CRC ORE
PROMOTING COLLABORATION ACROSS THE MINING INDUSTRY
IN ASSOCIATION WITH
DIGITAL REPORT 2020
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CRC ORE: PROMOTING COLLABORATION ACROSS THE MINING INDUSTRY
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CRC ORE
How the Cooperative Research Centre for Optimising Resource Extraction (CRC ORE) is improving the productivity, energy and water signatures of mining operations
T
he Cooperative Research Centre for Optimising Resource Extraction (CRC ORE) is part of the Australian
Government’s Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) Program. It is co-funded by seven mining majors - Anglo American, AngloGold Ashanti, BHP, Glencore, Newcrest, Teck and Sumitomo. It also 04
includes the support of ten research institutions and seven major METS - Metso, Orica, Hatch, Imdex, Sodern, JKTech and METS Ignited. Originally established in 2010, CRC ORE is a not for profit co-creation partnership, which received its second phase of funding in 2015 (A$34 million from the Australian Government and the remainder from its partners, mostly the miners). It is focused on “improving the productivity, energy and water signatures of mining operations”. Chief Executive Officer Dr Ben Adair notes: “To meet our Commonwealth funding requirements, we had to raise some A$114 million over our sixyear term. With 18 months left and we will have raised in excess of A$160 million — a consequence of the traction and support we’ve gained, from our mining company sponsors in particular.”
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“ We must find better ways of extracting value that requires less water and energy. We need to generate lower volumes of much coarser waste by-products, which we can dry stack and recover all the water from. Ultimately, these will be cheaper processes, which will actually produce more metal” — Dr. Ben Adair, CEO, CRC ORE
“We are seen as independent, trusted
advisors by the Mining companies, to the point that we are now often used to manage their site-based gangue rejection strategies on their behalf.”
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OPTIMISING RESOURCE EXTRACTION Dr Adair explains that CRC ORE’s commitment to optimising resource extraction (ORE) is underpinned by two suites of technologies: Grade Engineering® and the Integrated Extraction Simulator (IES). The former focuses on extracting metal more efficiently by separating ore from waste before it enters comminution. The latter is a cloud-based simulation and optimisation platform across the mine to mill value chain. Grade Engineering therefore involves the implementation of practical gangue rejection technologies at production scale on sites.
CRC ORE - Impact to Date - 2019 CLICK TO WATCH
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this material is in itself less than 10%
downstream processing performance
energy efficient in breaking rocks
from this newly engineered feedstock.
and collectively consumes 3% of the
Dr Adair urges that, to reduce the
worlds’ electricity — enough to keep
mining industry’s energy and water foot-
the lights on in Germany each year!”
prints, it’s important to take a “helicopter view” of where the sector is today. “We get delusional about the current
Dr Adair adds: “We also over-grind the material to extract the target minerals, way beyond what is necessary
status quo,” he says. “The fact is that
to efficiently separate and recover the
for base and precious metal opera-
metal. Consequently, we generate
tions, we still mine huge volumes of
enormous volumes of ultra-fine waste.
rock and send it into a process plant
Current process plants are also water
where 99% or more of this mate
intensive and these waste streams are
rial has no value whatsoever. Further,
too fine to self-drain. As a result, we
the comminution process used on
store waste in wet tailings dams and w w w.c rc o re . org . a u
accept the challenge of continuously improving to achieve greater effectiveness and efficiency in our work
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struggle to recycle the water effi-
design and operation of new energy
ciently. This brings another set of
and water efficient process equipment
challenges — poor levels of water
and circuits. This will require the reali-
recycling and wet tailings dams
sation of co-creation partnerships
that are a safety hazard across
between selected miners and suppli-
the Industry”.
ers to implement these solutions
Dr Adair’s conclusion, and where he
quickly. Nothing less than a complete
believes CRC ORE can have an impact
step change in energy reduction and
with its research and solutions, is that
close to full recycling of water will suf-
effective pre-concentration in the mine
fice”. Ironically, he also states that this
is required to dramatically reduce the
will actually increase metal production
volume of treated material that has
at sites, with cheaper capital and operat-
no value. “We then need to apply the
ing expenditures proclaiming that
principles of gangue rejection into the
“sustainability really isn’t a cost!”
SUCCESS WITH SUMITOMO
approaches in optimising process per-
Sumitomo is a major producer globally
formance, combined with world class
of Zinc, Lead and Silver from their
water and energy conservation.”
Minera San Cristóbal (MSC) operation
Located in the south-western
in Bolivia. “It’s a fascinating place,”
Bolivian province of Nor Lípez, and
explains Dr Adair. “It operates with
operating since 2007, the mine pro-
a head grade of around 1.7% Zn where
duces around 1,500 metric tons of
traditionally Zinc/Lead/Silver opera-
Zinc-Silver and Lead-Silver concen-
tions would be looking at an equivalent
trates each day. To achieve this result,
of >7% Zn or more. In spite of this,
MSC needs to move a daily average
the operation is one of the world’s
of 150,000 tons of rock, 52,000 tons
most profitable thanks to remarkable
of which goes to the process plant
E XE CU T I VE PRO FI LE
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Ben Adair Dr Ben Adair has three decades’ experience in the mining industry. Splitting his time between roles in applied R&D, and working for majors such as Rio Tinto, he joined CRC ORE in 2015. Prior to this he worked at the University of Queensland, both as Director of the JKMRC and then running an industry funded Ore Sorting Centre. His primary interests are in step change technology to improve the energy, production and water signatures of operating sites in the minerals sector. “I’ve been able to bring a skillset to CRC ORE which has been honed on the practical challenges facing the industry,” says Dr Adair. “The experiences I’ve had at processing plants, auditing mining sites and at innovation labs in R&D, have given me the ability to see whether a particular approach can be practically implemented or not. There are many wonderful ideas out there, but can they stand up to the industrial process? That’s why the work we do at CRC ORE is so important.” w w w.c rc o re . org . a u
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C O M PA NY FACT S 12
• Comminution processes consume 3% of the world’s energy • 99% of the material processed in base and precious metal operations has no value • Existing technologies properly applied can reduce plant power consumption by 25% • Runtime can be increased to 97% • You can recycle 90% of the water used in processing using today’s technology
for treatment. “To become more productive and lower costs, this operation deploys highly sophisticated mill sensors and integrated control systems which defy conventional thinking in the comminution process. Acoustic sensors linked to infra-red imaging are used to control both the SAG and Ball Mill circuits.” reveals Dr Adair. “As a consequence, over the past five years the site has reduced absolute power consumption within their SAG (Semi-Autogenous Grinding) mill circuit by 26%, while increasing throughput of material through the comminution circuit by over 35%! In the process, they’ve also decreased consumables (liners and grinding media consumption) by 40%. Best in class effective run time in mineral processing circuits globally is around 95%. At MSC it is 97%. In short, they have achieved substantial reductions in energy with increased metal production using conventional off the shelf technology. Why can this not be repeated elsewhere in the Industry?” Furthermore, the site is located in an arid region of Bolivia, where access w w w.c rc o re . org . a u
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CRC ORE
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EXTR A FACTS
The Innovation Hub The Kalgoorlie-Boulder Mining Innovation Hub is a CRC ORE initiative, jointly developed with our research participants Curtin University and MRIWA. It is operating as a node of CRC ORE. It focuses on nurturing innovations which will add significant value to the burgeoning minerals industry in West Australia. The Hub’s purpose is to: • P romote collaboration between all industry groups (Research, METS, Miners, Community, Government) in the region, to solve common problems within the mining sector that ultimately improve the economic viability of the industry • Demonstrate new technology and innovations in a non-commercial independent environment
• P rovide customised professional development to all levels in industry • P rovide a pipeline of technologies and methodologies to deliver direct value to operations, suppliers and the community • Facilitate other technology developments other than those initiated by CRC ORE • A ssist with promoting and streamlining access to alternative government funding sources (e.g. MRIWA, METS Ignited, City of Kalgoorlie Boulder etc.) “The hub is an extremely useful way for us to interface with smaller, or more nimble miners, and expose CRC ORE to a varied range of commodities,” says President Dr Ben Adair
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CRC ORE
“ One of the exciting things about Grade Engineering is that when people hear about it, they think that it’s what we can do with the mine that we have. But we’re also thinking outside the box by applying the techniques to very low-grade material to offset mine closure costs in advance with ‘Waste Engineering’. It gives you much more opportunity to think about other applications to Grade Engineering besides what it was originally intended for” — Dave King, Operations Director, Sumitomo
GRADE ENGINEERING The Australian-born ingenuity of CRC ORE has been put to the test by
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to water is at a premium. Dr Adair
Sumitomo during a successful full-
highlights that Sumitomo has cou-
scale production trial of Grade
pled its energy efforts with a
Engineering techniques at MSC.
substantial reduction in water con-
“Sumitomo asked us a fundamental
sumption from external sources
question,” notes Adair. “Is there any
— from 30% five years ago, down
way to reduce the amount of barren
to just 19% today. “They’re now
material that you send into a process
pushing towards a 90% plus level
plant in the first place?”
in water recycling” he says, “all
CRC ORE’s Grade Engineering
of it done by integrating existing
solutions deploys a range of waste
technology, albeit in a novel and
rejection technologies that integrate
sophisticated way. Surely there
with a suite of separation technologies
is a message here for what can
relevant to ore specific characteristics.
be achieved for the sector — the
This leads to a deeper understanding
outcome of which is a more sustaina-
of the orebody, supporting the ability
ble operation that actually makes
to exploit inherent ore deposit hetero-
more money!”
geneity and variability. Describing
CRC ORE - Minera San Cristóbal - case study CLICK TO WATCH
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the application of this approach at MSC as a ‘co-creation partnership’, Dr Adair underlines the need to work intimately with mining companies and their suppliers to form a genuine alliance: “Ultimately, you need supply companies of scale and mining companies with vision. In this case CRC ORE worked with the MSC site and another of our participants, Metso, to engage in a full-scale production trial of Grade Engineering.” The outcome of this trial was the ability to reject 75% of barren components w w w.c rc o re . org . a u
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in material that was originally designated as mineralised waste (not even ore feed). A 450 tons per hour Metso Loko-Track mobile screening plant was deployed on site to assist in the production scale testing. The trial focused on upgrading this and other waste targets from the pit to determine if a metal-rich stream could be generated that could be economically combined with Run of Mine (ROM) feed to the concentrator. “So far, results show that by applying 18
Grade Engineering to areas previously designated as ‘mineralised waste’, 25% of the material has a feed grade to the mill some 2.5 times higher than ROM ore,” says Dr Adair. “There is now the potential to convert this waste material into high grade ore-feed, with associated opportunity to increase metal production and reduce process power and water intensities. We’re now in the process of operationalising the process for the site going forward.” MSC Operations Director Dave King believes the opportunity for the mine is huge. “One of the exciting things about Grade Engineering is that when people hear about it, they think that it’s ‘what
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EXTR A FACTS
Grade Engineering Explained Grade Engineering is being developed and implemented by a consortium of over 20 mining companies, equipment suppliers and research organisations. Emerging results from collaborative site activities demonstrate potential for generating significant value which can reverse the trend of decreasing production due to declining feed grades. Opportunity for Grade
Engineering is based on five rock based ‘levers’ linked to combinations of screening, sensor-based sorting and heavy media separation. These involve: •P referential grade deportment by size •D ifferential blasting for grade by size • Sensor based bulk sorting • Sensor based stream sorting • Coarse gravity
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we can do with the mine that we have’. But we’re also thinking outside the box by applying the techniques to very low-grade material to offset mine closure costs in advance with ‘Waste Engineering’. It gives you much more opportunity to think about other applications to Grade Engineering besides what it was originally intended for.” Dr Adair points out that Sumitomo’s culture and approach to innovation
2010
Year founded
$147mn+ Cash contributions in Aus dollars
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has been the key to success. “The
modular scenario, they can quickly
site adopts a modular and flexible
test new opportunities without
approach to rapidly test and deploy
impacting production. A technology
new innovations. It’s very much a plug
can be quickly implemented or
and play philosophy, more analogous
rejected if it’s not working. It’s a ‘lean
with what Japanese industry in other
pivoting’ approach.”
sectors does like Toyota, for example. (MSC) have in their operation is bris-
RISING TO THE COLLABORATION CHALLENGE
tling with sensors. They measure
Dr Adair points out that historically
what they do and because of the
there’s been something of a standoff
Every piece of equipment that they
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between mining companies and their suppliers. “The landscape is changing,” he says. “It’s a lot more collaborative and we’re seeing more joint strategic thinking that will benefit the industry as a whole. It needs to be a win-win situation with the mining company/supplier relationship. Suppliers need to be able to sell their services and products out of co-creation partnerships. Equally, however, the mining companies are entitled to some form of competitive advantage as co-creators. Traditionally, 22
it takes around 15 years in the sector to implement an innovation from ideation to industrial deployment. Co-creation can cut this to less than five years.”
FUTURE PROJECTS CRC ORE deploys a variety of levers for different approaches to gangue rejection. “We’re doing a lot of work with fusing sensor technology,” confirms Dr Adair. “This goes way beyond the promotion of point solutions by individual companies, so common in the industry today. Our experience has shown we need more integrated solutions. There is no silver bullet with
“ Our experience has shown we need more integrated solutions. There is no silver bullet with any one approach; it’s important to integrate with the best of the best” — Dr. Ben Adair, CEO, CRC ORE
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any one approach in gangue rejection;
pre-concentration and taking advan-
it’s important to integrate the best
tage of heterogeneity are common
of the best.”
to all. Our goal at CRC ORE is there-
CRC ORE is working towards this
fore to make a significant contribution
goal on a multinational basis in a series
towards a genuinely more sustainable
of initiatives with mining majors in
industry going forward.
Australia, Chile, Brazil, South Africa and other parts of South America. “We’re working across different commodities and a multitude of diverse ores and waste types. It is interesting that many of the principles of w w w.c rc o re . org . a u
CRC ORE Level 2 - Technology Transfer Centre Queensland Centre for Advanced Technologies (QCAT) 1 Technology Court Pullenvale Qld 4069 Australia T (07) 3161 6657
www.crcore.org.au
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