Digital Mining: Leveraging the Gold Price
Molycop’s processing optimisation services are improving mining operations globally.
In early April, gold prices hit $US2400 per ounce for the first time ever, and copper reached an all-time high of over $10,889 per tonne. The metals market is in a frenzy, which is good news for Molycop, whose customer base comprises mostly gold and copper miners.
The Rise of Gold and Copper Prices
“Right now, things are going well in the gold industry from a price perspective,” Molycop commercial vice president Australasia Pieter Strobos told Australian Mining. “Miners need to take advantage of the situation by maximising production.”
Molycop’s Role in the Mining Industry
Take Resolute Mining, which operates the Mako gold mine in Senegal. Combining Molycop and Orway IQ’s technologies and expertise reduced planned downtime by 25%, significantly benefiting Resolute’s bottom line.
“Molycop has the technology, skills, and expertise to help mining companies boost production by increasing throughput and recovery while reducing wastage of energy and reagents,” Strobos said.
As one of the world’s most well-known and trusted mining commodity and technology suppliers, with a particular reputation in the copper and gold mining industries, Molycop is helping companies improve their throughput, recovery, and efficiency through its process optimisation technology and services.
Technological Innovations
“We do this through advanced instrumentation, advanced process control, process modelling, and digital twin technology,” Strobos said.
With over 100 years of history in the mining industry and client relationships spanning several decades, Molycop has an enduring commitment to its mining partnerships.
“It’s difficult for mining companies to run their plants optimally, considering they are literally digging rocks out of the ground,” Strobos said. “Mining is variable in nature, and ore doesn’t come out of the ground based on a pre-determined recipe.”
“Plants are invariably subjected to wear and tear and maintenance issues. A lot of these plants are also very remote, and it can be difficult to get skilled personnel out to these sites.”
MillROC and MillSlicer
“By having Molycop as a partner, mining companies are provided with a range of digital tools and services that help overcome these problems and achieve greater efficiency. A lot of the digital solutions Molycop offers can be partially deployed online, reducing the need for global travel to remote sites.”
In 2022, Molycop acquired Process IQ, a mining technology company providing proprietary data analytics and visualisation, instrumentation, and advanced process control solutions. This acquisition led to a partnership with Orway Mineral Consultants, a subsidiary of Lycopodium. Together, they developed MillROC, a revolutionary process optimisation technology that combines people and the latest technology to deliver a step change in productivity.
Orway IQ chief executive officer Marnu Lombaard said the acquisition had combined a wide range of technologies and disciplines into a single product solution. “What’s exciting is we have brought together a great deal of expertise to assist our clients in the mineral processing industry in solving their problems in-house,” Lombaard told Australian Mining.
VIP Platform and Advanced Process Control
Molycop further contributes to these online solutions by integrating the latest measurement and process control technologies, such as MillSlicer, which uses vibration and machine vision technology.
Molycop’s consulting and coaching services gather real-time customer plant data and interpret it to facilitate continual improvement in production by applying a disciplined process to eliminate bottlenecks. This is achieved through MillROC (Mill Remote Optimization Consulting and Coaching), an expert-supported data platform that remotely monitors and models circuits and mineral processing plants while providing rea-time consulting and coaching.
MillROC provides live performance data and features-focused applications to offer deeper insights into what operators can immediately do to address specific problems that may be constraining throughput. It can also identify improvement opportunities, allowing supervisors to train or upskill their workforce.
MillROC is supported by remote real-time assistance from mineral processing consultants who can view the circuit’s live performance dashboards and provide immediate advice and coaching. Built on the VIP platform, MillROC is equipped with features such as enterprise-wide data integration and reporting, storage for operational data, intuitive dashboards, graphs, and key performance indicators (KPIs). This truly turns data into information and actionable insights.
“I see MillROC as the platform where all the solutions we offer can be effectively implemented because it also includes the human factor,” Lombaard said.
Case Study: Resolute Mining
After the first few months of MillROC being installed on a site, Molycop will install MillROC Focus. This program continues the platform’s performance and principles by providing continuous circuit performance benchmarking and suggesting optimisation actions.
“Most site teams are empowered to run the optimisation platform and process themselves, so there’s minimal need for higher engagement levels from the consultant,” Lombaard said. “It is also a store of critical process knowledge for the site and a way to sustain performance during inevitable personnel changes.”
Data and analytics are a significant part of Molycop’s process optimisation services portfolio. “Data can be integrated from various places, but one of the main sources of data we deal with is what we call ‘time series data,’ which is data generated by machines over time,” Strobos said. “We use that information to conduct data analytics and then develop KPIs, models, and optimisation strategies."
“We develop more advanced ways of visualising mineral processing plants and utilise artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to control the plant. The control systems on most plants are based on historical data, so they’re controlled based on what’s happened in the past. Molycop uses models that predict the future based on process dynamics and ore characteristics. These models provide a much more robust basis for process control.”
After Molycop deployed a full milling optimisation solution at the Mako mine site in Senegal, Resolute reported that ore mined increased by 7% to 781,000 tonnes in their December 2021 annual report. Resolute credited this increase in productivity to Molycop’s MillSlicer VIP, which combined MillSlicer with the VIP platform. MillROC and advanced process control solution MillStar were also deployed at this site.
MillSlicer consists of vibration sensors mounted on the mill shell that measure angular impact intensity, maximum impact angle, and centroid of the impacts. MillSlicer VIP improves the throughput and efficiency of semi-autogenous grinding (SAG), and autogenous mills by measuring volume, steel charge percentage, toe angle, and liner impact when combined with the VIP platform. This solution features more accurate and precise mill fill level measurements, enabling better mill feed control.
More than 12 months after Molycop commissioned the initial project, Resolute reported a 25% reduction in planned downtime for the SAG mill relines in its December 2022 quarterly report. Strobos said a mining company typically spends $10–15 million on a site shutdown, translating to thousands of tonnes of lost production.
“If you can reduce your shutdowns from four to three per year, which is essentially what Resolute Mining did, productivity will be greatly improved,” Strobos said. “It also means you have to replace one less set of liners, which can be a very significant expense.”
A mining company in Resolute’s situation could save up to $US4 million per annum on mill relining costs and downtime alone using Molycop’s solutions.
Conclusion and Future Outlook
Molycop isn’t just focused on the latest mineral processing technology and building a close working relationship with its clients, so they get the most out of their plants. “We see the project through and help our clients implement recommendations, so the value goes to the bottom line,” Lombaard said. “Mining is essential to the world’s development and is key to achieving a net-zero future, and our purpose is to not only make the mining industry more sustainable and efficient but also make it a more interesting and rewarding part of the global landscape for future generations.”
This article was bought to you by Molycop, the Major Partner for the Mill Operators Conference 2024, being held in Perth, 21-23 October 2024.