Electricity and Control November 2023

SENSORS + SWITCHES

Accurate measurement is critical in mining

The mining and refining of precious and base metals involve many precisely coordinated processes in a harsh environment. Accurate measurement plays a critical role in these operations. It ensures precise reagent dosing and level monitoring and a high-quality end product. Equally important is the safeguarding of mining equipment from potential damage. Kansanshi Mining PLC in the Zambian Copperbelt relies on VEGA Instruments to provide custom solutions to meet its measurement needs.

A frica holds substantial reserves of metals and minerals; gold, diamonds, iron ore, and copper being particularly notable. Two of the world’s top 10 gold/copper-producing countries are in Africa, with their production centred predominantly on the Copperbelt. This is a geological region in Central Africa that spans the border of northern Zambia and the southern DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo) and is well known for its mining activities. The Kansanshi copper-gold deposit is located in the area and has a rich history dating back over 1 500 years to a time when the indigenous people extracted copper from its abundant veins. Near Solwezi, the Kansanshi copper-gold deposit remains a vibrant mining area with active open-pit sites. Kansanshi represents a vein-style deposit where valu able copper and gold mineralisation are present in three distinct ore types: primary sulphide, mixed supergene, and oxide. Mining operations are conducted in two open

The process used for treating ore has the flexibility to accommodate variations in the ore composition. This flex ibility includes options for oxide leaching, sulphide flota tion, and a circuit for transitional ore. Oxide ore undergoes a multi-step treatment process, including crushing, milling, flotation, leaching, and the solvent extraction process. This process leads to the generation of a flotation concentrate rich in sulphides and gold, as well as the production of cathode copper through electro-winning. Kansanshi was facing measurement challenges in the gland water tanks, slurry hoppers and raw materials in the stockpiles and crusher bins. The Instrumentation Supervisor at Kansanshi, Japhet Ng’andu Mutambo, confirms that accurate measurement plays a critical role in mining operations. “Ensuring precise reagent dosing and level monitoring, it enables us to produce a high-quality product, and it is important in protecting our mining equipment from potential damage. This is a priority for us,” Mutambo says. Although the mine had sensors and measuring instru mentation installed, the readings received were not ac curate and manual and visual inspection were needed to verify the levels in the tanks, hoppers, piles and bins. The

pits, known as Main and Northwest, using con ventional open-pit min ing techniques.

VEGA supplied the measurement solutions to provide consistently accurate and reliable measurement in a range of process applications at Kansanshi’s mining operations.

14 Electricity + Control NOVEMBER 2023