed a Selection Phase Study (SPS), consolidating and advancing earlier studies undertaken by previous owners of the project, IGO and Jabiru Metals Limited. The ROM SPS comprised the development of two underground mines (Wilga and Currawong), mining approximately 1 Mt/y, and an on-site flotation processing plant producing copper and zinc concentrates with precious metal by-products. Results from the SPS provided the basis for ROM to commence a Definition Phase Study.

Aeris Resources doubles its Rokion battery LV fleet at Tritton

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As part of its efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and energy consumption at its mining operations, Aeris Resources has added a second battery-electric light vehicle to its Tritton fleet in New South Wales, Australia.

In the company’s just released annual report, it said an “electric LV troop carrier” had been delivered to Tritton in the year to June 30, 2023. It clarified that this was a Rokion R400 vehicle able to seat nine people built for underground conditions. Rokion states that, as standard, the R400 platform is able to accommodate three passengers in a utility vehicle setup or up to 12 in a passenger crew variant.

Earlier this year, Aeris confirmed it had been testing a Rokion R100 at Tritton, a vehicle that includes a four-passenger crew truck and a two-passenger utility truck.

Aeris’ Tritton operation has also previously used the battery-electric retrofit ‘TRITEV’ 20 t underground Integrated Tool-Carrier/Loader following a collaboration between 3ME and Aeris that started all the way back in 2017.

Aeris said in its annual report that the Rokion 100 vehicle is now also operational on site.

Ramjack to provide Aeris Resources with tech strategy, roadmap aimed at optimising operations

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Aeris Resources and Ramjack Technology Solutions have announced a partnership to further secure Aeris’ competitive position by leveraging Ramjack’s technology strategy and roadmap services, the METS company says.

The engagement will ensure world-class operational practices are achieved through best-of-breed technology selection, utilisation and integration, providing return on investment within 12 months, Ramjack says.

This phase will streamline the way operational technologies work synchronously across four copper, gold, zinc and silver mining complexes in Australia. Ramjack says it has accomplished Phase 1 by evaluating the interoperability of existing technologies at multiple sites, in various states of adoption, to uncover further productivity improvements and cost efficiencies. The technologies assessed covered production, technical services, maintenance, safety, geology and administration.

Ian Sheppard, Chief Operations Officer for Aeris Resources, said innovation was a critical component of their drive to improve mine productivity.

“The pragmatic application of operations technology is an enabler for our people to innovate,” he said. “We selected Ramjack as experts in operations technology integration because their vendor-agnostic model is such a refreshing change from the confusion that arises from dealing directly with a multitude of technology suppliers. Ramjack has a track record of helping mines to select the right technology to achieve the sustainable and repeatable productivity improvements we need.”

Roy Pater, Ramjack VP APAC, said: “We’re thrilled to engage in partnerships where expert collaboration results in innovation. Aeris knew that a standardised operational model with scalable technology would benefit them in the long run. Our services and partnership with Aeris will deliver at least a 2.5% year-on-year operational improvement for them, compounded annually with any new investment.”

With information gathering done, the next steps include knowledge transfer services to empower the Aeris team to get more out of its systems, make better mining decisions, maximise ore grade, exceed production targets, reduce costs and enhance safety, Ramjack says. Final steps include technology selection recommendations and deployment services that will deliver a major change in how data is collected and used to deliver accurate, actionable information for timely production improvement decisions, it added.

Aeris Resources is a mid-tier base and precious metals producer. Its copper-dominant portfolio comprises four operating assets, a long-life development project and a highly prospective exploration portfolio, spanning Queensland, Western Australia, New South Wales and Victoria, with headquarters in Brisbane.

NextOre’s in-pit sorting advances continue with development of mining truck sensor

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NextOre and its magnetic resonance (MR) technology have made another advance in the ore sorting and material classification game with the development of a new “open geometry” sensor that could enable mines to scan mining truck loads.

The company, in the last year, has surpassed previous throughput highs using its on-conveyor belt solutions, accelerated the decision-making process associated with material sorting viability with its mobile bulk sorter and made strides to branch out into the in-pit sorting space via the development of these open geometry sensors.

NextOre’s MR technology is the culmination of decades of research and development by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), with the division spun out from the organisation in 2017. Since then, NextOre has gone on to demonstrate the technology’s viability across the globe.

NextOre’s MR analysers were first fitted on conveyor belts, yet interest in solutions for in-pit equipment predates the company’s inception.

“A significant portion of the time when CSIRO would show people the technology, they were working on for fitting on a conveyor belt, many would ask: ‘could you possibly put it around a truck somehow?’,” Chris Beal, CEO of NextOre, told IM.

After workshopping many ideas and developing increasingly large prototypes – commencing at the start with an antenna made up from a copper loop and a couple of capacitors – two in-pit solutions leveraging CSIRO’s open-geometry sensor have come to the fore.

The first – a 3-m-wide sensor – underwent static and dynamic tests using chalcopyrite copper ore grade samples in a material feeder setup in 2022, in Australia.

This test work, observed by several major mining companies, laid the groundwork for a bigger installation – a 7-m-wide ruggedised antenna that weighs about 5 t. This can be positioned over a haul truck and manoeuvred using a crane supplied by Eilbeck and guidance systems developed for NextOre by CSIRO and the University of Technology Sydney.

The advantage of MR in a truck load scanning scenario, just as with a conveyor, is the ability to make accurate, whole-of-sample grade measurements at high speeds. Yet, to operate effectively, this system requires significant amounts of power.

“The truck system we are building is between 120 kW and 200 kW,” Beal said. “For people in the radio frequency space, power of that magnitude is hard to comprehend; they’re used to dealing with solutions to power mobile phones.”

For reference, a NextOre on-conveyor system rated up to 5,000 t/h has around 30 kW of installed power. And conveyor systems above 5,000 t/h have 60 kW of installed power.

The idea is that this new MR truck sensor station would be positioned at an ex-pit scanning station to the side of the main haul road at a site and trucks will be directed to ore or waste as a result. The test rig constructed in NextOre’s facility has been built to suit the truck class of the initial customer, which is a major copper mine using 180-t-class and 140-t-class haul trucks.

The first prototype has now been built (as can be seen by the photo) and is awaiting of shipment to the mine where a one-year trial is set to commence.

While pursuing this development, NextOre has also been increasing the scale of its conveyor-based installations.

Around nine months ago, IM reported on a 2,800 t/h MR ore sorting installation at First Quantum Minerals’ Kansanshi copper mine in Zambia, which had just shifted from sensing to sorting with the commissioning of diversion hardware.

Now the company has an ore sensing installation up and running in Chile that has a capacity of 6,500 t/h – a little over 50% higher than the highest sensing rate (4,300 t/h) previously demonstrated by the company at Newcrest’s Cadia East mine in New South Wales, Australia.

Beal said the unit has been up and running since December, with the copper-focused client very happy with the results.

For those companies looking to test the waters of ore sorting and sensing, another big development coming out of NextOre in recent years has been the construction of a mobile bulk sorter.

Able to sort 100-400 t/h of material on a 900-mm-width conveyor belt while running at 0.3-1 m/s, these units – one of which has been operated in Australia – is able to compress the timeline normally associated with making a business case for ore sorting.

“As people can now hire such a machine, they are finding it either resolves a gap in proving out the technology or it can be used to solve urgent issues by providing an alternative source of process feed from historical dumps,” Beal said. “They want to bring a unit to site and, after an initial configuration period, get immediate results at what is a significant scale.”

Such testing has already taken place at Aeris Resources’ Tritton copper operations in New South Wales, where the unit took material on the first surface stockpile taken from an underground mine.

While this initial trial did not deliver the rejection rate anticipated by Aeris – due largely to rehandling of the material and, therefore, a reduction in ore heterogeneity ahead of feeding the conveyor – Aeris remains enthusiastic about the technology and Beal is expecting this unit to be redeployed shortly.

“We now know thanks to results from Kansanshi, Carmen Copper Corp/CD Processing, this new Chilean site and Cozamin (owned by Capstone Copper) that this in-situ grade variability can be preserved, and that mixing impacts directly on sorting performance,” Beal said. “Even so, we have seen really good heterogeneity persist in spite of the unavoidable levels of mixing inherent in mining.”

He concluded: “People want this type of equipment not in a year’s time, but next month. Capitalising the business to put more mobile units out in the world is a priority.”

Aeris, Rokion and LDO collaborate on battery-electric vehicle trial at Tritton

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Rokion and its New South Wales-based distributor LDO Group have continued their battery-electric utility vehicle momentum in Australia, with another unit having gone underground at Aeris Resources’ Tritton operations in the state.

The electric light vehicle, an R100, has successfully completed its first trip underground after above-ground tests in 2022, the mining company said.

Rokion says the R100 series includes a four-passenger crew truck and a two-passenger utility truck, with both models built on the same frame dimensions and available in ramp-ready configurations.

Tritton General Manager, Scott Ramsay, said the copper operation is still in the trial stage of using the electric light vehicle underground but the first signs are positive.

“We are trying different power charge setups to respond to the specific needs for driving underground,” he said in a LinkedIn post. “But, overall, it has made a good impression and it is quite likely we will be seeing more vehicles like this in the future.”

Aeris and its Tritton operation have some recent history with battery-electric vehicles, having previously used the battery-electric retrofit ‘TRITEV’ 20 t underground Integrated Tool-Carrier/Loader. This followed a collaboration between 3ME and Aeris that started all the way back in 2017.

Rokion and LDO, meanwhile, have been working with Agnico Eagle Mines and Newmont on trials of its larger R400 vehicle – a platform able to accommodate three passengers in a utility vehicle setup or up to 12 in a passenger crew variant – at the Fosterville and Tanami mines, respectively.

NextOre, First Quantum fully commission ‘world’s largest bulk ore sorting system’

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A 2,800 t/h MRA ore sorting installation at First Quantum Minerals’ Kansanshi copper mine in Zambia is now fully commissioned and using diversion hardware, Chris Beal, CEO of NextOre, told RFC Ambrian and Stonegate Capital Partners’ Copper Pathway to 2030 webinar on Tuesday.

Presenting alongside speakers from RFC Ambrian, Oroco Resource Corp and First Quantum Minerals, Beal revealed that the diversion process on what he said was the highest capacity bulk ore sorting operation in the world had now commenced, some 16-17 months after the magnetic resonance (MR) based system was installed and testing commenced.

“After a one year sensing-only trial, Kansanshi has now gone forward and commissioned and tested diverting hardware in May that has allowed them to fully transform into an inline bulk sorting system,” he said.

“With the validation of that having just gone by, this now represents the highest capacity sorting plant in the world.”

NextOre was originally formed in 2017 as a joint venture between CSIRO, RFC Ambrian and Worley, with its MR technology representing a leap forward in mineral sensing that, it said, provides accurate, whole-of-sample grade measurements.

Demonstrated at mining rates of 4,300 t/h, per conveyor belt, the technology comes with no material preparation requirement and provides grade estimates in seconds, NextOre claims. This helps deliver run of mine grade readings in seconds, providing “complete transparency” for tracking downstream processing and allowing operations to selectively reject waste material.

The installation at Kansanshi is positioned on the sulphide circuit’s 2,800 t/h primary crushed conveyor belt, with the system taking precise measurements every four seconds for tonnages in the region of 2.5 t to a precision of +/- 0.028%.

“Magnetic resonance technology, in particular, is very well suited to high throughput grade measurement – it is measuring all of the material that is going through,” Beal explained. “And these sensors like to be filled with more material.

“We hope to go larger from here. And we, in fact, have projects ongoing to do that.”

This wasn’t the only reveal Beal provided during the webinar, with the other announcement slightly smaller in scale, yet no less significant.

Seeking to address the lower end of the bulk ore sorting market, the company has come up with a mobile bulk sorting plant that is powered by MR sensors.

This solution, coming with a capacity of up to 400 t/h, has now found its way to Aeris Resources’ Murrawombie mine in New South Wales, Australia, where it is being used for a trial.

At Murrawombie, the setup sees an excavator feed a mobile crusher, with the crushed material then passed to the mobile ore sorting installation (the conveyor, the sensor, the diverter and supporting equipment). The system, according to Beal, provides bulk ore sorting results in a cost- and time-efficient manner.

It has been designed to suit small mines and those seeking to monetise historical dumps, or to provide a rapid test method for bulk sorting to support a potentially much larger bulk sorting plant, Beal explained.

The fully-diesel setup is destined for copper operations globally and potentially some iron ore mines, he added.

Australian government backs Batt Mobile Equipment BEV building plan

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Batt Mobile Equipment Pty Ltd, based in Tomago, New South Wales, has been given a boost in its pursuit to electrify the mining sector, having been awarded a A$4.55 million ($3.35 million) grant to build heavy-duty battery-electric vehicles for underground-hard rock mines as part of the Australian government’s Modern Manufacturing Initiative (MMI).

It has become one of eight companies to have a project funded in the Resources Technology and Critical Minerals Processing sector, as part of the first round of the A$1.3 billion MMI.

Minister for Industry, Science and Technology, Christian Porter, said: “Australia’s resource sector is world-class. Through our A$1.3 billion Modern Manufacturing Initiative, we are helping to unlock the enormous potential by providing targeted support for projects that will deliver big rewards for our local economy, generate more export earnings and create new jobs.”

Batt Mobile Equipment will use the $4.55 million to build “heavy battery-electric vehicles for underground hard-rock mines, delivering Australia’s first commercially and operationally viable alternative to a diesel fleet”, the government said in its press release. “This would catalyse the electrification of global hard-rock mines, and deliver emission reduction, safety and productivity outcomes.”

In partnership with 3ME Technology and Aeris Resources – with support from METS Ignited – Batt Mobile Equipment delivered the TRITEV 20 t Integrated Tool-Carrier (IT, pictured), being trialled at Aeris’ Tritton mine in the state.

Batt Mobile Equipment and 3ME also recently signed a deal that will see 150 of 3ME’s Electric Vehicle Engine packages for the TRITEV delivered to Batt Mobile Equipment over the next five years.

Aeris Resources adds battery-electric 20 t carrier/loader to Tritton fleet

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Aeris Resources has confirmed the arrival of the battery-electric retrofit ‘TRITEV’ 20 t underground loader at its Tritton copper operations, with the company having added the Integrated Tool-Carrier/Loader to its fleet at the New South Wales, Australia, mine.

3ME Technology and Batt Mobile Equipment (BME) unveiled this industry-first machine last month, with 3ME saying the machine would head to Tritton later this year as part of an initiative developed under Project EVmine, with the help of METS Ignited.

The collaboration between 3ME and Aeris Resources started all the way back in 2017, Aeris Resources said in its arrival announcement on LinkedIn

Based on a second-hand Volvo diesel-powered L120E, the TRITEV required a “ground-up rebuild” from the 3ME and BME teams, 3ME Chief Business Development Officer, Steven Lawn, told IM last month.

This included removing all diesel internal combustion engine components, except the transmission and drivetrain; modelling the expected duty cycle at Tritton; developing a battery-electric system to suit the application at hand; writing the vehicle control unit software; integrating the system into the existing platform; and providing a mechanical overhaul of the machine.

The 3ME and BME teams planned to test the machine at the Newstan mine, in New South Wales (previously owned by Centennial Coal and now on care and maintenance), ahead of sending to Tritton.

Anglo American, Glencore, Newcrest and Newmont join coarse particle recovery consortium

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Researchers from The University of Queensland’s Sustainable Minerals Institute (SMI) have signed an agreement with industry partners to form a consortium to develop improved energy efficiency for mineral processing operations.

The Collaborative Consortium for Coarse Particle Processing Research will run initially for five years and tackle multidisciplinary aspects of coarse particle processing such as flotation, comminution, classification, and equipment design and process chemistry, SMI says.

It will also contribute towards global challenges such as the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and mitigation of human-made climate change.

The processing of coarse particles is considered one of the key research areas for developing improved energy efficiency of mineral processing operations, according to SMI.

The consortium includes researchers from SMI’s Julius Kruttschnitt Minerals Research Centre (JKMRC) and representatives from Anglo American, Aeris Resources, Eriez Flotation Division, Glencore, Hudbay Minerals, Newcrest Mining and Newmont.

The program Chair is SMI Director, Professor Neville Plint (far left). JKMRC’s Associate Professor, Kym Runge (right), and Dr Liza Forbes (middle) are the Technical Directors.

Professor Plint said SMI and JKMRC have a long history of successful industry engagement.

“This consortium brings together depth and breadth of expertise and significant technical skill, and it shows the willingness of industry to work closely with university researchers to tackle complex problems and have an impact,” he said.

“The team in JKMRC have worked hard and consulted with all our industry partners to create this important forum.”

Newmont’s Director of Processing, Dr Ronel Kappes, said the company had identified coarse particle recovery (CPR) as a key enabling technology to focus on, in order to improve future processing efficiencies.

“The UQ CPR Consortium project is an important step in technology development in order to leverage future CPR applications,” Dr Kappes said.

Eriez Flotation Division’s, Dr Eric Wasmund, said the company was pleased to be a founding sponsor of the consortium.

“This consortium fits EFD’s vision to enable sustainable technology solutions through strong customer partnerships,” he said. “As demonstrated by our leading-edge HydroFloat® technology, coarse particle flotation is a key disruptive technology for improving mineral recoveries, reducing power and water consumption and producing safer tailings.”

The CPR Consortium held its first technical workshop at the end of September.

3ME, Batt Mobile Equipment gear up for TRITEV deployment at Aeris’ Tritton mine

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With the launch of the ‘TRITEV’ in Australia earlier this month, 3ME Technology and Batt Mobile Equipment unveiled what is believed to be the first fully battery-electric retrofit 20 t loader suitable for deployment in underground hard-rock mines.

The Integrated Tool-Carrier/Loader is scheduled to arrive at Aeris Resources’ Tritton underground copper mine in New South Wales later this year as part of an initiative developed under Project EVmine, with the help of METS Ignited.

It follows on the heels of Safescape’s Bortana EV, launched in 2019, also as part of Project EVmine.

Steven Lawn, Chief Business Development Officer at 3ME, told IM that the machine’s development represented more than just a “diesel refit”.

“The machine we used was a second-hand Volvo L120E that required a ground-up rebuild,” he said. “The guys removed all diesel internal combustion engine components except the transmission and drivetrain. They then modelled the expected duty cycle.”

After this modelling, the designers developed a battery-electric system (battery, motor, motor control unit and ancillary items) that would suit the application at hand.

The software team then entered the process, writing the vehicle control unit software (ie the software that makes everything work), with a focus on ensuring the human machine interface remained the same so there was no difference for an operator controlling the legacy diesel variant and the battery-electric retrofit version, Lawn explained.

They then integrated the system into the existing platform before the team at Batt Mobile Equipment provided a mechanical overhaul of the machine.

Ahead of deployment at Tritton, the company plans to test the machine at the Newstan mine, in New South Wales, Lawn said. This underground mine, previously owned by Centennial Coal, was put on care and maintenance back in 2014.

The partnership that delivered this industry first already has eyes on another EV retrofit, Lawn said, explaining that a Minecruiser platform for use in underground hazardous area mines is next on the agenda.

3ME Technology is understood to have an upcoming release in the pipeline in regards to its state-of-the-art battery system for mining applications, now also under demand from the defence market as indicated by recent public announcements about 3ME Technology’s participation in Australia’s C4 EDGE Program.

“The increased levels of safety and compliance achievable with the 3ME Technology battery system means that 3ME Technology is spearheading the supply of high-performance lithium-ion batteries into underground mining,” the company said.