OUR APPROACH

There are a number of drivers of innovation in the mining sector. Above all, companies need to remain competitive: to improve the productivity of their assets; reduce their operational risks; increase the efficiency of deposit discovery; strengthen their mineral recovery rates; recover metals and minerals of higher quality; and drive their own growth.

Molycop believes that one of the best ways to promote efficient and sustainable development is to innovate new and better technologies and to change current ways of operating.

Working hand in hand with our mining partners, Molycop’s innovation strategy is focused on digital deployment and analysis; remote learning and automation and; recycling and sustainability.

Remaining competitive in today’s minerals market environment means continuously striving for more flexibility and agility in mining management, combining operational excellence, digital innovations and working in partnership with our customers to achieve these goals.

DIGITAL DEPLOYMENT AND ANALYSIS

Once measured by how well a company extracted resources, the industry’s value proposition is now shifting to how well a company acts on information to optimise production, reduce costs, increase efficiency and improve safety. In short, data – and the ability to organise, manage and process it – is becoming a competitive differentiator. To succeed in this effort, miners need a clear vision of how the future digital mine might transform core mining processes, the flow of information, and supporting back office processes. Once the information is captured, the use of data-driven analytics will help optimise their systems, from pit to customer.

Molycop works together with our customers to understand their operation, identify the pain points, and select the best implementation strategy that integrates, automates, and optimizes our customers’ operations by providing real-time, data-driven insights. The P86 Sensor System gives our customers the ability to focus on the things that matter most—helping them make fast, informed decisions to grow their business

Click here to learn more about how our P86 Sensor System can improve the efficiency of your mill

REMOTE LEARNING & AUTOMATION

It said automation has the potential to provide a mine with technology advances that impact the four big issues of productivity improvement, maximising plant and equipment utilisation, cost reduction and increased mine worker safety.

Given the adverse environments and remote locations the mining industry operates in, it is not always practical for personnel to be on-site all the time. But thanks to remote diagnostics for mines, they don’t have to be. Continuous monitoring of operations data in real-time improves the safety of both operators and equipment. This can be carried out from a location even on the other side of the world to the mine.

Click here to learn more about our Remote Inventory Management system and how it can improve the operation of your mine. 

Click here to learn more about how we conduct our training courses remotely

RECYCLING AND SUSTAINABILITY

Environment accords and increasingly global awareness of the value of our natural resources is putting more and more pressure on us and our mining partners to address sustainability.

We must participate in the circular economy and identify creative solutions for reducing raw materials in our operations by reusing resources and recycling water and materials. The goal being is to reduce the environmental impact of mineral and metal extraction and processing, with a focus on new technologies, smarter operations and processes, and sustainability best practices.

Click here to see how our Waratah Plant in Australia applies the principals of the ‘Circular Economy’ at their Steel Mill

Click to learn more about our work with Newcrest Mining to recycle their rubber belts for use in our Steel making plant.

P86- A World’s First

Like many other facets of the mining industry, the comminution sector is turning to technology to improve productivity, grow the future business, and decrease operating costs and environmental imprint.

In this era of the digitization and automation, the goal is to make decisions with a high level of understanding of the consequence of change, thus minimizing the consequence of unexpected outcomes whilst maximizing the productivity and profitability of the process.

Code-named P86, this world-first innovation looks set to unlock our understanding and dynamics of media from WITHIN the mill. This is not a system that uses inferred data trends generated by external sensors (e.g. microphone, video or mechanical forces).  Data is streamed directly from the grinding media.  The system can be introduced in stages, with “tagged” mill liner bolts giving G-Force and impact trends initially, and then adopting a full sensor-fitted media system.

Practically speaking, it gives insight into what is truly happening inside the mill, providing valuable input data for event management decisions. This provides important mill operating inputs so extraordinary events can be minimized. This, in turn, paves the way for significant cost reductions in maintenance, repairs and energy use by the mill itself.

Click here to learn more about the results of our first trials with one of Australia’s largest Gold Miners- WestGold

What is a Vitaket?

Carbon is an essential ingredient in the manufacture of total. The primary source of this carbon is coking coal. Around 1 billion tonnes of metallurgical coal is used in global steel production, which accounts for around 15% of total coal consumption worldwide.

Meanwhile, collectively we drive 1.5 billion tyres to the end of their useful lives every year.

What do tyres and coal have in common? They are both great sources of carbon.

Conceived and develop between Molycop, UNSW and TES, the outcome of their efforts is a product called – Vitakets. An entirely new product made from recycled materials such as printer cartridges and tyres, that can replace traditional sources of carbon used in steelmaking.

With first trial completed at our steelmaking plant in Newcastle, Australia, the results have confirmed the modelling and hypotheses developed through the laboratory trial phase. Laying the ground work for the second round of trials.

These first trials were the culmination of two years of work and research between UNSW, TES and Molycop.

Press play to watch a short video documenting the first trial at our Newcastle steelmaking plant, in Australia.

FIRST TRIALS OF INNOVATIVE P86 MILL SENSOR SYSTEM

Molycop has successfully conducted its first field trials of its ‘P86” Mill Sensor system, at the Westgold Murchison and Blue Bird mine sites in Australia.

Molycop’s Vice President of Innovation, Paul Shelley, made the announcement to the Procemin Conference in Chile (Nov 2019).

‘The promising results from these field test support our positive outlook for this world first Mill Sensor System, developed in Australia, in partnership with our global offices.’

‘As it stands today, we have confirmed the viability of a technology with the potential to join our suite of Mill Optimisation services. However, our immediate focus is to continue conducting field trials with our mining partners all around the world, as we look to commercialise the technology.’

This trial program has the potential to benefit the mining industry more broadly on the global stage, as mines all over the world look to improve comminution efficiency, reduce the operating cost of their plants, conserve valuable resources and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

INNOVATIVE PARTNERSHIPS

GLOBAL UNIVERSITY PARTNERSHIPS

Collaborations between companies and universities are critical drivers of the innovation economy. These relationships have long been a mainstay of corporate research and development (R&D) — from creating the knowledge foundations for the next generation of solutions, to serving as an extended “workbench” to solve short-term, incremental problems, to providing an employment pathway.

Molycop places a high level of importance on our relationships with the major mining universities around the world. In addition to having access to the best and brightest minds, our support and partnership runs deep, either through direct support of research funding, shared access to world class equipment and facilities; cutting edge research across all facets of the mining industry, from R&D of new products and services, sustainability initiatives and cutting edge research in artificial intelligence and machine learning.

UNSW- AN INNOVATIVE PARTNERSHIP

Universidad de Chile – Machine Learning and AI Training

Text to follow

University of Sydney- Geomechanics and Mining Materials (SciGEM)

As we take the next steps towards the commercialisation of our P86 system, we knew we needed a strategic partner to take our take our product development into literally the granular level.

Molycop will undertake two collaborative projects with the University of Sydney- SciGEM

• The first project will be a laboratory-based task, involving the construction of a model rotating drum in the DynamiX laboratory and the use of x-rays to track the 3D motion of individual balls. Accelerometers similar to the P86 system will be used to record the forces experienced by each ball. The combination of these laboratory-scale measurements will provide the “ground truth” of particle movement and help Molycop assess the accuracy of our P86 tracking algorithms.
• At the same time, Molycop will fund a Ph.D. project where the student will work directly with P86 readings as well as the outcomes of the laboratory project to develop a new measure of energy efficiency from the readings, which may be used to monitor and reduce energy use in industrial systems.

More updates to follow

CEEC Partnership

The global comminution industry consumes 3% of the worlds electrical power.  Molycop and the CEEC are committed to finding innovative solutions to reduce energy consumption in comminution in order deliver value to our customers and reduce energy consumption.

As one of the world’s largest manufacturers of grinding media, Molycop is committed to the research and development of effective, long-life products and technical support services with the aim to improve productivity and reduce operating costs for customers. Our R&D advances in the areas of longer life consumables, recycling and energy efficiency are changing the way we do business and the way our clients do business.

CEEC is a global initiative, providing access to the most current technical scientific papers and field studies to the worldwide mining industry.  CEEC is an independent not-for-profit corporation who’s mission is to accelerate the implementation of eco-efficient comminution practices through promotion of supporting data and industry initiatives.

Read more here

Curtin University-  Western Australian School of Mining (WASM)

To keep ahead of the game, Molycop regularly collaborates with academic partners across the world ensuring the company’s products and services remain at the cutting edge.

The West Australian School of Mines (WASM) is Australia’s oldest and premier mining school. It has earned a reputation for producing high quality, industry-ready graduates in the fields of mining, geology, metallurgy, exploration geophysics and spatial sciences.

In the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2020, Curtin ranked 2^nd in the world for Mineral and Mining Engineering.

They were the ideal academic partner when we were looking to fund a Ph.D. student on a project to develop decision trees for the connection between mill events and operator decisions, further expanding our knowledge base within the Mill Optimisation space.

We look forward to reporting on the results and outcomes of this project.

Universidad de Chile – Machine Learning AI Training

Text to follow