Lundin Gold receives Jameson Cells for Fruta del Norte expansion
WORLD PROSPECTS
China ' s AHS tech company CiDi files HKEX IPO
Demand for autonomous mining truck technology industry in China is growing rapidly , driven by the ageing workforce in mining , increased labour costs , a desire to boost efficiency as well as regulatory safety mandates . Therefore the competitive landscape also continues to heat up .
Along with TAGE Idriver , Waytous and EACON Mining , which have been widely covered in IM in recent years is CiDi Inc , which on November 7 filed an IPO application to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange ( HKEX ), with China International Capital Corporation , China Securities International , and Ping An of China Asset Management ( Hong Kong ) as joint sponsors . If approved , CiDi will become the first publicly listed autonomous mining truck company in China . Its backers include the venture capital unit of Baidu , Sequoia China and Legend Holdings .
In the filing , CiDi states : “ Our pioneering fullstack autonomous mining solution , METAMINE , automates labor-intensive mining operations by integrating our proprietary algorithms with widely-used autonomous driving hardware for commercial vehicles , enabling autonomous operation and remote monitoring of driverless mining trucks . A challenging but critical process in autonomous mining is deploying driverless mining trucks alongside existing human-driven vehicles at mining sites , as it is costly and often impractical to transition to fully autonomous mining operations within a short timeframe .”
It claims to have delivered the world ’ s largest driverless mining fleet operating with manned vehicles , it says according to data from China Insights Industry Consultancy Ltd ( CIC ), a market research consultant . CiDi adds : “ Our autonomous mining trucks also significantly boosted mining efficiency to 104 % of that of human-driven mining trucks , as certified by the National Institute of Metrology of China ( NIM ) in 2022 .” It additionally claims that this makes CiDi “ the first and only autonomous driving company in China to achieve such efficiency as of the Latest Practicable Date ,” again citing CIC . The efficiency test compared nine of CiDi ’ s driverless mining trucks to nine human-driven trucks ( with drivers working 8-hour shifts ), all operating for 16 hours daily under otherwise the same conditions .
CiDi says it served 31 , 44 , 85 and 100 customers as of December 31 , 2021 , 2022 and 2023 and June 30 , 2024 , respectively . As of September 30 , 2024 , it says it had delivered 123 autonomous mining trucks and received indicative orders for 320 autonomous mining trucks and 206 sets of standalone autonomous truck systems . Key clients include the Taiwan Cement Corporation ( TCC ) Cement Mine in Jurong , Jiangsu Province , where it says a fleet of autonomous EV mining trucks equipped with its technology had successfully operated for a total of 765,800 kilometres up to May 10 2024 , having commercially run for over 500 days , hauling a total of 8.9 Mt of material , resulting in 4,489 t of carbon emissions savings . These are 60 t class SKT90E trucks supplied by SANY .
Internationally , it is liasing closely with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for potential deployment of autonomous haulage technology for the huge NEOM urban development project . On the R & D side CiDi has hubs in Changsha , Chongqing and Chengdu with projects including developing an all battery , cabless autonomous prototype truck .
It adds : “ Our revenue increased from RMB77.4 million in 2021 to RMB132.6 million in 2023 with a CAGR of 30.9 %, and increased significantly by 472.6 % from RMB45.1 million in the six months ended June 30 , 2023 to RMB258.5 million in the six months ended June 30 , 2024 . Our gross profit increased from RMB6.8 million in the six months ended June 30 , 2023 to RMB44.4 million in the six months ended June 30 , 2024 .”
The company then includes some information about the autonomous mining truck industry in China . “ In 2023 , the total shipment of autonomous mining trucks in China was approximately 800 units . This is projected to increase to approximately 3,800 units in 2026 and further to over 13,000 units in 2030 . Globally , the total shipment of autonomous mining trucks was approximately 1,200 units in 2023 , and is expected to increase to approximately 6,000 units in 2026 and exceed 20,000 units in 2030 . In 2023 , the average price of autonomous mining trucks in China was approximately RMB2.5 million per unit , compared to over RMB5.0 million per unit in the international market .” https :// cidi . ai
Lundin Gold receives Jameson Cells for Fruta del Norte expansion
Lundin Gold ’ s expansion of the Fruta del Norte gold mine processing plant in Ecuador is on track , with three Jameson flotation cells and a concentrate filter having arrived on site in the September quarter , the company says .
The company plans to spend approximately $ 36 million to increase plant throughput to 5,000 t / d and improve metallurgical recoveries by around 3 %.
The focus of the expansion is on tailings and water reclaim , ultrafine flotation ( read : Jameson Cells ), the addition of a third concentrate filter and plant automation .
The Jameson Cell is an innovative flotation process driven by fluid mechanics , Glencore Technology says . The advantages of modern Jameson Cells are : n Consistent fine bubble generation with no external equipment or spargers ; n Intense mixing with small bubbles achieving rapid flotation without mechanical agitation ; n High throughput in a small footprint ; n Froth washing to maximise concentrate grade in a single flotation stage ; n Fast response and easy control ; n Steady operation and performance irrespective of changes in feed flow ; and n No moving parts , simple to install and maintain , excellent availability .
Other notable operations / projects to have recently invested in Jameson Cell technology include Aeris Resources ’ Tritton copper operations , Hudbay ’ s Copper World Complex and South32 ’ s Hermosa project .
In the September quarter , detailed engineering for the processing plant expansion at Fruta del Norte was completed , as was
procurement of all major items ; and concrete work was completed during the quarter , while structural steel erection was ongoing . As mentioned , the three Jameson cells and the concentrate filter arrived , while the new tailings line was successfully commissioned with completion of the reclaim line expected by the end of November .
The processing plant expansion to 5,000 t / d – mapped out in a December 2023 three-year outlook announcement – is a boost on the 4,200 t / d nameplate capacity . In 2024 , gold production is anticipated to come in at 450,000-500,000 oz based on an average throughput rate of 4,500 t / d . This could be followed by production of 475,000-525,000 oz in 2025 and 2026 at the 5,000 t / d rate . https :// lundingold . com ;
www . glencoretechnology . com
8 International Mining | NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2024