TOMRA Mining is utilising its Test Centres to empower mining companies with a vital resource to make informed decisions about sensor-based ore sorting
TOMRA’s two Mining Test Centres, based in Wedel, Germany, and Sydney, Australia, allows for companies to perform tests under real-world conditions, closely replicating site-specific circumstances and operational capacities.
A clear understanding of how sorting technologies function can be built, allowing companies to hit the ground running when implementing new sorting technologies into their own sites. A deeper understanding and insight into the ore's sortability can be built.
Using the Test Centres can allow companies to best identify the most suitable sorting solutions for its specific needs, being X-Ray Transmission (XRT), laser, colour, Near-Infrared (NIR), or electromagnetic. This simulates the circumstances seen at sites, allowing results to be accurate to actual operational outcomes.
A third test centre, based in Johannesburg, South Africa, can provide support with initial testing on samples, educating companies on which direction to take forward to assess the sortability of the rocks.
Pilbara Mineral’s Pilgangoora Operation in Western Australia is the world's largest lithium ore sorting plant. When the collaboration started in 2017, it used the Sydney Test Centre to conduct geological assessments and bulk test work, validating the sorting equipment's performance under operational conditions. These insights were used in the foundation of the sorting plants design.
Alina Shibistova, Test Center manager Germany, said: “Mining operations across a broad spectrum of sectors – such as base metals to industrial minerals and gemstones – gain significant benefits from the specialized services offered by TOMRA Test Centers. Any operation seeking to enhance ore quality, maximize recovery, and drive profitability while minimizing waste and operational costs will find immense value in these solutions. Moreover, sensor-based sorting plays a crucial role in advancing environmental sustainability, shrinking the ecological footprint of mining activities.”
There is no one-size-fits-all solution to ore sorting as each ore has unique characteristics, meaning different technologies are inherently better suited to certain ore’s rather than others, depending on mineral composition and processing conditions.
TOMRA’s Test Centres have a structured approach that evaluates sorting potential. The process starts with static testing, which includes a first inspection to identify the most efficient sorting technology and assess detectability. A rock-by-rock analysis is then undertaken to compare each TOMRA sensor with the mineralogical data at the individual rock level. This helps establish how sortable the rocks are and what the most efficient methods of sorting would be for further testing.
If results are good, dynamic testing is then undertaken to simulate real operational conditions, assessing throughput, estimating separation efficiency, encompassing recovery rates, and highlighting possible upgrades.
Tests measure the sorting behaviour of the feed material in more detail by identifying what best result that can be achieved by using different sensitivities. The performance test is conducted by feeding a large mass of the expected final sorter feed through a full-scale TOMRA sorter at rated capacity, this tests the process flow and establishes the expected sorter performance and throughput. A pilot plan testing may be suitable for some projects to further validate results before full-scale production implementation.
Spanish quartz producer Ferroglobe used TOMRA’s Wedel Test Centre to gain insight into separating quartz ore from contaminants of the same colour, as optical sorting methods had proven ineffective. Testing shows laser technology could differentiate high-quality white quartz from impurities. Ferroglobe had found its solution.
Thierry Alary, VP of purchasing and supply chain at Ferroglobe, said: “Operations will definitely improve. By solving that specific problem, sorting becomes more accurate, impacting recovery rate, avoiding contamination, and reducing further processing.”
Test Centres don’t only provide companies with insight, but also hands-on experience in using the technology and data analysis. This allows customers to be confident going forward in their decision-making due to the underlying data. Comprehensive test reports that detail machine efficiency, throughput, and recovery rates gives customers greater confidence in decision-making.
Mitigating risk, both technical and economic, of changing sorting method can be completed by using testing centres prior to being rolled out on full-scale implementation.
Alina Shibistova adds: “Our Test Centers offer performance tests where our customers can observe the testing process, which is conducted under conditions that closely replicate their site and operational capacities. The results provide a clear indication of the outcomes that can be expected during actual operations. This hands-on experience, where customers are directly involved in the testing, is one of the most valuable aspects of the service.”
John Armstrong, VP of mineral resources at Lucara Diamonds, said: “We gained a lot of confidence in the people at TOMRA, in the technology that they were presenting to us, and the possible solution that it provided to the Karowe mine. We could also see that they had already gone down the road of the next step in XRT technology, so they were not just focused on one particular module to present to us, but they were working on different modules. That helped alleviate some of our concerns about the robustness of the platform and the technology itself, which ultimately led us to use TOMRA as the solution.”
