ORE SORTING
facilitated by the consistently accurate direct analysis of the ore by our sensors , our proprietary high-speed actuation systems and the high availability and low maintenance of our proprietary equipment ,” he concluded .
Progress and partnerships
It is a sensor of a different kind that has put NextOre on the ore sorting map .
The company ’ s magnetic resonance ( MR ) technology , adopted from the medical industry , has been showing miners the inherent variability in the grade of material flowing on conveyors , and these companies are finally starting to use this information to benefit their operations .
At this stage , it is the geology and mining departments making the most use of the data from the company ’ s on-belt magnetic resonance analysers ( MRAs ), according to NextOre CEO , Chris Beal , however this is starting to change .
“ One of our clients where an analyser was installed over the course of January has good processing buy-in to the technology and , we expect , will make use of the information from the analyser to improve recovery from flotation ,” he said .
“ Other companies are investigating the use of data from the MRA to be able to execute realtime chemistry and flow changes in the flotation circuit , but this needs both the real-time sensing data from the MRA and the real-time control infrastructure from process plant suppliers to integrate well .
“ I expect we will see this more and more in the next few years , but it is still early .”
Since IM last caught up with Beal at the start of 2020 , more companies have implemented NextOre ’ s on-belt MRAs . These ore sorters allow for high throughputs of ore to be measured at industry-leading accuracies over intervals of 2-4 seconds without ongoing calibration requirements , according to the company .
One such company to have tested out the MRAs is Capstone Mining , which employed an analyser to boost geological confidence at its Cozamin mine in Mexico .
The trial , which tested 1,660 t of material from underground – trucked to a surface run of mine pad ahead of crushing and analysis – provided a roughly 30 % boost in copper grade to 1.43 % Cu and a 32 % proportion of reject material .
It is such trial results that have attracted different parts of the mining ecosystem to NextOre ’ s MR technology .
The company recently signed an agreement with CD Processing that could see the contractor deploy NextOre ’ s MR technology as part of a lowgrade ‘ toll treatment ’ service for a 1,000 t / h copper plant in the Philippines .
NextOre ’ s conventional setup with a crushing solution ahead of a conveyor and diverter gates for the accept / reject streams have worked well to date , but the development of new mobile unit could see the company gain further traction .
Beal explained : “ Simplicity is king in the mining world and mobile bulk sorting plants really simplify bulk sorting adoption . In one step , miners can demonstrate bulk sorting results at scale and with ore from all parts of their mine . And they can do that without having to go through a time-consuming and expensive capital project that usually needs to match a feasibility timeline .
“ The mobile unit is a low-cost , low-risk and low-disruption option .”
Beal says the company should have two of these mobile systems , including the one destined for Magnetite Mines ’ iron ore project , operating by the end of the year in Australia .
Beal says he is also very keen to get a mobile copper sorting unit to Chile or Brazil .
In addition to this new setup , NextOre is also working on an in-pit solution through a partnership with MMD , which the company received a Physical Sciences Fund-backed grant for back in 2019 .
The NextOre chief is also hoping to strike a partnership with particle sorting peers in the industry down the line .
“ It ’ s quite obvious ( to us , and I can only imagine for other companies ) that suppliers of particle sorting and bulk sorting solutions are not competitors but rather enablers for each other ,” he said . “ Each resolves a major obstacle for the other : bulk sorting can operate at much higher throughput rates in a low-cost , simple configuration , while particle sorting is more selective in separation and doesn ’ t rely on the preservation of heterogeneity .”
Positioned for growth
COVID-19 has not held back Vancouver-based MineSense Technologies from going global with its bulk sorting offering .
MineSense ’ s solutions are focused on
The Copper Mountain mine has gone commercial with three new ShovelSense systems – two on shovels ( one pictured ) and one on a wheel loader – from MineSense
improving mine profitability by taking advantage of the maximum heterogeneity at the face to increase ore recovery and minimise waste processed , with its flagship products being the XRF-powered ShovelSense ® for mining shovels and BeltSense ® for conveyors .
Having established itself in its home province of British Columbia with several successful ShovelSense system installations at Teck Resources ’ Highland Valley Copper operations in recent years , the company had big plans to expand into South America at this point last year .
MineSense managed to navigate the global pandemic – and the ensuing travel restrictions that came with it – to branch out of Canada into Chile and Peru . It achieved this by pivoting from its normal on-site installation process to an offering that saw mine site personnel interact with MineSense technicians via internetconnected high-tech video cameras and audio devices .
Using these tools , MineSense technicians were able to remotely install new ShovelSense units safely and successfully at mines in Chile ( copper ) and Peru ( copper-zinc ) in the past year .
The company is likely to be awarded for this innovative and quick thinking , according to MineSense President and CEO , Jeff More , with these initial system installations likely to increase in the coming years to two ShovelSense units and four ShovelSense units at these operations in Chile and Peru , respectively .
At the same time as this , the company has kept tabs on units operating at existing client sites through its Client Portal , which provides 24 / 7 diagnostic checks on all operating systems from a control room in Vancouver . Such services have proved crucial throughout the pandemic , allowing the control room team to communicate with staff on site at mines when issues or
52 International Mining | MARCH 2021