Tag Archives: Jordan Rutledge

TOMRA Mining opens new office in Perth as Western Australia expansion continues

Environmental, Mining equipment, Sustainable mining, , , ,

TOMRA Mining says it has strengthened its business in Western Australia with a new office in Perth, a new Area Sales Manager and a dedicated sales and service team

The move is predicated on meeting the rising demand for sensor-based sorting in the state and to be close to customers on the West Coast – the heart of the country’s mining sector. This is on top of its established office and Test Center in Sydney.

TOMRA Mining says it has a well-established presence in Australia with installations operating in a variety of applications including lithium, industrial minerals, polymetallics and gemstones. It has operated in the country since the 1990s when Ultrasort entered the market, before being acquired by TOMRA in 2009.

Over the years, its business has grown in response to the evolution in the industry.

“The diamond, lithium, tin, tungsten, battery and strategic minerals sectors, as well as other progressive sectors that are open to new technology, have driven sensor-based sorting into the main mining process flow and design,” Gavin Rech, Technical Manager at TOMRA, said. “The focus on environmental, social and governance, and on reducing energy consumption has further contributed to this trend.”

In order to meet the rising demand for its technology, TOMRA has decided to invest further in its operation in the country. It has strengthened its team with the appointment of Jordan Rutledge as Area Sales Manager for Australia, who brings to the team her experience and know-how.

Rutledge has worked on projects in North and South America, Asia, Europe, Africa and Australia. In the last four years, she has focused on North American projects for TOMRA Mining.

She said: “Western Australia is the heart of the mining industry in Australia, and with the uptake of sensor-based sorting in the sector we are seeing a fast-growing demand for our technology. We have a large number of projects and investment going into sensor-based sorting, and we are gearing up for many more opportunities, particularly in the battery metals space, with the unique solutions that we can provide lithium mining operations. With the new office in Perth, we can be on the ground and visiting our customers on the West Coast very quickly, as they are just a short drive or flight away.”

TOMRA Mining has also set up a dedicated team based at the new Perth office. Rutledg, in charge of sales, is joined by Project Coordinator, Gianni Mazzella, who runs TOMRA Mining large-scale projects. Also on the team is Adriaan Olivier, Service and Project Manager APAC, who has been supporting TOMRA customers in South Africa and Sydney for the past five years, as well as two Service Engineers – with two more to come later in the year. The team will be working closely with the Sydney office and Test Center, with the backing of TOMRA’s global support structure.

TOMRA continues to build ore sorting Insight across mining space

Bulk handling, Diamond mining, Industrial minerals, Mineral processing, Mining services, Precious metals, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Some 18 months after launching TOMRA Insight to mining customers, the cloud-based data platform is making inroads across the North American mining sector, Harold Cline and Jordan Rutledge told IM on the side lines of the MINEXCHANGE 2022 SME Annual Conference & Expo in Salt Lake City recently.

TOMRA rolled out the subscription-based service to mining back in late 2020, with one of the early adopters being the Black chrome mine in South Africa, one of two mining projects that form the basis of the Sail Group’s plans for long-term sustainable chrome production.

TOMRA Insight, the company says, enables sorting machine users to improve operational efficiencies through a service that turns these machines into connected devices for the generation of valuable process data.

Cline and Rutledge, both TOMRA Sorting Area Sales Managers for North America, said numerous customers were now taking advantage of TOMRA Insight across the region, with many more interested in leveraging the continuous data streams coming off a web-based portal stored securely in the cloud.

TOMRA’s Harold Cline & Jordan Rutledge

“This is seeing mine managers able to tap into how operations are performing today, while tracking that against performance over the last day, week, month, quarter, etc,” Cline told IM. “With the help of our support network, these operations are able to achieve more consistent performance.”

With more customers signing up to TOMRA Insight and more data being generated, the pair were confident future iterations of the platform would be able to offer machine-learning algorithms that helped, for example, predict failures or highlight potential areas for operational improvements.

At the show, the pair were also highlighting the ongoing demand for TOMRA’s Final Recovery sorter, the COM XRT 300/FR, which, since launch, has been successfully deployed at the Letšeng diamond mine in Lesotho, owned by Gem Diamonds. The solution has gone on to be rolled out at other operations.

The introduction of the COM XRT 300/FR, TOMRA became the first company in the industry able to supply a full diamond recovery solution using XRT technology from 2-100 mm, with the unit delivering concentration factors of up to one million with limited stages and guaranteeing more than 99% diamond recovery, according to the company.

Outside of diamonds and sorter analytics, Cline was keen to talk up demand from the gold sector for the company’s sorters.

One of the key differentiators of its offering to the yellow metal space is the ability to scan the material with a multi-channel laser sensor. In an ore sorting setup that involves both XRT and LASER sensor-based machines, the TOMRA solution can remove particles containing sulphide minerals using XRT and subsequently leverage laser sensors to remove particles containing quartz and calcite.

TOMRA says its segregated option can potentially improve recoveries in quartz-associated gold applications thanks to a laser chute-based machine that analyses rocks from both sides. Other belt-based laser machines can only analyse a maximum of 40% of the rock’s surface, according to TOMRA.

“In the gold scenario, we are using XRT to sense and sort with sulphide minerals as a proxy,” Cline said. “At the same time, our laser scanner allows further separation capabilities through identification of minerals such as quartz and calcite.”

Vista Gold, which is developing the Mt Todd project in Australia, anticipates that this combined solution could eliminate approximately 10% of the run-of-mine feed to the grinding circuit, allowing the company to decrease the grind size and thereby increase recovery of the contained gold.

The COM XRT 300/FR offers a full diamond recovery solution

Cline added: “In North America, we have three projects in the gold space we’re working on at the moment that appreciate our unit’s ability to analyse the whole of the particle through our chute mechanism, as opposed to conveyor-based systems that can only analyse one angle of the particle.”

While TOMRA offers multiple sensors on its units through its modular platform, Rutledge said the company continues to have discussions on combining its solutions with other bulk sorting suppliers to further improve the process, naming prompt gamma neutron activation analysis (PGNAA) technology as one specific area of interest.

“We very often refer clients on to other companies when our solution may not match their brief,” she said. “At the same time, we have done some flowsheet work to include our solution with others currently on the market and believe it is only a matter of time before a combination of the two comes into a flowsheet.”

Evaluate ore sorting options at prefeasibility study stage, TOMRA’s Rutledge says

Comminution of minerals, Mineral processing, Mining events, Mining services, Sustainable mining, , , , , , , , , , , ,

TOMRA Mining is making a case for its sensor-based ore sorting solutions to be evaluated earlier in the mining project evaluation phase, with Jordan Rutledge, Area Sales Manager, arguing that consideration of its use at the very beginning of flowsheet discussions can influence up- and down-stream equipment selection.

The company’s sensor-based ore sorting systems have spread across the mining sector, migrating from industrial minerals and diamond operations to base and precious metals.

Speaking at a sensor-based sorting seminar in Toronto, Canada, held late last month, Rutledge (pictured) said the use of the technology needed to be considered early in the mine development scope in order to leverage the most benefit for the operation.

“Sensor-based sorting should be considered in the flowsheet from the beginning and evaluated in prefeasibility studies to see if it is suitable for the project and will add value to the plant,” she said.

“In many cases, sorting works really well and, as we continue to go towards a green economy, the use of our resources is vitally important. In order to make the best use of them, sorting plays a critical role.”

Rutledge, an event organiser and presenter, joined 40 participants from across Canada at the seminar, which included representatives from miners such as Agnico Eagle, Capstone Mining and Cheetah Resources; from laboratories such as testing and certification company SGS and the Saskatchewan Research Council ; from engineering companies such as DRA Global, Primero, CIMA and Halyard; and students from the University of Toronto.

“The event highlighted the important role of sensor-based sorting technologies in green mining and their potential to unlock significant value in mining projects, as well as the possibilities of digitalisation for supporting customers and managing connected equipment,” TOMRA said.