Tag Archives: XRF

Newmont showcases sensing tech developments at Mill Operators’ Conference

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

The recent 16th AusIMM Mill Operators’ Conference, in Perth, Western Australia, saw Newmont share details of some of the sensing technologies it is deploying at its operations to improve sustainability and processing plant outcomes.

In a presentation titled, ‘Redefining the Battery Limits of Processing Plants – Improving Sustainability through the Deployment of Sensing Technologies,’ the paper authors (Futcher, W, Seaman, D, and Kelin, B) showcased the implementation of MineSense’s ShovelSense XRF (X-ray Fluorescence) technology at its Red Chris mine in British Columbia, Canada.

The technology, which is mounted on shovels operating in the open pit, allows for real-time grade estimation of every scoop of material, enabling immediate separation of ore and waste, Newmont says. It provides a much higher resolution of measurement (approximately 16-25 times) than conventional grade control systems, the miner added.

“The system accumulates the grade loaded into each truck,” Newmont said. “If the resulting material classification is different to that expected from grade control, the truck is diverted to a new destination.”

Some of the key statistics for a 12-month period the authors shared from the Red Chris implementation were 1.6 Mt of ore recovered from material classified as waste in traditional grade control; 825,000 t of waste removed from the ore stream; a 0.40 reduction in tonnes of waste per tonne of ore recovered; and an 800 hour XRF head service life, with most heads reaching the expected service life before failure.

In addition to mentions of ShovelSense, the authors also shared details on how Newmont is leveraging belt scanning technology equipped with Prompt Gamma Neutron Activation Analysis on the conveyor system after crushing at three operations. To illustrate this, the company shared an image of a Scantech International GEOSCAN unit.

Newmont said: “This technology measures key ore properties before ore reaches the mill, providing vital data such as estimated ore hardness and tailings neutralisation potential. Integration with the process plant control system allows for feed-forward control and optimisation.”

In block caving, the scanners can be used to track drawpoint grades and enable bulk ore sorting methods, Newmont added.

Malvern Panalytical brings compact XRF spectrometer to elemental analysis sector

Mineral exploration, Mining services, Sustainable mining, , , ,

Malvern Panalytical has announced the launch of Revontium, a compact X-ray Fluorescence (XRF) spectrometer that, the company says, opens new possibilities for elemental analysis across multiple industries, including mining.

This new instrument, the world’s first compact XRF unit, according to the company, delivers powerful elemental analysis with outstanding ease of use in a compact 0.4 sq.m footprint, for the optimal balance between precision and efficiency, Malvern Panalytical says. Revontium offers an alternative to 1-2 kW floor-standing systems, delivering high-quality, repeatable results at a reduced cost of ownership and environmental impact.

XRF is a well-established, non-destructive technology for elemental analysis, with a number of gains over techniques such as inductively coupled plasma spectroscopy (ICP) and atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS), the company explains. However, large, floor-standing wavelength-dispersive (WDXRF) instruments
can be both energy- and cost-intensive. Revontium is the only XRF spectrometer on the market delivering comparable results and data quality to these larger instruments, at a significantly reduced footprint, the company claims.

Revontium’s cost of ownership is more than 25% lower than that of WDXRF, AAS, and ICP instruments, due to itsreduced need for consumables, and simpler maintenance and sample preparation requirements, according to Malvern Panalytical. Unlike ICP, Revontium needs fewer consumables such as acids and high-purity gases, requires no daily calibration and analyses samples in ambient conditions. Unlike high-powered WDXRF instruments, there are no external chiller requirements and associated costs, thanks to internal cooling in the Revontium system. Its power consumption is only 250 watts per hour, compared with 2,000 watts per hour for traditional WDXRF.

Together with its small footprint and lack of need for a helium or vacuum pump, Revontium is the most sustainable and practical yet powerful option for elemental analysis, Malvern Panalytical says.

The company says: “Revontium helps organisations across a variety of industries comply with increasingly stringent environmental regulations and remain compliant with test methods such as ASTM and ISO. This will be beneficial for users working in cement, mining & minerals and polymer plants. It also opens new possibilities for elemental analysis in the pharmaceutical sector, either as an alternative to ICP or AAS or as a complementary technique. In addition, after non-destructive XRF analysis using Revontium, the same sample can still be measured using ICP, AAS, XRD, or other methods if required.”

Lieven Kempenaers, Product Manager XRF – Malvern Panalytical, said: “Revontium provides our customers with powerful elemental analysis in a compact format. I’m particularly looking forward to seeing how and where our customers will use Revontium. Its ease of use, analytical rigour and low cost of ownership will deliver benefits across the market.

Mark Fleiner, President – Malvern Panalytical, added: “Revontium expands our comprehensive offering in the XRF instrument market. Compared to the next best alternative, this instrument strikes the optimal balance of precision and efficiency, which means more added value for the user. With Revontium, Malvern Panalytical is opening up endless possibilities for elemental analysis, even in industries where XRF hasn’t traditionally been used.”

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

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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.

ERG debuts world-first smart exploration rover at Future Minerals Forum

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Eurasian Resources Group (ERG) is looking to change the early-stage mineral exploration process with a ground-breaking smart exploration rover, NOMAD, launched at the Future Minerals Forum in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, today.

A remotely-operated soil sampling robot, NOMAD has been specifically designed to thrive in challenging terrains, such as those found in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, as well as contribute to a smarter, greener and more sustainable economy.

NOMAD, based on Mars rover technology and developed by ERG Technology Intelligence, a division of ERG, incorporates three core elements that, according to the company, makes it fit-for-purpose in exploration contexts:

  • A remote, all-wheel drive semi-autonomous navigation system, key to navigating the Kingdom’s challenging terrain;
  • The inclusion of a multi-sensor platform that allows for efficient and immediate scanning of samples, integral to efficient, safe and methodical sampling; and
  • A built-in, percussion soil drill, that drills 800 mm into the earth’s surface, to fast-track sampling and transfer to scanning trays.

These features boost efficiency by taking more than 120 samples per day, which, the company says, is a major improvement on the maximum of 30 samples that can be achieved manually.

“With rising temperatures and increasingly arduous geological work conditions, NOMAD can perform formerly manual work more safely and proficiently, while allowing exploration of larger surface areas at pace,” the company explained.

Chile-based robotics company, Godelius, has partnered on the NOMAD development, while the unit incorporates Geotek’s BoxScan multi-sensor platform, which includes a BoxScan X-ray Fluorescence (XRF) sensor for chemistry analysis, a hyperspectral sensor for mineralogy assessment, a magnetic susceptibility laser profiler for magnetic property analysis, and a high-resolution line scan imagery solution for detailed visual data.

“This solution was chosen strategically based on their comprehensive range of exploration capabilities as a multi-element geochemistry solution,” Aaron Baensch, Head of ERG Technology Intelligence, told IM. “NOMAD’s uniqueness lies in its integration of these sensors in a single, mobile, fit-for-purpose drilling and scanning unit, making it the first of its kind to combine these advanced technologies.”

NOMAD can take more than 120 samples per day, which, ERG says, is a major improvement on the maximum of 30 samples that can be achieved manually

Once samples are collected by NOMAD, it returns to a central, remote, mobile analysis base station which houses the robots and also re-charges the batteries that power them. The base station, part of ERG Arabia’s complete end-to-end smart exploration solution, conducts analysis of the collected sample on site, working to fast-track operations, by helping the geology teams on the ground to make decisions in real time.

“This level of agility is integral to developing a more responsive and sustainable mining sector,” ERG says.

Baensch added: “With NOMAD, we aim to analyse a wide range of characteristics beyond just ore grade, including: elemental composition, mineralogy, magnetic properties and visual data. The units are equipped with low-level sensitivity sensors to detect even trace amounts of elements and minerals.”

The unveiling of the first NOMAD follows successful field testing in Ad Dawadmi, a location where ERG has exploration assets, in December. This focused predominantly on the navigation, autonomy and drilling aspects of NOMAD, according to Baensch.

“The terrain in the areas tested comprised shallow cover over residual regolith and proved the suitability of implementing NOMAD in the region perfectly,” he said. “The robot excelled in boosting operational efficiency by an astounding 400% compared to conventional manual exploration methods.”

In addition to deploying the unit for ERG Arabia’s use, the company is also seeking partnerships with industry, government and research institutions as a means to contribute to sector-wide exploration progress.

SRK Consulting, Base Metallurgical Labs tackling pre-concentration amenability

Base metals, Mineral processing, Mining services, Mining software, Sustainable mining, , , , , , , , ,

In this first of a three-part series of articles on pre-concentration in the mining space, SRK’s Adrian Dance outlines a new vendor-agnostic, lab-based testing process that could have huge ramifications for a sector in need of guidance and strategy.

Stay tuned for part two in the series, which will see SRK’s Bob McCarthy explain how results of such testing can be used by the mining community.

The need to expand the values or lives of assets while reducing both energy and water use is leading to a flood of new enquiries landing on the doorsteps of the pre-concentration and ore sorting company fraternity.

Anybody that takes a passing interest in the junior mining sector has seen the TOMRAs and Steinerts referenced in numerous TSX-V, ASX and AIM releases, with early-stage test work often detailing results from particle sorting trials.

On the bulk sorting side of the business, more sensor-based solutions are emerging to cope with the need to build or expand copper assets in the most sustainable ways possible. Some progressive companies are including such innovations in initial flowsheet plans.

The bottleneck in the current environment is testing, according to Adrian Dance, Principal Metallurgist at SRK Consulting, with many of the vendors simply overrun with requests to test material or provide modular pilot plants that can be re-located after samples are processed.

At the same time as demand is outpacing supply, there is an argument that a standardised, vendor-agnostic test should be devised to screen for ore sorting or pre-concentration amenability before any vendors are even engaged.

SRK is one company arguing for this.

“At the moment, the manufacturers are driving the action, dictating what the sample has to look like for something that resembles a pilot plant trial,” Dance told IM. “Like any pilot plant run, these trials often give you an excellent result on that specific sample, but the question is: is that sample truly representative of the orebody? Or, is it representative of what a sorter would actually see in operation?”

An increase in available data and transfer of said data across the mine site is going some way to disproving the idea of mass homogeneity at many bulk mining operations – at copper porphyries, for example.

Dance believes this same thought process should be applied to pre-concentration.

This is where SRK Vancouver and Base Metallurgical Labs, both in British Columbia Canada, are looking to provide a “pre-concentration screening test” using X-ray Transmission (XRT) based sensor technology that can not only indicate pre-concentration amenability, but also provides key inputs into the pre-concentration strategy selection and evaluation.

The two companies are offering an assessment of pre-concentration potential, as well as an estimate of material bypass and metal upgrade from samples as small as half cores.

The XRT sensor lab unit

Used in conjunction with crushing and screening, this testing rapidly – and cost effectively – assesses the potential for pre-concentration, which can then be applied to scoping or prefeasibility studies, according to the companies.

“The testing has two parts to it,” Dance explains. “It was originally designed to see what the grade distribution of fines is after crushing and to see how that grade distribution varies depending on the amount of crushing energy applied to the material.

“The second part is looking to see if the material is amenable to pre-concentration when it is coarse and dry – ie conveyable.”

According to the companies, the XRT-based test can provide this within 24 hours of a sample arriving at the lab.

All of this helps characterise deposits (or low-grade stockpiles) using small samples, cutting down sample mass requirements, and potentially running multiple scenarios to obtain what Dance refers to as the “optimal sort”.

The two companies are not looking to replicate what may be done at one of the sorting vendors’ testing facilities. Instead, they are looking at whether the material wants to respond to this type of particle sorting exercise in the first place and at what size fractions pre-concentration would make sense.

Should the indications prove positive, the information on what appears to be the optimal sort can be passed onto the vendors for more accurate follow-on testing of a bulk sample.

“In this way, we are qualifying the opportunity ahead of the vendors getting samples,” Dance said. “The vendors also have knowledge about how a sample has responded to amenability testing in the first place and what other tests were conducted concurrently.

“We will be providing complementary testing that will, ultimately, benefit the project in question.”

Dance says the aim is to create an industry standard test for pre-concentration that can be replicated by commercial laboratories all over the globe and is carried out routinely with hardness and crushing and grinding testing.

“One of the samples we have already tested was being assessed for rock hardness and we were able to offer them pre-concentration amenability results at the same time,” he said. “We’re not trying to provide the ultimate or ‘perfect’ test; it just needs to be a standard test that can be benchmarked and easily replicated across the industry.

“The value is in the data shared. People want to know how their sample compares with other operations, but this will only come with a large volume of testing.”

XRT scan results of particles
XRT scan results of particles

While XRT is first up, Dance says the company could soon add an X-ray Fluorescence option to the unit.

And, further out, he is confident this type of testing will open the door to more sensors coming into the mining sector outside of the ones already on offer.

“When we show the electronics industry that we have a viable market by dictating the terms of how we want to sort material through knowledge of such testing, the sensors will come,” he said.

“I’m not saying everyone should implement pre-concentration; far from it, as I expect a minority of the tests will show strong amenability. What I am saying is that everyone should test for it.

“By providing a no licence fee test that has no bias towards any vendor, we are allowing mining companies to scope that out.”

The venture is also part of Dance’s own ambitions to educate the mining sector on its waste-generating ways, he says.

“In the grinding space there is so much material that is recycled throughout the plant inefficiently,” he said. “We must question why we are putting things back in the mill to ultimately take it to tailings.

“There is simply no way we can carry on pursuing the economies of scale argument to reduce our energy consumption and water use. We need to embrace new technology in the right way – not running towards it but walking with purpose and data-backed decisions.”

SGS tackles critical mineral testing, pathfinder analysis with new automated pXRF solution

Automation, Base metals, Energy minerals, Environmental, Mineral exploration, Mining services, Mining software, Sustainable mining, , , , , ,

SGS, a leading testing, inspection and certification company, has unveiled Automated pXRF (Portable X-ray Fluorescence) technology to, it says, further support its clients in unlocking future-focused solutions.

Designed and developed by SGS and Evident, this solution marks a significant leap forward from the conventional, manual XRF process or the in-field pXRF service, SGS claims.

The current method of manual XRF analysis requires dedicated operators to load and unload each powder rock sample individually. SGS’s Automated pXRF technology introduces a mechanised solution that streamlines the entire process. This innovation provides a more stable and reliable environment and allows operators to load up to 20 sample trays, improving efficiency of the analysis, according to the company. The new design and capability reduces turnaround time and analysis costs, expediting the delivery of critical insights for geological modelling.

The Automated pXRF system also increases the quality and consistency of sample measurement with high accuracy and repeatability, while reducing human error associated with manual loading and operator involvement during analysis. This advancement improves data reliability and enhances decision making for businesses reliant on precise analysis across critical mineral analysis and gold and lithium pathfinders.

Juan Smith, General Manager of Natural Resources Australia, and Regional Geochem Manager for Southeast Asia Pacific, said: “Our clients are constantly looking at which technologies can deliver better and faster results, and automated pXRF will be a game changer. This innovation aligns seamlessly with our dedication to providing industry-leading solutions that redefine standards. The Automated pXRF system reflects SGS’s unwavering commitment to efficiency, accuracy and safety, ultimately benefiting our clients and the environment.”

SGS said the unveiling of SGS’s Automated pXRF technology is poised to “reshape” critical mineral and pathfinder analysis, setting new benchmarks for efficiency, quality and safety.

SGS in Australia is already providing the service to several Tier One mining companies, ensuring bespoke solutions for each client, it says.

The company concluded: “With its capability to process a high volume of samples while reducing costs and enhancing data reliability, SGS continues to lead the way in technological advancements within the TIC industry.”

The role of automated sampling and analysis in mining

Automation, Base metals, Environmental, Metallurgy, Mining equipment, Mining services, , , ,

A high demand for commodities gives producers and manufacturers both opportunity and motivation to become more efficient, pragmatic and automated, Evident Scientific* says.

With the high prices comes shorter contracts with specifications that can change from week to week. This gives miners and recyclers an added challenge in streamlining their operations.

Varying grades and penalty elements mean both mines and smelters need to have accurate chemical analysis, low bias port-to-port and fast information in as close to real time as possible to be effective to production. Mine managers will agree improved data accuracy leads to better extraction at the pit, optimised blending of material, reduced penalty elements and improved output, which overall means better profitability.

Most on-site labs usually run 4-5 hours behind production, often more when using third-party remote laboratories. This can cause delays ranging from hours to days. Manually collected samples may provide little in bulk material representativity. Most sampling experts recognise that many bulk material biases come from sampling and less from the technique. Automating this process and bringing the laboratory to the samples increases productivity, reduces bias and improves overall accuracy.

The key here is not to bring the analyser to the belt but to bring the lab sample prep technique to the belt. Many on-belt analysis techniques try to measure concentration on the belt and are faced with the varying nature of materials on the belt, making it impossible to get consistent enough reading for accurate analysis.

Automatic on-belt sampling system solution

To solve this issue of inaccurate on-belt sampling and analysis, X-ray Fluorescence (XRF) technology, which can identify and quantify the composition of minerals in seconds, is an essential component. The second part required for an effective on-belt sampling solution is an automated mechanism that collects and prepares samples of bulk mined material, such as coal, aluminium, titanium, iron, manganese, nickel and copper ores. The well-prepared samples are presented to the in-line XRF analyser to obtain fast, automated and accurate analysis of the material, removing bias from moisture, mineral interference, grain size and many other obstacles you get from trying to sample directly on the belt.

Three-step process for automated on-belt analysis

The following describes the step-by-step process of such an automated on-belt system once implemented in the mineral processing line.

  1. Automated collection of mined materialsThe system automatically collects the samples from the belt at intervals that the user can set. The mechanism is a cross-belt sampler that does not stop or slow the belt. The sampler can be adjusted to any conveyor belt and processed using the plant’s distributed control system (DCS) to ease operations. The collection process complies with the following standards:
    • ISO 12743 (Cu, Pb, Zn, Ni);
    • ISO 13909, ISO-3082 (Fe);
    • ASTM E877 (chemical analysis); and
    • ASTM D7430.
  2. Automated sample preparation for XRF analysis of mined materials
    Some 15 kg of collected samples are first crushed from 50 mm to 4.5 mm (Crusher 1) and from 4.5 mm to 200 µm (Crusher 2) into a 500 g puck. The moisture content is taken and recorded to remove measurement bias. The samples are pressed and ready for chemical analysis using XRF. The entire preparation process is automatically controlled and monitored.
  3. Real-time chemical analysis of mining feed material on the belt
    The prepared samples are then analysed using the in-line XRF analyser. For this system, the XRF analyser chosen features a fast and highly accurate AI-inspired dynamic method that is flexible and able to deal with multiple matrices at the same time.
    It also offers the following capabilities:

    • Excellent sensitivity to trace elements;
    • Quantification of up to 30 elements in one measurement;
    • Detection down to 1 ppm for critical elements; and
    • Analysis of light elements, including magnesium, aluminium, silicon and sulphur.
Figure 1. Cross-belt sample collection system
Figure 2. Samples after preparation
Figure 3. In-line XRF analyser on a sample

Benefits of implementing an automated in-Line XRF sampling system on the belt

Profitability in data: real-time analysis

This system’s in-line XRF analyser enables real-time automatic, continuous, rapid and accurate laboratory-quality measurements without delay, using advanced processing technology that enables higher count rates and fast results (99.97% accuracy). All inputs are streamed directly to the plant control systems. The high accuracy of bulk mined materials will assist in efficient decision making for material blending and sorting.

Profitability in accuracy: improving revenue

To minimise penalty fees, continuous accurate results of the mined ore going through the conveyor belt are necessary. However, various size samples can lead to inaccurate results that do not represent the ore extracted. A homogeneous subsample will give a better representation of the ore tested.

The automated on-belt system with its XRF technology minimises this bias by bringing laboratory results on site using homogeneously prepared samples to achieve accurate inputs so mining operations are better managed:

  • Provides representative, unbiased samples;
  • Avoid inaccurate chemical results;
  • Zero impact on belt speed;
  • Quality control of the ore grade;
  • No penalty fees; and
  • Optimise profitability.

Profitability in asset management: crushing

Comminution, as the most significant process operation in minerals processing, is essential to exercise due diligence to maintain the assets in continuous operations by limiting downtime and optimising your investment lifecycle. However, unexpected rock hardness can limit the crusher’s lifespan. Real-time analysis with mechanical sampling can give you the exact rock composition to help you choose the right tool for the right rock to maximise your assets’ return on investment and reduce maintenance costs.

On the mining processing side, knowing your rock composition can guide you in adapting your crushing priority in real time based on the incoming rock hardness by using the automated in-line XRF system. Obtaining the composition results rapidly can also improve your efficiency in concentrating critical ore from embedded matrix materials.

Profitability in knowledge: improving blending and treatment process

The treatment process is the first step toward getting a more concentrated ore blend. It is crucial to achieve this step correctly and, more importantly, to identify any mistakes to act on time. Regular laboratory analyses cannot be conducted as the results on incoming head grades will come too late to correct errors.

Real-time analyses can give you the correct data at the right moment to guide you in the treatment process of your ore. You will almost instantly know whether you should add an extra process to remove an element compound to achieve the researched concentrated blend. Furthermore, you could give hourly reports to your geologist in terms of ore grades.

Additionally, the data can help you recover the concentration/grade intended – reducing waste and keeping the blend in line with your customer request – and minimise the use of acid or other leaching compounds. Everything toward managing penalty elements and improving your overall blending.

Profitability in safety: tailings management

Tailings are an inevitable process where all the unrecoverable and uneconomic remnants from mining processing can reach immense proportions and become problematic if not properly managed. The automated on-belt sampling system can help manage your tailings by giving you real-time information on any high-level concentration of problematic/sensitive elements (S, As, Pb, etc). You can not only effectively manage your tailings but also get input on how to better store and treat the by-product.

Automated on-belt sampling plus XRF equals increased profitability

Any improvement can have significant repercussions in an industry with many processes and production challenges. Automated on-belt sampling and analysis can improve your mining workflow at critical steps and protect your profitability.

An automated in-line sampling system powered by XRF analysis technology enables you to perform on-site laboratory-grade testing and obtain real-time inputs in an industry where time can be critical. XRF technology brings accuracy even for some critical light elements, and is safer and easier to operate than other analytical options.

Like the old adage goes: time is money, so implementing an automated in-line sampling system that can reduce the mineral processing workflow by hours and possibly days could have a major impact on your bottom line.

*This article was written by Evident Scientific, formerly Olympus Industrial

Eriez reinforces flotation testing capabilities with new fire assay lab

Comminution of minerals, Metallurgy, Mining equipment, Mining services, Precious metals, , , , , , , , , , ,

Eriez® says it has recently completed the construction and commissioning of a new state-of-the-art fire assay laboratory to support flotation testing at its world headquarters in Erie, Pennsylvania, USA.

This new facility includes all required equipment for fusion, cupellation, parting, weighing and assaying, as well as innovative systems to enhance worker safety and environmental compliance, it said.

Erich Dohm, Eriez Flotation Senior Manager-USA Operations, said the addition of fire assay capabilities further establishes the comapny’s  position as an innovative global partner in minerals processing and flotation.

“This investment was made as part of our commitment to enhancing support for our precious metals flotation customers in addition to existing capabilities for base metals and industrial minerals projects,” he said. “Our customers will see a tremendous benefit in the development of new precious metal projects incorporating our advanced flotation technologies, such as the HydroFloat® and StackCell®.”

According to Eriez, the new fire assay laboratory will enable full execution of all aspects of precious metals flotation projects, with next-day assays available to guide flotation investigations.

Dohm says: “This will allow our team of flotation experts to complete projects under a tight deadline without risking delays from external commercial laboratories.”

Eriez’s in-house analytical capabilities also include X-ray Fluorescence, inductively coupled plasma, atomic absorption, combustion furnace (sulphur), and particle size by laser diffraction.

Dohm concluded: “Our full-service metallurgical and analytical laboratory facilitates strong customer partnerships, from initial flowsheet development at prefeasibility stages through troubleshooting and optimisation of existing mill circuits.”

Taseko Mines using innovation to increase production and efficiencies

Base metals, Comminution of minerals, Environmental, Explosives and blasting, Mine operation news, Mineral processing, Mining equipment, Mining services, Power supply for mines, Sustainable mining, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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

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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.