Category: Technology & Innovation

Servicing all areas in Australia and New Zealand, Adelaide headquartered Pipefreezer Pty Ltd is offering a specialist service that is providing major savings for mining companies in reducing costly downtime and improving water management. The Australian Mining Review recently spoke to pipefreezing specialist Richard Griffin about what makes the company’s services so valuable for companies with a pipe issue? AMR: How would you talk a potential client into using pipe freezing? RG: The main advantage of pipe freezing is that we can maintain a system’s uptime and the client doesn’t have to shut that critical pipeline down. Essentially, if people need to work on a pipeline, for example they may need to do a weld on a pipeline, the only...

A scalable, flexible, and reliable Configurable Safety Controller Available from Control Logic is Emerson’s PACSafe Configurable Safety Controller for integrated Category 4, Performance Level e, SIL3 machine safety applications in the packaging, food and beverage, life sciences, and manufacturing industries. With an extensive library of TÜV-certified SIL3 function blocks, and icon-based, drag-and-drop configuration, the PACsafe controllers enable quick deployment and a safe state reaction time of 15ms, so you’ll no longer have to choose between performance and flexibility. Emerson’s PACSafe solutions easily scale from small to complex machines, with the intuitive graphical-based software, complete with an extensive library of TÜV-certified SIL3 function blocks. This can enable quick integration of e-stops, pull wire, interlock gates, optical sensors, two-hand controls, safety mats...

Today’s technology has set new benchmarks and possibilities to safely manage environmental responsibilities across thousands of square kilometres for mining operators. According to Control Logic’s product marketing manager, Martin Daines, new opportunities now exist in transparent information flows right down to the real-world sensors. For example, Mr Daines says an Australian Tier 1 mining company looked for an optimum way to safely manage its environmental responsibilities through the capture of environmental dust and water quality metrics. Hundreds of environmental field sensors strategically positioned around the mine site were all connected to a Red Lion’s FlexEdge Intelligent Edge Automation Platform. Mr Daines says this environmental data is continuously fed to a centrally hosted cloud historian and dashboard, allowing the business to...

The green energy arm of Fortescue Metals Group is investigating a green ammonia supply chain between Australia and Japan. Fortescue Future Industries, IHI Engineering Australia and IHI Corporation have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to explore export avenues between Tasmania and the world's third largest economy. The parties will jointly assess the economic and technical feasibility of supplying green ammonia produced in Bell Bay to Japan for blending into existing power generation. Work under the MOU is a crucial stepping stone to FFI’s feasibility and development program for the 250MW green hydrogen and ammonia Bell Bay project, which will have capacity to produce 25,000 tonnes of green ammonia each year. Ammonia is considered ‘green’ when it is produced carbon-free...

LASER sorting technology developed by TOMRA is being used to unlock the full potential of quartz deposits. With a structural approach to sorting that’s unique in the market, the scattering effect of multiple laser beams can be used to separate a quartz rock from a similar-looking one containing no quartz: quartz or quartz veins will appear as a glowing crystals because quartz returns the laser light in a larger area, while others will remain dark with no visible scattering. Large and pure crystals can be clearly discriminated from other rocks or minerals with a smaller crystal structure, regardless of the colour or chemical composition. Indeed, the quartz market is already witnessing a steady growth, and this trend is expected to continue. Analysts...

AUSTRALIAN company Visy Load has launched a new load sensing washer that it says will be a game-changing, money-saving device for mines, the construction sector and other industries. Managing director Phil Hempenstall said the Visyload washer lets people know, at a glance, the working load limit on a rock bolt or threaded anchor, and hence whether it is safe to suspend a certain load from a rock bolt or threaded anchor. He said load sensing washers are not new but his firm has spent five years developing a far more effective product, not seen before in the marketplace. The Visyload washer has tabs that curl down when they deploy. This indicates the applied tension or torque. There are different models...