MINEXPO PREVIEW
Ability Condition Monitoring for belts offers a complete overview of the asset ’ s condition through continuous monitoring of belt health , generating alarms and warnings in the event of deterioration , the company explained .
“ By moving from preventative to predictive maintenance , it enables operators to avoid the costly failures that can occur between physical inspections and personnel can be removed from dangerous areas ,” ABB said .
Another key launch is ABB Ability Safety Plus for hoists , which , the company says , has brought the highest level of personnel and equipment safety available to the mining industry . A significant milestone in mine hoist safety and representing a world first for fully certified Safety Integrity Level 3 hoisting , the ABB Ability Safety Plus for hoists offers a suite of products , SIL 3-rated components and selfdiagnostics to ensure high availability of the mine hoist while providing the highest level of safety . The products include Safety Plus Hoist Monitor , Safety Plus Hoist Protector and Safety Plus Brake System , including Safety Brake Hydraulics .
MINExpo 2021 will represent a “ coming-out party ” for MineSense , according to Jeff More , President and CEO , with the Vancouver-based company having taken a dramatic leap forward in the five years since it first presented itself to the Las Vegas crowd .
“ At the last MINExpo , we were still very much developing the technology ; we weren ’ t yet commercial ,” More told IM . “ Now , we have systems at operating mines that have been running for a period with fantastic results . We ’ ll be able to present real-life results , as opposed to theoretical projections about what our technology can do .”
Indeed , by the end of the year , the company could have commercial systems up and running at more than 10 mines across the globe .
The ‘ clean tech ’ company has developed bulk ore sorting technology that can be retrofitted to shovels , excavators , wheel loaders , LHDs and conveyors for immediate feedback on ore grade characteristics . Leveraging X-ray Fluorescence ( XRF ) sensors and proprietary algorithms , its systems are designed to accurately determine ore from waste , providing operators with the data they need to move the two to designated locations of the mine site .
Use of its ShovelSense solutions on shovels and excavators has already proven valuable at several base metal operations across the globe including Teck Resources ’ Highland Valley Copper mine and Copper Mountain ’ s namesake operation – both in British Columbia , Canada – and the jointly-owned Antamina operation in Peru .
More says the “ black and white economic benefits ” of separating ore and waste and taking both to the correct destination will be highlighted at the event through case studies , but the company is also looking to showcase the value of its solutions beyond this sorting process .
“ The visibility the mine can gain on what is in an orebody , bucket-by-bucket , is very powerful ,” he said . “ These specific grade and other characteristic readings every few metres are real ; they are not interpolated ; it ’ s not guessing from blastholes drilled in the middle of a drill pad . This type of information can help reconcile the geological block model and ensure mine
ShovelSense in action on a hydraulic shovel at the Copper Mountain operation
plans are as accurate as possible , for instance .” Alongside ShovelSense , MineSense ’ s onconveyor analysis solution , BeltSense , is also gaining wider recognition across industry – something More and the company are keen to highlight at MINExpo .
Copper Mountain already has plans to fit ShovelSense XRF analysers on its entire ore and waste moving machinery fleet by the end of the year , but it is also due to trial BeltSense at two locations at its mine in the upcoming months .
BeltSense , which uses the same XRF-backed analyser and real-time data package as ShovelSense , will be trialled in front of the main ore stockpile at the operation , in addition to being fitted above a conveyor ahead of the SAG mill .
While the latter location will be used primarily for control of the flotation circuit , the installation at the former will see solutions from MineSense and Siemens come together .
The two companies signed an agreement back in 2018 to combine BeltSense with Siemens ’ Simine MAQ single material and quality management system to “ enable customers to significantly increase efficiency via a single view
AUGUST 2021 | International Mining