Capital Equipment News April 2019

MINING NEWS

Epiroc to digitalise Black Rock Mine operations

data are presented. “MMI will help to increase production and utilisation. The solution enables an unprecedented opportunity for mining personnel to make right decisions faster than ever before,” says Pierre Becker, GM Black Rock Mine. Through MMI, the Black Rock Mine control room will evolve to a source of real-time production data fully integrated with planning, task dispatch, machine telemetry data, mobile operator clients and a layer of analytics to collect and monitor insights and KPI’s for the mine production. The project is ex- pected to yield significant improvements in employee safety, process efficiency and overall production. b

System installation is expected to be operational by June 2019.

Epiroc has been selected to equip Black Rock Mine in South Afri- ca with Mobilaris Mining Intelligence (MMI), a decision support solution for mine efficiency and safety. MMI enables superior situational awareness and is designed to visualise and support mining operation in all its complexity, in real-time. Black Rock Mine, part of Assmang Proprietary Ltd South Africa, ordered MMI, a solution that will support their business improvement processes. This will be the first MMI installation in a mine utilising room and pillar. “Epiroc will support Black Rock’s business improvement processes with the MMI solution. The globally acclaimed Situational Awareness together with Short Interval Con- trol package will take their operations to the next level of performance gains,” says Andrew Main, regional business line manager, Underground Rock Excavation division for Southern Africa, Epiroc South Africa. Mobilaris Mining Intelligence provides a 3D real-time information model where not only the position of ma- chines, vehicles or personnel but also other vital informa- tion sources like shift planning, machine and production speed on uphill grades during shifts. In addition, the 777G has two operating modes, Stan- dard Economy and Adaptive Economy. Standard Economy saves fuel by reducing engine power by 0,5 to 15%, based on the fleet and economic conditions at a particular site. Adaptive Economy requires a production baseline for the site using the Advisor display, and then, as the truck travels the haul cycle, the system automatically evaluates the power rating needed to meet baseline requirements. Full power is applied when needed, and reduced power is applied when appropriate. The efficiency of the 777G’s performance is further enhanced by 7% more engine torque and an increase in top speed. The 777G features a redesigned cab, easier to enter and exit, and having a new operator seat on the left and a more comfortable trainer seat on the right. A new con- sole with an integrated hoist-and-shift lever enhances convenience, as does more interior space for storage. The truck’s design also emphasises improved visibility, to both the work area and instrumentation, and overall visibility is further enhanced with an optional object-detection sys- tem. Convenience items include a powered left window, automatic temperature control, throttle lock for long uphill grades and reduced interior sound (by 50%, compared with predecessor models). b

FLSmidth optimises mill performance using acoustics

FLSmidth has developed an innovative solution for semi-autogenous mills that improves milling performance and stability.

The SAGwise™ total process control solution for semi-autogenous (SAG) mills – developed by FLSmidth – promises effective SAG mill optimisation with lower energy consumption and wear part costs. Winston Mokoena, key account manager at FLSmidth, high- lights that the solution reduces critical impacts inside the mill by up to 45%. This adds life to wear liners and grinding balls, helping to prolong liner life between maintenance and giving mills more uptime. “SAGwise can improve mill production by 6% and sub- stantially reduce process variability,” says Mokoena. “This ensures that the mill provides a constant and optimal feed to the next stage of the process, effectively facilitating better performance of downstream operations.” Among the challenges that mill optimisation tries to address is too little material in the mill, or too much. Too little leads to critical impacts between the grinding media and the mill liners, damaging both elements without producing value. If the mill is over-filled with mined material, on the other hand, this results in grinding inefficiencies. The SAGwise system uses four or eight unidirectional or bidirectional audio sensors located in close proximity to the mill, which detect the analogue sounds and convert them into digital signals for analysis by a processing unit. The unit uses the sound patterns and other process variables to determine the necessary adjustment to the mill’s feed, speed and pulp density. So direct are the improvements that can be achieved by this solution that customers can pay back their investment in less than six months, depending on the commodity value and the specific mill environment. b

CAPITAL EQUIPMENT NEWS APRIL 2019 35