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.
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