Tag Archives: zinc

Newtrax helps haulage operations at Glencore’s Matagami zinc-copper mine

Base metals, Communications in mining, Equipment maintenance, Mine operation news, Mining equipment, Mining maintenance, Mining services, Mining software, , , , , , , , , ,

Newtrax says its Mobile Equipment Telemetry (MET) system has helped Glencore raise productivity and increase operational awareness at its Matagami zinc-copper underground mine in Quebec, Canada.

The operation, which mines the Bracemac and McLeod deposits, first installed the MET system back in 2016 on trucks and LHDs in order to maximise its haulage efficiency. It has ended up doing much more, according to a case study from Newtrax.

Newtrax said: “Glencore Matagami mine has been faced with a continual challenge: how to haul ore to the surface most efficiently. Normally, this isn’t the most difficult challenge a mine faces but, at Matagami, all their ore is hauled with trucks.

“Efficiency is vital at the mine because those haulage trips are more than 8 km in each direction. The huge distance means it’s essential to get every tonne possible onto the truck before it heads to the surface.”

As part of its overall haulage efficiency aim, Glencore needed more information about its operation, Newtrax said – enter Newtrax and MET.

MET solutions provide mine operators with essential information and indisputable data pulled directly from mining equipment, according to Newtrax. “The ability to access this data empowers mining companies to understand the precise manner in which their machines are being used, how well each individual machine is functioning, and can offer predictive suggestions to increase both productivity and profit,” the company said.

“The MET works with all equipment brands and models, and was easily integrated to Matagami mine’s mixed fleet of trucks and LHDs,” Newtrax added.

Glencore Matagami mine used the system in multiple ways, including to monitor the standard production times of equipment; to calculate utilisation of ore haulage; to calculate overall equipment effectiveness (OEE), and; to calculate loads per cycle.

Christian Ngoma, Underground Operations Superintendent of Matagami, said Newtrax technology allowed mine management to get a clearer idea of what is actually going on, thanks to hard data.

“The Newtrax system enables us, from a managerial perspective, to make decisions based on facts that are measurable, instead of perceptions,” he said.

Glencore Matagami installed a custom fit Payload Monitoring System, which interfaces directly with the OEM’s existing sensor network. This, according to Newtrax, enables:

  • Real-time payload data available on the Newtrax Scoreboards and cab display for the operators, and;
  • Real-time payload broadcasted to the Newtrax MET telemetry recorder every five seconds, with no operator intervention.

Ngoma said: “We now have production trucks equipped with Newtrax scoreboards to show tonnage, and the LHD operators use this tool to load the trucks in an optimal way. We now noticed that four out of five of our trucks have an average tonnage of approximately 60 t in comparison to 55 t before.

“The impact of that technology is to optimise the loading of trucks. Especially with the long haulage distance, that is our biggest challenge here.”

Since implementing the solution, Glencore Matagami has been able to raise its average tonnage from 55 t to 60 t, which has increased productivity; especially given the long haulage distances the operation is facing.

Trucks currently travel 8 km on an average cycle, but there is a possible extension to 10.4 km in the coming years, Ngoma said.

After using the Newtrax MET system for one year, the Glencore Matagami team observed the following results, according to Newtrax:

  • Five to six per cent increase in utilisation on ore haulage;
  • Four per cent increase on the OEE, and;
  • Five per cent increase on loads per cycle.

Glencore Matagami Haulage Team Supervisor, Dany Lavoie-Mercier, said: “The standard production time report is an improvement that is more representative of our daily operations. From personal experience, after having presented it to my team, I presented it again the following shift and there was a clear difference in our operations. Everything was optimised from one shift to the next.”

Solutions provided by Newtrax can be used across a number of platforms and systems, allowing for easy adaptability, the company said.

Mohammed Lamine-Lamrani, Reliability Engineer at Matagami, said: “The Newtrax system enables us to transfer data via different networks, which facilitates its adoption into different mines. The system helped us identify the different delays of activities, in terms of our machines, which allowed us to intervene, improve, and increase our OEE.”

Matagami Mine General Manager, Mark Furlotte, said digitalising the operation is part of the company’s plan for keeping the mine looking to the future.

“At Glencore, and Matagami mine, we really want to continue investing on our people, our infrastructure, and our assets. And one of the areas we want to continue investing in is technology,” Furlotte said. “We want to take things that are done elsewhere in the industry – things that are done in open-pit mines – and really bring that underground. We really want to be considered as one of the innovative mines around not only Quebec, Canada, but also the world.”

Photos courtesy of Newtrax

MineSense front and centre in bulk ore sorting game

Automation, Base metals, Bulk handling, Comminution of minerals, Environmental, IoT, Metallurgy, Mineral processing, Mining equipment, Mining services, Mining software, Steel and iron ore, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Having just commercialised its bulk ore sorting technology at Teck Resources’ Highland Valley Copper (HVC) operations in British Columbia, Canada, MineSense is looking to show the wider industry just how effective this pre-concentration process can be.

IM spoke with President and CEO, Jeff More, to find out more about the company’s ShovelSense and BeltSense technologies and how the Vancouver-based startup has been able to secure investment from the likes of ABB, Caterpillar and Mitsubishi.

IM: Can you explain in a little more detail how your ShovelSense and BeltSense solutions work?

JM: The base technology for both is X-ray Fluorescence (XRF) – a technology that has been around for some time. What we have done to this existing technology, which is quite unique, is three things:

  • One, we have extended dramatically the range of XRF. Traditionally XRF would almost have to be held to the surface of a rock to get accurate measurements. The range extension allows us to work in the shovel environment where we are working across metres of volume;
  • Second is speed. Our system is extremely fast. High speed analysis is required on our conveyor belt applications, but this is even more important in the shovel, where we’re measuring dynamically; as the material is flowing into the shovel, to get a representative reading, you have to be able to take very fast readings of the material as it is moving past the sensors;
  • The third is robustness. On a shovel, you are in a nasty environment from a shock and vibration perspective. We developed a system with sensitive components – the XRF itself, as well as the computing devices around it – that can stand up to that very high shock- and vibration-type environment.

IM: The most high-profile examples of the application of your ShovelSense technology have been at copper mines (HVC, in particular); is the detection technology particularly effective in these ores? Is it being trialled elsewhere?

JM: The current sensing we have with the XRF is very effective in a certain section of the periodic table, which nicely covers the major base metals. We’re focused on copper, nickel, zinc and polymetallic versions of those three. The fourth area of focus is iron ore.

We’ve selected copper as our first focus because of the size of the market and the geography. We have done most of our work in copper, but we now also have operating systems in nickel and zinc.

On a lab scale, the technology has been very effective in iron ore, but iron ore is a very different flow sheet, so we have purposely set it as our fourth market in what we call our primary clusters.

We have five mine site customers at the moment – three copper, one zinc-lead and one nickel-polymetallic.

We were very much focused on North America and, in particular, British Columbia for our first pilots and trials as it was quite easy for us to service in our back yard. The first international market was Chile, for obvious reasons in terms of copper production, and we now have a full MineSense entity and team operating in Chile and Peru.

We’re staggering the rest of our global expansion. We’re now quite active from a business development perspective in southern Africa – South Africa, Zambia, DRC – and have activity in Australia.

We have Systems installed at two different copper mines in British Columbia, one at a very large nickel-polymetallic complex in Sudbury, Ontario, and will have a fourth system operating in Alaska. We also have two mines, but four systems, operating in Chile. By the end of Q2, we will have another three systems operating in Chile.

We did all our development work for the system at Teck’s HVC operation and we’re now completely commercial there. We officially commissioned our first system in December, the second system is being commissioned as we speak and the third and fourth will be installed and commissioned in late-March. This will completely equip their fleet.

IM: Teck has previously said the use of ShovelSense has resulted in “a net measurable increase in the amount of ore (and the associated head grade)” it has available to feed its mill at HVC. Are these results in keeping with your expectations for the technology?

JM: Yes, absolutely. We base everything on, what we call, our value model. Very early in our engagement process, we set out a detailed model that calculates the profit improvement that mine will see – we did the same for Teck HVC.

We agreed on a target at HVC and are actually exceeding that estimate. Most importantly, Teck is also seeing that value and is estimating a great overall impact at that mine.

This is an abridged version of a Q&A to be published in the ore sorting feature in the March issue of International Mining.

Barminco wins extension at Hindustan Zinc-owned Rampura Agucha zinc-lead mine

Base metals, Mine operation news, Mine shafts and equipment, Mineral project development, Mining equipment, Mining services, , , , , , , ,

Ausdrill’s recently added subsidiary, Barminco, has been awarded an underground mining services contract at the Rampura Agucha zinc-lead mine in India from Hindustan Zinc worth approximately A$100 million ($71 million), the ASX-listed company says.

Hard-rock underground miner Barminco has operated at Rampura Agucha for Hindustan, a subsidiary of Vedanta Limited, since late 2016. The new underground mining services contract is for a three-and-a-half-year term, subject to review and mutual agreement of rates after the first year.

The scope of work includes the extension of development works that were being provided under a recently completed contract, plus the addition of production work in the Barminco-developed area of the mine. Under the contract, Hindustan will provide capital equipment and consumables. Barminco will commence work immediately, Ausdrill said.

Barminco CEO, Paul Muller, said: “We are very pleased to have been awarded a contract that extends our operations at the Rampura Agucha mine with an expanded scope to include production works. We look forward to deepening the relationship we have built with Hindustan Zinc over the past few years by delivering on this extended scope of works both safely and efficiently.”

Rampura Agucha is the second largest zinc mine in the world, according to Hindustan, with production of 3.9 Mt in the company’s 2018 financial year. It has a zinc-lead reserve grade averaging 15.7% Zn+Pb, with total reserves of 46 Mt as of March 31, 2018.

The ongoing underground mine project is being developed with a vision of producing 5 Mt/y of ore and includes a main production shaft of 955 m depth, 7.5 m diameter and hauling capacity of 3.75 Mt/y; two ventilation shafts, two declines from surface and paste fill plants, according to Hindustan.

NQ Minerals in for ‘transformational year’ after completing Hellyer commissioning

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London-listed NQ Minerals has completed commissioning of the Hellyer processing plant, in Tasmania, Australia, with production during the December quarter reaching 3,991 t of lead, 1,537 t of zinc, and 4,291 t of pyrite.

This output realised approximately £3.2 million ($4.1 million) in sales, according to NQ Minerals.

“The company is now consistently producing all three concentrates with sales occurring on a weekly basis,” NQ Minerals said.

Held within four separate areas, the Hellyer tailings total a JORC-compliant resource of 9.5 Mt, hosting gold at 2.61 g/t Au for 796,000 oz, silver at 104 g/t Ag for 32 Moz Ag, lead at 3.03% Pb for 287,800 t and zinc at 2.5% Zn for 237,900 t. In addition to these tailings, the Hellyer mine assets include a large pre-existing mill facility and full supporting infrastructure, including a direct rail line to port.

NQ Minerals previously agreed two separate offtake agreements with Traxys for Hellyer’s products, where the trading company will receive all of the precious metals and lead and zinc produced over the first five years.

Brian Stockbridge, Chairman of NQ Minerals, said: “With commissioning substantially complete, NQ is now a producer. Having completed the acquisition and refurbishment of Hellyer over the prior two years, the culmination of management’s efforts will make 2019 a transformational year for the company. With the change in status to a producer, we believe there is substantial potential to unlock shareholder value.”

Kwatani registers global mining demand for vibrating equipment

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Kwatani’s vibrating screens and feeders are continuing to find a market in the mining industry, with a number of orders recently secured from diamond, coal, zinc and platinum operations.

The company’s custom engineered products are now in some of the world’s largest mines, and many customers have standardised on their screens to ensure lowest cost of ownership and high performance, according to General Manager, Sales and Service, Jan Schoepflin.

“While our base and core market are in Africa, the global demand for Kwatani products has grown rapidly. A leading diamond mining company in Russia is very pleased with Kwatani screens at their newest operation and specified Kwatani for future projects,” Schoepflin says.

In another order from a large diamond operation, this time in South Africa, the customer replaced the last of its competitor screens with a Kwatani unit. Schoepflin says this is because it has enjoyed years without unplanned stoppages by using Kwatani screens.

At a local brownfield diamond expansion project, the company’s multi-slope banana screens were matched to the available plant footprint, raising throughput from 250 t/h to 500 t/h and, later, breaking the mine’s tonnage record.

“While screening in heavy minerals is Kwatani’s stronghold, the company has moved extensively into coal, supplying the country’s (South Africa’s) leading coal producer with no fewer than 45 items of large screening equipment, including out-sized 4.3-m-wide units,” the company said.

Other recent coal-related orders included run-of-mine screens for a medium-sized coal mine in Mpumalanga, South Africa. Again, competitor equipment was replaced by custom designed screens with optimised deck angles, which significantly increased tonnage, according to the company.

“The positive results achieved with the Kwatani equipment also led to additional orders for the mine’s expansion,” Kwatani said.

For world largest zinc mine, Kwatani was contracted to supply all the screens, while, at Africa’s largest iron ore mine, the company recently completed two projects, renewing existing equipment with updated solutions and replacing 24 items of competitor equipment.

“The platinum sector is also keeping Kwatani busy, not just in South Africa but over the border in Zimbabwe too,” Kwatani says. A recent turnkey solution focused on platinum by-product chromite, where the company supplied a complete solution which included feeder, dryer and screen to treat chromite of 45 micron size at 15 t/h.

Schoepflin said: “Our screens have been a popular choice for modular gold plants going to West Africa as well as Central and South America. We also supplied to two of Africa’s largest copper producers in Zambia, to a tanzanite producer in Tanzania, and repeat orders to a manganese mine in Ghana.”

Heron Resources kicks off commissioning at Woodlawn zinc-copper mine

Base metals, Comminution of minerals, Mineral processing, Mineral project development, Mining equipment, Mining project news, , , , , , ,

Heron Resources has started commissioning at the Woodlawn zinc-copper-lead project in New South Wales, Australia, paving the way for first production in the March quarter.

The ASX-listed company said the owners and contractor commissioning teams for the combined underground mine and tailing retreatment project were now in place, while the hydraulic tailings retreatment preparations had started with infrastructure energised and water testing underway.

In addition, the process plant commissioning had started with testing of the plant control circuits. Heron noted commissioning of the water treatment plant was well advanced.

Heron said: “The hydraulic mining operation, alongside the underground operations that commenced in September 2018, will provide a second ore source to be processed through the new processing plant.”

The hydraulic mining operation covers the recently arrived hydraulic monitors and the associated high-pressure water, reclaim and slurry transfer pumps, with commissioning activities involving the functional testing of equipment in the circuit (including the commissioning of the trash screen and transfer pumps at the transfer station).

Commissioning is expected to ramp up over a four-to-eight-week period and will include the hydraulic excavation of the main channels in preparation for ore commissioning of the process plant with progression to full production rates, Heron said.

“The EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) contractor has commenced its commissioning activities in the main process plant, with low voltage and control circuit testing underway,” Heron said.

“These activities (dry, wet and ore commissioning) will continue through stages into quarter one, 2019, when first production is expected. As at the end of November, the EPC contractor reported commissioning at 5% complete.”

“In conjunction with the commissioning preparation-related activities that have been occurring over the past few months, the Woodlawn site team have also been progressing production readiness preparation.”

This has led to the first fill consumables orders being placed, in addition to the operation being bulked out with enough personnel for initial commissioning.

Woodlawn is envisaged as a 1.5 Mt/y operation able to produce 40,000 t/y of zinc, 10,000 t/y of copper and 12,000 t/y of lead at steady-state production over a 9.3-year mine life. This is based on a reserve base of 2.8 Mt at 14% ZnEq from underground and 9.5 Mt at 6% ZnEq from reprocessed tailings.

Underground mining, being carried out by contractor Pybar, kicked off in October.

Pybar to move into underground development and production at Aurelia’s Peak Mines ops

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Pybar has recently signed a contract with Aurelia Metals to carry out all underground development and production mining activities at Peak Mines near Cobar, New South Wales, Australia.

The mining contractor has been at the operation since October 2017, providing underground development services and then labour hire to support the existing workforce, it said. This followed Aurelia Metals acquiring the operation from Toronto-listed New Gold.

Pybar CEO Brendan Rouse said: “We have a long-standing partnership with mine owner Aurelia having been contracted at its Hera (gold-lead-zinc) project since it started in 2013. We look forward to further strengthening that relationship, and our ties with the local Cobar community, as we expand our presence at Peak.”

The company said it is currently working closely with Aurelia to ensure ongoing employment for the Aurelia workforce at Peak Mines, should personnel choose to transfer. Some 40 additional new positions are also available at the site which Pybar is seeking to fill to achieve the increased production schedule.

The Pybar team at Peak Mines will be ramping up over the next few months with an initial tenure of five years and the potential to extend.

Peak Mines consists of a series of polymetallic high-grade orebodies dominated by gold, copper and zinc. There is a 750,000 t/y processing plant there, which takes ore from two underground mines.

Sandvik OptiMine to boost safety, productivity at Vedanta Zinc’s BMM operations

Automation, Base metals, Communications in mining, Equipment maintenance, IoT, Mine operation news, Mining equipment, Mining safety, Mining services, Mining software, , , , , , , , , , , ,

Sandvik is to deliver a full OptiMine® platform to Vedanta Zinc International’s Black Mountain Mining (BMM) operations in South Africa’s Northern Cape Province.

The company will commission OptiMine for trucks, loaders and drills next year, accelerating BMM’s data-driven operation for world-class mining safety, efficiency and productivity, Sandvik said.

The OEM-independent OptiMine digital platform includes equipment/asset location tracking; planning and task management; scheduling; monitoring equipment and operations and OptiMine Analytics with IBM Watson IoT.

Andre Trytsman, General Manager, BMM, said: “OptiMine gives us end-to-end visibility and control over our underground mining operations. It was important to us to have the full scope, from scheduling to analytics, to ensure we’re optimised for the safest and most productive operation possible.

“The OptiMine platform is the next step in Black Mountain’s digital journey, delivering efficiency and increasing operational performance allowing us to unlock more value. We are excited to partner with Sandvik and incorporate the OptiMine technology into Vedanta Zinc International’s exciting digital strategy.”

Last year, Vedanta Zinc signed an agreement with GE South Africa to collaborate on digitalisation at the Gamsberg zinc project, part of the BMM operations.

Sandvik says OptiMine integrates all relevant data into one source, delivering powerful real-time and predictive insights to improve operations. It is open and scalable, providing flexibility to grow as needed, and incorporate other equipment, systems and networks, the company added.

BMM’s current operations are comprised of two underground mines – Deeps and Swartberg – and a processing plant. The Deeps shaft produces copper, lead and zinc, with silver as a by-product, and the Swartberg mine produces primarily copper and lead, with silver as a by-product. BMM is also developing Gamsberg in the Northern Cape.

Patrick Murphy, President, Rock Drills and Technologies, Sandvik Mining and Rock Technology, said: “Sandvik is proud to work with the BMM team to integrate and optimise their mining processes with OptiMine, developing a world-class, data-driven operation and accelerating their productivity and safety.”

Sandvik to show off OptiMine capabilities at Hindustan Zinc’s SK zinc-lead-silver mine

Automation, Base metals, Communications in mining, Equipment maintenance, IoT, Mine operation news, Mining equipment, Mining maintenance, Mining safety, Mining services, Mining software, Precious metals, , , , , , , , , , , ,

Sandvik is set to deliver one of the most comprehensive digital offerings globally at Hindustan Zinc’s Sindesar Khurd (SK) zinc-lead-silver mine in Rajasthan, India.

The company will use its OEM-independent OptiMine® digital solutions to ensure all required infrastructure and platforms are established to achieve world-class mining safety, efficiency and productivity, it said.

The system includes a comprehensive set of features for short interval control of the underground operations, including: OptiMine Monitoring, Location Tracking and Mine Visualization, Scheduler, Task Management and OptiMine Analytics, the latter with IBM Watson IoT. The system will be commissioned in 2019.

For this programme, Sandvik is partnering with Newtrax Technologies, which will deliver personnel tracking with cap lamps, tracking and telemetry data for the entire mobile underground fleet, including non-Sandvik equipment, numbering more than 150 drills, loaders, trucks and other equipment. The Newtrax offering will be seamlessly integrated with the Sandvik OptiMine digital platform creating an integrated mine management solution at the SK mine.

Patrick Murphy, President Product Area Rock Drills and Technologies at Sandvik Mining and Rock Technology, said: “Sandvik OptiMine modules can be combined as needed to build up the required functionality and to optimise mining operations. With open interfaces, the solution can also be integrated to other mine IT systems. This interoperability is crucial in enabling our customers to leverage the full value of digitalisation.

“Vedanta Hindustan Zinc has a vision of what the mine of the future will look like, and we’re excited to collaborate with them to make it happen at SK mine. The capability of this system will be virtually unmatched globally in underground hard-rock mining in terms of both scope and scale.”

Sunil Duggal, CEO at Hindustan Zinc, said: “We at Hindustan Zinc are leveraging digital solutions to improve our availability, utilisation and productivity at the SK Mine. With OptiMine, we will be able to plan, schedule and monitor overall operations in real time. This will add major value and increase our productivity, eliminating bottlenecks and allowing us to measure and monitor our key performance indicators in real time, proactively addressing problems before they occur.”

Hindustan Zinc is one of the world’s largest integrated producers of zinc and among leading global lead and silver producers. Its core business comprises of mining and smelting of zinc and lead along with captive power generation. It has a metal production capacity of more than 1 Mt/y with lead-zinc mines in Rampura Agucha and Sindesar Khurd; and key modern smelting complexes in Chanderiya and Dariba, all in Rajasthan, India.

SK Mine is a highly mechanised underground mine with an ore production capacity of 5.5 Mt/y. The mine’s products are zinc and lead concentrate and the mining method used is blasthole open stoping.

OptiMine is a digital platform for analysing and optimising mining production and processes. It integrates all relevant data into one source, delivering both real-time and predictive insights to improve operations. OptiMine is open, scalable, and adaptable to automated and manual applications.

OptiMine Analytics, with IBM Watson IoT, is the next generation of OptiMine that transforms data into process improvement via predictive insights and actionable dashboards embedded into operation management systems. The solution is part of the digital partnership between Sandvik Mining and Rock Technology and IBM and is backed by Sandvik and IBM digital experts around the globe.

NQ Minerals wraps up Hellyer offtake with latest Traxys deal

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NQ Minerals, a week after confirming the first sale of concentrate from its Hellyer tailings project, has entered into an additional marketing and offtake agreement with Traxys Europe that covers all the precious metal and pyrite concentrate to be produced over the first five years of operation.

The agreement includes the facility for prepayment against concentrate deliveries and provides Hellyer with access to Traxys’s extensive global network and experienced marketing and distribution team, NQ said.

NQ Minerals’ 2017 acquisition of Hellyer, in Tasmania, Australia, allows the opportunity to fully process the mine’s tailings.

Held within four separate areas, the tailings total a JORC-compliant resource of 9.5 Mt host to gold at 2.61 g/t Au for 796,000 oz, silver at 104 g/t Ag for 32 Moz Ag, lead at 3.03% Pb for 287,800 t and zinc at 2.5% Zn for 237,900 t. In addition to these tailings, the Hellyer mine assets include a large pre-existing mill facility and full supporting infrastructure, including a direct rail line to port.

The company has successfully ramped up the mill since acquisition, with flotation commissioning commencing at Hellyer in September after successful tails dredging and pumping slurry from the main tailings dam to the mill.

NQ Minerals and Traxys previously entered into two marketing and offtake agreements, combined with a $10 million secured prepayment facility agreement, with Traxys for the sale of lead and zinc concentrates over the first five years of operations.