Category: Mineral Processing

Neutron spectroscopy evolved from James Chadwick’s initial discovery of the neutron back in 1932.  The evolution of this technology has recently taken another leap forward thanks to its recent application to downhole assaying, which enables near real-time collection of assay data in a fast, semi-autonomous system. Technology Partnership The successful and effective adaptation of this technology to the mineral resources sector was made possible by a partnership between Sodern – the developers of the FastGrade downhole spectroscope and MPC Kinetic – the developers of the semi-autonomous, truck-mounted rig and data logging system, Oresight. BHP were also heavily involved in bringing this technology across from the oil and gas industry and applying it in their iron ore businesses.  Ultimately, this joint…

Conveyor belt failure typically results in process line downtime, which equates to loss of production, loss of products, and ultimately loss of profits. Currently, many companies have a shift operator or superintendent who is in charge of ‘walking the belts’, who actually walks along or drives alongside every conveyor belt in the plant, audibly listening for faults along the unpowered idlers that support the belt. There is now a smarter, more efficient and reliable method to monitor conveyor health and prevent costly downtime. The Praetorian Fibre Optic Sensing System, developed by Hawk Measurement Systems, has the ability to immediately detect which idlers have failed or will soon fail, identifies the exact location of each idler, and reports it to the…

TAILINGS slurries can have a major impact on the community living in the vicinity of mining activity, and also carry significant environmental risk. Calls for greater transparency are mounting from all stakeholders including the mining industry, investors and governments in mining countries around the world. Small miners to large mining conglomerates are conducting trials to characterise their tailings and assess which dewatering technologies are the most effective and efficient. Alfa Laval offers a cost-effective solution to dewatering tailings using mechanical separation by solid bowl decanter centrifuges, which enable mines to dispose of tailings solids as a solid cake and remove the risk of storing slurries in a tailings dam. Conventional methods like pressure filtration have limitations, particularly when processing fines,…