PRE-CONCENTRATION & ORE SORTING
Without heterogeneity there is no preconcentration or ore sorting business case .
This fact should remain front and centre for any mining company or consultant evaluating potential technologies to carry our preconcentration or ore sorting at mine sites , realising that value generation is not a foregone conclusion .
All solutions on the market prey on such heterogeneity , with specific sensors suited to certain metals and materials . Data-backed analysis leveraging decades of metallurgical knowledge is changing things , however , allowing the detection of metals and minerals via proxies – further opening the field .
IM reviews some of the most widely considered business cases for pre-concentration and ore sorting in its annual review .
MineSense on untapped potential
MineSense has been making progress on several sensing , analysis and sorting fronts over the last 12 months , yet for Jeff More , President and CEO , the core power of its offering remains in the pit with its XRF-based ShovelSense ® units .
ShovelSense uses X-ray Fluorescence ( XRF ) based sensing technology that is mounted directly to digging equipment such as wheel loaders and shovels to , MineSense says , accurately characterise and grade with each
Sensor-based analysis and sorting solutions are becoming even more powerful thanks to the incorporation of artificial intelligence ( AI ), data science and new sensor technology , Dan Gleeson reports
Sensing an opportunity
bucket , and differentiate between low- , mediumand high-grade mineralised material .
“ What started as a way of making diversion decisions in the pit based on grade with ShovelSense has evolved into an offering that provides new datasets focused on downstream operations , particularly in the flotation circuit ,” More told IM . “ ShovelSense remains our killer product – and it continues to increase metal production through in-pit sorting – but we are moving progressively towards a more holistic offering powered by ShovelSense .”
Called Mine to Mill Powered by ShovelSense , this offering assists geologists in the pit with grade-based information , as well as provides the likes of porphyry or skarn mineralisation categorisation for stockpiles of material metallurgists can act on . It is doing this through a combination of ShovelSense and the conveyorbased BeltSense ® , the databank and machinelearning algorithms MineSense has built up with almost 25 installations across the globe , and the MineSense Data Portal – which enables access to real-time data generated by these units at critical points in the ore processing value chain .
“ The datasets we now have , the algorithms we are creating and the well-established proxies or associations that the mining industry relies on are allowing us to go beyond what we initially thought was possible ,” More said .
For example , the company has been working
Having already successfully made an impact with its Fast Conveyor Analyzer ( FCA ) after the crusher in open-pit mining operations , IMA Engineering is looking for other entry points across mining where a conveyor-based sensor can add value
on an entry into the spectral sorting space over the last 18-24 months , with plans to deploy a hyper-spectral imaging ( HSI ) unit across both BeltSense and ShovelSense for the generation of ‘ non-grade ’ characteristic data . This was predicated on offering up information that could be used to add value in the process plant .
More explained : “ Grindability is one of the non-grade characteristic areas we were looking at HSI for in terms of potential correlations , but we ’ re now at the point with our XRF-based systems where we have some interesting data on grindability with our current system that could be used to predict this .”
The company ’ s R & D teams continue to expand its spectral advances at the same time as the Mine to Mill Powered by ShovelSense population is growing .
The offering was initially demonstrated at MineSense ’ s long-term customer site , Copper Mountain , in British Columbia , which involved multiple ShovelSense installations on excavators ( in-pit ), wheel loaders ( stockpile ) and conveyors . The second site to take on this full offering has been confirmed as Collahuasi , in northern Chile , one of the largest copper mines in the world .
The site has been using a ShovelSense unit in the pit for over a year now and is about to add a second for a stockpile application . In addition , it has plans to install BeltSense across its flowsheet at four locations in the plant .
Still in Chile , MineSense has recently added its first unit at a Codelco mine , installing a ShovelSense unit at the Ministro Hales operation . Plus , it has added Capstone Copper Corp ’ s Mantos Blancos mine ( also Chile ) to its expanding list of ShovelSense references .
These wins have more than justified the company ’ s investment in a recently-opened Santiago facility – which has offices , a manufacturing & service factory and data centre . “ South America will represent our biggest region by the end of the year , taking over North America ,” More said .
MineSense sees the potential to open other dedicated hubs in strategic locations in the future , with More reflecting on recent ShovelSense inroads in Europe and Africa .
These aims are being aided by the company ’ s exploits underground , which have also accelerated since IM last touched base with More .
Around 12 months ago , the company had just signed a contract with PT-FI ’ s huge Grasberg copper-gold operation in Indonesia . This one-
52 International Mining | MARCH 2024