In mining, 5-10% of the material excavated and transported is waste material or gangue. This is an important factor for the economy of mining projects. There are 4 state-of-the-art approaches to analyzing ore, but all of them take place at the lab and not in real-time at the conveyor belt. ROCS will help make mining financially and environmentally sustainable by allowing mining companies to understand the ore composition right at the start of the production phase. ROCS can be used to detect all kinds of minerals and metals including critical raw materials and can be applied to improve the ore pre-concentration and to detect the dilution and decrease the gangue. A mine can save 30% of the energy required for transportation, crushing and grinding.
Benefits of the innovation
• Ore grade is known up-front to avoid drilling where waste material content is too high.
• Allows for cost savings, extends machinery lifetime and lowers fuel/lubricant cost.
• Leads to energy savings as drilling, crushing and processing waste requires energy.
• Environmental damage lower as non-profitable operations can be abandoned earlier.
The overall project objective is to scale-up ROCS from its current TRL 6. The commercial version will continuously monitor the ore composition and will operate in harsh environments at very early stages of the mining process, as a warning system to prevent further processing of worthless ore.