Laboratory Analysis vs Online Analysis
The analysis of the elemental composition of raw materials is a crucial part of the mining process directly impacting yield, quality and profits. Can you afford to ignore the benefits of real time sampling and analysis in an increasingly competitive environment?
There are two broad categories of costs in mining and mineral processing: External or Market-Controlled and Internal or Mill-Controlled.
Market-controlled are inputs such as raw materials and energy costs. They usually account for the vast bulk of production costs, an estimated 80%.
Mill-controlled costs are made up of the consumables, labor, overhead involved, etc. These are usually defined by technology deployed at a mill; however, can be managed with efficiency-focused programmes.
When a major technology overhaul is not an option for the foreseeable future, Efficiency Conversion is the part of Mill-controlled costs that Mill Director and Process Managers should focus on. This is still not a negligible bit. With proper tools one can achieve 5% to 10% upside in this area.
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Energy bill often represents 15% to 25% of overall mill costs (up to 40% in steel making).
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Typically, a multi-stage preheater dry kiln would use 3.6 GJ/ton in refractories and cement mills. With current energy prices for industrial consumers in Europe, that represents approximately $23 per ton of product in energy costs. What if you could save 5% of that?
In steel making overall energy use is even higher ≈ 18.2 GJ/ton, with approximately 2.8 GJ/ton in coking and 11.5 GJ/ton in iron making.
No wonder the mineral processing industry has been heavily investing in energy conversion and process automation. Is there more you could do? At
Laser Distance Spectrometry we believe there is.
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Controlling what the energy is burnt on is the way to reduce mill energy consumption.
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Laboratory analysis has traditionally been a safe and accurate method of analysing the chemical elemental concentration of mining yields. It allows analysis across a range of elements and parameters to provide the data necessary to identify impurities, control concentrations and ensure environmental regulatory compliance among other things. One drawback – accurate laboratory results are available only in 6 to 8 hours form the time samples had been taken off the conveyor belt or stockpile. With material running on the conveyor with the speed of a couple of tons per minute what is the true cost of this delay?
Investing in
real-time elemental analysis on every stage of the process is something that rare-earth enrichment plants have been doing for decades. Doing that in refractories, cement and steel making would stabilise substance mix, its quality and enable total process control in these industries too. The goals – optimal energy use, improved production yields and more consistent product quality.
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The ability to obtain accurate analytical results in real time and feed them into process automation systems can represent potential savings in mill-controlled costs of up to 10%.
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Laboratory analysis will remain a crucial benchmark for years to come. However, complimenting it with real-time online analysis enables prompt technical decisions on sorting of the raw material, dosage of ore or components of a mixture, energy use, all based on the real-time data. As profitability has dropped industry wide, accurate, quick data and optimised production processes are arguably more important than ever. Effective process control provides many benefits including reducing cost, conserving raw material and minimizing environmental impact. Online analysis solutions such as the
MAYA online analyser are therefore increasingly being adopted by key players across the mining industry.
Take control of your mining operations.
Laser Distance Spectrometry is a young start-up, full of energy and desire to change the world of mining. We help mining and mineral processing businesses reduce their energy consumption and achieve higher production yields. This way we save our planet resources and enhance lives of people.
We offer on-line, automated, real-time chemical analysis of mineral materials, based on latest laser spectroscopic technology and heuristic algorithms. Our team is comprised of the leading scientists and technicians in laser detection methodology and systems.
At Laser Distance Spectrometry we believe that Machine Learning and Industry 4.0 have arrived and it is only a question of how quickly this will be the mainstream in mining and mineral processing. Laser Distance Spectrometry is part of that game. We are determined to be part of that future.
Laser Distance Spectrometry ©
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