Tag Archives: Chile

FLSmidth’s Lindholm says miner investment in remote operations centre paying off

Base metals, Communications in mining, Equipment maintenance, IoT, Mineral processing, Mining equipment, Mining maintenance, Mining services, Mining software, , , , , , ,

In a wide-ranging talk on digitisation at the 2019 SME Annual Conference & Expo in Denver, Colorado, Mikael Lindholm, Chief Digital Officer of FLSmidth, said the use of remote operations centres was providing returns to those mining companies employing them.

Lindholm said FLSmidth had seen an influx of remote operations centres “popping up” across the industry, he told delegates during his keynote presentation.

“It is unhealthy to go up in the mountains or in the pits in the mines,” he said. “Being in a city is much safer. The less people you have in the mine, the less injuries you will see.”

He added: “Most mines, today, have a central control unit, but we now see to a greater extent remote control centres outside of the mines.”

Referencing a recent visit to Codelco and its remote operations centre in Santiago, Lindholm said the state-owned copper miner was running two operations remotely from this location.

The centre had allowed Codelco to attract personnel in the Chile capital, in addition to being able to coordinate all activities from one location, he said.

“From there, they manage everything happening in the pit, to the process plant to the logistics,” he said.

By coordinating these activities and having all the people in the same room, Codelco is making significant savings, Lindholm said. “They are making savings of around $50 million annually from this – purely from coordinating activities.”

This evolution is part of a wider move in the industry to improve productivity, maintenance and safety.

Lindholm, quoting statistics from McKinsey, said by 2025, there will be yearly savings of around $250 billion around operations management – “to do with process optimisation and coordination” – $100 billion/y on equipment maintenance – “thanks to condition monitoring, predictive and prescriptive maintenance” – and $10 billon/y on safety.

BHP looks at phased rollout of autonomous trucks at WA iron ore ops

Automation, Base metals, IoT, Mine operation news, Mining equipment, Mining services, Steel and iron ore, , , , , , , ,

BHP CEO, Andrew Mackenzie, says the diversified miner is looking at a phased roll out of autonomous haulage technology across its Western Australia Iron Ore operations following success at its Jimblebar mine.

BHP opened Jimblebar, located 40 km east of Newman in the Pilbara, back in 2014 and soon started using it as one of the main testbeds for autonomous trucking technology. The site went fully autonomous at the end of 2017.

Mackenzie said in the company’s half-year (to end-December) results presentation that Jimblebar’s fully autonomous trucks were now “amongst our safest and most productive”. He added: “This success will guide a phased roll out across other operations.”

In terms of automation, the company also said it was studying the use of autonomous drills at its majority-owned Escondida copper mine in Chile, in addition to carrying out further trial integration and automation technologies at its Eastern Ridge Innovation Mine.

MineSense front and centre in bulk ore sorting game

Automation, Base metals, Bulk handling, Comminution of minerals, Environmental, IoT, Metallurgy, Mineral processing, Mining equipment, Mining services, Mining software, Steel and iron ore, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Having just commercialised its bulk ore sorting technology at Teck Resources’ Highland Valley Copper (HVC) operations in British Columbia, Canada, MineSense is looking to show the wider industry just how effective this pre-concentration process can be.

IM spoke with President and CEO, Jeff More, to find out more about the company’s ShovelSense and BeltSense technologies and how the Vancouver-based startup has been able to secure investment from the likes of ABB, Caterpillar and Mitsubishi.

IM: Can you explain in a little more detail how your ShovelSense and BeltSense solutions work?

JM: The base technology for both is X-ray Fluorescence (XRF) – a technology that has been around for some time. What we have done to this existing technology, which is quite unique, is three things:

  • One, we have extended dramatically the range of XRF. Traditionally XRF would almost have to be held to the surface of a rock to get accurate measurements. The range extension allows us to work in the shovel environment where we are working across metres of volume;
  • Second is speed. Our system is extremely fast. High speed analysis is required on our conveyor belt applications, but this is even more important in the shovel, where we’re measuring dynamically; as the material is flowing into the shovel, to get a representative reading, you have to be able to take very fast readings of the material as it is moving past the sensors;
  • The third is robustness. On a shovel, you are in a nasty environment from a shock and vibration perspective. We developed a system with sensitive components – the XRF itself, as well as the computing devices around it – that can stand up to that very high shock- and vibration-type environment.

IM: The most high-profile examples of the application of your ShovelSense technology have been at copper mines (HVC, in particular); is the detection technology particularly effective in these ores? Is it being trialled elsewhere?

JM: The current sensing we have with the XRF is very effective in a certain section of the periodic table, which nicely covers the major base metals. We’re focused on copper, nickel, zinc and polymetallic versions of those three. The fourth area of focus is iron ore.

We’ve selected copper as our first focus because of the size of the market and the geography. We have done most of our work in copper, but we now also have operating systems in nickel and zinc.

On a lab scale, the technology has been very effective in iron ore, but iron ore is a very different flow sheet, so we have purposely set it as our fourth market in what we call our primary clusters.

We have five mine site customers at the moment – three copper, one zinc-lead and one nickel-polymetallic.

We were very much focused on North America and, in particular, British Columbia for our first pilots and trials as it was quite easy for us to service in our back yard. The first international market was Chile, for obvious reasons in terms of copper production, and we now have a full MineSense entity and team operating in Chile and Peru.

We’re staggering the rest of our global expansion. We’re now quite active from a business development perspective in southern Africa – South Africa, Zambia, DRC – and have activity in Australia.

We have Systems installed at two different copper mines in British Columbia, one at a very large nickel-polymetallic complex in Sudbury, Ontario, and will have a fourth system operating in Alaska. We also have two mines, but four systems, operating in Chile. By the end of Q2, we will have another three systems operating in Chile.

We did all our development work for the system at Teck’s HVC operation and we’re now completely commercial there. We officially commissioned our first system in December, the second system is being commissioned as we speak and the third and fourth will be installed and commissioned in late-March. This will completely equip their fleet.

IM: Teck has previously said the use of ShovelSense has resulted in “a net measurable increase in the amount of ore (and the associated head grade)” it has available to feed its mill at HVC. Are these results in keeping with your expectations for the technology?

JM: Yes, absolutely. We base everything on, what we call, our value model. Very early in our engagement process, we set out a detailed model that calculates the profit improvement that mine will see – we did the same for Teck HVC.

We agreed on a target at HVC and are actually exceeding that estimate. Most importantly, Teck is also seeing that value and is estimating a great overall impact at that mine.

This is an abridged version of a Q&A to be published in the ore sorting feature in the March issue of International Mining.

TAKRAF designing shiploader for Chile copper expansion project

Base metals, Bulk handling, Mine operation news, Mining equipment, Mining services, , , ,

TAKRAF Italy has won a shiploader contract in Chile for an expansion project involving one of the world’s largest undeveloped copper resources, it says.

Towards the end of October, the company was awarded this “significant” contract. It followed the signing of an important agreement with a large global diversified mining company, the company said.

“[This] confirms TAKRAF Italy’s growing reputation for the supply of marine equipment in the Americas,” it added.

The shiploader in question is being designed to load copper concentrate into ocean vessels ranging from 15,000-60,000 deadweight tonnes. The equipment will be capable of luffing/slewing and will be equipped with a shuttle enabling a significant outreach, the company said, adding that the design will be executed in strict accordance with the Chile Seismic code.

Silvio Leoni, TAKRAF Italy Managing Director, said: “We are very proud of this achievement with such an important global mining customer and are fully committed to ensuring flawless execution with a view to entrenching our capabilities as a premier global supplier of port facility equipment.”

IntelliSense.io creates AI algorithm to predict thickener performance

Base metals, Environmental, Mineral processing, Mining equipment, Mining services, Mining software, Precious metals, Water management, , , , , , , ,

A UK-based startup says it has devised a machine learning-algorithm that can help mining companies predict how thickeners will operate an hour into the future.

IntelliSense.io, which has been helped along the way by Digital Catapult (an agency for the early adoption of advanced digital technologies) and the UK’s Department for International Trade, said it wanted to help the mining industry become more efficient and sustainable by harnessing the power of artificial intelligence.

“Traditional operations technology cannot handle dynamic conditions, so IntelliSense.io is focused on using advanced digital technologies to create a platform that can predict varying conditions and is, therefore, far more responsive to change,” it said.

This led the company to develop an application to control thickeners in mining operations, which, IntelliSense.io says, would provide three key benefits:

  • Less water would be needed to complete the thickening process;
  • More water could be recycled, resulting in less wastewater;
  • Reduced power would be consumed as less water would be pumped into the thickener.

To create an algorithm, IntelliSense.io needed to analyse three years’ worth of data from six thickeners, each measuring roughly 800 different metrics collected every minute.

“This represents a volume of data that would only be possible with a significant amount of computer power and specialist expertise,” the company said. This led to IntelliSense.io applying to join Machine Intelligence Garage, Digital Catapult’s AI programme that helps businesses access the computation power and expertise they need to develop and build machine learning and artificial intelligence solutions.

Thanks to this assistance, IntelliSense.io has devised an AI tool that ingests these 800 different metrics every minute and can, according to the company, “predict how thickeners will operate an hour in the future”.

“This invaluable knowledge will make mining more efficient and sustainable, and provides optimum operating condition recommendations to maximise output,” the company said.

The thickener algorithm has since been applied in an optimisation stability project at a gold-copper mine in Chile where the miner in question had seen low underflow percentage solids and water recovery, and high flocculant consumption.

The implementation of the IntelliSense.io Thickener Circuit Optimisation application at the mine, which integrated data from SCADA and other control systems with advanced statistical data modelling and machine learning algorithms and first principle models, came up with a solution.

This has seen, among other benefits, decreased variability in the thickener circuit operation, enhanced water recovery at the thickener circuit and reduced equipment downtime due to stricter torque constraints.

The payback period has been less than 12 months with projected direct savings calculated at $400,000 in the first year alone, according to IntelliSense.io.

The company has also signed a memorandum of cooperation with JSC AK Altynalmas, a gold producer in Kazakhstan. This involves the development of an AI system for predictive analysis and optimisation of the grinding process, according to IntelliSense.io.

This agreement is part of a wider pact around the implementation of industry 4.0, IntelliSense.io says.

Filo del Sol copper-gold-silver blueprint includes autonomous haul truck fleet

Automation, Base metals, Mineral exploration, Mineral processing, Mineral project development, Mining equipment, Mining project news, Mining services, Power supply for mines, Precious metals, Water management, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Filo Mining has released the results of a prefeasibility study, carried out by Ausenco, on its Filo del Sol copper-gold-silver project on the borders of Chile and Argentina.

The PFS envisages average annual production of approximately 67,000 t of copper, 159,000 oz of gold, and 8.65 Moz of silver at a C1 cost of $1.23/lb ($2,712/t) copper-equivalent.

It also contemplates the use of an autonomous haul truck fleet, which allows the company to take advantage of the technology’s proven productivity improvements and operating cost savings, Filo Mining said.

Filo Mining is the second development-focused company in the past few months to make plans to incorporate autonomous haulage from the off. In November, NGEx Resources said it assumed its Josemaría project in Chile would use the latest in autonomous haul truck technologies.

The Filo del Sol study contemplates open-pit mining, with conventional drilling, blasting and loading performed on 12 m benches and is based off an initial probable reserve of 259 Mt at 0.39% Cu, 0.33 g/t Au and 15 g/t Ag.

Pre-production capital was pegged at $1.27 billion (excluding costs prior to a construction decision) and the company estimated a 14-year mine life with copper cathode, gold-silver doré and a high-grade copper precipitate produced. Filo said the post-tax net present value (8% discount) was $1.28 billion at copper, gold and silver prices of $3.00/lb, $1,300/oz and $20/oz, respectively.

Filo del Sol hosts a high-sulphidation epithermal copper-gold-silver deposit associated with a large porphyry copper-gold system. The project is in the Andes Mountains on the border of Chile and Argentina, approximately 140 km southeast of the city of Copiapó.

From the open pit, ore would be trucked to a conventional two-stage crusher, designed to process 60,000 t/d of ore. Crushed ore would be treated by sequential heap leaching, to extract copper and subsequently gold and silver from the ore followed by hydrometallurgical processing to produce copper cathodes and gold-silver doré. A portion of the barren leach solution, following zinc precipitation, would be treated to avoid a build-up of recirculating copper and cyanide through the gold circuit. This treatment is based on the SART process, which produces a copper sulphide precipitate (with grades of around 65% Cu) and recovers cyanide for use in the heap leach.

Groundwater for the process plant would be supplied from nearby aquifers to the plant site, and power would come from a 127 km of power line construction to connect to the Chilean national grid.

The PFS was prepared and managed by Ausenco Engineering Canada, with input from AGP Mining Consultants, BGC Engineering, Knight Piésold, Advantage Geoservices Limited, Merlin Geosciences and SRK Consulting.

Energy Recovery’s PX Pressure Exchanger finds a desalination market in Chile

Base metals, Environmental, Mineral processing, Mining services, Water management, , , , , ,

Energy Recovery, a leader in pressure energy technology for industrial fluid flows, has won awards of C$2.7 million ($2.02 million) to supply its PX® Pressure Exchanger® technology for desalination projects in Chile’s mining industry.

The company said these desalination projects will be used specifically in the mining process and are expected to ship this quarter.

Energy Recovery will supply its PX-Q300 Pressure Exchangers for multiple facilities, which will produce up to 148,000 m³/d of water. The company estimates the devices will reduce the facilities’ power consumption for all projects by 12.7 MW, saving over 110 GWh/y of energy and avoiding more than 65,740 t/y of CO2 emissions.

Energy Recovery’s President and CEO Chris Gannon said 2018 was shaping up to be a potential record year for the company.

He said: “These recent awards in Chile confirm the efficacy and strength of the PX technology. We are excited about the growth opportunities for our Water business and the continued strength and activity level for desalination throughout 2018 and into 2019. Moving forward, we will continue to aggressively pursue tactical initiatives across the broader water industry.”

Rodney Clemente, Energy Recovery’s Vice President, Water, added: “Energy Recovery has had its eye fixed on Chile as a strategic market and accordingly has positioned our company to assist these facilities in maximising the overall profitability of their operations through an increased understanding of the critical mining-water nexus.

“Energy Recovery’s PX Pressure Exchanger technology has the lowest-life-cycle cost of any energy recovery device on the market today, and this industry-leading value proposition resonates well with both our customers and end-users in Chile.

“More specifically, our uptime advantage in mining applications is unmatched – vitally important when every day of downtime translates to millions of lost dollars for our customers. We are excited to add another critical project to our successful global reference list.”

Energy Recovery is an energy solutions provider to industrial fluid flow markets worldwide. Its solutions recycle and convert wasted pressure energy into a usable asset and preserve pumps that are subject to hostile processing environments.

The PX Pressure Exchanger captures hydraulic energy from the high-pressure reject stream of seawater and then transfers this energy to low-pressure feed water with up to 98% efficiency and no electrical power. The result is a drastic reduction in energy consumption over previous methods.

It has only one moving part, manufactured out of a corrosion-proof ceramic that’s three times more abrasion-resistant than steel, the company says.

“It provides unmatched durability, and its simplicity allows for scalability, quick start-up, and virtually no required maintenance. In fact, many of our PX devices have been in operation for as long as 13 years without interruption,” Energy Recovery said.

Teck’s QB2 copper project in Chile moves forward to construction

Automation, Base metals, Mineral project development, Mining equipment, Mining services, Water management, , , , , , , ,

Teck Resources has approved construction of the Quebrada Blanca Phase 2 copper project in the Tarapacá Region of northern Chile after Sumitomo Metal Mining (SMM) and Sumitomo Corporation agreed to help fund the development in return for a 30% indirect interest.

The transaction with SMM and Sumitomo Corp will see the two companies pay $1.2 billion for a 30% interest in Compañia Minera Teck Quebrada Blanca SA (QBSA), which owns the QB2 project. This will be comprised of an $800 million earn-in contribution and a $400 million matching contribution. On top of this $50 million will be paid to Teck upon QB2 achieving an optimised target mill throughput of 154,000 t/d by December 31, 2025, subject to adjustment.

Don Lindsay, President and CEO of Teck, said QB2 was one of the world’s premier undeveloped copper assets, with this transaction further confirming the value of the project.

“This partnership significantly de-risks Teck’s investment in the project, enhances our project economics and preserves our ability to continue to return capital to shareholders and reduce bonds currently outstanding.”

The $4.74 billion project is expected to produce 316,000 t/y of copper-equivalent for the first five full years at all-in sustaining costs of $1.38/Ib ($3,043/t). The initial mine life of 28 years uses less than 25% of the current reserve and resource. Based on a $3/Ib average copper price over the life of the mine, QB2 is expected to provide a net present value (8% discount) of $2.43 billion.

The mine is expected to use “demonstrated industry-leading technology to enhance safety, productivity and sustainability, including an integrated operations centre located in Santiago, autonomous haulage fleet, and the first large-scale use of desalinated seawater in the Tarapacá Region to eliminate freshwater use in operations”, Teck said.

The company added that it was positioned for project construction with a strong and experienced execution team in place, major permits in hand, engineering nearly 80% complete, and contracting and procurement well advanced.

Lindsay said: “QB2 will be a long life, low-cost operation with major expansion potential, including the option to double production or more, to become a top-five global copper producer.”

This expansion potential is expected to be shown off with the completion of a scoping study to assess QB3 development options.

The social and environmental impact assessment for the QB2 project was approved in August and early field work commenced in September.

The project scope includes the construction of a 143,000 t/d concentrator and related facilities, which are connected to a new port and desalination plant by 165 km concentrate and desalinated water pipelines.

Teck has agreed with SMM and SC to cover their share of the cost of power under the existing power purchase agreements in excess of QBSA’s needs until the earlier of the startup of the first grinding line in the mill or September 30, 2022. The target date for project completion and the start of commissioning and ramp up is the December quarter of 2021. Full production is expected in the middle of 2022.

The project will build on the existing Quebrada Blanca copper mine, which produced 23,000 t of copper last year and is expected to stop producing cathode in mid-2019 as the supergene deposit is exhausted.

After the transaction is completed, the ownership of QBSA will be as follows: 60% Teck, 30% SMM/SC, 10% Enami.

ENAPAC solar-powered desalination project clears environmental hurdle in Chile

Base metals, Energy minerals, Environmental, High tech minerals, Mining services, Power supply for mines, Water management, , , ,

The Energias y Aguas del Pacifico (ENAPAC) solar powered desalination project in the Atacama Region of Chile has reached another milestone, with the local government signing off the all-important Environmental Impact Study (EIS).

TRENDS Industrial, which is developing the project, said the Environmental Evaluation Commission recommended approving the EIS.

The ENAPAC project consists of a seawater desalination project that will be supplied with its own source of photovoltaic energy, for the mining region of Atacama. With an estimated initial investment of $500 million, ENAPAC will become the largest desalination plant in Latin America. It will have a maximum capacity of 2.630 l/s, a projected 100 MW of installed photovoltaic power and a water reservoir with 600,000 m³ capacity.

“Thus, ENAPAC will be one of the most advanced projects in the world with a combination of reverse osmosis desalination and photovoltaic energy,” TRENDS said.

Rodrigo Silva, TRENDS Industrial’s CEO, said: “The project will generate opportunities for local employment and suppliers, and our vision is that many users can access a sustainable and clean source of water ceasing the use of continental waters and the basins of the region, which suffers from a severe water stress. The response from the industrial sector, especially mining projects, has been very positive and we’re advancing conversations with many companies. Certainly, we predict the EIS approval will accelerate those conversations and agreements.”

The environmental evaluation from Chilean authorities for ENAPAC took more than a year and is part of the list managed by the Office of Sustainable Projects Management of the Chilean Ministry of Econom, TRENDS said.

Back in June, TRENDS Industrial signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Almar Water Solutions to develop the ENAPAC project