Tag Archives: ShovelSense

MineSense announces ShovelSense integration agreement with Komatsu

MineSense and Komatsu’s Modular Mining Systems have executed a collaboration agreement to share data between ShovelSense and the DISPATCH Fleet Management (FMS) and ProVision Machine Guidance systems.

The standardised integrated solution exchanges loading cycle and material classification data in real-time and provides automated notifications to re-route trucks when ShovelSense identifies a material mismatch. The integration is purchased directly through MineSense as part of its ShovelSense solution.

The aim of the agreement is to provide customers with a pre-packaged, standardised, “plug and play” solution that can simply be switched on as part of a ShovelSense implementation. In addition to simplifying the procurement process through a single point of contact, the standardised solution will be regularly updated to ensure compatibility with future system upgrades and to protect against any new cybersecurity threats.

“Our goal is to make it as seamless as possible for customers to integrate ShovelSense into their mining operations,” Frank Hoogendoorn (right), Chief Data Officer at MineSense, says. “As anyone working on mining technology interoperability projects knows, data integration between third-party systems can be very challenging, especially when data sharing needs to be bi-directional, in real-time, and consistently reliable and secure. We’re pleased to be a Modular Ecosystem Partner and to offer a pre-built, “off the shelf” solution ready for immediate deployment.”

By measuring grade in each shovel scoop, ShovelSense creates value for customers by identifying misclassified material at the earliest point of the extraction process – at the mining face as trucks are being loaded. This means trucks can be re-routed to the correct dump location right away, without the need for additional handling costs. The automated, real-time communication between ShovelSense and the Modular Ecosystem ensures ShovelSense recommendations are consistently actioned as truck diversions, without distracting equipment operators.

“We recognise we can create significant value for our customers by being an open data integration enabler,” Greg Lanz (left), General Manager, Technology Interoperability at Komatsu, says. “The Modular Ecosystem is the future of digital mining collaboration, and we’re excited to see customers embracing integrations with our early adopter partners like MineSense.”

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.

Freeport-McMoRan Chino feels the ‘value add’ from MineSense ShovelSense installation

During a Technical Session at the SME MineXchange Conference and Expo, in Phoenix, Arizona, today, a speaker from Freeport-McMoRan highlighted the value case for using MineSense’s X-ray Fluorescence-based ShovelSense® system at its Chino copper mine in New Mexico, USA.

In a presentation titled, ‘ShovelSense Bulk Ore Sorting Use Cases and Value at Freeport-McMoRan Chino Mine, New Mexico, USA,’ Maurice Sunkpal, Senior Ore Control, Freeport-McMoRan, showcased how the company’s use of ShovelSense had resulted in multiple benefits.

The company has been employing ShovelSense alongside other solutions such as Orica’s OREPro™ 3D as part of a five-year, ore control focused strategy at Chino. Chino is a highly heterogeneous copper porphyry skarn deposit where ore control is especially challenging due to the natural variability of the deposit, sparse blasthole sampling and blast movement, causing inevitable ore loss and dilution.

Chino has retrofitted its main production Komatsu P&H4100 electric rope shovel with ShovelSense to predict grades at the mine face for the purpose of bulk ore sorting, diverting mis-classified trucks to their correct destination.

Sunkpal was able to showcase the difference in the waste and ore definitions from a standard block model and that of one based on XRF data from ShovelSense (see below). This data – and the resultant diversions – in the mining of high contrast ore-waste contacts resulted in more than 10% truck diversions, yielding significant economic benefits by reducing dilution and ore loss, he said.

Block model differences: the original on the left and the ShovelSense-aided block model on the right

He also said the integraion of ShovelSense was enhancing the self-audit capabilities of ore control tools at the mine via real-time tracking of the ore control process. He added that this process had identified opportunities for further process optimisation.

Further, Chino has seen a reduction in variance from mine to mill with ShovelSense, while allowing the company to carry out selective mining with increased accuracy and confidence.

MineSense Technologies launches data platform to aid mine-to-mill optimisation

MineSense Technologies Ltd has launched the MineSense Data Portal, a groundbreaking platform that, it says, leverages real-time data from ShovelSense® and BeltSense® to empower mining operators with data-driven insights for mine-to-mill optimisation.

The MineSense Data Portal is a powerful digital platform that enables access to real-time data generated by ShovelSense and BeltSense at critical points in the ore processing value chain. Along with interactive features for visualising and analysing data, the data portal provides actionable insights that mining personnel can use to optimise their entire operations – from extraction at the mine face to downstream processing in the flotation circuit.

Copper Mountain Mine, as an early adopter, had the opportunity to evaluate the MineSense Data Portal, benefitting from the combined power of ShovelSense and BeltSense systems. The mine, located in British Columbia, leverages both ShovelSense and BeltSense applications across the site.

Rudolph Botha, Senior Geologist at Copper Mountain, said: “MineSense is a leader in material tracking and live material analysis, from shovels to belts. I don’t believe there’s anything in the market that matches [the MineSense Data Portal’s] capabilities in terms of tracking grades and accurately monitoring material.”

Jeff More, President and CEO of MineSense, said: “The MineSense Data Portal empowers mining operations to maximise the value of real-time data generated by our ShovelSense and BeltSense technologies, offering the mine enhanced visibility to optimise end-to-end operational processes and unlock their full potential.”

Frank Hoogendoorn, Chief Data Officer at MineSense, added: “MineSense is committed to helping mines in their digital transformation journey by not only providing completely new datasets for process optimisation, but also in providing advanced tools to fully unlock the value of those datasets. We’re excited that the new data portal gives mine operators far greater visibility into their mill feed and is packed with features that help them make more informed decisions to improve both profitability and sustainability.”

Key features of the MineSense Data Portal highlighted by the company include:

  • Real-time tracking of grades from digger buckets, trucks and conveyor belts
  • Summary of trucks redirected by ShovelSense
  • System availability monitoring and spare parts inventory
  • Three dimensional visualisations of bucket and truck grades for mine planning insights
  • Ore tracking dashboard of ShovelSense and BeltSense grades and material types for mill process optimisation; and
  • Customised layout tailored to each unique mine.

JP Morgan-backed financing paves way for further MineSense growth

MineSense Technologies Ltd says it has closed a $42 million Series E financing led by J.P. Morgan Asset Management’s Sustainable Growth Equity team that, it says, will allow it to accelerate the commercial deployment of its solutions to drive further growth and profitability.

The funding round includes participation from new investor Evok Innovations, a climate technology and sustainability venture fund, and existing investors including Prelude Ventures, BDC Industrial Innovation Venture Fund, Cycle Capital and Chrysalix Venture Capital.

MineSense has been pioneering data-driven solutions that improve ore grade control, operational profitability and carbon intensity across the metals mining industry. It is doing this through a combination of its ShovelSense® and BeltSense® hardware, a digital platform and geoscientific insight that goes beyond purely grade-based orebody information.

ShovelSense provides precise ore/waste definition and unlocks unique, previously inaccessible data sets at the mine’s extraction face, according to the company. This real-time data enables removal of waste from ore and recovers valuable ore from waste by making smart routing decisions that also reduces the amount of waste processed, production of tailings, and energy, water, and reagent consumption. Metal recovery is increased materially, with production from operating mines increasing by 5-25% on existing infrastructure, according to the company.

The company has initially been focused on copper, with those mining companies that have signed up to use its solutions looking to maximise ore recovery, minimise dilution and enhance operational sustainability.

MineSense says it has tripled revenue over the last year, and was recently recognised as one of the fastest growing companies in North America by Deloitte.

It currently currently serves mines across North and South America, with notable deployments in British Columbia (Teck’s Highland Valley Copper, Copper Mountain Mining’s operation and Taseko Mines’ Gibraltar operation), Chile (Carmen de Andacollo) and Peru (Antamina).

The fundraising will allow the company to expand its coverage globally and extend into other critical metals such as nickel, cobalt, zinc and iron, it said.

Jeff More, CEO of MineSense, said: “We are pleased to partner with J.P. Morgan Sustainable Growth Equity and Evok to scale our ore grade data mining solutions. This funding and strategic support will allow us to continue executing on our strategy of delivering profit enhancement, operational efficiency, and carbon intensity reduction to critical mining operations.”

Taseko Mines using innovation to increase production and efficiencies

The Taseko Mines story is indicative of the current environment miners find themselves in – maximise productivity to grow margins at existing operations or invest in innovative new methods of extracting critical metals that come with a reduced footprint.

The Vancouver-based company is pursuing both options at the two main assets on its books – the Gibraltar copper mine in British Columbia, Canada, and its Florence Copper project in Arizona, USA.

Gibraltar, owned 75% by Taseko, initially started up in 1972 as a 36,000 t/d operation. It was shut down in 1998 due to low copper prices before Taseko restarted it in 2004. In the years since, the company has invested over $800 million in the mine, increasing the throughput rate to 85,000 tons per day (77,111 t/d), where it’s been operating at since 2014.

The asset now sits as the second largest open-pit copper mine in Canada – with life of mine average annual production of 130 MIb (59,000 t) of copper and 2.5 MIb of molybdenum.

Stuart McDonald, President and CEO of the company, says the company continues to work on the trade-off of upping throughput – potentially past the nameplate capacity – and improving metallurgical recoveries at the operation.

This became apparent in the latest quarterly results, when Taseko reported an average daily throughput of 89,400 tons/d over the three-month period alongside “higher than normal” mining dilution.

The company believes Gibraltar can improve on both counts – mill throughput and mining dilution.

“We were optimistic coming into the new pit (Gibraltar Pit) that, based on the historical data, we could go above 85,000 tons/d as we got settled in and mined the softer ore,” McDonald told IM. “We still believe there are opportunities to go beyond that level, but, at some point, it becomes an optimisation and trade-off between throughput and recoveries.

“In our business, we’re not interested in maximising mill throughput; we’re interested in maximising copper production.”

On the dilution front, McDonald believes the problem will lessen as the mining moves to deeper benches in the Gibraltar Pit.

“As we go deeper, the ore continuity improves, so we hope the dilution effect will continue to improve too,” he said.

“The dilution rate is still not quite where we want it to be, so it’s a matter of looking at our operating practices carefully and following through a grade reconciliation process from our geological model through to assays from our blast holes, assays into the shovel bucket and all the way through to the mill.”

‘Assays into the shovel bucket’?

McDonald explained: “We do use ShovelSense® technology on two of our shovels, so that helps us assess the grade of the material in the shovel bucket.”

To this point, the company has leveraged most value from this XRF-based technology, developed by MineSense, when deployed on shovels situated in the boundaries between ore and waste. This offers the potential to reclassify material deemed to be ‘waste’ in the block model as ‘ore’ and vice versa, improving the grade of the material going to the mill and reducing processing of waste.

ShovelSense has been successful in carrying out this process with accuracy at other copper mines in British Columbia, including Teck Resources’ Highland Valley Copper operations and Copper Mountain Mining’s namesake operation.

McDonald concluded on this grade reconciliation process: “We just have to make sure we are tracing the material through all of those steps and not losing anything along the way. Gibraltar is a big earthmoving operation, so we must continue to keep the material flowing as well as look at the head grade.”

A different type of recovery

In Arizona at Florence Copper, Taseko has a different proposition on its hands.

Florence is a project that, when fully ramped up, could produce 40,000 t of high-quality copper cathode annually for the US domestic market.

It will do this by using a metal extraction and recovery method rarely seen in the copper space – in-situ recovery (ISR).

The planned ISR facility consists of an array of injection and recovery wells that will be used to inject a weak acid solution (raffinate – 99.5% water, 0.5% acid) into copper oxide ore and recover the copper-laden solution (pregnant leach solution) for processing into pure copper cathode sheets. The mine design is based on the use of five spot well patterns, with each pattern consisting of four extraction wells in a 100 ft (30.5 m) grid plus a central injection well. This mine outline and associated infrastructure comes with a modest capital expenditure figure of $230 million.

The company has been testing the ISR technology at Florence to ensure the recovery process works and the integrity of the wells remains intact.

Since acquiring Florence Copper in November 2014, Taseko has advanced the project through the permitting, construction and operating phase of the Phase 1 Production Test Facility (PTF). The PTF, a $25 million test facility, consists of 24 wells and the SX/EW plant. It commenced operations in December 2018.

Over the course of 18 months, Taseko evaluated the operational data, confirmed project economics and demonstrated the ability to produce high-quality copper cathode with stringent environmental guidelines at the PTF, the company says.

McDonald reflected: “We produced over 1 MIb [of copper] over this timeframe and then switched over from a copper production cycle into testing our ability to rinse the orebody and restore the mining area back to the permitted conditions.

“We’re proving our ability to do the mining and the reclamation, which we think is a critical de-risking step for the project.”

Over an 18-month period, Taseko produced 1 MIb from the ISR test facility at Florence

Taseko says Florence Copper is expected to have the lowest energy and greenhouse gas-intensity (GHG) of any copper producer in North America, with McDonald saying the operation’s carbon footprint will mostly be tied to the electricity consumption required.

“Our base case is to use electricity from the Arizona grid, which has a combination of renewables, nuclear and gas-fired power plants,” he said. “In the longer-term, there are opportunities at Florence to switch to completely 100% renewable sources, with the most likely candidate being solar power.

“At that point, with renewable energy powering our plant, we could be producing a copper product with close to zero carbon associated with it.”

Gibraltar has also been labelled as a “low carbon intensity operation” by Skarn Associates who, in a 2020 report, said the operation ranked in the lowest quartile compared with other copper mines throughout the world when it comes to Scope 1 and 2 emissions.

When it comes to the question of when Florence could start producing, Taseko is able to reflect on recent successful permitting activities.

In December 2020, the company received the Aquifer Protection Permit from the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality, with the only other permit required prior to construction being the Underground Injection Control (UIC) permit from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

On September 29, the EPA concluded its public comment period on the draft UIC it issued following a virtual public hearing that, according to Taseko, demonstrated strong support for the Florence Copper project among local residents, business organisations, community leaders and state-wide organisations. Taseko says it has reviewed all the submitted comments and is confident they will be fully addressed by the EPA during its review, prior to issuing the final UIC permit.

Future improvements

In tandem with its focus on permitting and construction at Florence, and upping performance at Gibraltar, the company has longer-term aims for its operations.

For instance, the inclusion of more renewables to get Florence’s copper production to carbon-neutral status could allow the company to benefit from an expected uptick in demand for a product with such credentials. If the demand side requirements for copper continue to evolve in the expected manner, it is easy to see Taseko receiving a premium for its low- or no-carbon product over the 20-year mine life.

At Gibraltar, it is also pursuing a copper cathode strategy that could lead to the re-start of its SX-EW plant. In the past, this facility processed leachate from oxide waste dumps at the operation.

“As we get into 2024, we see some additional oxide ore coming out of the Connector Pit, which gives us the opportunity to restart that leach operation and have some additional pounds coming out of the mine,” McDonald said.

Alongside this, the company is thinking about leaching other ore types at Gibraltar.

“There are new technologies coming to the market in terms of providing mines with the opportunity to leach sulphides as well as oxides,” McDonald said. “We’re in the early stages of that work, but we have lots of waste rock at the property and, if there is a potential revenue stream for it, we will look at leveraging that.”

MineSense continues growth trajectory with new South America HQ in Chile

MineSense Technologies officially opened its regional headquarters and service centre for South America in Santiago, Chile, this week, in another move to capture growth across one of the world’s key mining hubs.

Attended by senior executives and a MineSense workforce of over 50 hired so far in Chile and Peru, the ceremony celebrated the opening of a 3,000 sq.m facility in an industrial park in the Pudahuel district.

The headquarters includes corporate offices and a manufacturing area that increases service and production capacity to supply ShovelSense technology to meet South American and global demand, the company said.

Jeff More, President and CEO (pictured on stage), was on hand to cut the ribbon. He was joined by Victor Aguilera, member of the Board of Directors of MineSense Technologies Ltd and General Director of Aurus Investments; Claudio Toro-Salazar, Executive Vice President, Business Development; and Monica Feregrino, VP Operations.

MineSense, through the deployment of its ShovelSense solution, has been gaining ground in the bulk ore sorting space across South America.

Earlier this year, it deployed a second shovel-based unit at Teck Resources’ Carmen de Andacollo mine, in Chile. This followed an earlier successful trial at the operation.

It has also recently gone live with a deployment at Antamina, Peru’s largest mine, and has been trialling the XRF-based technology at Hudbay Minerals’ Constancia mine, also in Peru.

The ShovelSense system, through a sophisticated suite of sensors and algorithms, improves orebody visibility bucket by bucket in real time during the loading process, according to the company. Trucks are then automatically diverted to the correct location, increasing value and revenue realised during the mining process. The technology also creates reductions of CO2 emissions per tonne of ore produced, consumption of processing chemicals and reagents, energy and water, while maximising metal recovery, MineSense says.

To support mine site operations and their ore decision making, MineSense also provides 24/7 data room technical support for continuous monitoring of all elements of system performance.

Teck’s Carmen de Andacollo goes live with MineSense shovel-based ore sorting system

Following a successful trial of a MineSense’s ShovelSense ore sorting unit at Teck Resources’ Carmen de Andacollo mine in Chile, the operation is now using the system to divert trucks in real-time, MineSense says.

The implementation of an additional ShovelSense system at CDA is now also underway, the Vancouver-based company says.

CDA is Teck Resource’s second mining operation using ShovelSense, following commercialisation in 2019 at Highland Valley Copper (HVC) in British Columbia, Canada.

“The ShovelSense results are spectacular!” Victor Araya, Teck Superintendent Geology, said, referring to the results of the trial recently completed.

All new technology introduced into the mine is rigorously tested at different stages of evaluation at scale to ensure the system works reliably in the field, according to MineSense. ShovelSense exceeded one-digit accuracy (single-digit relative error) measuring copper ore and met and exceeded expectations for all criteria in the trial: system availability; accuracy to blast hole data; and precision in the field, the company reported.

Teck CDA also recently celebrated the diversion of seven ore-from-waste trucks, which are the first of many that ShovelSense data will automatically divert to maximise ore recovery and minimise the needless transportation and processing of waste, MineSense said.

“We have now incorporated ShovelSense to decide the destination of the materials, not at the block scale, but truck to truck, due to the reading of grades on each shelf of the loading equipment… the end result is increased ore to mill tonnage and also a significant improvement in feed grade,” Araya concluded.

Claudio Toro, EVP Business Development at MineSense, added: “We are proud that Teck has chosen to partner with MineSense again, demonstrating confidence that ShovelSense is a proven and valued technology. Global mining operations are continually seeking new ways to get more value out of their mines and extend the life of mine and we are pleased to again be chosen by Teck.

“ShovelSense is a proven solution that unlocks a mine’s full potential.”

Hear more about Teck CDA’s installation on April 25 when MineSense and International Mining will be holding a joint webinar titled, ‘Ore sorting at the extraction face’ at 10 am EST/4pm CEST. Click here for more information

Hudbay’s Constancia continuous improvement quest leads to MineSense XRF trial

Hudbay Minerals has one of the lowest cost per tonne copper sulphide operations in Peru on its hands at Constancia, but it is intent on continuously improving the mine’s margins and environmental performance through a commitment to continuous improvement. This has recently led it to exploring the potential of sensor-based ore sorting.

Hudbay’s operations at Constancia include the Constancia and Pampacancha pits, an 86,000 t/d ore processing plant, a waste rock facility, a tailings management facility and other ancillary facilities that support the operations.

The company increased reserves at the mine, located in the Cusco department, by 33 Mt at a grade of 0.48% Cu and 0.115 g/t Au last year – an increase of approximately 11% in contained copper and 12% in contained gold over the prior year’s reserves.

With the incorporation of Pampacancha and Constancia North, annual production at Constancia is expected to average approximately 102,000 t of copper and 58,000 oz of gold from 2021 to 2028, an increase of 40% and 367%, respectively, from 2020 levels, which were partially impacted by an eight-week temporary mine interruption related to a government-declared state of emergency.

Constancia now has a 16-year mine life (to 2037) ahead of it, but the company thinks there is a lot more value it can leverage from this long-life asset and it has been looking at incorporating the latest technology to prove this.

In recent years it has, for instance, worked with Metso Outotec to improve rougher flotation performance at Constancia using Center Launders in four e300 TankCells and installed a private LTE network to digitise and modernise its open-pit operations.

Peter Amelunxen, Vice President of Technical Services at Hudbay, said the Constancia ore sorting project – which has seen Hudbay partner with MineSense on a plan to trial the Vancouver-based cleantech company’s ShovelSense X-ray Fluorescence (XRF)-based sorting technology – was one of many initiatives underway to further improve the operating efficiency at Constancia.

“The ore sorting program is separate from the recovery uplift program at Constancia,” Amelunxen said, referring to a “potentially high-return, low capital opportunity” that could boost milled copper recovery by 2-3%.

He added: “The ore sorting program is expected to yield positive results at the mining phase of the operation and is expected to increase the mill head grade and reduce metal loss to the waste rock storage facility.”

Back in April 2021 during a virtual site visit, Hudbay revealed it was trialling bulk sorting at Constancia as one of its “optimisation opportunities”, with Amelunxen updating IM in mid-January on progress.

Hudbay has previously evaluated particle sorting at its Snow Lake operations in Manitoba – with the benefits outlined in a desktop study “muted” given “bottlenecks and constraints”, Amelunxen said – but, at Constancia, it considered XRF sorting from the onset for copper-grade only pre-concentration, due to its perception that this application came with the lowest potential risk and highest probability of success.

The company has a three-phase evaluation process running to prove this, with phase one involving a “bulk sorting amenability study”, phase two moving up to laboratory-scale testing and phase three seeing trials in the field.

The “bulk sorting amenability study” looked at downhole grade heterogeneity to estimate curves of sortability versus unit volume, Amelunxen detailed. Laboratory testing of drill core samples to evaluate the sensor effectiveness was then carried out before an economic analysis and long-range-plan modelling was conducted.

With the concept and application of bulk sorting having cleared all these stage gates, Hudbay, in November, started pilot testing of XRF sensors on a loader. This involved fitting a ShovelSense unit onto the 19 cu.m bucket of a Cat 994H wheel loader, with around 20 small stockpiles of “known grades” loaded onto the bucket and dispatched into a feeder and sampling system (pictured below, credit: Engels Trejo, Manager Technical Services, Hudbay Peru). With this process completed, the company is now awaiting the results.

At a similar time, the company moved onto demonstration trials of a “production” ShovelSense sensor unit on the 27 cu.m bucket of a Hitachi ECX5600-6 shovel operating in one of the pits. It has collected the raw spectral data coming off this unit since the end of November, with plans to keep receiving and analysing sensor data through to next month.

“We should have the finalised XRF calibration in February, at which time we’ll process the raw data collected during the three-month trial period and compare it with the short-term mine plan (ie grades of ore shipped),” Amelunxen said. “So, by the end of February or early March, we’ll be able to validate or finetune the economic model.”

Should the results look favourable, Amelunxen is confident that leasing additional sensors and installing them on the other two Hitachi ECX5600-6 shovels will not take long.

Credit: Engels Trejo, Manager Technical Services, Hudbay Peru

“Plans may change somewhat as the program unfolds,” he said. “For example, we may have success sorting ore, but feel additional calibration is required for waste sorting at Pampacancha, in which case we may install production sensors on Constancia ores while doing another trial program at Pampacancha.

“It all depends on the precision of the XRF calibration.”

Higher head grades and potentially higher copper recoveries may be the headline benefits of using ore sorting technology, but Hudbay is equally focused on obtaining several key environmental benefits, including reduced consumption of energy and water.

On the latter, Amelunxen said: “This is expected due to the processing of less ‘waste’ by removing uneconomic material earlier in the process and reducing the hauling and processing costs of the uneconomic material.”

Looking even further forward – past a potential commercial implementation of XRF-based ore sorting at Constancia – the company plans to evaluate the application of other sensors, too.

“For our future development copper project in Arizona, we plan to look at other sensors as well,” Amelunxen said, referencing the company’s Rosemont asset.

This ore sorting project is not the only project the processing team at Constancia are examining, as Amelunxen already hinted at.

As part of the recovery uplift project, it is installing equipment that will allow the operation to increase the overall mass recovery of the roughers, which is currently constrained by the downstream pumps and cleaning circuit.

“This will allow us to achieve an expected 2-3% increase in copper recoveries without impacting concentrate grade,” Amelunxen said.

It has various initiatives underway under the “Moly plant improvement projects” banner, too. This includes flowsheet optimisation, pH control in the cleaners and pH reduction in the bulk cleaners.

“This project has been in the works since late 2019, and the new mechanical agitator installation in the cleaning cells was completed during the August 2021 schedule mill maintenance shutdown and the new nitrogen plant was commissioned in the second half of the year,” Amelunxen explained. “The next steps are pH control in the cleaners (with CO2), water balance optimisation and potentially installing a Jameson flotation cell as a pre-rougher (the cell is already on site and not in use, it will be repurposed pending results of the pH trials).”

A flotation reagent optimisation study is also on the cards, aimed at reducing zinc and lead contamination in the copper concentrate.

“A depressant addition system is on the way to site and should be installed in February, with plant trials commencing in March,” Amelunxen said, explaining that this followed laboratory test work completed in 2021.

New Gold to collaborate with MineSense in underground ore sorting move

MineSense is gearing up for a move underground with the help of New Gold and its New Afton gold-copper mine in British Columbia, Canada.

The Vancouver-based technology company has already established and proven its ShovelSense technology for the open-pit mining sector, with its X-ray Fluorescence (XRF) sensor-based system now operating on shovels, wheel loaders and excavators on a commercial basis across six operating mines. This includes large installations at Teck’s Highland Valley and Copper Mountain’s copper operations in BC, as well as one ShovelSense unit at the Antamina copper operation in Peru.

Designed for operation in extreme environments and retrofits on any existing mobile equipment, ShovelSense units come equipped with a human machine interface and proprietary algorithms that measure and report ore grade/characteristics. They can also connect directly to fleet management or other existing control software systems, enabling mine operators to reconcile geological block models with actual ore grade data.

Having finetuned the system for above-ground operations, the company is now embarking on its underground move, according to MineSense President and CEO, Jeff More.

A trial of the underground ShovelSense system at New Gold’s New Afton mine is first up to complete product development. The company will be installing a unit on a Cat R1600G LHD for this step. This will be followed closely by installation at a “large entity” in Chile – with More anticipating start up in the September or December quarter.

The development agreement with New Gold at the BC-based mine is looking to trial and finetune the system for underground operations, with More confident the ShovelSense system will stand up to the test.

“The core technology – all of the algorithms, software, hardware – is the same as ShovelSense for open-pit mining,” More said. “It is the ‘application package’ – looking at how we can attach the unit to the machine and protect it in an underground environment – that is what we have to test out. The design for this is already complete; it’s just a matter of trialling it.”

New Afton represents a good test for the system.

New Afton is Canada’s only operating block cave mine, with the New Afton deposit part of a larger copper-gold porphyry district in the region. The operation regularly mines 15,000-16,000 t/d of ore and waste, with the majority of this currently going to the mill.

The company has already pursued “ore segregation” projects to boost the grade of material being fed through to the processing side, but the move into the higher-grade C-Zone in 2023-2029 will place an even greater emphasis on ore/waste boundaries and milled tonnes at the operation.

At the same time, the ShovelSense deployment at New Afton will represent the first time MineSense has sent a unit into a mine that has so much payable gold, with most operations the company has worked on being primarily base metal-oriented.

In 2020, New Afton produced 64,000 oz of the yellow metal, along with 32,659 t of the red metal.

“This will be the first time we’re touching gold at this level; we have other mines that have payable gold but not at that level,” More explained.

In New Afton’s case, sampling and historical data has proven that the orebody’s copper and gold ratios tend to be consistent and unchanging over the long term. With this knowledge, New Afton has used technology in the past to determine the copper value and make ore/waste production decisions. ShovelSense allows New Afton to move the ore/waste production decision to the drawpoint, according to MineSense. This reduces mixing and blending during the crushing and conveying circuit which can homogenise the material to the point where it is not worth segregating.

Trialling new technology such as this is nothing new for New Afton.

The operation already uses automated loading through Sandvik’s AutoMine solution, is employing electrification with the use of Sandvik and MacLean Engineering battery-powered mobile equipment, and, in the process plant, has Gekko Systems’ highest volume InLine Pressure Jig IPJ3500 to improve gravity concentration.

More says the ShovelSense unit could be in the Cat LHD bucket at New Afton in August, with the machine then going through an above-ground trial ahead of the underground transition at the end of September.

“By early Q4, we should have completed the pilot,” he said.