Tag Archives: Chile

Fleet Space Technologies to deploy ExoSphere at Gold Fields’ Salares Norte

Fleet Space Technologies has announced plans to deploy its end-to-end mineral exploration solution, ExoSphere, to enhance Gold Fields’ data-driven exploration and development of its Salares Norte project in northern Chile.

ExoSphere will be used to generate 3D subsurface imaging of the Brecha Principal and Agua Amarga resource areas and surrounds with the aim to generate new insights and understandings about the mineral system and its structural setting. Additionally, the survey will be used to generate new exploration targets in the near field of the BP-AA system.

“Fleet Space and Gold Fields share a vision of applying the powerful capabilities enabled by advanced satellite connectivity, 3D multiphysics, and AI to unify the end-to-end exploration journey and deliver more sustainable outcomes at scale on the path to discovery,” Flavia Tata Nardini, Co-Founder & CEO of Fleet Space Technologies, said. “We are proud to deploy ExoSphere to further Gold Fields’ data-driven exploration and ESG targets, reinforcing their position on the forefront of innovation and supporting the development of their world-class operation in Chile.”

Home to the Brecha Principal deposit and Agua Amarga resource, Salares Norte is located on the Maricunga Belt in the Andes Mountains between 3,900–4,700 m above sea level in the Atacama region of Chile. In March 2024, first gold was poured, marking a significant milestone and technical achievement for the project. Due to the remote location, challenging terrain and harsh seasonal conditions, Gold Fields has had to develop innovative strategies and engage new technologies to enhance its exploration activities whilst maintaining a low environmental footprint. Gold Fields was an early adopter of Fleet Space’s end-to-end solution, Exosphere, at its St Ives operation in Australia. Based on these results and the near-zero surface impact of Fleet Space’s smart seismic sensors (called Geodes), the application of ExoSphere at Salares Norte was a logical step to provide low-impact, rapid 3D subsurface imaging, Fleet Space says.

Tata Nardini added: “In the field of mineral exploration, ExoSphere has been used to conduct the world’s largest real-time ANT survey in Australia’s Macquarie Arc and now the world’s highest real-time ANT survey on Chile’s Maricunga Belt – radically scaling the mining industry’s ability to enhance mineral systems knowledge of highly remote opportunity zones across vast distances and at unprecedented altitudes while minimising environmental impact.

“We look forward to partnering with the dynamic Chilean mining industry to unlock next-level insights and sustainability benefits across their exploration value chain.”

The architecture underlying ExoSphere integrates the latest advances in satellite connectivity, 3D multiphysics and AI into a single end-to-end solution. Fleet Space’s satellite network in low Earth orbit, smart seismic sensors with edge computing, and rapid data processing enable ExoSphere to deliver real-time 3D mapping of mineral systems and AI-powered targeting recommendations with near-zero environmental impact. By unifying the data acquisition, processing, integration and targeting steps of the end-to-end exploration journey, ExoSphere makes exploration more dynamic and precise by giving remote on-site teams real-time access to actionable insights, it says. This radically streamlines data operations, enhances the quality and speed of onsite decision making, while also reducing environmental footprint at scale.

Capstone Copper eyes ore recovery boost at Mantos Blancos from ShovelSense use

Capstone Copper has announced the implementation of ShovelSense® sensor technology at its Mantos Blancos operation, in Chile.

MineSense’s ShovelSense system uses X-ray Fluorescence based sensing technology that is mounted directly to digging equipment such as front-end loaders and shovels to accurately characterise and grade with each bucket, and differentiate between low, medium and high grade mineralised material.

This tool, Capstone Copper says, allows it to detect the characteristics of the extracted ore early, optimising operations and improving ore recovery by up to 36%. Tests on the use of these sensors have shown a potential increase in fine copper production, making it a key technology for this year, the company added.

“We are grateful for the collaborative work of the superintendencies ofgeology, maintenance, operations and planning, which were decisive throughout the implementation process,” the company added.

Mantos Blancos is an open-pit mine in the Antofagasta region of Chile. The operation currently mines and processes both sulphide and oxide ores.

Following the completion and current ramp up of the Mantos Blancos Concentrator Debottlenecking Development Project (MBCDP, or Mantos Blancos Expansion), the mine will primarily treat sulphide ore in an expanded concentrator. It has a plant capacity of 7.3 Mt/y.

FLSmidth wins multi-year contract to service HPGRs at Chile mines

A leading Chile-based iron ore miner has awarded FLSmidth with a multiple year contract to service its five high pressure grinding rolls (HPGRs) across three of its mines in Chile, with the key focus for the customer to enhance productivity and extend the lifetime of its HPGRs.

HPGRs are subject to significant wear and tear. Consequently, keeping them in operation is key to securing a mine’s productivity and throughput as well as reducing customers’ operational costs. To facilitate to this, having a strong service setup around HPGRs is paramount.

The new service order on these five HPGRs, which originally have been installed by another equipment provider, proves that FLSmidth’s HPGR service offerings are among the most attractive in the market, the company says. All assembly works as well as repairs on shafts are included in the contract.

The service contract will be managed and executed by FLSmidth’s Chilean service centre, which is in close proximity to the three mines, thereby reducing logistic costs to customer and providing best in class services, it added. FLSmidth’s service centre is fully equipped to manufacture large HPGR parts and allows all work to be performed in a clean environment and using best in class tools.

Prior to winning this new service contract, FLSmidth has previously delivered HPGR roll tyres to the customer, which have proven to last more than three times as long as the originally installed roll tyres as well as increased operational availability and significantly reduced recirculation, the company says.

Joshua Meyer, Service Business Line President at FLSmidth, says: “For long our HPGR solution has been regarded among the best in the industry. The fact that we can win a large service contract on a non-FLSmidth HPGR platform proves that we have the service concept to back up the technology, securing enhanced productivity and extended lifetime.”

Planning for Closure

Mining with an eye on closure

Mine closure is a process now considered from the outset of a mining project, with operators only receiving their so-called ‘social licence to operate’ when a well-considered and understandable end of life plan is outlined.

Ahead of Planning for Closure 2024, taking place in Santiago, Chile, from May 8-10, IM heard from Bjorn Weeks, Chair of the event and Teck Resources’ Senior Advisor for Mine Closure, on the big issues being considered by industry.

Q: What can you tell us about Teck’s plans and approach regarding planned mine closures and the challenges and opportunities these imply for the company?

A: Teck is committed to sustainable and responsible mining, and mine closure is an essential part of this. Effective mine closure has allowed us to demonstrate in a concrete way that we follow through on our sustainability commitments. We also recognise that the best outcomes for closure are rooted in early planning. Good planning requires having the right people focused on developing, revising and implementing closure plans.

As a proudly Canada-based, global producer of the critical metals and minerals needed for the transition to a net-zero future, we have a long history of responsible resource development and we have an advantage in that we can draw on our experiences from the mines that we have responsibly closed successfully in the past.

The practice of mine closure is evolving throughout the industry, and Teck’s practice is evolving with it. We are constantly looking at best industry practices, such as those outlined by the ICMM, and making sure we incorporate them in our standards, procedures and guidelines in a meaningful way.

Q: Regarding the process of mine closure, what could you tell us about your approach to the rehabilitation of the land, the associated costs and work with the communities?

A: The importance of effective rehabilitation of the land has increased over the years, and what would be seen as the standard for satisfactory rehabilitation has evolved. In the not-so-distant past, achieving a reasonable degree of chemical and physical stability would be considered exemplary rehabilitation. However, in modern practice, the goals now go further – can we mine in a way that minimises the disruption to nature and biodiversity? Can we conduct closure in a way that speeds the restoration of ecosystems, potentially incorporating progressive closure? And, if we do those things, how does that fit with the desires and needs of the surrounding communities? Both as those communities are today, and as they will exist in the future – during and after closure. These are challenging questions that require the investment of time and resources to address. But I don’t think there is an alternative if the industry it to gain and maintain the trust of the society that we ultimately serve.

Q: How do you assess the progress that the mining industry is making in terms of planning for the closure of mining operations in recent years?

A: The industry continues to make remarkable progress in terms of planning for closure, with the state of practice in mine closure evolving dramatically across the globe. There are now many sites that have undergone what I would call a “modern” closure, which fully incorporate chemical and physical stability as well as – in some cases – addressing biodiversity and a well-managed social transition, with excellent results and many lessons learned about which technologies work, and which do not.

Bjorn Weeks, Senior Advisor, Mine Closure, Teck Resources, and Planning For Closure 2024 Chair

As we get better at addressing the fundamental challenges associated with promoting the long-term chemical and physical stability of our closed sites, industry attention is now turning to better addressing other challenges. The social component of closure is increasingly a focus – how do we incorporate community desires in our closure plans? How do we ease the economic transition for communities that have depended on the benefits of mining during operations? At Teck, we engage early with communities and Indigenous Peoples to ensure they are involved in closure and end land use planning.

In recent years we have also seen planning for closure take on the challenges of impacts to biodiversity and nature. How can we close mines in a way that supports nature, and even has the potential to enhance biodiversity? Remarkable research has been done and significant advances have been made in this area, and I think that it is through successful closures that incorporate these concepts that the industry will be able to demonstrate to the world that sustainable mining is not only possible but practical.

At the same time, we know that nature loss is a critical global challenge that requires a coordinated global effort to tackle, and Teck is taking action now. We are working to support a nature positive future by 2030. This includes investing significantly in innovation to reduce our impacts and conserving and reclaiming at least three hectares for every one hectare we affect through mining. We are accelerating the pace of reclamation for our own sites and working with local communities and Indigenous Peoples to protect nature in accordance with their priorities. We’ve conserved or restored a total of 51,900 hectares since we launched our Nature Positive goal in 2022.

4. How does Planning for Closure 2024 help mining companies (as well as other stakeholders) to continue to make progress in improving the different areas involved in mine closure?

A: The tremendous rate of advance in mine closure practice has been made possible by the willingness of practitioners to share information. Absolutely nothing can replace the power of a conference to bring together people who have different levels of experience and different backgrounds to learn from each other. I have had the privilege to attend Planning for Closure since its inaugural edition in 2016, and I think it provides an important forum for both the formal and informal sharing of knowledge. At this conference we see seasoned industry veterans mixing with people who are just beginning their careers, and we see mining industry executives freely interchanging experiences with consultants and stakeholders.

Planning for Closure 2024 occupies a unique space – Latin America in general, and Chile in particular, is home to some of the largest and most important mines in the world including Teck’s newly expanded Quebrada Blanca operation, and the challenges in planning for and executing those closures are huge. In that context, it is incredibly important to have a conference like this one that is international in reach, and can draw on the full range of global experience, while still providing enough of a local focus to speak to the real challenges facing practitioners here.

For mining companies like Teck, this conference is an opportunity to both to contribute to advancing the dialogue about mine closure, and to the development of the professionals we need as an industry.

The Planning for Closure 2024 event is a forum where executives, professionals and academics can learn and analyse strategies and tools that allow the integration of mining planning from the initial stage of a project and throughout the life of a mine. Find out more about the event here

Metso reflects on ‘benchmark’ contract win in Chile copper space

Metso has been awarded a major order worth some €55 million ($59 million) to deliver key concentrator equipment for a copper mining project in Chile.

The Metso delivery scope consists of high-capacity Nordberg® MP1250 secondary cone crushers, MF Series™ vibrating screens and energy-efficient Vertimill® VTM1500 regrinding mills.

For the flotation and separation circuit, Metso will supply multiple TankCell® and ColumnCell™ flotation cells featuring several of the largest available 630 cu.m TankCell units, as well as HCT™ High Compression tailing thickeners. In addition, Metso’s scope includes four MHC hydrocyclone clusters, of which two will be among the largest in the world.

Most of the products in the delivery scope are part of Metso’s Planet Positive offering.

Fernando Samanez, Vice President, Minerals Sales for South America at Metso, said: “Working together with the customer and the engineering company on an open collaborative model has been an extraordinary experience. The model enhanced the efficiency of the engineering process and contributed to the alignment of all parties on the targets set by the end customer. This will be a benchmark to be followed in similar projects all over the world.”

Bradken aims for South America mill liner expansion with Funtec facility acquisition

Bradken, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hitachi Construction Machinery Co., Ltd, has purchased the land, buildings and some facilities necessary for a foundry from Fundacion Technologica S.A. (Funtec), a manufacturer of steel castings for mining sites in Peru.

Bradken says it aims to rapidly supply products and further expand its mill liner business to respond to the vigorous demand in South America, with a focus on Peru and Chile where hard rock is mined in abundance. Bradken will now complete construction of the foundry with first production of large mill liners expected in 2026.

This recent purchase was decided as part of the goal to provide products and solutions that solve customer issues at various touch points from pit to plant at mining sites.

The South American market for mill liners is the world’s largest, according to Bradken, and focuses on hard rock. Chile and Peru, in particular, have a high concentration of copper and gold mines which account for more than 80% of the demand for large mill liners in the South American region, it said.

Currently, Bradken imports mill liners for the South American market from India and Canada. However, producing mill liners locally in Peru will build a speedy product supply system and improve the ability to meet the needs of customers, including providing a pathway to recycle spent liners, delivering a more sustainable mining process.

The foundry purchased from Funtec is located in Chilca, some 70 km south of the capital city of Lima, Peru. Since this foundry is located in an industrial park, has many of the main plant items on site and already has permission for plant operation, typical approval and construction times can be accelerated, according to the company.

Furthermore, due to the ability to procure power based on hydroelectric power generation utilising Peru’s water resources, the new plant is expected to reduce annual CO2 emissions during plant operation by approximately 95% compared with the use of typical electrical energy by maximising the usage of hydroelectric power, according to studies from Bradken.

This purchase marks the first large-scale investment project in South America in the independent business undertaken in the Americas by the Hitachi Construction Machinery Group since March 2022. In the future, the group will consider using the Peru foundry targeted for investment at this time as a depot for storing Hitachi Construction Machinery mining parts and plans to leverage it as a South American mining market base for the Hitachi Construction Machinery Group.

BHP, Anglo American, Antofagasta, Codelco, Collahuasi team up to tackle cybersecurity

BHP, together with the mining companies Anglo American, Antofagasta Minerals, Codelco and Collahuasi, have launched the Mining Cybersecurity Corporation in an effort to tackle rising cybersecurity risks in Chile.

More than 4 billion cyber-attacks took place in Chile during the first half of 2023, positioning it as the fifth country in Latin America with the most incidents, according to BHP. The unprecedented technological progress in recent years brings important benefits, but also involves several cybersecurity risks.

Studies indicates that, by 2025, cyber attacks will cost companies approximately $10.5 billion.

Aware of the risks to the industry, these companies have come together in what BHP says is an unprecedented initiative led by Corporación Alta Ley and supported by the Chilean Ministry of Mining. The aim of the partnership is to generate and share cyber-intelligence information for early warning and response, and to promote a culture of cybersecurity in mining operations.

Ezequiel Fagetti, Cybersecurity Manager BHP Minerals Americas, said: “As BHP we are enthusiastic about this initiative and, therefore, we want to contribute with our experience in the protection of assets and systems. Cybersecurity is vital for the proper functioning of the different production systems and, ultimately, for us to continue contributing to the country. If we strengthen this aspect, we strengthen the mining industry as a whole, its value chain, and safeguard the benefits for everyone.”

Minera Arqueros to use Metso equipment for copper sulphide concentrator

Minera Arqueros S.A. has awarded Metso an order to deliver the key equipment for its greenfield copper sulphide concentrator plant project in Coquimbo, Chile.

The value of the order exceeds €10 million ($6.6 million), with the scope of delivery covering the equipment from crushing to flotation, including, for example, feeders and vibrating screens, primary, secondary and tertiary crushers, a ball mill, as well as several TankCell® and ColumnCell™flotation cells.

The grinding mill and TankCell flotation cells are part of Metso’s Planet Positive offering, thanks to their energy and water efficiency, Metso says.

Antti Rinne, Vice President, Flotation at Metso, said: “Minera Arqueros partnered with Metso already in the early stages of the project. We conducted test work for the flotation technology in our R&D Center in Pori, Finland, and supported Arqueros in the flowsheet design for the plant. We have had continuous cooperation since the start of the project, and we look forward to continuing to work with Arqueros.”

Komatsu P&H 4100XPC electric rope shovels reduce truck waiting times at Capstone Mantoverde

The recent arrival of two Komatsu P&H 4100XPC electric rope shovels at Capstone Copper’s Mantoverde operation in Chile is significantly reducing waiting time for haul trucks at the open-pit mine, the company says in its latest sustainability report.

These large buckets – two of four that the company committed to purchasing in 2022 – are able to move approximately 4,000 t/h of material per hour, and require not only operators in the cab, but also personnel to move the medium-voltage (7.2 kV) cables that supply power to the shovels, to accommodate the needs of the shovel operators.

The nominal payload of the P&H 4100 XPC is 108.9 t, making it ideal for loading 218 t to 363 t haul trucks and high capacity (8,000 t/h-plus) in-pit crusher-conveyor systems, Komatsu says.

Jamie Figueroa, an experienced operator with both diesel and electric shovels, said: “The electric shovel makes our jobs much more productive. It makes much less noise than a diesel shovel and has no emissions. It is a win-win on all fronts.”

Last year, Mantoverde received 13 Komatsu 830E haul trucks as part of its Mantoverde Development Project (MVDP). These trucks come with a 230-t capacity and are powered by a Cummins QSK60 diesel engine. Mantoverde also uses a conveyor system to stack and remove ore for heap leaching, reducing its truck haulage needs.

The MVDP is expected to enable the company to process 235 Mt of copper sulphide reserves over a 20-year expected mine life, in addition to the operation’s existing oxide reserves. It involves the addition of a sulphide concentrator (12.3 Mt/y) and tailings storage facility, and the expansion of the existing desalination plant. This is expected to see production at Mantoverde increase from around 49,000 t of copper (cathodes only) in 2021 to approximately 120,000 t of copper (copper concentrate and cathodes) post project completion in 2024. The mine will also benefit from the production of approximately 31,000 oz/y of gold.

Rio Tinto and Codelco formalise Nuevo Cobre joint venture

Rio Tinto has today completed the acquisition of Pan American Silver’s stake in Agua de la Falda and entered a joint venture with Corporación Nacional del Cobre de Chile (Codelco) to explore and potentially develop the company’s assets in Chile’s prospective Atacama region.

The acquisition, announced on August 1, 2023, comprises a 57.74% operating stake in Agua de la Falda for $45 million and the grant of net smelter returns royalties. It paves the way for Rio Tinto and Codelco to start its joint exploration project at the asset.

Jakob Stausholm (left), Rio Tinto Chief Executive, and Maximo Pacheco (right), Chairman, Codelco, today met in Tokyo to formalise the new joint venture, which will be known as Nuevo Cobre (New Copper).

Stausholm said: “Chile is one of the most important sources of the copper and other critical minerals the world needs to deliver the energy transition and achieve net zero. With this partnership, we are bringing together our complementary experience and capabilities. Codelco’s local knowledge and expertise is second to none and we have a global track record in exploration. I am very much looking forward to getting our work on the ground started.”

Pacheco said: “This is an unbeatable opportunity for Codelco and Rio Tinto to join our knowledge, experience, strengths and capabilities to accelerate exploration and development of these assets to contribute the copper that the world needs for its energy transition. We are very pleased to formalise this partnership with Rio Tinto and acknowledge our mutual commitment to following the best standards of health, safety, community relations and care for the environment.”

Agua de la Falda has previously been explored for precious metals with minimal modern exploration for copper. Analysis by Rio Tinto Exploration indicates it is prospective for new copper discoveries, which will now be the focus of the joint venture.

The partnership builds on a collaboration agreement between the two companies signed in October 2022, aimed at encouraging innovations and technology to improve safety, productivity and environmental, social and governance outcomes in underground mining.