MINERAL PORTS AND STOCKPILES
been installed on multiple copper and gold domes
in Chile and Canada, the company says.
indurad enables the introduction of a
comprehensive stockpile management system by
integrating the iStacker and iReclaimer solutions
with the iStockpile system. Rothschuh points out:
“The major advantage of the indurad approach
lies in the real-time measurement of the precise
location of the deposited and reclaimed material
as opposed to statistical modelling of where the
material should have been deposited.”
indurad plays a pioneering role in the
development of innovative products in the fields of
3D inventory control, machine positioning,
advanced automation and anti-collision, based on
proprietary hardware, software and engineering.
In April 2019, when FLSmidth announced it had
been selected by Rio Tinto to supply key minerals
handling equipment for the miner’s Koodaideri
iron ore project, in Western Australia, the mining
OEM said it would incorporate smart 3D design
and a variety of engineering solutions into its
offering for the greenfield mine. Within this
release, its BulkExpert™ automated stockyard
management system also got a mention.
Rio has previously stated Koodaideri will be its
most technologically advanced mine yet, with
automation set to play a major role in the
operation. Construction at Koodaideri began last
year, with first ore expected by late 2021. It will
have a production capacity of 43 Mt/y of iron ore.
In announcing the contract award – which is
expected to be worth upwards of $50 million –
FLSmidth Mining President, Manfred Schaffer,
said: “Koodaideri will set new benchmarks in
digitalisation and will feature the most
technologically-advanced solutions employed to
date in the iron ore sector. This will enable Rio
Tinto to run the most advanced mining operation
featuring high productivity and high safety in a
cost-efficient setup, and we are proud to be part of
this.”
While the details of exactly how Rio will use
BulkExpert are not yet known, the application of
this technology at an integrated steel-making
operation on the other side of Australia could
provide some insight.
BlueScope Steel commissioned the BulkExpert
automation system, a 3D scanning technology, at
its Port Kembla stockyard in New South Wales, in
2014. The company chose the system because it is
a unique, patented solution that focuses on
unmanned and custom site optimised operation of
any combination of dry bulk equipment, according
to FLSmidth.
“BulkExpert is the only system that uses a 3D
laser scanning system combined with a dedicated
RTK-GPS array to produce real-time, full-terrain
information of the stockyard,” it said.
The results were impressive, with BulkExpert
reducing flow rate variances by over 40% and
nearly doubling reclaiming throughput for
BlueScope, from 10,0000-12,000 t/d to 19,000 t/d,
FLSmidth said.
The BulkExpert solution also provided a
collision avoidance safety component to
BlueScope, with every moving piece of equipment,
including three ship-unloaders, fitted with a GPS
receiver so the system can automatically alert the
central operator if machines are within the vicinity
of outer-limit operations and perform a machine
shutdown if there is danger of collision.
Shipment and storage
One of the bigger bauxite export developments of
recent years has been Emirates Global
Aluminium’s (EGA) Guinea project, near Kamsar in
the country’s north.
With a budget of around $1.4 billion, the project
is one of the largest greenfield investments in
Guinea in the last four decades, according to
Guinea Alumina Corp, a subsidiary of EGA. This
has seen a bauxite mine built as well as related
transport infrastructure, including an upgrade to
an existing multi-user rail system, and
development of a port; all part of the first phase of
GAC’s investment in the country.
Multiple firms have been involved in the
development of this project, with thyssenkrupp
delivering a barge loader to Guinea from its
fabrication facility in India, in 2019. This loader
was installed at the end of the project’s 1.5 km
pier where it is loading bauxite ore into self-
JUNE 9~12, 2020
sh e r at on h ot e l , c hi l e
rd
23 International Conference on Paste, Thickened and Filtered Tailings
Reg ister T To
oda y!
executive c
committe
Pa s te 20 20 i s o r g a n i z e d t o of f e r a f o r u m w h e r e
e x e cu t i v es an d p r o fes s i o n a l s c an l e ar n an d an a l y z e
r e c e n t i n n o v at i o n s o n p a s t e , t h i c k e n e d a n d f i l t e r e d
t ai l i n g s m a n a g e m e n t .
T h e p r el im in ar y p r o g r am o f t h e c o n fe r e n c e in c l u d e s
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P aste202 0.com
organized by
y
ch
hair
ós
scar flores
Op
perations Manager,
Mi inera Centinela,
An
ntofagasta Minerals, Chile
co
o - organizer
an
ndy fourie
Pro
ofessor, The University
of Western Australia
co
o - organizer
ch
hristian ihle
As sociate Professor and
Pri incipal Investigator, AMTC,
Un
niversidad de Chile
sponsors
T I L P R O
TA
C O N S UL T IN G
66 International Mining | MARCH 2020
progr am director
hugo quelopana
Tailings Management
Specialist Engineer,
Delfing, Chile
executive director
carlos bar ahona
General Manager,
Gecamin, Chile