Collaborative approach to mining research bears fruit
Over the last five years, the Collaborative Consortium for Coarse Particle Processing Research has succeeded in bringing mining companies together to develop industry-leading technologies — now researchers at The University of Queensland’s Sustainable Minerals Institute are ready to welcome new partners and push innovation even further.
To meet net zero climate targets, industry will have to produce approximately a billion tonnes of copper metal in the next 25 years (more than has been mined in all of human history), due to the metal’s crucial role in renewable energy generation, electric vehicles and efficient grid infrastructure.
This means that business as usual is not an option and investment is needed in technologies that enable the processing of new copper deposits in a more sustainable way and lower the energy costs of copper production.
One key pillar in achieving these goals is coarse particle flotation and fluidised bed flotation technology, which could significantly reduce mining waste and energy requirements of comminution and grinding (which are estimated at 2% of all electrical energy generated on Earth).
Enter the Collaborative Consortium for Coarse Particle Processing Research (CPR), which is led by researchers from SMI’s Julius Kruttschnitt Mineral Research Centre (JKMRC), who have been fundamental in pushing this field forwards.
Origins of a new model for mining research
Technical Director of the CPR Program and JKMRC Associate Professor Liza Forbes explains that in 2019, she and Associate Professor Kym Runge ran multiple workshops with industry to what kind of research industry needed and what researchers could do to help.
“We felt that a direct interaction between research providers and end users would establish closer relationships, better collaborative ties and a much more cohesive interactive process,” Dr Forbes said.
Dr Forbes explained companies were initially wary of sharing information about their operations, but that SMI went through an extremely rigorous contractual process designed to provide security for the industry partners, which now include Rio Tinto, Glencore, Anglo American, Hudbay Minerals, Newcrest Mining, Aeris Resources, Baker Hughes, Eriez Flotation and Newmont Corporation.
“And what has now emerged is a really open forum for industry and research to openly discuss problems, potential solutions and driving research directions so our partners are not merely providers of resources or funding,” Dr Forbes said.
She explained that the Consortium’s work is pre-competitive and all companies benefit from the faster progression of technological development.
“Our partners invest in a research fee and their financial leverage on that fee is approximately 1 to 8,” she says, “So they pay for what is essentially one research project and they get the outcomes of eight projects.”
Dr Forbes explains that the Consortium’s large, coordinated research program has opened the field’s understanding of the fundamental nature of the flotation process.
“It has created so many insights that we can take forward and develop that we would not have generated had we done this work as one-on-one projects with separate companies,” she said.
One of the industry partners, Vice President Global Flotation Business, Eriez Flotation Division, Eric Wasmund, said the company knows it cannot make Coarse Particle Flotation (CPF) a commercial reality on its own.
“To achieve this vision, we are working closely with customers, universities, engineering companies, other vendors and research facilities as we perfect CPF for general and universal application in the mining business,” Wasmund said.
Making a real impact and reducing risk
One of the key outcomes from the Consortium is the JKHFmini, a small-scale fluidised bed flotation device with the potential to predict industrial-scale CPF flotation recoveries: and seven prototypes have already been shipped to industry.
“We are currently working with the University of Queensland and our consortia partners to be able to validate the scale-up pathway from the JKHFMini to production scale units,” Wasmund said, “When completed, this will allow CPF applications and ore variability to be assessed from small samples such as drill cores.”
Dr Forbes also explained that tailings dam disasters like South Africa’s Jagersfontein collapse in 2022 and Brazil’s Brumadinho disaster in 2019 can occur because conventional flotation requires very fine particle sizes which makes removing the water from the tailing very difficult.
“With better coarse particle processing, we could not just make tailings dams safer, but it is in the realm of possibility to get rid of them altogether.
Dr Forbes explains that companies can be understandably hesitant about trying out new things, as the process to integrate new technology can be perilous, expensive and carry a significant risk.
“No long-term change can happen unless people are willing to take the risk. But there are companies out there like Eriez, Newcrest (now Newmont), Anglo American and Rio Tinto who took that risk and have benefited,” she said.
The CPR Program is nearing the end of its five-year run and has been renewed for another 5 years.
“Collaborative spaces such as this can have a long-lasting impact on the industry and we are actively looking for more mining companies to join our Consortium,” Dr Forbes said.
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