ORE SORTING warnings arise with their ShovelSense systems .
The one new installation technicians were able to step on site for in the past year came at Copper Mountain Mining ’ s Copper Mountain mine , in British Columbia , Canada .
The mine has now gone commercial with three new ShovelSense systems – two on shovels and one on a wheel loader – which , according to MineSense , have been embedded into the mine ’ s operating practices and are considered an “ enabling technology ” for the mine ’ s planned expansion to 65,000 t / d .
More told IM : “ One of the reasons MineSense fits so well into their expansion is because we give them such precise grade control that they can move into areas that , without our system , would not be economical . With our system , that move is economical as the differentiation between ore and waste around their cutoff is so much more precise than what they get with a traditional mine plan .”
So impressed has the company been by ShovelSense and the data it is generating , Copper Mountain is looking to roll out the solution to its two remaining shovels , according to More . A new ShovelSense add-on the tech company came up with recently may have helped convince it to expand further .
More expanded on this : “ Our ore-data creating boxes are in the bucket and provide grade , but we also now have a GNSS system for bucket
positioning . This combines the spatial location of the bucket with the grade of that individual bucket .”
This means a mine can map the grade and location of every bucket in 3D at the extraction face , according to More . Such a tool allows operators and supervisors to make an immediate decision on if the material in the bucket is ore or waste , and where the material should go next . More than this , it allows them to reconcile the actual grade with the mine plan , providing greater accuracy in defining the ore / waste divide on site .
“ We ’ re the only technology company that can provide that ,” More claimed .
MineSense has also made significant progress in finding a first ‘ commercial ’ home for BeltSense , with Don Strickland , Copper Mountain ’ s Chief Operating Officer , recently confirming the mine would be trialling the solution to explore additional innovation concepts .
“ We look forward to uncovering new value for our mine operations including better visibility on mine reconciliation ,” Strickland said .
This trial represents new ground for MineSense , with its system having a tangible impact downstream of the pit that could , for example , affect reagent use in the concentrator .
Another development taking the company into a new mining realm is the design of an underground ShovelSense system for LHDs .
IM spoke to More about this last year and received an update in early February 2021 .
“ We ’ ve completed the design and that is commercial-ready ,” he said . “ With COVID , we did decide to delay the field installation to focus on supporting our commercial product for above ground . This led to the field installation being pushed into 2021 .”
The company is now working with a Tier 1 miner to deploy this system at a copper mine in Chile , with More expecting the system to move into the field in the September quarter .
Having built up quite the reputation in the copper industry , the company is also furthering its separation expertise with the addition of two new sensors to its XRF technology core .
More , again , provided a bit of detail on these new sensors in this same ore sorting feature last year , but added even more colour this time around .
“ We have heard a lot from mines that have oxides and sulphides – typically with a concentrator as well as a leaching process – where they are in transition zones ,” he said . “ Where they have these mixed sulphides / oxides , the ability to differentiate those is quite important .
“ To identify that at the sulphide / oxide level is not currently in the realm of XRF .”
This is where a sensor able to determine if the material is a sulphide or oxide would prove very beneficial to the operators downstream of the mine itself .
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( phil @ im-mining . com )