Tag Archives: Teck

Weir to install ‘largest mill circuit pump in North America’ at Teck’s HVC mine

Base metals, Comminution of minerals, Mine operation news, Mineral processing, Mining equipment, Mining services, Water management, , , , , , , , , ,

The Weir Group PLC has been awarded contracts to supply its WARMAN® slurry pumps and CAVEX® hydrocyclones to Teck’s Highland Valley Copper (HVC) Mine Life Extension (MLE) project in British Columbia, Canada.

Teck’s Highland Valley Copper Mine Life Extension Project aims to extend the mine’s operational life by enhancing existing site infrastructure, addressing the growing demand for copper driven by the transition to a low-carbon future. The project is expected to yield approximately 1.95 Mt of additional copper over its lifespan.

A cornerstone of this project is the WARMAN MCR® 760 pump, which will be the largest mill circuit pump in North America when installed. This addition complements Weir’s existing and planned installations of equivalent-sized pumps in South America and Australia.

The WARMAN MCR 760 pump was developed to meet the demand for mill circuit pumps that can handle unprecedentedly high flow rates, minimising the number of operating lines in a plant, and addressing the global trend of declining ore grades that require increased throughput for economical mineral recovery. The WARMAN MCR 760 pump is designed to maximise wear life in arduous mill duties and facilitate easy and safe maintenance, regardless of an operator’s maintenance schedule or approach.

In addition, Weir will supply CAVEX 800CVX and 650CVX hydrocyclones for the MLE Project. HVC, with its experience operating CAVEX hydrocyclones, has chosen this solution for its consistently high classification efficiency, capacity and low maintenance requirements, according to Weir.

The MLE project will be fully supported by the local Weir service centre in Kamloops, British Columbia, ensuring mission-critical equipment at the HVC mine operates efficiently, it says. The proximity of this service centre means any maintenance or support needs can be addressed promptly, minimising downtime and helping the mine maintain its targets. This local presence is crucial for the mine’s operations, providing reliable access to necessary parts and expert service.

Quinton Sutherland, Weir, Divisional Senior Product Manager, Pumps said: “Weir has a proven track record of supplying and supporting the largest, highest capacity mill pumps on the market. Designing, manufacturing and supporting pumps of this scale presents unique technical and engineering challenges, which is why Weir’s team of experts, drawing on decades of experience supporting customers across the globe, are the best choice when deciding who to trust with the most critical mill circuit operations.

“It’s an engineering and manufacturing feat that’s not easily replicable, which is why it’s important that we can demonstrate to our customers that we’ve done this before, and they know that they can have absolute confidence in us.”

Phil Blondin, Weir, Director, Capital Sales North America, added: “Weir prioritises being close to our customers wherever they are in the world. We have a service centre in Kamloops – a close drive to HVC – and a local team that can provide service and maintenance support, as
well as an inventory program that encompasses the lifecycle of the products we supply.

“This is the first mill pump this large in North America and, while Weir has manufactured and installed pumps this size in other parts of the world, we recognise that having a service network to support customers at every stage of the project is an essential part of what we’re offering.”

Antamina, Barrick, BHP, Freeport, Gold Fields, Newmont, Teck and Vale form GeoStable Tailings Consortium

Environmental, Mining services, Sustainable mining, Water management, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Gold Fields Limited has announced a new consortium of eight global mining companies has launched a multi-year initiative to develop and implement new technological applications for managing tailings.

The GeoStable Tailings Consortium (GSTC) comprises Antamina, Barrick, BHP, Freeport-McMoRan, Gold Fields, Newmont, Teck and Vale, with external expert support provided by Dr G Ward Wilson of the University of Alberta.

The GSTC will study options to combine various blends of tailings with waste rock to create ‘geo-stable’ landforms that are stronger and more stable than conventional tailings deposition methods and are likely to reduce process water consumption. It will undertake a range of research and development activities, including laboratory testing, field trials and data analysis, and will collaborate to promote best practices in tailings and waste management and foster a culture of continuous improvement across the mining industry.

Martin Preece, Interim CEO of Gold Fields, said: “The management of our TSFs has as its ultimate goal zero harm to people and the environment through their full life cycle. This is in line with the Global Industry Standard on Tailings Management, the new tailings storage facility (TSF) benchmark to which all members of the ICMM are committed to conform to. Having stable TSFs is a critical element of this standard.

“There is significant mining industry interest in developing geo-stable TSFs, but there is still a lack of a sound research and development including testing protocols to assess, compare and validate the performance of different technical approaches across different mineralogical and operational situations. Gold Fields is therefore a willing participant in this consortium and playing our role in becoming part of the solution.”

The new GSTC initiative builds on the work of a group formed to advance geo-waste and eco-tailings research previously pursued by Goldcorp, which was acquired by Newmont in early 2019.

Teck and Oldendorff to employ energy-efficient bulk carriers for coal transport

Bulk handling, Environmental, Mining services, Steel and iron ore, , , , , , ,

Teck Resources and Oldendorff Carriers have announced an agreement to employ energy-efficient bulk carriers for shipments of Teck steelmaking coal from the Port of Vancouver to international destinations, reducing CO2 emissions in the steelmaking coal supply chain, Teck says.

This initiative is expected to achieve a CO2 emissions reduction of 30-40% for shipments handled by Oldendorff, with estimated savings amounting to up to 45,000 t/y of CO2, equivalent to removing nearly 10,000 passenger vehicles from the road.

Oldendorff’s fleet of Eco bulk carriers achieve significant fuel savings, owing to their energy-saving design, fuel-efficient engines, maximised cargo size and utilisation of advanced voyage optimisation, Teck said. Oldendorff’s fleet of approximately 700 bulk carriers from Handy size to Cape size gives Teck shipping flexibility and reduced carbon intensity on each voyage, with the CO2 reductions representing Scope 1 emissions for Oldendorff and Scope 3 emissions for Teck.

“Partnering with Oldendorff to reduce the emissions associated with transportation of our steelmaking coal is one of the ways Teck is reducing our carbon footprint and taking action on climate change,” Don Lindsay, President and CEO, Teck, said. “As part of our climate strategy, we are committed to working with transportation providers to reduce emissions downstream of our business.”

Peter Twiss, CEO of Oldendorff Carriers, added: “Oldendorff Carriers is very pleased to collaborate with Teck on this effort to reduce CO2 emissions in the bulk supply chain. By working together with the Teck logistics team and challenging fundamental logistic concepts, we were able to develop an environmentally-optimised delivery program. Using our fleet of Eco bulk carriers in this re-envisioned delivery program, the CO2 emissions will be reduced significantly.”

Glencore Technology, Global PAM formalise IsaMill agreement in North America

Comminution of minerals, Mineral processing, Mining equipment, Mining services, , , , , , , , , , ,

Glencore Technology has announced what it says is an important formalisation and commitment with Global PAM to deliver services to clients of IsaMill™ technology throughout North America.

Global PAM has significant capabilities in technology commissioning and asset management, according to Glencore Technology.

The company will support Glencore Technology through the installation, commissioning and service of its fine-grinding technology, IsaMill, predominantly in the US and Canada.

Glencore Technology says it has had a long-term relationship with Global PAM and some of the company’s key team members, but elevating to a formal commitment is seen by the company as providing its clients in the region with an alliance partner that is trusted.

Servicing IsaMill for three years, Global PAM has worked with Glencore Technology on installations in Corbin, Teck and Las Bambas operations.

The company has significant experience in stirred mills, SAG and ball mills and is widely respected as a general mill maintenance specialist, according to Glencore Technology.

IsaMill is seeing significant growth in North America, so Glencore Technology is keen to see clients receive
maintenance services from a local and respected provider, it said.

Mike Hourn, Glencore Technology’s General Manager – Business Development, said: “Glencore Technology has had a long-term relationship with Global PAM, and we want to extend this to our IsaMill clients in the region. It gives our clients a highly skilled partner we can trust and who shares our values.”

Tom Shumka, President of Global PAM, said: “We have solid experience in providing a complete mechanical mill inspection of IsaMill applications and we’re extremely impressed with the technology. We’ve delivered full installation and commissioning support throughout all stages of the equipment. So this formalisation is a natural progression for us.”

Global PAM intends to deliver maintenance and operational training for IsaMill applications as well as continuous improvement solutions to allow for improved operations of the fine grinding circuit, adding to its service, engineering and aftermarket scope.

Charge On Innovation Challenge sparks more miner interest

Environmental, Mining equipment, Mining services, Power supply for mines, Sustainable mining, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The organisers of the Charge On Innovation Challenge have reported an overwhelming response to the preliminary phase, which closed on July 31, with 21 mining companies joining as patrons, over 350 companies from across 19 industries registering their interest as vendors, and more than 80 organisations submitting expressions of interest (EOI).

The challenge, a global competition, is expected to drive technology innovators across all industries to develop new concepts and solutions for large-scale haul truck electrification systems aimed at significantly cutting emissions from surface mining. It also aims to demonstrate an emerging market for charging solutions in mining, accelerate commercialisation of solutions and integrate innovations from other industries into the mining sector.

BHP, Rio Tinto, and Vale, facilitated by Austmine, launched the Charge On Innovation Challenge in May of this year, initiating the EOI process on May 18. Since the initial launch, Roy Hill, Teck, Boliden, Thiess, Antofagasta Minerals, Codelco, Freeport McMoRan, Gold Fields and Yancoal came forward as patrons by early July.

The latest release has highlighted another nine miners to join as patrons. This includes Barrick Gold, CITIC Pacific Mining, Evolution Mining, Harmony Gold, Mineral Resources Ltd, Newcrest Mining, OZ Minerals, South32 and Syncrude.

The patrons, supported by Austmine, will assess the proposals over the next month and select a shortlist of vendors who will then formally pitch their challenge solutions.

At least one of these proposals has come from ABB, which confirmed earlier this month that it had submitted its ideas for the challenge using its mine electrification, traction and battery system eand charging infrastructure expertise.

At the end of the pitch phase, the challenge patrons will look to select the most desirable charging concepts identified as having broad industry appeal and application, as well as providing a standard geometry that enables chargers to service trucks from different manufacturers. The first concepts could be ready for site trials in the next few years, according to the organisers.

BHP’s Charge On Innovation Challenge Project Lead, Scott Davis, said: “The Charge On Innovation Challenge is a great example of the current collaborative work being done by the mining industry in seeking solutions to decarbonise mining fleets. The challenge received interest from companies based in over 20 countries, showing the truly global reach of the opportunity to help reduce haul truck emissions.”

John Mulcahy, Rio Tinto’s lead for the Charge On Innovation Challenge, said: “Twenty-one mining companies, all focused on lowering carbon emissions, have joined as patrons. Together we’re encouraging technology innovators to help us introduce large-scale haul truck electrification solutions. The sooner we bring these technologies to market, the sooner we can introduce them to our fleet, and reduce emissions.”

Vale’s Charge On Innovation Challenge Project lead, Mauricio Duarte, said: “We are very happy with the results of the first phase of the project. It´s still early to talk about the success of the challenge, but it is clear that the industry has reached a new level: we worked together on a common sustainability agenda and we will work collectively to reach our goals, gaining safety and speed on our way to low carbon mining.”

Antofagasta becomes latest Charge on Innovation Challenge patron

Environmental, Mining equipment, Mining industry recognition, Power supply for mines, Sustainable mining, , , , , , , , , , , ,

Antofagasta, as part of its sustainability efforts, has joined the Charge On Innovation Challenge as a patron.

The initiative, which counts BHP, Rio Tinto and Vale as founding patrons, seeks to develop solutions to charge the batteries of electric mining trucks safely, quickly and sustainably. This is essential in order to replace the use of diesel in these trucks and the emissions it produces, the challenge organisers say.

The goal is to enable trucks of 220 t or more to stop using diesel and run on electric batteries, just like other electric vehicles. In order to achieve this, it is essential to develop a battery charging system that does not use polluting fuels and, at the same time, allows the extraction trucks to operate as they usually do.

Today there are already efforts underway to develop and use electric trucks, but those are for trucks of a smaller tonnage (100 t) which can regenerate their own energy, Charge on Innovation says. The collaborative work with the Charge On Innovation Challenge seeks to develop solutions for larger trucks.

Iván Arriagada, CEO of Antofagasta, said: “As a mining group focused on innovation, we are interested in collaborating and contributing to the development of the industry for the future. That is why we decided to participate in this challenge, which is key to being able to use electric trucks and significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”

As part of its Climate Change Strategy, from 2022, the electricity supplying Antofagasta companies will come from renewable sources. Antofagasta’s Zaldívar mine has been operating from clean energy sources since July 2020.

Thanks to these advances and other measures adopted by the company, Antofagasta was able to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by more than 580,000 t since 2018. Its new goal is to decrease those emissions by an additional 30% between now and 2025.

The Charge On Innovation Challenge was launched by BHP, Vale and Rio Tinto in partnership with Austmine. It has since added Roy Hill, Teck, Boliden and Thiess as additional patrons.

Antamina leveraging MineSense’s in-shovel ore sorting technology

Base metals, Comminution of minerals, Environmental, Mine operation news, Mineral processing, Mining equipment, Mining services, Sustainable mining, , , , , , ,

The largest mine in Peru, Antamina, has started using MineSense’s ore sorting technology as it looks to increase ore loading accuracy at the joint venture operation.

MineSense’s ShovelSense technology provides significant value to mine operators by identifying ore and waste, and classifying ore at the earliest stage possible in the mining process, the extraction face, using X-ray Fluorescence sensors, the Vancouver-based company says.

It has proved this technology out at multiple mine sites in North America, including Teck Resources’ Highland Valley Copper operations and Copper Mountain Mining Corp’s namesake mine, both of which are in British Columbia, Canada.

Enrique Parades Rivero, Mine Manager at Antamina Mine, stated at the recent Comasurmin 2021 conference that Antamina “plans to know what ore grades the mine is processing to the millimetre,” and this ore characterisation data is provided by MineSense’s ShovelSense technology. This technology, MineSense says, enables mines to generate more metal to increase profitability and improve operations, while optimising sustainability performance.

In terms of loading equipment, Antamina reportedly operates seven P&H 4100XPC electric shovels, four Hitachi EX5600-6 hydraulic shovels and two Cat 994F wheel loaders. Some of this loading equipment is interacting with the first fleet of electric drive 372 t class 798 AC Cat trucks in the country, which Ferreyros, the Caterpillar dealer in Peru, recently successfully put into operation.

The Antamina copper/zinc mine is owned 33.75% by BHP, 33.75% by Glencore 33.75%, 22.5% by Teck and 10% by Mitsubishi.

Teck leverages Nanozen tech to improve occupational health at mine sites

Base metals, Environmental, Mine operation news, Mine ventilation, Mining safety, Mining services, Sustainable mining, , , , , , , , , ,

As part of its work towards eliminating occupational disease, Teck has completed a pilot project using an innovative combination of on-the-ground data and video technology to help better understand potentially harmful dust exposures at a task level.

The Nanozen pilot project, completed in 2020, was devised to understand task level exposures so the company could “laser focus” critical control strategies to reduce employee exposures.

As the company says, occupational exposures that can give rise to occupational disease represent the single most significant health and safety risk in the mining industry globally.

The large-scale pilot project it carried out, which included its Greenhills, Fording River, and Highland Valley Copper Operations, was funded by Teck’s Ideas at Work program. The pilot program leveraged the power of advanced analytics to collect real-time exposure data for job roles including pit crews, mechanics and equipment operators.

Exposure to dust at mine sites is a potential health and safety hazard, leading to respiratory diseases if proper precautions are not taken, Teck says. For years it has been industry standard to rely on daily sampling methods, averaged over the length of a shift, to determine dust exposure. These sampling methods provide one value indicating an employee’s overall dust exposure for a shift.

By making use of Nanozen’s real-time monitoring technology, Teck says it has been able to greatly improve the collection of information about dust levels during a work shift. Instead of a single value for an entire shift, it can now monitor live, accurate information on the concentration of dust exposures.

An overview of the instruments and tools deployed for the Nanozen pilot project

“This has enabled us to better understand how and when these exposures occur, and to target controls that reduce exposures from higher-risk activities,” the company said.

In 2020, the Nanozen pilot project was initiated at sites to deploy this technology into a wide range of roles including field and shop mechanics, pit utility and cable crews, bulldozer and grinding operators, and laboratory workers involved in sample processing. Teck’s Occupational Health and Hygiene team leveraged advanced analytics, diving deep into the data to find meaningful results and actionable changes, it said. This increased volume of research data, the company says, has helped it pinpoint the specific activities and times where dust exposures occur and prioritise approaches to mitigate them.

Dan Sarkany, Lead, Occupational Hygiene at Teck Coal, said: “Applying analytics to real-time particulate monitoring helps us determine exactly which activities lead to high dust exposures, allowing us to recommend and implement targeted controls to improve employee health and safety.”

This pilot project coupled Nanozen real-time dust monitoring technology with on-site video recordings and video analysts trained to recognise job activities. The footage collected maintained confidentiality and privacy by blurring faces and skin tone, and no audio was recorded. Teck said it had the full support of its workforce to undertake this work.

Corrine Balcaen, Director, Occupational Health & Hygiene, said: “This project represents a leading health and safety initiative in the mining industry and other industries with dust exposures.”

Real-time dust monitoring, and the targeted controls developed as a result of the learnings, will continue to be implemented throughout its operations going forward, the company said.

“This technology serves a key role in improving exposure controls and working towards Teck’s goal of eliminating occupational disease,” it added.

In 2019, Teck employed Nanozen’s real-time dust monitoring technology at Greenhills as part of a study looking to gain detailed, real-time data on dust exposure levels throughout a typical haul truck driver shift.

This is an edited version of the story that first appeared on Teck’s website, here.

CMIC-backed novel comminution technology hits commissioning milestone

Comminution of minerals, Environmental, Mineral processing, Mining equipment, Mining industry recognition, Mining services, Sustainable mining, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The Canada Mining Innovation Council’s (CMIC) Conjugate Anvil Hammer Mill (CAHM) and MonoRoll platform technology project has reached a new milestone with hot commissioning of the MonoRoll at COREM’s testing facility in Quebec, Canada.

CAHM is a platform technology advancing two technologies in parallel where both designs break particles in a highly efficient thin particle bed. CAHM, according to CMIC, provides a more efficient alternative to high pressure grinding rolls and SAG mills, while the MonoRoll variant is designed for finer grinds and to replace inefficient rod and ball mills.

In a recent post, CMIC said hot commissioning of the MonoRoll at COREM’s testing facility, using some of the 300 t of ore contributed by Agnico Eagle Mines, was now complete. Although the MonoRoll is being tested using hard rock, there is also significant interest from the iron ore, cement and aggregate industries, CMIC says.

It added: “Fabrication of the CAHM machine is underway and if the optimised discrete element method modelling results hold, we are confident that the MonoRoll and the CAHM are on track to achieve the following significant benefits in ore grinding:

  • “Reduce energy consumption by an estimated 50% compared to best available technology;
  • “Eliminate grinding media;
  • “Increase ore feed reduction ratio; and
  • “Simplify the comminution circuits.”

CMIC is leading a consortium including experts in comminution, product development, engineering and testing as well as six major hard-rock mining companies guiding the effort and participating as potential first adopters. Included among the consortium is CTTI, Hatch, Glencore Canada – XPS (Expert Process Solutions), COREM, Teck, Agnico Eagle, Newmont and Kinross.

The MonoRoll technology is one of only six finalists in Impact Canada’s Crush It! Challenge. Launched in October 2018, Crush It! challenged Canadian innovators to deliver game-changing solutions for cleaner, more efficient rock processing.

CMIC said: “The MonoRoll project is the only finalist developing a novel grinding mill, and if the project wins the C$5 million ($3.9 million) Grand Prize, the funds would be used to engineer a large-scale machine to test in active mining operations.”

Orica leverages MWD data, AI to create new blast loading design benchmark

Automation, Base metals, Comminution of minerals, Explosives and blasting, IoT, Mining equipment, Mining events, Mining safety, Mining services, Mining software, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Orica is looking to set a new benchmark for blast loading designs in Latin America after deploying its Design for Outcome solution in the region.

The company, focused on integrating its digital blasting tools to improve outcomes, is leveraging its BlastIQ digital blast optimisation platform within this new solution, Angus Melbourne, Chief Commercial and Technology Officer of Orica, told delegates at Massmin 2020 last week.

In a presentation titled, ‘Blasting’s Critical Role in Extracting Ore’, Melbourne mentioned Design for Outcome as an example of where the company was delivering integrated digital solutions in Latin America.

“Design for Outcome is an automated continual optimisation solution that sets a new benchmark for blast loading designs,” he said. “It utilises data science to process both upstream and downstream data to automate blast designs. This produces tailored and optimised blast designs by reducing blast variability and explosive consumption while increasing productivity.”

Using machine-learning algorithms, Design for Outcome processes measured-while-drilling data to classify ground hardness throughout each blast hole and then match explosives energy to hardness domains to automatically generate tailored blast loading designs, Melbourne explained.

Through artificial intelligence, these algorithms are trained with the data received from the fleet control systems (FMS) and previous blast results. This enables final automation of the blasting design process and its execution in the field with Orica’s smart control systems and programming interfaces, loading the blast accurately according to the generated design. These elements combine to ensure the desired outcomes are achieved, Melbourne said.

“Digitally-enabled blasting solutions such as Design for Outcome are allowing us to work with customers in different ways, to think and act differently and expand our role in the mining value chain,” he said.

Such a solution is part of the company’s plans to automate its segment of the mining process. This goal was strengthened last month with the launch of the Orica and Epiroc jointly developed Avatel™ semi-automated explosives delivery system.

A key enabling technology of Avatel, which is built on the foundation of Epiroc’s Boomer M2 carrier, and Orica’s automation vision is WebGen™, the company’s fully wireless initiation system. When combined with Orica’s LOADPlus™ smart control system, specifically designed on-board storage, assembly, digital encoding capability and Subtek™ Control bulk emulsion, Avatel provides customers with complete and repeatable control over blast energy from design through to execution, Orica says.

While referencing the second key pillar in Orica’s digital strategy, Melbourne highlighted the use of the company’s Bulkmaster™ 7 smart, connected explosives delivery system in Latin America during the virtual event.

The new delivery systems not only improve productivity but begin to digitise critical workflows between design and execution in drill and blast operations, according to Melbourne.

The Antamina copper mine in Peru, a joint venture between BHP, Glencore, Teck and Mitsubishi, will soon be leveraging such a system, with Melbourne confirming seven Bulkmaster 7 units had been shipped to the mine and were undergoing commissioning.

Orica’s third digitalisation pillar is the measurement of downstream impacts of the drill and blast process, which is where FRAGTrack™, the company’s automated rock fragmentation measurement device comes into play.

This device captures, analyses and reports real-time data for optimising blast operations, improving downstream productivity and tracking overall operational performance in mining and quarrying, Melbourne explained.

This system is active across several key customer sites in Latin America, with Teck’s Carmen de Andacollo operation in Chile being one of the first to adopt the technology in the world, according to Melbourne. He said the copper operation is using the insights to deliver efficiencies across the value chain through digitally enabled optimised blasting.