Tag Archives: CORE

Minnovare and LiveMine open up to collaboration, integration

Explosives and blasting, Mining equipment, Mining services, Mining software, , , , , , , ,

Minnovare and LiveMine have entered a collaboration that, they say, will enable their mine production clients to share data across the business’ software platforms.

The data integration will enable production drilling information logged via Minnovare’s CORE (Client Online Reporting Engine) to seamlessly sync with the LiveMine data management system.

The combination of both technologies streamlines the workflow for the drill rig operator, eliminates the potential errors and ensures accuracy at each stage in the clients drilling process, providing the confidence the client needs to make informed decisions on data they can trust, the companies said.

Chris Davidson – Underground Manager at Silverlake Resources, a customer of both companies – said: “We like to partner with businesses such as Minnovare and LiveMine who not only provide industry-leading technology but take into consideration our feedback and the specific needs of our operation. This collaboration will streamline our process and eliminate duplicate information, meaning our team can have confidence to make smarter, faster decisions on data we can trust.”

LiveMine is a data collection and management solution that integrates with existing operations to eliminate inaccurate reporting and wasted time. It eradicates hours of paperwork, unreliable spreadsheets, uncertainty in data accuracy and helps bring mining operations into the 21st century, the company says.

Coming in underground, open pit and exploration modules, LiveMine offers contractors and owner operators a way to collect and manage their operational data. Being able to use this online or offline means clients can collect crucial operational data directly at the source in real time.

Minnovare CORE is a software platform that serves as a data hub for clients’ entire drilling operations. The platform is central to Minnovare’s Production Optimiser, a drill and blast optimisation system that substantially improves production drilling accuracy and consistency, resulting in less re-work, improved dilution and recovery and an increase in stope turnover in underground mines.

“This secure cloud-based platform features digital drill plans and plods that sync seamlessly with existing mine planning software, providing accurate, reliable and real-time drilling data to mine operators,” Minnovare says. “Visibility and accountability are then ensured by displaying the recorded drilled information in the cloud.”

Live Mine Managing Director, Bud O’Shannessy, said: “This is an exciting collaboration in terms of the value and simplicity it brings to our client’s operations. Minnovare deliver an innovative solution and, when coupled with the LiveMine system, it centralises the drilling and operational data and generates a single data source and approval process. LiveMine share a large client base with Minnovare, and this collaboration is client driven. Our clients have been asking for it.”

Minnovare Managing Director, Callum McCracken, added: “We welcome the collaboration with a leading data management software company like LiveMine, as we see the strength of our joint offering for our clients in terms of immediate and downstream benefits in their operations.”

Minnovare’s drill & blast optimisation software logs new milestone

IoT, Mining equipment, Mining services, Mining software, , , ,

Minnovare’s CORE product has hit a milestone as the software component of the company’s Production Optimiser system continues to benefit from an increasing number of customers looking to improve their drill and blast operations.

CORE has now logged one million metres of drilling data since the platform’s launch just under a year ago, Minnovare said.

The Production Optimiser system, suitable for installation on all production rig makes and models, “substantially reduces blasthole drilling deviation – which in turn reduces average dilution and downtime (including reduced secondary drill and blasts), whilst improving overall fragmentation and ore recovery”, the company says.

The CORE drill data hub syncs seamlessly with mine planning and drill & blast software (including Deswik, Aegis and Vulcan/Maptek), according to the company, ensuring improvements are seen throughout the production cycle.

Ryan Stimpson, Minnovare Head of Engineering, said: “Every meter provides important insights for our client’s drill and blast operations – precise dates and times, precise drilling locations (compared to the design), and by which drill rig and which driller.

“Maybe best of all – the entire process is captured without the need to decipher questionable handwriting or water-smudged ink like under the old paper plan/plod system!”

With Minnovare CORE, engineers can import drilling assets (rigs), schedules and drill and blast designs from mine planning software – down to the individual hole – and then export them as a digital drill plan (Digi-Plan), accessible by drillers via a touchscreen-tablet mounted onboard the rig, according to Minnovare.

Drillers log actual drill data (including meters drilled) into the tablet and, at the end of each shift, a digital plod (Digi-Plod) is then synced back to CORE, ready to be analysed by engineers and charge-up crews.

“With Minnovare CORE, Digi-Plan and Digi-Plod, engineers and drill teams benefit from a more streamlined, more accountable, data-driven system that improves performance visibility and ultimately productivity across site,” the company said.

Stimpson added: “This level of uptake confirms that CORE is already a critical part of the production cycle for our clients. We’ll continue to listen carefully to feedback from Minnovare CORE users on how to improve the software in a way that positively impacts their role and the productivity of the mine.”

Alcore’s CORE plans move forward with Clough engineering appointment

Industrial minerals, Metallurgy, Mineral processing, Mining services, Sustainable mining, , , , , , ,

Alcore Ltd has executed a contract with major Australia engineering firm, Clough, to help with the design and construction of the first Alcore production plant.

Clough, which will be represented by Clough Projects Australia Pty on the project, has been investigating the CORE technology that will be used by Alcore for several years and is ready for a smooth entry into the Alcore project, the company said.

Alcore says the engineering firm’s in-house skills and expertise provides the full spectrum of capabilities needed, including: concept evaluation & regulatory approvals; project feasibility studies; design, specialised process engineering, electrical controls & instrumentation; and construction, process optimisation and debottlenecking.

Alcore is a 90%-owned subsidiary of Australian Bauxite, which has the global exclusive rights to the aluminium-related portion of CORE Technology (patent application). After six months of test work, Alcore has committed to the best strategy for the first commercial plant called “Refine & Recycle”, whereby by-products from aluminium smelters will be converted into aluminium fluoride to be sold back to the smelters as an essential electrolyte for smelting, it said.

“This strategy has highest profit and fastest growth potential worldwide.”

Plants can be replicated adjacent to aluminium smelters throughout the western world that seek higher environmental credits for recycling by-products, reducing emissions, lowering costs and reducing their dependence on imported aluminium fluoride, according to Alcore.

Alcore can refine two smelter by-products, one with high aluminium (~85% Al) and the second with high fluorine (~55% F), so that all aluminium fluoride components are freely available, it says.

Phillip Hall, Alcore’s Chief Operating Officer, said: “Clough is an ideal engineer for Alcore’s transition from the lab research stage to its first commercial plant. Clough’s long-term association with this technology augers well for good teamwork.

“Alcore is now fully-resourced on technology, having also appointed Dr Mark Cooksey, a senior CSIRO chemical engineer with over 22 years’ experience in the aluminium smelting industry.”

Alcore plans to build its first plant at Bell Bay, in Tasmania, Australia.

Rio, Roy Hill and ATCO look for data science boost through CORE Skills pilot

Base metals, Careers in mining, IoT, Mining services, Mining software, Precious metals, Steel and iron ore, , , , ,

CORE Skills has formally launched its ‘Geoscientist to Data Scientist’ pilot programme along with industry collaborations, Roy Hill, Rio Tinto, ATCO Australia and academic partners CSIRO, Curtin University and The University of Western Australia.

The launch, which took place at the the CORE Innovation Hub in Perth’s central business district, is aimed at addressing how resources sector leaders, geoscientists and engineers will contribute to “value creation of industry organisations” through data science, the resources hub said.

The CORE Innovation Hub is Australia’s first co-working, collaboration and innovation hub focused on the resources sector, while CORE Skills has been set up to create “skills pathways, harnessing the immersive culture of entrepreneurship, open innovation, collaboration and speed to market”.

Data sciences is one particular area of focus for the programme. There is an urgent skills shortage on the horizon, according to CORE Skills.

CORE Innovation Hub CEO Tamryn Barker said: “Digital technologies and the resulting flood of data promise to re-order the resources sector as we know it. We must learn what it takes to harness opportunities to overcome known resource sector challenges in the Data Science era, and embrace the disruptive context we are in.”

Dr Sophie Hancock, CORE Skills Catalyst and Pilot Lead, said being able to make informed, rapid decisions in the face of over A$1 trillion ($720 billion) in economic impact due to digital transformation will be the ultimate power for an industry organisation in the next decade.

This is where CORE Skills can help, according to Hancock.

“Together, we are building a talent pool with greater data science literacy. If participants think they grasped the opportunities of applying the tools the first time within the programme, it is going to be an order of magnitude more powerful applying the learning in follow on projects back in their organisations.”

The industry pilot is comprised of two specific course products: a one-day executive education programme aimed at a new type of senior leader needed to successfully steer companies through the digital transition, and a 12-week, one day a week professionals programme to repurpose capability effectively to match evolving skills requirements.

Rio Tinto Iron Ore CEO Chris Salisbury said his company was committed to investing in people and was always looking for new ways to help them along the way.

“This pilot is not only a great example of how we can pioneer innovative learning solutions to provide our people with the opportunity to grow and develop in their roles, but it also could become a model for upskilling our people in a number of fields,” he said.

This is likely to benefit Rio and its first ‘intelligent mine’, Koodaideri, he added.