Electricity + Control September 2018

CONTROL SYSTEMS + AUTOMATION + SYSTEMS ENGINEERING

Remote monitoring and control of equipment allows miners to automate industrial processes.

and are powered by GPS technology. The largest obstacles standing in the way of such technology are the extreme conditions of the mine combined with the task of navigating dark, winding tunnels. It is hoped that these problems, in the future, can be overcome with camera-based positioning sys- tems and additional multi-sensor systems for ac- curate positioning. Sensor-based sorting The principles of sensor-based ore sorting were developed in the 1920s, and the use of such tech- nology greatly increases the efficiency of separat- ing valuable minerals from waste rock. The first sensor-based sorting machine was introduced in 1972 at the Doornfontein mine. While such sorting technology was widely used at the time to sort glass, plastics, paper, and cardboard, the technol- ogy had not yet been widely adopted for raw min- erals and materials. Over the 80-year history of sensor-based ore sorting, there have been several types of sorting equipment developed: channel-type, bucket-wheel type, and cone-type. The most popular today, how- ever, are chute-type and belt-type. The most prevalent technologies being used in these systems are electromagnetics (EM) and X-ray Transmission (XRT). In both of these sys-

tems, particles are fed through a machine where they are scanned, and then valuable minerals are separated and sorted using pneumatic, mechan- ical, or hydraulic means. This automated technol- ogy is faster and more efficient than its manual counterpart, as sensor-based sorting systems boast the ability to sort through 200 tons of parti- cles per hour per machine. An adoption of these technologies in the miner- al mining industry at large would be nothing short of revolutionary.

Electricity + Control

SEPTEMBER 2018

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