Cradle to grave
Breaking barriers
I
nnovation is at the heart of the ‘green’
revolution that focuses on mitigating
the environmental impacts associated
with mining, by reducing greenhouse
gases, ecological footprints, chemical use,
and potentially harmful X-ray or nuclear
emissions.
This focus spans the exploration phases
all the way through to processing, and
even includes the types of measurement
and control techniques that are now being
deployed inside concentrator plants.
While safer and eco-friendlier, these
instruments, importantly, have also
helped mines lower operating costs and
increase their efficiencies by sidestepping
the onerous regulatory requirements
associated with the use of traditional
technologies, such as X-ray-based sources
and nuclear densitometers.
Nuclear densitometers, for example,
emit low radiation levels of typically 10
microsieverts per hour, which is similar to
that of medical X-rays, and thus, the use
thereof is restricted globally and governed
by strict health and safety standards.
Restrictions include, for example, handlers
requiring special mandatory training
and having to undergo regular testing
and skills development, while in some
instances, designated radiology safety
officers need to be appointed in areas
where the technology is being used.
Special permits are also required
to relocate the instrumentation,
while additional costs are incurred in
ensuring compliance with other onerous
requirements associated with the safe
transportation, storage, and disposal of
the technology. This is in addition to the
investment required in, among others,
shielding and warning signage, as well as
having to undertake periodic leak tests
and inspections and needing to undergo
mandatory annual audits, all of which
involve extensive record keeping.
Public sensitivity towards emittance
technologies — exacerbated by incidences
of missing equipment and even vehicle
accidents when transporting these
hazardous instruments — is also driving
the pursuit by mining executives of safer
and ‘greener’ alternatives.
An example of a ‘greener’ option is
Rhosonics’ slurry-density meter: an
ultrasonic system that measures the acoustic
impedance of slurry in both dredging and
mineral processing applications.
Blue Cube Systems, a technology
company that specialises in real-time
in-line instrumentation for mineral
processing, has also responded to the
clarion call for more environmentally
friendly alternative measurement and
control technologies.
Its popular solution is based on
diffuse-reflective spectroscopy, a tried and
tested technology that has also been used
safely in agricultural and pharmaceutical
industries.
Diffuse-reflective spectroscopy studies
reflected and scattered light, which is a
function of, among other factors, particle
size and the vibrational characteristics
of all the molecules and crystals in
the surface material that is being
scanned. Blue Cube Systems’ propriety
chemometric methods calibrate the
optical spectra, including characteristic
changes. Among these are the grade
and percentage of solids that occur in a
complex colour change.
While inherently safe and
environmentally sustainable, the
company’s solution has also overcome the
existing limitations of typical X-ray-based
on-stream analysers, by providing
real-time in-line measurements that
ensure cost, quality, and throughput are
within the targeted ranges.
Their maintenance costs are also
significantly lower than X-ray-based
on-stream analysers, which require
extensive maintenance over time. With
these, the mine also needs to hold an
inventory of regulated replacement parts
or wait for the supplier to provide or
refurbish them.
Certainly, the implementation of
more stringent international legislation
governing the use of nuclear and
X-ray-based instrumentation will place
a further burden on mining process
plants. This — in addition to the many
benefits offered by solutions such as
those offered by Blue Cube Systems —
will drive increased interest in clean and
green alternatives.
Instamine brings mine workings to life
A
nglo American has brought
the inner workings of a
modern mine to life in a
first-ever 132-photograph curation on
Instagram called Instamine.
The images include highly skilled
female operators, road networks, and
remote-controlled heavy machinery,
while the written copy aims to bring
knowledge and awareness to the process
of extracting metals and minerals.
The split photographs combine
to show one single image so that
[32] MINING MIRROR JANUARY 2019
viewers can scroll down as if they were
descending in a mine shaft. Instamine
provides a glimpse into the depth and
magnitude of an underground mine
from the surface. Just one week after
its launch, the Anglo American global
Instagram community grew by 7%.
According to Phakamani Lisa, digital
media specialist at Anglo American South
Africa, innovation has been critical to
ensuring that the company finds new ways
to mine and process natural resources. “In
this regard, we are continuously evolving
the way in which we share mining-related
content. Instamine is an opportunity to
educate the public about how mining is
innovating to transform itself. The majority
of our followers have never experienced
an underground mine, so this also acts as
an opportunity to shift public perceptions
that mining is not what it was decades
ago,” says Lisa.
You can scroll down Instamine by
visiting @AngloAmericanPLC on
Instagram (best experienced on the
mobile app).
www.miningmirror.co.za