The Mining Industry’s Transformation Continues
The challenges facing mines are intensifying as the push for productivity and sustainability improvements has never been greater. Ore grades are declining, ore feeds are constantly changing, and mines must overcome complex sustainability challenges to maintain their license to operate. For these reasons, mines are leaving no stone unturned to generate sustainable improvements.
With mines increasingly focused on improving resource efficiency and meeting greater metal demand - driven largely by electrification and digitalization - operations are launching transformation initiatives to maximize profitability while reducing their environmental footprint.
These transformations typically center on two levers: equipment enhancements and operations improvements. With equipment enhancements, mines are employing new technologies such as flotation cells that enable coarse and fine particle recovery, lower comminution costs, higher plant throughput, and improved tailings and water management. Operations-related solutions often focus on operator responsiveness and DCS upgrades, such as new sensors and greater automation, as well as expanded training, grade engineering and geometallurgy.
Complementing these approaches, advanced modeling capabilities powered by artificial intelligence are revolutionizing circuit design. These models leverage sophisticated algorithms to rapidly compute plant parameters and reagent requirements, enabling mines to optimize circuit designs with unrivaled speed and accuracy.
The Next Phase: Digitizing Mining Chemistry
In addition to equipment and operations improvements, mines are now exploring a novel continuous improvement strategy with the help of Syensqo: real-time process optimization and reagent formulation based on Syensqo’s mining chemical expertise and operational insights. The result: smoother circuit operations, tailored formulations and, ultimately, better mineral recovery, all while reducing water and energy inputs.
Our vision for smart mining chemistry is simple: With access to the right data at the right time, plants can run more efficiently, and reagent formulation can become a dynamic process in which reagents are tailored to the ore type and processing conditions at any point in time.
The introduction of Syensqo’s digital solutions for mining represents a paradigm shift in chemical innovation, which historically has focused on customizing a reagent package based on available chemistries.
Syensqo's Smart Mining Solutions
Syensqo's innovative digital capabilities enhance our ability to provide insights and recommendations to customers. Our smart mining chemistry platforms enable mines to maximize metal recovery through the use of live data while reducing the use of chemicals, water and energy.
Our digital mining solutions include:
- SolvExtract® - Smarter Solvent Extraction
SolvExtract® is a digital platform that helps copper solvent extraction operations reduce process variability, boost productivity and improve their bottom line through real-time monitoring and recommendations. The solution delivers Syensqo's technical expertise at an unprecedented speed and frequency so operators can make more informed decisions faster. - MINCHEM™ & MINCHEM+™ - Smarter Plant Design
MINCHEM™ and MINCHEM+™ are advanced modeling tools powered by artificial intelligence designed for optimizing solvent extraction operations. They enable mines to simulate circuit parameters and reagent requirements in a matter of seconds, facilitating faster optimization of existing plants and quicker start-ups of new plants. MINCHEM™ also serves as the modeling tool behind SolvExtract®. - Syensqo Cube - Smarter Trials
The Syensqo Cube utilizes state-of-the-art dosing equipment to facilitate more precise blending and dosing control of reagent building-block chemicals during trials. This digital mining solution improves reagent stability during operations, enhancing metallurgical performance. - SmartFloat™ - Smarter Flotation
SmartFloatTM dynamically adjusts reagent chemistry in response to ore feed and operating conditions, thereby helping mines reduce performance fluctuations and maximize recovery. Because it is continuously connected to a live data feed and leverages historical data, SmartFloatTM formulations improve over time as the digital mining solution is used.
