WORLD PROSPECTS
Barminco mobilises at Khoemacau
A
usdrill’s Barminco subsidiary is proceeding
with mobilisation and readiness to
commence execution of the Zone 5
underground mine at Cupric Canyon Capital’s
Khoemacau copper-silver project in northwest
Botswana, the Gaborone-based company said.
Following closing of a finance package for
Khoemacau’s 3.6 Mt/y starter project, the
contractor is now expected to start work on the
underground mine in December. This is part of the
five-year, US$560 million underground mining
contract the two parties signed in June.
This starter project is expected to involve
processing ore from a 91 Mt resource
base at a head grade of 2% Cu and 21
g/t Ag. First copper concentrate
output is scheduled for the first half
of 2021, with annual production
averaging 62,000 t of copper and 1.9 Moz of silver
for over 20 years.
Cupric noted that early construction activities
on the underground project had been taking place
since the start of the year.
“There are now more than 700 people on site
carrying out construction work including boxcuts
for underground access, roads, a water pipeline
and terraces for surface infrastructure,” the
company said.
To date, some 7.8% of the project capital cost,
or $31 million, has been spent on these activities,
with around 57% of the costs committed, the
company said on July 18.
www.cupriccanyon.com;
www.barminco.com.au
ABB closes the short interval control and scheduling loop
A
BB, in collaboration with Boliden AB and
ArcelorMittal Mining Canada, has launched
ABB Ability™ Operations Management
System (OMS) for mining, a system that “connects
and coordinates mine operators, workforce,
equipment and all mining activities in real-time,
from face preparation to crusher”.
OMS maximises coordination between weekly
production plans and dynamic situations in the
mine to improve efficiency, increase productivity and
maximise profitability, according to the company.
The company explained: “Mine planners often
have to build a short-term plan with limited visibility
of ongoing activities in the mine. While mine
operators constantly consider and evaluate a
complex set of operational constraints, adjusting to
ever-changing, day-to-day and hour-to-hour
situations. This can impact operational efficiency
and raise costs.”
ABB says the integration of short interval control
and closed loop scheduling into a single digital
platform, ABB’s OMS, will improve responsiveness
to unplanned events and reduce production
variability through all the mine stages.
The ABB Ability OMS can present ‘what-if’
scenarios in case of task failure or operational
change, helping mine operators and planners make
better decisions faster, ensuring ongoing operation
of the mine and increased productivity, it said.
Equipment availability is also improved by moving
from a reactive to a predictive maintenance model,
according to ABB. “Through all the stages of the
production cycle, the production flow from the mine
is maximised.”
Eduardo Lima, Product Manager for Integrated
Mine Operations at ABB, said: “Although it may
seem simple, the coordination between the tactical
plan and the operational plan is one of the top
challenges faced in modern mining. By offering
advanced short-term planning and increased
automation, ABB Ability Operations Management
System enables the mine to act as an ore factory.”
He added: “Ore inventory can be tracked and
controlled to allow maximum flow and optimal
grade. By integrating operational technology and
information technology, operational awareness is
increased for all personnel.
“Staff see the same information at the same time
and can jointly decide what actions to take in real
time with no need to wait until the end of the shift.”
Short interval control application allows mine
operators to monitor and review operational plans
and performance based on targets, metrics and key
performance indicators. Variances can be analysed
and mitigated in real time during a shift for
immediate corrective action.
The closed loop scheduling application,
meanwhile, combines high-level planning with low-
level control through a “heuristic auto-scheduling
algorithm”. ABB said: “This allows mine planners to
achieve new levels of production scheduling
efficiency from bench preparation to crusher,
optimising resource usage in real time and following
the production plan more effectively.”
In developing ABB Ability OMS with ABB, project
teams at both ArcelorMittal Mining Canada’s
Integrated Remote Operations Center and the
Boliden Mine Operation Center provided operation
expertise, existing infrastructure and dedicated
resources support, ABB says. The technology was
piloted at Boliden’s Renstrom underground mine, in
Sweden, and by ArcelorMittal at the Mont-Wright
open-pit mine, in Canada.
The ABB Ability OMS is part of the ABB Ability
MineOptimize portfolio of digitally connected
products, services and solutions aimed at enabling
modern mines to “maximise visibility, reliability,
productivity and energy efficiency and optimise
performance”. www.new.abb.com
Tenova DELKOR sedimentation solution in Morocco
T
enova DELKOR says it has successfully supplied
and carried out mechanical completion of seven
DELKOR thickeners, together with its
flocculation system and a DELKOR Pinned Bed
Clarifier (PBC) for a silver leaching plant project in
Morocco.
The thickeners are to be employed in the counter
current decantation circuit of the plant, with the
project including the design, fabrication and
supply of thickeners, flocculation plant and PBC,
supervision of installation and performance
guarantee.
The PBC is a unique process for
hydrometallurgical plants where solution clarity is
important, according to the company. “A
6 International Mining | AUGUST 2019
technology for polishing feed solutions for solvent-
extraction plants, the unit offers low suspended
solids counts in overflows, regularly achieving
clarities of less than 50 ppm solids, and as low as 20
ppm.”
Benefits of the PBC technology, according to
Tenova DELKOR, include low capital expenditure for
comparative clarifying technology; no moving parts,
virtually eliminating the need for maintenance; robust
and stable performance; it is optimised to minimise
flocculant consumption, and; a small footprint.
Ramesh Mahadevan, DELKOR India Managing
Director, said: “As the industry specialist in
sedimentation, DELKOR offers a range of thickeners
and clarifiers catering to various applications
across the minerals, chemical, industrial and
water management industries with designs of up
to 100 m in diameter.
“Successful hand over of this important
project only serves to strengthen our capabilities
in the North African region and is a true
testament that.” www.tenova.com