The efficiency of a metallurgic process depends, to a large extent, of the adequate and timely operational decision making in light of the variability of the physical and chemical quality of the minerals that go into the process. To do this, it is necessary to quantify the changes of the intrinsic parameters, such as grades, and of the mineral concentration process, in particular the mineralization of ore and rocks, so that control strategies can be applied allowing the adjustment of operational conditions and optimize the process’ efficiency.

SAX is the first on-line mineral analysis system. This product innovation consisted on transforming an X-ray diffractometer, used for mineralogical analysis of dust samples in the laboratory, into a device that can do the same but in a short amount of time in a mining operation of a pulp or a material in liquid state. Besides the device’s transformation, a unique sampling system and software, that would do an accurate mineral analysis, had to be designed and built.

Landslides and mass movements can endanger workers and could cause the total shutdown of the mine. Gesecology developed a technology that integrates and correlates geotechnical and geological data, using mathematical modeling to generate ultra-early alarms for potential rock falls.

Manual technical conciliation for slope design and construction is time consuming and its results may be inaccurate. Geoblast developed and implemented a software, which compares and consolidates geotechnical data and blasting in real time and significantly decreases error probabilities.

Lining abrasion in grinding mills operation is customary. Its replacement is time-consuming and costly. It can take up to 6 hours. HighService Technology developed a mill lining and wear plates abrasion sensor (the SSD technology) which allows online detection of the components’ condition before any failure occurs; plan preventive maintenance; and replace the damaged liners at the exact point, maximizing the operation.

Labour productivity in the mining industry dropped 20% in comparison with 2000, in Chile and internationally, as stated by the Chilean Copper Commission (Cochilco) in 2014. This is an important concern for the mining industries that, with the purpose of solving this situation, started to search for a solution for the processes, new technologies, and people.

With the purpose of solving productivity problems associated with the employee’s operational behavior, INDIMIN developed a solution seeking to broaden the productive capacity of the loading and transportation equipment operators, with digital technologies that capture, analyze and deliver relevant information to the employees and their shift managers. For this purpose, they designed and built Smart Mining Coach, a digital personal trainer to guide and improve the operation of the mobile mining equipment to contribute to the productive rise of the operations.

The Trommel is a classification system per size of ore coming from the mills. It downstream allows passing of the ore complying with required grading and returns the one requiring further comminution. It is equipped with palmettes that mechanically allow passing of the smallest particles with regards of its mesh, and in turn, it retains the largest. From a physical stand point of view, the Trommel is attached to the SAG Mill (Semi-Autogenous Grinding) and when the mill is stopped for maintenance purposes, replacement of the Trommel’s palmettes must also be executed. The problem is that the duration of the linings (palmettes) of the Trommel is not the same as the duration of the mill’s linings and therefore, availability of the SAG grinding process is affected because it must be stopped only to replace the Trommel’s palmettes generating high impacts on production.

The Trommel’s palmettes handler is a robotic equipment designed and developed to execute, in an automatic and remote mode, replacement of palmettes during scheduled detentions of SAG grinding.