Tag Archives: TOMRA

TOMRA connects ore sorters to the cloud with TOMRA Insight

Communications in mining, IoT, Mineral processing, Mining equipment, Mining services, Mining software, , , , , , , , , ,

After a successful launch in its recycling division, TOMRA is rolling out its cloud-based data platform, TOMRA Insight, to mining customers.

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

Following a successful launch last year by TOMRA Sorting Recycling, TOMRA is now also being made available to customers of TOMRA Mining and TOMRA Food. For all three industries, the platform is enhanced by new features and functionalities that make TOMRA Insight even more valuable than when it was launched to recyclers in March 2019.

The data from TOMRA Insight is gathered in near real time, stored securely in the cloud, and can be accessed from anywhere and across plants via a web portal available for desktop and mobile devices, according to the company.

Felix Flemming, Vice President and Head of Digital at TOMRA Sorting, said: “By capturing and using valuable data, TOMRA Insight is transforming sorting from an operational process into a strategic management tool. This tool is constantly becoming more powerful as we continuously develop it in response to customers’ needs and priorities. New functionalities and features are released every three weeks – a routine during which TOMRA works closely with customers in pursuit of shared objectives.”

Data captured by TOMRA Insight provides valuable performance metrics that help businesses optimise machine performance.

Operating costs are reduced by simplifying spare part ordering and offering flexible access to data and documentation, according to the company. Downtime is reduced by monitoring machine health and performance in near real time, identifying gaps in production and analysing potential root causes. This allows management to move to predictive and condition-based maintenance, preventing unscheduled machine shutdowns.

Throughput, meanwhile, is maximised by evaluating variations and optimising sorting equipment, accordingly. Sorting to target quality is enhanced by having accurate material composition data to enable decisions to be based on more detailed information.

For the mining and mineral processing industries, TOMRA Insight’s ability to collect detailed data from TOMRA’s sorting machines means that previously hidden information can lead to improvements in efficiencies and profitability.

Data captured by TOMRA Insight is analysed on behalf of customers by TOMRA Mining engineers, and key findings shared in confidential reports supplied to customers on a monthly basis. This arrangement has the advantage of combining objective statistical analysis with the interpretive skills of a service team familiar with the customer’s unique challenges, TOMRA says.

“TOMRA Insight’s data-gathering helps mineral processors in near real time and in retrospect,” the company said. “Machine operators are empowered to take prompt action in response to changes in material composition on the line and managers are empowered to make operational and business decisions based on more complete information.”

Comparisons between multiple sites or lines can now be made more accurately and difficult-to-reach processing operations can be remotely monitored from more convenient locations, the company said. This functionality is especially useful in the face of widespread travel restrictions related to COVID-19.

One early, pre-launch user of TOMRA Insight is the Black chrome mine in South Africa (pictured above), one of two mining projects that form the basis of the Sail Group’s plans for long-term sustainable chrome production. Since TOMRA Insight was connected to sorting machines here at the start of 2020, the data platform has convincingly proven its effectiveness, TOMRA said. Among the gains made so far are improvements in process monitoring and streamlining, more efficient line-feeding and machine running times, and reduced downtime.

Albert du Preez, Senior Vice President and Head of TOMRA Mining, said: “By accessing information, TOMRA Insight is unlocking new opportunities. Mineral processors can now move from making decisions based on experience and local observations to decisions based on experience and hard facts. This means TOMRA Insight can help reduce waste rock and downstream processing costs, enabling processors to earn more dollars per tonne.”

To build on these benefits, TOMRA Mining is working closely with customers to continuously develop TOMRA Insight. The future will bring the addition of more features and functionalities, which customers will automatically receive as part of their Service Level Agreement.

TOMRA makes recovery promise to diamond miners

Automation, Bulk handling, Diamond mining, IoT, Mineral processing, Mining equipment, Mining services, Mining software, Sustainable mining, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

TOMRA is offering diamond mining customers a guaranteed diamond recovery of greater than 98% with the use of its sensor-based ore sorting technology.

The company is making this guarantee alongside a promise of 100% detection in the specified range, irrespective of luminescence profile or coating.

As the company says, maximising diamond recovery while optimising costs is the top priority for every diamond producer.

“With TOMRA’s holistic approach and cutting-edge technologies, both can be achieved to deliver outstanding results,” it said, adding that its X-ray Transmission (XRT) diamond recovery technology has helped recover some of the largest and rarest gemstones in history.

TOMRA says it approaches every project as a partnership with the customer to deliver a complete solution that meets their operational and business requirements.

This begins with a detailed analysis of the customer’s requirements and operational needs.

TOMRA – Operations Hub Johannesburg

Working collaboratively, it assists in developing a tailor-made flowsheet redesign that combines its XRT technology with its Near Infrared (NIR) and Laser solutions as needed. This collaborative approach continues throughout the project, with testing at its Test Center in Germany and, on-site, as required, through to installation and beyond.

More recently, this approach has been enhanced with the development of a remote testing option.

“The complete solution can also include the web-based TOMRA Insight platform that turns all the sorters into connected devices for monitoring and tracking the system’s performance,” the company said.

Once the system is fully operational, TOMRA offers its Service Level Agreement to ensure its solution continues to deliver the desired results.

“The tailored agreement can include on-site presence as required, seven days a week product support, application engineer visits, tiered urgency support, targeted site response, training, as well as spare and wear parts coverage to ensure maximum uptime and protect the customer’s investment,” the company said.

Advanced technologies adding value

TOMRA’s XRT technology recognises and separates material based on its specific atomic density. It uses a cutting-edge X-ray camera with DUOLINE® sensor technology to measure spectral absorption information.

TOMRA’s proprietary high-speed X-ray processing unit uses the data to produce a detailed “density image” of the material. The result is a high level of purity in sorting materials, irrespective of size, the degree of moisture or surface pollution present, TOMRA says. This makes TOMRA’s XRT high-capacity sorters effective in the recovery of free, liberated diamonds at high feed rates up to 300 t/h.

TOMRA’s NIR sorters recognise and separate kimberlite and waste rock based on their chemical composition. This technology is useful in upgrading lower grade run of mine and stockpiles, producing a kimberlite concentrate for further processing, the company says.

Marie-Claude Hallé had first-hand experience of how TOMRA’s solutions can add value to diamond mining operations when she held the role as Marketing Operations Manager for diamond exploration and producing company, Stornoway Diamonds.

“You have to really envision that TOMRA has actually changed the game in terms rough diamond recovered around the world and allowed producers to access large exceptional quality goods that perhaps in the past would be crushed to pieces,” Hallé said.

Customised solutions for kimberlite, lamproite and alluvial applications

With its customised approach, TOMRA says it can deliver on its promise of guaranteed results both in hard-rock kimberlite/lamproite and alluvial deposits – each of which presents their specific challenges.

In kimberlite, the challenge is to recover “needle in a haystack” diamonds, which requires controlled crushing of kimberlite ore to avoid damaging or breaking the diamonds, the company says.

“High waste dilution impacts the crushing energy needed and further increases diamond breakage risk,” TOMRA says. “Utilising TOMRA NIR technologies, we can remove non-diamond bearing material, not only improving the crushing profile of the ore, but also increasing the value of each tonne of ore processed. TOMRA NIR waste sorting technology can make diluted marginal kimberlite deposits economic.”

Additionally, complex, energy- and water-intensive kimberlite liberation processes, and the cost of transportation for crushing and processing, are challenges facing modern diamond miners today.

“TOMRA’s XRT and NIR technologies, which offer extremely high concentration factors, allow the production of hand sortable, ultra-high grade concentrates in as little as two stages compared to up to seven in traditional methods,” the company claims.

The challenge of economically mining low-grade alluvial deposits is due to their typically lower grade and the sporadic nature of the deposits.

The high recovery performance of TOMRA’s XRT technology enables single-stage or double-stage diamond recovery, offering a drastically lower operating cost and capital investment so that mining marginal deposits becomes economically viable, according to TOMRA.

“Another advantage of TOMRA’s XRT solution is that it can operate as a dry process, which dramatically reduces its environmental impact and operational complexity,” it says. “Besides, it opens the door to new opportunities, making it possible to mine deposits in arid areas where water access is minimal.”

TOMRA XRT machines have proved effective in alluvial operations, the company says.

One such case is that of the Lulo mine in Angola, operated by Lucapa Diamonds, where TOMRA XRT technology is used to process material between 18 and 55 mm in size and allows the recovery of diamonds of up to 1,100 ct – and where it has recovered Angola’s second-biggest diamond on record, a 227 ct stone in 2017.

Stephen Wetherall, Lucapa Diamonds Managing Director at the time of the recovery, said: “The recovery of the 227 ct diamond using the new XRT circuit justifies our investment in TOMRA’s large diamond recovery technology, which has more than paid for itself with the recovery of this one stone alone.”

Optimised flowsheet

TOMRA is in the unique position of being able to offer diamond operations a full XRT recovery flow sheet to 2 mm that delivers concentration factors up to 1 million with a much-reduced number of concentration stages, it says.

Geoffrey Madderson, Diamond Segment Manager for TOMRA Sorting Mining, explains: “TOMRA XRT technology replaces multiple stages of diamond concentration by virtue of its ability to concentrate diamonds to a hand sortable product after only a single step. This concentration factor allows for the removal of multiple recovery steps, drastically reducing both the capital investment and operational costs to recover diamonds.”

Geoffrey Madderson, Diamond Segment Manager for TOMRA Sorting Mining

TOMRA’s XRT technology can replace traditional methods such as dense media separation (DMS), wet magnetic separation and XRL final recovery with single-stage solutions for +8 mm and double-pass for -8 mm +4 mm particles, it claims.

“TOMRA’s solution eliminates up to seven concentration stages, dramatically reducing the complexity of the supporting plant and infrastructure,” the company says. “This results in significantly lower power and water consumption, which not only reduces costs, but also the environmental impact of the recovery process.”

An additional benefit of TOMRA’s solution is that it is a fully automated process, so there is no manual handling during pre-concentration and recovery, which has positive implications on security and eliminates human error, resulting in greater accuracy, the company says.

Recoveries

TOMRA’s sorters process these volumes with great efficiency, finding more diamonds than other, traditional separation methods – including coated and low- or non-luminescent diamonds, the company says.

The performance of its XRT sorters is independent of the “heavies” content in the feed, and is ideal for processing high-yielding ores unsuitable for DMS. The result is an exceptionally high recovery rate, it claims.

“TOMRA guarantees >98% recovery: that is how confident we are in our technology,” Madderson states.

With TOMRA’s sorting solutions, diamond producers can install large diamond recovery systems with a small capital investment and operate with a fraction of operating expenditures per tonne compared with traditional recovery methods such as DMS and XRL, it claims. In addition, the economic recovery of ultra low-frequency exceptional diamonds of +32 mm is now possible.

“TOMRA’s ability to deliver not only a technology that can detect such large diamonds, but also an economical process solution for the recovery of ultra-rare, exceptional diamonds is what sets it apart from its competitors,” Madderson said.

“This is the reason that, to date, TOMRA XRT has become synonymous with the recovery of extraordinary diamonds from all around the world.”

AEX Gold has high ore sorting hopes following TOMRA Nalunaq tests

Comminution of minerals, Mineral processing, Mining equipment, Precious metals, , , , , ,

Greenland-focused AEX Gold may have found an effective way to distinguish between high-grade gold-containing quartz veins and host amphibolite at its Nalunaq gold project after testing with a TOMRA ore sorting machine produced positive results.

A 500 kg bulk sample of mineralised Main Vein (MV) material, collected from the historical underground workings at Nalunaq, was used for a preliminary performance test at TOMRA’s test facility in Wedel, Germany, with the performance test report confirming that Nalunaq’s mineralised material is “highly amenable” to ore sorting technology, according to AEX Gold.

Laser sorting technology showed favourable results in the preliminary performance test, with total gold recovery ranging between 90.2% and 99.4% and with mass rejections of waste ranging from 58-62% of the incoming feed stream, the company said.

While a second test, planned for 2021, will focus on optimising the detection parameters to increase confidence in gold recovery, AEX already believes ore sorting technology, once optimised, could offer a cost-effective processing solution to supplement the company’s existing plans.

Nalunaq is a past-producing underground mine located in south Greenland. Having produced around 350,000 oz of gold between 2004 and 2009, it has demonstrated a low-cost production potential from past operations, the company says.

Redevelopment plans include developing a mining camp and ancillary facilities to establish a regional hub; carrying out 2,000 m of underground drifts into mineralisation with long hole stoping, operated by a contractor; locating a 300 t/d crushing, milling and gravity recovery plant (65-70% Au recovery) outside of the mine to provide operating scalability and store tailings for future re-processing; refurbishing an existing, permitted leaching plant, located underground, to increase gold recoveries to 95% once free cash flow positive; and adopting new technologies to improve recovery, reduce dilution, and minimise processing costs.

Eldur Olafsson, CEO of AEX, said: “Ore sorting has the potential to be a cost-effective solution for processing Nalunaq’s mineralised material. We are pleased to continue progressing on the development of the Nalunaq project by involving industrial cutting-edge technologies in our development strategies.”

Gold at Nalunaq is mineralised in a MV, which averages 0.7 m in width and exhibits a typical ‘nugget effect’. Past mining operators have used a combination of selective resue mining and conventional long hole stoping, which resulted in an average true mining width of 1.2 m, according to the company.

“Therefore, the mined material includes a significant quantity of amphibolite host rock (devoid of gold and considered as dilution),” the company said. “It is anticipated that ore sorting could be effective at Nalunaq due to the contrast in density and colour between the high-grade gold-containing quartz veins (white) and host amphibolite (dark grey).”

Filling the mineral processing flowsheet gaps

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Crushing, grinding, flotation, solvent extraction, electro winning, tailings management…Metso Outotec covers it all.

The new mineral processing entity might be less than a week old, but many in the industry would have, no doubt, had some burning questions to ask since the planned merger was announced on July 4, 2019.

IM had a chance to put some of these questions to Stephan Kirsch, President Minerals business area, Metso Outotec, gaining an initial impression of what the combination of the two companies means for the Minerals business he heads up.

IM: What big mining industry challenge will the combined group be better placed to tackle? What equipment/solutions/expertise within the group are the most important in achieving these goals?

SK: One issue – although not technology-focused – is community engagement.

Some mining operations in the world face challenges in terms of engaging with local communities and returning benefits to them. There is a social responsibility for mining companies, as they are the operators, but also for mining industry supporters involved in such projects.

That said, the vast majority of the mining industry runs initiatives that ensure communities understand mining companies are not just there to extract the iron, copper or gold and make money from it. They give back to local stakeholders and help improve community standards.

Stephan Kirsch, President Minerals business area, Metso Outotec

From a technology perspective, an industry issue we are well equipped to tackle is tailings management. With our combined offering, we look very seriously into solutions that can involve dewatering, dry stacking, and the reprocessing of tailings.

You asked about the products involved in solving these challenges…that includes filtration technologies, bulk materials handling products for conveying and stacking, and then various ore sorting technologies for the reprocessing.

Another trend to highlight is the use of energy or, more specifically, the need to reduce power consumption. There is some work to do here.

When you go and buy a car, you tend to focus on the fuel consumption. The mining industry, however, aims for high installed power because there is a sentiment that more power in the mill means more product out of the mill, more fines and, as a result, better downstream recoveries. In a way that is true for technologies like horizontal mills, ball mills and SAG mills, but when you turn to different, newer technologies it is not always the case.

One of these technologies is HPGRs which were introduced in the minerals industry in the mid-80s. Today, HPGRs are used in high tonnage, competent, abrasive ore applications due to their lower specific power draw and other downstream benefits compared to conventional technologies.

One can add to this, conserving other natural resources such as water. Water scarcity is obviously a problem and we should look at the recycling of process water wherever possible (that is where the filtration technology comes into play again) at the same time as examining more energy-efficient flowsheets.

There is quite a bit we can do to solve some of these challenges from a mineral processing perspective, but, the problem is, the industry remains conservative and anything new takes time to be implemented sustainably.

IM: I know Metso has previously talked about creating a bulk ore sorting solution for industry. Considering this, do you as Metso Outotec expect to continue leveraging the agreement Outotec has in place with TOMRA to carry out more sensor-based ore sorting projects? Alongside this, will you continue with your own bulk sorting projects?

SK: Early removal of tailings/overburden from the processing plant feed has been the operator’s dream for probably a century! This concept of preconcentration has been a consideration for many years, but in the last 30 or so years, technologies with different sensors have been developed to help with this separation process.

It is the ability to use sensor technology to single out particles on a conveyor belt at an appropriate speed and quantity that is the industry challenge. After all, when it comes to mining, we are talking about bulk materials that must be processed, not single elements like you have in the recycling and food sectors where much of this sensor technology originated from.

You need to look at the operating economics of such plants. When I say economics, I am factoring in throughput and recovery rates: you want a high tonnage and you don’t want to waste your ore, which is already low grade compared with what was being mined, say, 30 years ago.

The answer to your question is that Metso has been looking into preconcentration technologies for some time – we have R&D projects and partners looking at it. The same is the case with Outotec. Going forward, we will analyse this and make a call on whatever is the best combination to continue with such work.

Personally, I am a big believer in segregating waste as early in the process as possible to save energy downstream. But there are technical challenges to this.

IM: Both companies have been expanding their modular offering in recent years (Metso with its flexible FIT™ stations and the smart Foresight™ stations/Outotec with its modular paste backfill plants and HIGmill): is a lot of your mining and metals R&D currently focused on reducing the footprint of your solutions?

SK: Our R&D budget – as you probably heard on the webcast last week – is quite significant when put together. As Metso Outotec committed to keep both of our budgets unchanged, the spend comes to about €100 million ($112 million). A market survey we carried out revealed that, in terms of R&D spend, we are at the top of the industry.

Then, we must spend this money wisely wherever we see it being applied most economically for the benefit of our customers and for Metso Outotec. The modular crushing stations you mention are an area of interest we started developing years ago. We see good potential for this modular offering and will continue to develop it.

As for the percentage of the budget we will dedicate to it, this will – like all R&D projects – be analysed alongside others for crushing, grinding and all separation technologies with a strong focus on product innovations, digitalisation and sustainability.

IM: As you hinted at earlier, do you see tailings management being one of the combined group’s core strengths?

SK: It is one big focus area for us, but only one.

Crushing and grinding, which I mentioned earlier, is another strong area. We are a market leader in some of the crushing technologies we offer, and high up the industry when it comes to grinding technologies. We plan to really expand on this side.

I mentioned HPGRs where we have brilliant, world-class technology, but are missing the installed base. With 20-25 years of HPGR experience, I know we have the technology to make a difference, we just need to effectively bring it to market.

The whole re-grind space is really a future area for us to pursue due to industry-wide issues of falling grades, the need to reduce power consumption and fine grinding requirements.

Back to the original question, I expect Metso Outotec to be a strong player for dewatering and tailings management solutions.

IM: Outotec has a much more developed downstream business in areas like hydrometallurgy and smelting, etc in mining than Metso – will this remain a core part of the combined group?

SK: The front-end strength of Metso for mineral processing plants and the wet processing business focus of Outotec shows how well both companies complement one another. From a technical perspective, this is one of the reasons why the merger of Metso and Outotec makes much sense.

IM: In what segments of the mining and metals market do you see the most complementary solutions within Metso and Outotec?

SK: When we brought these two companies together it is amazing how many renowned international mineral processing experts came with it. We can provide much more comprehensive services to the industry because we can look at the entire flowsheet – from run of mine ore, to metal.

Why is this so important for our customers? You can bundle equipment together to make tenders and dealing with OEMs more economical for mining companies. But, more than that, we can bring a much larger pool of experts to a project to interact and talk with each other to provide the right innovations. This is the ‘one plus one equals three’ effect.

We can also look at balancing the equipment so, for example, the primary crusher is appropriately configured to produce the right ore for the secondary crushing process and the screens are amply sized to effectively carry out their job. That then leads to finding the optimal operating point for the HPGRs and milling equipment and then the downstream processing segment. This type of equipment balancing is highly interesting for the market, creating win-win situations for customers and us as an OEM.

IM: Do you see your relationship with mining customers changing because of this holistic approach?

SK: Yes and no. There are companies that will appreciate this wider offering and there are others that will continue to come to us as part of a more traditional way of tendering for mineral processing equipment.

I see a trend where larger companies are coming back to reliable OEMs because the availability, sustainability and reliability of equipment is much more important than saving a dollar in capex in the first place. That is a trend we have seen strengthen even more recently with COVID; we all know when a plant is not running, it costs operators hundreds of thousands of dollars per day in lost revenue.

Yet, there are always customers that say capex is king. They will do everything they can to tender it most competitively from a capital expense perspective, regardless of the long-term total cost of ownership benefits choosing another solution will have.

IM: How will your digital offering be strengthened through the combination?

SK: At Metso, we started, especially in South America, with a strong operation and presence in terms of remote control and remote operating and maintenance support for processing plants.

The service solutions that have been developed and established in some countries, specifically for Metso and for Metso equipment, in the new company will, of course, be transferred into the installed base of Outotec (for example, a facility previous owned by Outotec in Espoo, Finland, is now a Metso Outotec Performance Center facility).

We often heard from customers: ‘We have great equipment from the Outotec side, but we have never experienced the great Metso services.’

What is so encouraging to see is that there is demand from the industry for such a combination of equipment and services.

IM: Where do you see an overlap of solutions (for instance, possibly crushing and grinding equipment (SAG/AG/ball mills), vertical crushing tech (Vertimill/HIG mill)) or flotation (Outotec has a greater market share but Metso supplies some interesting options like column flotation, plus is the leader in flotation camera monitoring with VisioFroth)? Historically, have you been competing against each other for contracts in these market segments?

SK: As you know, for 12 months or so, there was intense scrutiny from the regulatory authorities to find out if the companies could merge or not because of an overlap, and the answer that came back is yes.

From a regulatory authority perspective, there is no overlap, and, from a technical perspective, I view it in a similar way.

One prime example to give would be the Vertimill (below, left) and the HIGmill (below, right). If you look at both in detail and you talk to customers – which has happened when we have our project meetings and negotiations – you often find that the applications being examined are so specific that both mills, although close when it comes to operating process, have their own sweet spots.

                      

Most of the cases where we, as Metso and Outotec, won or lost a tender, the argument was not around price or sentiment; it was always technical where, for example, the feed was too coarse for the HIGmill, or the end product needed to be so fine that the Vertimill was ruled out.

We, therefore, want to continue offering both technologies; we will not shelve one because we believe there is room for both solutions.

IM: Could this combination then enable you to offer a more customised solution for customers?

SK: That is where the benefit (from the combined Metso Outotec) for the industry really kicks in; our customers are not just getting standard solutions; some tailoring is involved. They will be able to get more specific and solution-oriented, performance-balanced pieces of equipment.

IM: Would you like to add anything else?

SK: I need to say that I am quite excited about the opportunities for the new company, Metso Outotec. There are benefits for both us and the wider industry.

Personally, I am humbled to be elected to run such a large organisation of industry experts and high-quality equipment. It is exciting times ahead.

Novo Resources to take Steinert ore sorter into the field

Comminution of minerals, Mineral exploration, Mineral processing, Mineral project development, Mining equipment, Precious metals, , , , , , , ,

Novo Resources says it is in advanced discussions with Steinert Australia to procure a 1 m wide KSS 100F LIXT fine mechanical sorting unit, to be deployed at its wholly-owned Purdy’s Reward and Comet Well JV gold projects, in Western Australia, during the 2020 field season.

The sorter will be manufactured by Steinert in Germany with an expected 18-week delivery time to Australia, Novo said.

Approvals are being prepared for field testing of up to 10,000 t of material from Purdy’s Reward, Comet Well, and 47K, respectively (total up to 30,000 t). Novo also plans to utilize this sorter to test field exploration samples delivered from its other projects including Egina, it said.

Field test work will be designed to better understand gold grades, the extent and location of mineralised conglomerate units, evaluate mechanical sorter gold recovery at production throughput rates and of various sorted size fractions, and provide critical input concerning operational costs, the company explained.

The company has previously carried out ore sorting test work in the lab on samples from its Reward and Comet Well JV gold projects.

Rob Humphryson, Novo’s CEO and a Director, said: “We have achieved outstanding laboratory level mechanical sorting test results utilising both Steinert and TOMRA sorters. It is now time to field test productivity and performance. This Steinert unit will be equipped with technology that is capable of testing material from all our coarse gold projects.”

Humphryson said the decision to initially deploy a Steinert unit into the field was more a reflection of “local, non-technical factors” than any distinct differentiation of capabilities between the two suppliers’ sorters.

He added: “Should field testing of mechanical sorting prove successful, it is likely that the final utilisation of this technology will involve a hybrid solution involving equipment from both suppliers. In light of this, we intend to maintain a close working relationship with both suppliers.”

TOMRA receives positive ore sorting signals as virtual offering gains pace

Comminution of minerals, Environmental, Industrial minerals, Metallurgy, Mineral processing, Mining equipment, Mining services, Sustainable mining, , , , , , , , , , , ,

While the effects of COVID-19 continue to be felt across the mining equipment, technology and services (METS) sector, the time away from the office or mine site has enabled many within the industry to carry out work that could lead the industry into a whole new growth cycle.

The jury is out on when such an upturn could occur – these economic studies will not necessarily result in a positive mine investment decision – but this activity, coming alongside billions of dollars of investment from governments and central banks, bodes well for the future.

One company that has witnessed this increase in interest is TOMRA Sorting Mining. The Germany-based firm, known to miners for providing high-tech sorting solutions, including X-ray Transmission (XRT) technology, has received many enquiries since lockdowns were established across the globe in March and April, according to Jens-Michael Bergmann, Area Sales Manager for Europe, MENA and India.

“The number of enquiries has definitely increased since COVID-19 restrictions were put in place,” Bergmann told IM last week. “There are many people deep into prefeasibility or feasibility studies (FS) on projects who need ore sorting data for this. They are very happy to have this provided remotely.”

Jens-Michael Bergmann, Area Sales Manager for Europe, MENA and India, TOMRA Sorting Mining

Such remote work could range from the inspection of photos sent from smart phones or distributed within MS Teams videoconferences, to more advanced analysis and testing of material, Bergmann explained.

Fortunately, TOMRA is setup for this type of remote interaction. Its initial sales process – where mining companies will at this stage be considered ‘leads’ – usually involves the exchange of emails/phone calls, inspections of photos/videos and a few kilograms of material to sample.

The next stage would include the performance test, which could involve hundreds of tonnes of material and usually a visit to the Test Center in Wedel, Germany.

It is this stage that has been revamped recently to cater to the lack of travel options for clients.

TOMRA has opened virtual testing facilities that enable miners to take informed purchasing decisions for their processing plants, regardless of where the client may be located.

This brings the capabilities of the company’s Test Center to the client, offering a video of their material being sorted in an ore sorting unit and a follow-up detailed report including assays (supplied by a sub-contractor), ore sorting data and an estimation of just how optimal a sort could be achieved on that material when it is subjected to XRT technology.

“You have a complete document and resource to base economic decisions on,” Bergmann said.

TOMRA, last month, presented the Virtual Demonstration and Test Solution to the market as a “temporary” platform, but recent experience shows the potential for this becoming part of the company’s standard offering.

“We understand it currently to be a temporary version, but in recent days we have had some positive replies that make us think we can continue to offer it in the future to certain clients,” Bergmann said.

In a COVID-19-affected world where every decision to travel on a plane requires strong justification, flying from North or South America, Asia, or Australasia to Europe for a one-day test is unlikely to be warranted.

Such a trip involving operations teams, executives and metallurgists is more likely to take place when a detailed week-long trial examining the effects of sorting technology on roughing, cleaning and scavenging stages is planned, Bergmann said.

“We don’t think in the future we will go virtual permanently, or personal permanently,” Bergmann said.

Testing time for tungsten-tin

TOMRA only established these virtual facilities on May 12, but it has already carried out four or five of these tests for clients that either had sent samples to Wedel ahead of lockdowns or dispatched them during the period when travel was restricted.

Mike Hallewell, Consultant at MPH Minerals Consultancy Ltd

One of these tests has been for Tungsten West, the owner of the Hemerdon tungsten-tin asset in Devon, England.

Previously owned and operated by Wolf Minerals Ltd, Hemerdon has been offline since late 2018 after Wolf fell into financial trouble as the operation failed to reach expected recovery rates.

According to Tungsten West, Hemerdon hosts the world’s fourth largest tungsten resource, with the potential to become the world’s largest.

With eyes on re-starting the operation and improving recoveries, the company has been looking at XRT ore sorting technology to ensure the new operating plan stacks up over the long term.

Mike Hallewell, Consultant at MPH Minerals Consultancy Ltd, has been helping the company explore its processing options and said the virtual test work TOMRA carried out on behalf of Tungsten West was part of studies looking into a re-start of the mine.

“They are at scoping study level and now moving towards feasibility level,” he told IM. “Ore sorting is a key component of that next phase.”

Hallewell said the recording of the virtual test on an Hemerdon ore sample at Wedel was well received by both himself and Tungsten West.

“You have got to convince the Plant Manager that is operating the plant that it (XRT ore sorting) is something he will be comfortable with, on top of making the case to boards of directors that may not have the same metallurgical expertise as the operation guys,” he said.

“When people see particles being blown by the air jets, it greatly enhances the visual understanding of the separation technique being employed,” he added. “To see is to understand.”

TOMRA has done well replicating the experience project and executive teams would have had in Wedel in person with this testing, Hallewell said.

“They have thought about the things that a client would want to do and see if they were there,” he said.

“They provide a powerful video of the air jet stones hitting the sides, the bins where material is deposited into, and even go as far as putting their hands in that bin at the end to try and replicate that tangible feeling of the sort.”

Future indicators

The more successful TOMRA is at replicating the in-person experience virtually, the more likely these ‘temporary’ options will become part of its permanent offering.

Another area that could ‘go virtual’ in the future is the maintenance and servicing side of TOMRA’s ore sorting business, Bergmann believes.

“The maintenance side is moving in that direction already to a certain degree,” he said.

“Since everybody is currently facing travel restrictions, the infrastructure for accurate virtual maintenance will, in the future, be set up in all plants. The awareness of the need to do this will increase,” he said.

Certain parts of the contract negotiation process could also go virtual, such as “all the unloved paperwork”, Bergmann added.

But, the installation and final signoff of these machines is unlikely to make this transition, at least in the near term.

That is despite an XRT ore sorting machine from TOMRA recently being installed at Sotkamo Silver’s mine in Finland when lockdown conditions were still in place.

On this installation, specifically, Bergmann said: “A lot of pre-commissioning work on that unit took place ahead of the delivery and it was a representative from Outotec – a salesperson with engineering experience – that was able to commission it with remote assistance from our specialists in Germany.”

Looking past the virtual offering, TOMRA could be set for an upturn in business in the near- and medium-term if the influx of enquiries it has recently received is converted into, first, demonstrations and, then, sales.

“In terms of first inspections of material, I would say we have had around 50 enquiries in this lockdown period,” Bergmann said.

“While everyone is planning now, if they hit the investment button, there could be a lot of orders backed up. The manufacturing could run into a bottleneck.

“It’s potentially a positive problem, but a problem nonetheless.”

Considering the amount of investment being pledged by governments to stave off an economic downturn, TOMRA is unlikely to be the only METS company facing such a ‘positive problem’.

Sotkamo Silver chases processing efficiencies with Outotec-TOMRA XRT solution

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

Sotkamo Silver is looking to reduce the amount of material it grinds and floats at its silver operation in Finland through the introduction of X-ray Transmission (XRT) ore sorting technology.

The company said it began pilot testing of the XRT machine in May after the unit was supplied and successfully commissioned at the mine by Outotec and TOMRA. Outotec and TOMRA have been cooperating on the supply of Outotec-branded sorting solutions for the mining and metallurgical industry since 2014.

Sotkamo’s trial pilot testing builds on previous test work at TOMRA’s testing facilities in Germany.

Previous XRT ore sorting test work carried out by TOMRA on 2,200 kg of Sotkamo samples showed the silver content from low-grade ore increasing some 1.9 x to 116 g/t Ag, while the average silver content in ore rose 1.43 x to 195 g/t Ag. In addition to this, about 60% of the rock previously classified as low-grade ore was removed as gangue with the testing, with some 43% of rock reporting as gangue from the average grade ore samples.

Following this work, back in 2018, Sotkamo Silver said it was looking to install an Outotec-TOMRA XRT ore sorter in the process flowsheet after two-stage crushing (jaw and cone crushers) had taken place and the rock was some 30-70 mm in size.

In the update today, Sotkamo Silver said the XRT technology can scan every feed particle to identify the relative atomic density differences within particles and then separate desired high-grade particles from the barren material pneumatically.

It said sorting of marginal ore would be carried out after primary crushing and it was expected to reduce roughly 50% of non-ore material going into the grinding and flotation process.

“This improves significantly the energy efficiency as less material is grinded, and also material efficiency as marginal ore can be exploited and processed to mill feed,” the company said, adding that leftover barren material would be used as rock-fill in the underground mine.

During the first three months of 2020, around 129,000 t of ore was processed at the silver mine, yielding some 391,000 oz of silver, 462 t of lead, 958 t of zinc and 998 oz of gold in the concentrates.

TOMRA takes XRT ore sorting testing virtual in face of COVID-19 restrictions

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TOMRA Sorting Mining is bringing ore sorting testing capabilities to its stay-at-home mining customers though the development of virtual testing facilities that enable them to take informed purchasing decisions for their processing plants, regardless of location.

This is the latest action in the company’s plan to provide its customers the support they need to take their business forward in the face of current COVID-19-related restrictions.

“Ensuring business continuity at this time is of paramount importance for mining operations,” TOMRA Mining said. “This includes taking forward ongoing investment projects in sorting equipment to improve their efficiency and the quality of their product.”

TOMRA Mining is leveraging digital technology to help customers identify the best sorting solution for their mine by offering them remote access to its Test Center in Wedel, Germany, a facility that has capabilities for all applications, according to the company.

“TOMRA’s temporary Virtual Demonstration and Test Solution will enable mining companies to test the sorting solutions on their samples without leaving their office,” the company said. “They will just need to book a session with their TOMRA sales representative and ship a sample of their minerals to the Test Center, which will conduct the test.”

Once testing is complete, mining customers will receive a video of their material being sorted and be able to discuss the results with a TOMRA sales person and the Test Center’s experts via video call, the company said. “With their support, they will be able to make a decision on the following steps and take the project forward without delay,” it added.

Albert du Preez (pictured), Senior Vice President and Head of TOMRA Sorting Mining, said: “At TOMRA, we work closely with our customers to devise the solution that is perfect for their operation. The visit to one of our test centres can be an important step in this process, as it enables them to work out with our teams the best combination of technologies and develop the flowsheet for their ore sorting plant.

“With this virtual solution, we are able to provide this support, taking our Test Center to our customers’ office so they can make an informed decision on an important investment. This means that they are able to take their business forward in the current situation.”

TOMRA’s test centres play a key role in the company’s collaborative approach to supporting customers with their ore sorting requirements, according to the company. Based on the tests conducted on TOMRA equipment with material from the customer’s mine, the centre can provide an initial feasibility study and detailed reports on the machine’s performance with the sample. With this information and the advice of the centre’s experts, the customer can proceed with their investment with confidence, the company says.

The opportunity for the customer to see first-hand the equipment at work on their sample and discuss the options with TOMRA’s team provides important added value, according to the company.

This was the experience of John Armstrong, VP Mineral Resources at Lucara Diamonds, who visited the Test Center in Wedel when researching a solution for the diamond mine in Karowe, Botswana.

“We gained a lot of confidence in the people at TOMRA, in the technology that they were presenting to us, and the possible solution that it provided to the Karowe mine…We could also see that they had already gone down the road of the next step in X-ray Transmission (XRT) technology, so they were not just focused on one particular module to present to us, but they were working on different modules.

“That helped alleviate some of our concerns about the robustness of the platform and the technology itself, which ultimately led us to use TOMRA as the solution.”

Lucara has since gone on to recover some of the largest diamonds in history with the TOMRA XRT system that was installed following this visit to the Test Center.

In addition to developing this Virtual and Demonstration and Test Solution in reaction to the COVID-19 outbreak, TOMRA has increased stocks of critical components to ensure its ability to fulfil current and future orders, and to ensure the supply of spare parts without disruption.

And the company is leveraging digital technology not only to take the expertise of its test centres to customers, but also by using its remote service and training tools to support their equipment while respecting social distancing safety measures, it said.

TOMRA sensor-based ore sorters shine at quartz operations

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TOMRA says its patented multi-channel laser sorting technology is helping unlock the “full potential” of quartz deposits.

Quartz is one of the most common minerals found in all forms of rock, but it does not exist in high purity in nature, according to TOMRA. The challenge for mining operations serving the metallurgical and engineered stone industries is to reliably deliver quartz of consistently high chemical purity.

The scattering effect of the multiple laser beams from TOMRA’s ore sorting technology can be used to separate quartz-bearing rock from waste rock, with the sensors recognising the glowing crystals that are the tell-tale sign of quartz or quartz veins.

TOMRA says large and pure crystals can be clearly discriminated from other rocks or minerals with a smaller crystal structure, regardless of the colour or chemical composition.

“TOMRA’s laser sorter also stands out for being a gravity system rather than the conventional conveyor belt, so that both sides of the material are scanned and multiple characteristics such as surface structure, size, shape, brightness and colour distribution are processed simultaneously,” the company said. “Laboratory tests and field experience have shown that the recovery of valuable rocks can be increased by 20% while improving the quality of the product.”

Jens-Michael Bergmann, Industrial Mineral Segment Manager at TOMRA Sorting Mining, said the advantages for mine operations are multiple, “from a longer life of the mine to lower operating costs and a reduction of waste, with consequent lower haulage costs”.

He added: “It also enables them to guarantee consistent high-quality of product to their customers.”

TOMRA’s laser sorting technology also has environmental benefits due to the reduced waste and low water use, as only a small quantity of water is required for wet washing the rocks at the beginning of the process to avoid dust in the processing plant.

Laser sorting also eliminates the need for hand picking, which is required with colour sorting in order to achieve the high purity levels demanded by the metallurgy and engineered stone industries, according to TOMRA. This has a positive impact on the mining operation’s health and safety initiatives, as personnel are not exposed to silicon dust in the sorting process.

Spanish company Erimsa, part of Elkem ASA, one of the world’s leading suppliers of silicon-based advanced materials, has over 30 years’ experience in quartz extraction using an environmentally friendly method, according to TOMRA.

It specialises in the production of aggregates for the construction industry and metallurgical quartz, which means a consistently high chemical purity of the quartz is paramount. It originally achieved this level of quality through manual sorting, but, in 2000, the company introduced colour sorting technology.

TOMRA said: “However, in order to achieve the high level of purity they required, the sorters were calibrated in a way that resulted in high rejection rates of material containing quartz. This meant that hand picking was still required in order to improve the recovery and ensure the stability in the quality of the quartz that is key for Erimsa.”

Carlos Forján, Quality Manager at Erimsa, turned to TOMRA for its laser technology, which he thought would enable the company to sort good quality quartz regardless of the colour: “The main problem we have is in the complexity of sorting automatically when the quartz and the rejectable minerals have the same colour. I thought that laser technology would be the way to address this.”

In 2016, following tests conducted at TOMRA’s Centre in Wedel, Germany, a PRO Secondary LASER Dual sorting machine was installed at its processing plant in Salamanca.

At this operation, the quartz is extracted and washed to avoid dust in the plant, then it is screened by size. Materials over 70 mm are hand-picked by four operators; materials under 20 mm are shipped to aggregates and quartz sand customers; materials between 20 and 70 mm are fed to the TOMRA multi-channel laser machine, which sorts out the waste material. A final quality check is conducted by two operators to remove the rare pieces with quartz content that may have been ejected in the waste by the sorter, as it is calibrated to maximise recovery.

Forján said: “The TOMRA machine has enabled us to reduce costs while increasing our yield; our production has easily increased by 20% compared to when we used colour sorters combined with hand picking. Material that, in the past, was lost to the waste pile is now generating profit for us.

High quality quartz after TOMRA’s laser ore sorting

“The stability of the quality is an important goal, and we have achieved this with the laser sorter. It has been such a game-changer in our operation; we are planning the purchase of a second laser machine to replace an existing colour sorter.”

TOMRA’s laser sorters can also be combined with other sensors depending on the requirements.

This is the case for Mikroman Mining Company, which uses a combination of TOMRA laser and TOMRA colour sorters to differentiate products according to four qualities: white and light grey quartz with low iron oxide content for engineered stones; grey and yellow quartz for the glass industry; coloured quartz for ferrosilicon used in the metallurgical sector; and coloured gravel, also for ferrosilicon, which currently goes into the waste pile.

These precise distinctions, resulting in higher product quality, were not possible before the acquisition of the TOMRA machines, and today the company operates 13 colour sorters and three laser sorters in its various plants, according to TOMRA.

TOMRA’s XRT ore sorting aids recoveries, costs at South Africa chrome mine

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One of TOMRA’s X-ray Transmission (XRT) sensor-based ore sorters is helping improve recoveries and lower costs at a South Africa chrome operation.

As South Africa chrome mining operations have increased production in the face of rising demand from stainless steel buyers, the cost of using traditional methods for separating low-grade chromite material, such as dense media separation (DMS), cyclones and spirals, has increased. XRT ore sorting, an established technology in physical separation that has proved extremely effective in mining operations for a variety of minerals, including chrome, is another pre-concentration route they are looking into.

“Its benefits are significant: less complexity in the process, considerably lower costs, higher productivity and profitability – and the added advantage of a lower environmental impact,” TOMRA, a supplier of XRT solutions, said.

The X-ray sensor accurately establishes the density of each particle in the feed, and high-speed pneumatic ejectors separate ore with high chromite content from barren or low-grade ore at throughputs between 60-200 t/h. “The resulting output is a high-grade product that is ready to sell, with no need for additional comminution,” the company said. “It is a dry process that requires no water or reagents, and is frugal in its energy consumption, resulting in a fraction of the capital expenditure and running costs of traditional methods, as well as a smaller footprint.”

Engineering and project management company P2E Consulting has first-hand experience of the advantages of TOMRA’s XRT technology in sorting chrome ore at Eastern Chrome mines, in South Africa. It was looking for a solution to improve the efficiency of the sorting plant and turned to TOMRA.

“We have installed TOMRA sorters on diamond and copper plants in the past and we believe their technology is ahead of their competitors,” Craig Meadway, Business Development Executive of P2E Consulting, said.

P2E Consulting commissioned a TOMRA COM XRT 2.0 sorter to replace an existing drum DMS plant.

“The mine used the DMS plant to produce saleable small lumpy product from the mine’s LG6 Chromite run of mine and dumps at a minimum grade of 38%, but it was very inefficient,” Meadway explains. “The TOMRA XRT sorter has resolved this issue. It is used to upgrade under value material with a head grade of 20-28%, to produce a saleable product at a minimum grade of 38% Cr2O3. It does this efficiently and at a low cost of production.”

The TOMRA COM XRT 2.0 sorter has exceeded Meadway’s expectations, with grades being achieved in excess of 40% Cr2O3 and mass recoveries of 25-30% from scalped waste resulting in chrome-in-tails as low as 12%.

“No other technology has given us such a high recovery rate. Not only that, with TOMRA’s XRT there was no water usage at all, and we didn’t need to spend on expensive reagents, so that we are producing small lumpy product for approximately 50% of the cost compared to a DMS plant,” he said.

The environmental benefits of TOMRA’s XRT solution were also an important factor in P2E Consulting’s choice of technology. “We are looking to introduce greener technologies into the mining industry. The fact that no water or chemicals are used is a major advantage,” Meadway said. “Also, South Africa has major power limitations, and the lower energy consumption when compared to DMS is a huge driving force.”

The ease of operation of TOMRA’s XRT sorters proved to be a further advantage: “It is very easy to use: once the sorter and feed system control philosophy is set up correctly, the plant runs with very little input from the operators,” Meadway said.

TOMRA’s collaborative approach and all-round support was also an important factor in P2E Consulting’s decision to turn to them for this project, according to Meadway.

“We knew from our experience in previous projects that the support from TOMRA is very good, and with the installation of this machine in a relatively new application, it was excellent,” he said. “The local team has bent over backwards to help us make this happen.”