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Sakatti-FutureSmart Mining

Anglo American highlights next FutureSmart Mining advances at Woodsmith, Sakatti

Automation, Base metals, Energy minerals, Environmental, Mine operation news, Mineral project development, Mining equipment, Mining services, Power supply for mines, Sustainable mining, Water management, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Anglo American has provided its latest sustainability performance update, highlighting a number of technological advancements the company is looking to take at its in-development Woodsmith polyhalite mine in the UK and its exploration asset, Sakatti, in Finland.

Anglo American says it has an integrated approach to sustainability in project development, helping secure its ability to deliver responsible long-term growth in future-enabling metals and minerals.

The company is moving towards its goal of carbon neutral operations by 2040, evolving its pathways as it progresses, learns and as technologies develop.

At the end of 2022, its Scope 1 and 2 emissions were 21% below the peak levels of 2019 – a significant reduction that, Anglo American says, reflects its transition to 100% renewable electricity supply across its South America operations, with Australia to follow in 2025.

In southern Africa, it is working in partnership with EDF Renewables to build a 3-5 GW renewable energy ecosystem of wind and solar generation capacity, designed to tackle its largest remaining source of Scope 2 emissions and support energy reliability and grid resilience while catalysing broad socio-economic opportunities.

While Scope 3 emissions reduction is largely dependent on the decarbonisation of Anglo American’s value chains and the steel industry, in particular, it is progressing towards its ambition to halve these emissions by 2040.

Tom McCulley, CEO of Anglo American’s Crop Nutrients business, provided several references to Quellaveco, Anglo American’s most technologically-advanced mine that uses automation, a remote operations centre and high levels of digitalisation, when looking at its FutureSmart Mining™ plans at Woodsmith, a 5 Mt/y operation that could ramp up to 13 Mt/y.

McCulley, who also led development of Quellaveco, said Woodsmith will be developed as a benchmark for sustainable mining. This includes plans for the mine to be a low carbon, low water and low waste operation, with no tailings generation and with a minimum impact design.

“We hope this can show a way of how mining can be done in the future,” McCulley said of this approach at Woodsmith.

When it comes to Sakatti, Alison Atkinson, Projects & Development Director, said the development could end up being “our next greenfield project”.

The project is a rich multi-metal deposit with not only copper, nickel and cobalt resources, but also platinum, palladium, gold and silver.

“High concentrations of metal combined with consistency of the mineralisation between the boreholes make Sakatti a unique deposit,” Anglo American says of the project. Its resources are estimated to be sufficient for mining operations to last more than 20 years.

Atkinson said Sakatti is being designed as the next generation of FutureSmart Mining, building on what it has learned from Quellaveco and Woodsmith, particularly when it comes to ensuring there is minimal surface footprint and “using technology and innovations to deliver even better sustainability outcomes”.

She added: “Sakatti is set to be a remotely operated, low carbon-underground mine with an electric mining fleet using technology and mining methods that will create zero waste and enable high degrees of water recycling, contributing to a sustainable supply of critical minerals.”

The company also sees the potential to use sorting technologies for coarse particle rejection and material recovery opportunities.

GlencoreTech-AtlanticCopper

Freeport’s Atlantic Copper enlists Glencore Technology’s ISACYLE solution for waste recovery project

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Glencore Technology is to help Atlantic Copper, owned by Freeport-McMoRan, to create the first waste recovery plant for metal fractions of e-material in southern Europe.

The ‘CirCular’ project will feature Glencore Technology’s ISACYLE™ technology to process 60,000 t/y of e-material, and is expected to be operational in the March quarter of 2025.

According to Atlantic Copper, the works will begin in September. The company is investing €310 million ($345 million) in the project, which will move Spain from a recycling rate of 50% to 100% of electronic material, Glencore Technology says.

The ISACYCLE-based project will recover, among other metals, copper, gold, silver, platinum, palladium, tin and nickel from what Atlantic Copper describe as waste electrical and electronic equipment or WEEE.

In 2019, Spain generated around 890,000 t of WEEE, of which only around 370,000 t were managed by authorised recyclers. The other 520,000 t of disused electrical and electronic equipment are stored in homes, end up in landfills or are exported to countries where the metals might be recovered in an environmentally unfriendly way, Glencore Technology says.

Atlantic Copper, Spain’s leading copper producer, will use ISACYCLE technology to divert that kind of waste from landfill and instead recover significant value from it.

The CirCular project is aligned with Sustainable Development Goals and with the EU’s Green Deal and the Plan of Reconstruction, as copper is among the key raw materials that Europe will need to achieve that goal of a sustainable, environmentally neutral economy.

Glencore Technology’s Manager for Pyrometallurgy and Hydrometallurgy, Dr Stanko Nikolic, said the project is expected to be the first of many to use the company’s ISACYLE technology, which is a direct evolution from its ISASMELT™ technology.

“ISACYCLE has been purposefully evolved and proven to take residual waste, including e-waste, and transform it into saleable commodities,” he said. “It’s a very scalable technology. This is a project featuring a plant toward the larger scale. But it is also a technology that works in a small scale, ideal for urban utilities and waste processing companies.”

Nikolic said the ISACYCLE technology, on any scale, can virtually eliminate landfill and instead produce recovered metals, a safe slag that can be used as a construction product, energy and clean offgas.

He concluded: “We’re proud to be able to work with such an innovative company as Atlantic Copper. They’re building a major milestone for the region and what will become a showcase for others.”

Murray & Roberts Cementation hits the accuracy mark on Platreef ventilation shaft development

Explosives and blasting, Mine shafts and equipment, Mineral project development, Precious metals, , , , , , , , , , ,

Murray & Roberts Cementation is helping Ivanplats deliver the Platreef project in South Africa through the provision of drilling services at the ventilation shaft.

The dual purpose use of the new ventilation shaft at Ivanplats’ Platreef project required extreme pilot hole accuracy, according to Murray & Roberts Cementation.

The vent shaft, or Shaft 3, which meets horizontal development at a depth of 950 m, also needs to be equipped with a hoist and rope guides to carry personnel in the case of emergency. The rope guides for the hoist require the shaft to be drilled vertically within tight parameters. According to Dirk Visser, Senior Project Manager at Murray & Roberts Cementation, this meant offering the client minimal deflection of the pilot hole using a continuous steering tool.

“Using the well-proven German-designed-and-manufactured Micon, Rotary Vertical Drilling System (RVDS), we were able to achieve the set parameters required for a rope guide installation,” Visser says. “The worst deflection was no more than 0.05% – or 452 mm – and, by the time we bottomed out, the deviation was only 0.02% or 226 mm off centre over a final drilling depth of 950 m.”

Micon’s specialised RVDS is a continuous self-steering tool working on a close loop system which steers the tool using two-axis gyro inclination sensors that activate the hydraulic steering system. It can determine in real time if there is any deviation from the vertical course, and communicate this information to the operator on surface via pressure waves in the drilling water by converting the pressure waves into information through transducers, according to the company.

The Murray & Roberts Cementation drilling team not only ensured accurate directional results, but also optimised the performance of the RVDS. By keeping an eye on key variables like voltage levels and water cleanliness.

Visser highlights that drilling to these tolerances with this highly technical equipment demands a very experienced team. On this project, for instance, the most ‘junior’ person has worked with the RVDS for 15 years, while another member has 28 years of experience in raiseboring.

Platreef is owne 64% by Ivanhoe Mines. A 26% interest is held by Ivanplats’ historically disadvantaged, broad-based, black economic empowerment (B-BBEE) partners, while a Japanese consortium of ITOCHU Corporation, Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation, and Japan Gas Corporation, owns a 10% interest in Ivanplats.

In May, Ivanhoe Mines said that underground development work had been focused on the vertical development of waste passes between the 750-m, 850-m and 950-m levels, and lateral development towards the orebody, as well as lateral development required for underground infrastructure on each level including access to the bottom of Shaft 3 on the 950-m level. Shaft 3, with a diameter of 5.1 m, is currently being reamed with approximately 150 m of 950 m completed to date, it said. Planned completion was scheduled for the December quarter of 2023.

Platreef’s commercial production is expected in 2024, with Shaft 2 now expected to be commissioned in 2027. The initial scope of the phased development plan is to fast-track Platreef into production, starting with an initial 700,000-t/y underground mine using the existing Shaft 1 and a new on-site concentrator. Platfreef, Ivanhoe says, is projected to be Africa’s lowest-cost producer of platinum-group metals, nickel, copper and gold.

More Weba chutes set to arrive at Zimbabwe platinum mine

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South Africa-based Weba Chute Systems is set to provide 10 more of its custom engineered transfer chutes for the expansion of an underground crusher station at a platinum mine in Zimbabwe.

Overseeing the contract for Weba Chute Systems is Project Manager, Ted Cruikshank, who explains that the design, manufacture and delivery of the units is already 80% complete. Over the past 20 years, the company has installed approximately 70 chutes for this customer.

“The chutes being supplied in this latest contract will feed run-of-mine material from the ore pass to the underground crusher, as well as from the crusher to the outgoing conveyor,” Cruikshank said. “This has involved designing and building chutes ranging in height from two metres to six metres.”

Before the crusher, the chutes take large material of up to 650 mm in size from a vibrating feeder, at a maximum tonnage of 1,100 t/h. Other chutes take the feeder’s undersize, which is smaller than 180 mm in size, at 550 t/h. Some of the chutes will also be used in conveyor-to-conveyor applications; these feed 1,500-mm wide belts with up to 1,350 t/h of material with a maximum lump size of 250 mm.

“The abrasiveness of platinum ore makes our chute design philosophy – based on the cascade system – very important,” Cruikshank said. “Our use of dead boxes on the inside of the chute creates a layer of ore for the moving material to flow over – thereby extending the wear life of the chute itself.”

Replaceable lips on the dead boxes become primary wear parts, which can be easily and quickly swapped out at the necessary intervals. By controlling the flow of the mined and crushed material, the chutes facilitate smoother transition and central loading onto conveyor belts, in turn reducing wear, damage and spillage, the company explained.

“The chutes also include inspection doors for easy access during maintenance,” Cruikshank said. “To promote optimal uptime for the customer, we are also including a spare set of wearing lip liners for each chute. These are vital for securing the material layer, while ensuring that the dead box itself is protected from undue wear.”

Weba Chute Systems’ agent in Zimbabwe, the locally owned firm Hilmax, will supervise the installation of the chutes.

RCT and Rham collaborate on ‘world-first’ automated battery-electric loader deployment

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In what is believed to be a world-first, RCT, together with equipment manufacturer Rham Equipment, has deployed a fully autonomous battery-electric Rham loader into the African mining sector.

This technological feat saw RCT work with Rham to specifically engineer the automated loader to effortlessly work in height-restricted drives in a South African platinum mining operation.

RCT’s market-leading ControlMaster® automation technology was integrated with the Rham ultra-low profile (ULP) 25HD battery-electric loader with the package installed at Rham’s factory, prior to the loader’s deployment to the site.

This project showcases ControlMaster as a proven interoperable automation platform that can be integrated across any mobile equipment make, type or model, RCT said.

With the technology established on site, the loader operators are able to manage LHD operations from the safety of a ControlMaster Automation Centre on the mine’s surface.

In addition to this, RCT interfaced with the Rham dash display and replicated it on the Automation Centre, to provide the operator with important machine health information.

The project also includes the implementation of RCT Connect, a specialised underground communications network designed to enhance autonomous fleet operations.

Rham Managing Director, Kevin Reynders, said: “This joint venture project has run effortlessly creating safer machines for our miners.

“Rham Equipment, a Level 3 B-BBEE South African, (Pty) Limited Company, has been producing specialised mining equipment since 1980. The company has been providing the South African mining industry with quality products and top-of-the-range services for the past four decades.”

Reynders added: “The product range includes underground transporters, excavators, LHDs, dump trucks, roof bolters and conveyor drives, to name but a few. To date, Rham Equipment has supplied over 2,000 units to some of the most prominent South African platinum, gold- and coal mines who we count amongst our customer portfolios.”

RCT Business Development Manager for Africa, Mike Thomas, said the project represented an important milestone on many fronts.

“ControlMaster has an extensive history integrating with diesel powered equipment, but this project proves that the technology can interface seamlessly with battery-electric mobile machines.

“Battery-electric equipment fleets can significantly reduce a mining operation’s carbon footprint while eliminating the costs associated with diesel consumption, so we expect to see a greater uptake of the technology around the world. The technology will relocate the machine operators to a safe working area on the mine’s surface while enabling optimised autonomous machine operations.”

“A cornerstone of ControlMaster is its ability to integrate with any machine and this project proves that our technology can interface with Rham’s loader, which is an entirely new machine for us.”

RCT’s technical team will empower mine site personnel with comprehensive training and technical support to operate and maintain the equipment going forward, it said.

The company concluded: “The project demonstrates RCT’s automation technology can successfully integrate with battery-electric mining equipment and is an important step toward delivering an autonomous, carbon-friendly mining fleet of the future.”

Platinum producer targets improved filter life with Metso Outotec preventative maintenance contract

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Metso Outotec says it has signed a three-year Life Cycle Services (LCS) contract with one of the biggest platinum producers in the world, aiming to provide a preventative maintenance solution that will improve machine life.

With LCS, the customer’s critical assets will achieve enhanced availability and higher production, according to Metso Outotec, adding that the performance-based agreement provides, among all, a Reliability Centered Maintenance application that focuses on preventive maintenance.

The value of the order is approximately €16 million ($15.9 million) and it covers 12 filters across five customer sites.

Vivian Pillay, Director, Global Key Account Management in Metso Outotec, said: “We are very pleased to have been chosen as the key supplier of filter services for our customer’s sites. Our service approach will improve the safety, overall filter reliability and performance in line with customer’s throughput targets.”

Metso Outotec’s LCS offering covers the entire after-market portfolio, including process support and optimisation, sustainable wears, spares, and service solutions. Core service elements in the LCS packages for filters are spare parts, repairs, maintenance, reliability, connected equipment and process optimization.

The company says it has the most comprehensive filtration portfolio on the market with 15 different filter types available for hundreds of applications. It has performed over 14,000 filtration tests and has delivered over 5,000 filters around the world.

TOMRA Mining to demonstrate Final Recovery diamond sorter at Electra Mining 2022

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TOMRA Mining will showcase its sensor-based sorting solutions at the Electra Mining 2022 exhibition, in Johannesburg, South Africa, in September, showcasing, for the first time, live demonstrations of its COM XRT 300 /FR Final Recovery sorter for diamond operations.

Representatives from its Sales and Field Service teams will also present TOMRA’s offering of advanced digital products and services, such as the TOMRA Insight cloud-based platform and its latest generation TOMRA ACT PC-based system, as well as its portfolio of sorting solutions for the diamonds, metals and industrial minerals industry at the show, which runs from September 5-9.

Corné de Jager, Diamond Segment Manager TOMRA Mining, said: “The Electra Mining Show is the perfect platform for us to showcase TOMRA’s advanced mining solutions. This important exhibition attracts a wide audience – from operators and metallurgists – interested in smart solutions that are simple to operate and maintain, to decision makers who need to be up to date with the latest value-adding technologies. At the event we will have the opportunity to meet them face-to-face and discuss their requirements, giving them a taste or TOMRA’s collaborative approach, product expertise and after-sales support.”

TOMRA will demonstrate the Final Recovery sorter with fine kimberlitic or alluvial ore together with diamond powdered tracers in a Final Recovery and Sort House application. Visitors will be able to experience first-hand the sorter’s capability to produce an ultra-high diamond-by-weight concentrate with an exceptionally low yield by using TOMRA’s proprietary ultra-high-resolution sensor, advanced new image processing and high-precision ejector valve system, the company says. The sorter offers 100% diamond detection within the specified size fraction and > 99% guaranteed diamond recovery with appropriate feed material preparation.

“We are very excited to demonstrate the TOMRA COM XRT 300 /FR sorter,” de Jager says. “It completes our unique partnered diamond recovery ecosystem, which covers the entire process. We are now able to offer our customers a full XRT solution to sort +2-100 mm particles: +4-100 mm particles with our bulk concentration sorters, and +2-32 mm particles with the COM XRT 300 /FR in its Final Recovery, Sort House or small-capacity exploration applications. The sorter offers higher efficiency, better grade, simplified security requirements with fewer sorting stages and a smaller footprint. It reduces complexity and operational costs, and unlocks the potential for previously deemed non-profitable projects and marginal deposits to be economically viable. ”

The COM XRT 300 /FR sorter can also add value to existing kimberlitic and alluvial operations that use conventional bulk-concentration methods like rotary pans, dense medium separation or X-ray luminescence, if installed in a Final Recovery and/or Sort House function after these existing processes. With a contained capital expense, operations can benefit from a quick, simple and significant revenue gain, TOMRA says.

The TOMRA team at the exhibition will explain the full benefits of its complete partnered diamond recovery ecosystem consisting of XRT technology covering the entire process – from Bulk Concentration to Final Recovery and Sort House applications – as well as its advanced digital products and services. These include the newly refreshed TOMRA ACT PC-based system interface and TOMRA Insight cloud-based subscription solution.

TOMRA Mining has 190 sorter installations operating around the world, of which more than 60 are in Africa. It offers installation opportunities in Africa in the metals industry, for example in applications such as lithium, chromite, platinum, manganese and gold.

Zest WEG E-House powers up HIG mill at South Africa platinum mine

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A purpose-designed electrical house (E-House) from Zest WEG is driving one of the largest new high intensity grinding (HIG) mills in the southern hemisphere, recently installed at a platinum mine in South Africa’s North West province, Zest WEG says.

The size and operational parameters of the mill place demanding requirements on the equipment in the E-House, according to Tyrone Willemse, Senior Proposals Manager at Zest WEG. Constructed in South Africa incorporating a range of products – produced and distributed by Zest WEG – the E-House design also delivers world-class standards of safety and fire protection, the company said.

“The key benefit of the prefabricated E-House concept is the time it saves the customer and the high level of quality that can be ensured through its construction and testing under ideal workshop conditions,” he says. “The process is also streamlined as the complete project falls under a single provider, who takes full responsibility for delivering on-time and on-budget.”

This E-House includes the HIG mill’s variable speed drive (VSD) and all its associated auxiliary circuits and starters. A range of WEG transformers and motors are also part of this project. With its extensive in-house expertise, Zest WEG generates fully detailed designs for its E-Houses, using 3D computer assisted design software.

“For this application, the E-House consists of a medium voltage room and a low voltage (LV) room,” Willemse notes. “The MV room houses the well-known WEG MVW01 VSD, with an integral oil type 12 pulse transformer manufactured locally at our transformer manufacturing facility in Wadeville.”

Willemse explains that the WEG MVW01 makes use of high voltage insulated-gate bipolar transistors, which lower the amount of power electronics needed. This also reduces the mean time to repair, so that operations can be quickly restored in the event of a major fault on the system.

“The WEG MVW01 powers a WEG 3.75 MW MGR eight pole 3.3 kV directly-coupled squirrel cage induction motor,” says Willemse. “This motor is specially designed to be vertically mounted to meet the HIG mill’s operation and maintenance requirements.”

Both the motor and the VSD were designed to meet the aggressive torque requirements during some phases of the mill’s operation. The combination handles the torque requirements that periodically exceed 170% for more than three minutes, giving the customer the necessary flexibility, according to Zest WEG. The LV room contains the motor control centre (MCC) that feeds all the auxiliary circuits of the mill.

“Importantly, we have installed the newly arc-proof type-tested IEC 61641 WEG board, which has the best rating for personal protection,” Willemse says. “In the event of an internal arc, the MCC is fitted with an explosion duct that transfers any explosion safely out of the building.”

Another aspect of the safety features is a fire detection and suppression system that meets the customer’s demands. The two rooms are fitted with their own fully automated room-flooding suppression systems, which can flood the space with gas that douses electrical fires but is not dangerous to humans.

“The system can detect smoke at a very early stage, and can also check against false triggering,” Willemse says. “More than two smoke detectors must react, activating a loud bell for evacuation or cancellation, before flooding takes place.”

The LV room also houses WEG CFW11 LV VSDs, which feed premium efficient WEG motors. The E-House’s small power and lighting circuits are fed by one of Zest WEG’s locally manufactured SANS780-compliant transformers.

Second Doppelmayr RopeCon goes live at Northam’s Booysendal mine

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The second Doppelmayr RopeCon® system at Northam Platinum’s Booysendal platinum mine in South Africa has gone live, helping transport approximately 400 t/h of mined material over a distance of 2.8 km and a difference in elevation of -160 m.

A RopeCon system has been transporting platinum ore at Booysendal since the end of 2018, with this first installation transporting some 909 t/h of material over a circa-4.8 km distance through hilly terrain.

In December 2021, the second installation at Booysendal North was handed over to the customer.

The Booysendal North RopeCon discharges the material into the same silo from which the material is loaded onto the Booysendal South system, which makes it a perfect link in a continuous conveying line, Doppelmayr explained. Since early 2022, the second loading point along the line has been in use, too. The option of an alternative loading point was provided at tower 2. A conventional feeder conveyor transports the material to the RopeCon line where it is loaded directly onto the belt via a chute.

RopeCon, developed by Doppelmayr, offers the advantages of a ropeway and combines them with the properties of a conventional belt conveyor, according to the company. It essentially consists of a flat belt with corrugated side walls: just as on conventional belt conveyors, the belt performs the haulage function. It is driven and deflected by a drum in the head or tail station and fixed to axles arranged at regular intervals to carry it. The axles are fitted with plastic running wheels which run on fixed anchored track ropes and guide the belt. The track ropes are elevated off the ground on tower structures.

“By using the RopeCon system, the customer did not have to rely on trucks to transport the material, a definite advantage in this topographically challenging terrain with its sometimes very steep roads,” the company said. “Furthermore, using the roads only for the transport of people and supplies will have a positive effect on road maintenance costs.”

Booysendal was also particularly careful to choose a transport system that would minimise the environmental footprint of the mine. By guiding the RopeCon over towers, the space required on the ground is reduced to a minimum, or more precisely to the tower locations. At the same time, the system does not represent an insurmountable obstacle for wildlife or humans. The track crosses a number of roads, and even wildlife can roam freely underneath the RopeCon, according to Doppelmayr.

Zimplats to boost PGM mine, concentrator output in Zimbabwe

Mineral processing, Mineral project development, Precious metals, , , , ,

Zimplats’ Board of Directors has signed off on several new projects at its platinum group metal operations in Zimbabwe, including the building of a new mine, expansion of its in-country processing capacity and the addition of a solar plant to augment power supplies.

The board approved an overall capital investment strategy with a budget of $1.8 billion to be implemented over a 10-year period beginning in 2021, with $1.2 billion already approved for implementation.

Zimplats, a member of the Implats Group, is focused on production of platinum group and associated metals from the Great Dyke in Zimbabwe. It currently operates four underground mines and a concentrator at Ngezi, while the Selous Metallurgical Complex, 77 km north of the underground operations, comprises a concentrator and a smelter.

These projects, including those that are currently in process of being approved, will concentrate on:

  • Maintaining current production levels through mine replacements and upgrades ($516 million);
  • Expanding production levels through growth projects, including the development of a new mine and increased processing capacity, which will boost nameplate capacity from 6.7 Mt/y to 8.8 Mt/y and in-country processing capacity to 380,000 t/y of concentrate, and the establishment of an abatement facility to mitigate sulphuric dioxide emissions emanating from the current and expanded smelting capacity ($969 million);
  • Refurbishing the mothballed base metal refinery, to further beneficiate converter matte ($100 million); and
  • Investing in a 185 MW solar plant to augment power supplies and enhance environmental, social and governance performance metrics to maintain Zimplats licence to operate ($201 million).

These projects, the company said, are expected to be funded by internally generated resources.