How real-time ore monitoring can save hundreds of thousands of dollars
In an increasingly volatile and unpredictable world, we all want to make cost-efficient choices. And often, the materials we choose can play a big part in these efforts. Whether it’s a car or a pair of shoes, products made with high-quality materials can help you save on waste, maintenance, and replacement costs in the long run.
Something similar could be said for mining – where rising process costs are also making cost control increasingly important. Just as in other areas, high-quality materials can help: a key way to drive cost-efficiency in mining is by maximizing the recovery of high-quality ore. This can reduce waste from lower-quality ore, improve process efficiency, and enable higher-quality end-products – all factors that boost overall profitability.
Acting quickly is key to cost-efficiency
The secret to these high levels of high-quality ore recovery? Fast mineralogical analysis – especially when it’s in real-time during processing! Real-time measurements allow operators to react quickly to the quality and composition of materials as they’re processed. This can remove lower-quality ore from the process as soon as possible, remove the need for time-consuming sampling and laboratory analysis, and minimize operational downtime.
NIR: A rapid real-time analysis technique
Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIR) is a rapid, reliable solution for this real-time analysis. How does it work? Well, using the near-infrared region of the electromagnetic spectrum, NIR measures the light scattered off and through a sample. In this way, it creates a ‘fingerprint’ of the ore that reveals its properties and mineralogical composition.
NIR provides non-contact, above-the-conveyor-belt measurements of materials as they’re processed on the belt. This means it delivers instant results, enabling quick decision-making that can reduce waste, save time, and improve quality. And, unlike some analytical techniques, NIR is non-destructive and requires little to no sample preparation.
QualitySpec® 7000: Improved knowledge, increased control
The best news? At Malvern Panalytical, our QualitySpec® 7000 NIR spectrometer is setting a new standard for non-contact NIR analysis. At the core of the QualitySpec 7000 are a simple, safe quartz-halogen light source and a highly sensitive detector array. The spectrometer is calibrated with the help of chemometric modeling techniques from ASD’s SummitCAL Solutions Team. This allows it to be combined with a process control system to transform its data into actionable information.
The result is a powerful system for real-time, closed-loop process and quality control, which is particularly ideal for continuous measurement of solids and blended materials. By providing multiple measurements from a single point, the QualitySpec 7000 yields more information, more quickly – facilitating extra-fast real-time process decisions. Even better: it’s ultra-easy to maintain.
Significant cost savings await…
And the results you can expect using the QualitySpec 7000? Well, by allowing you to analyze and sort your incoming ores in real-time, this instrument could reduce your production downtime and decrease your acid consumption during heap leaching – enough to save your mine $250,000 per year! With real-time process analysis, cost-efficient mining really is simple – as simple as buying a high-quality pair of shoes…
To find out more about the QualitySpec 7000 or our other mining solutions, please visit our dedicated webpages or contact Uwe König.
Further reading
Dieser Artikel wurde möglicherweise automatisch übersetzt
{{ product.product_name }}
{{ product.product_strapline }}
{{ product.product_lede }}
