Challenge

The Geological Survey of Finland (‘GTK’) is leading a project to help the European mining industry accelerate the green transition to a carbon-neutral world by enhancing the digitisation of the industry.
Finding minerals and metals is becoming increasingly difficult not only in quantity, but also in density and quality. Companies need to go to more hazardous and remote places to extract minerals, and they need to process only material with sufficient metal content to reduce energy usage and minimize waste.

As part of GTK’s mission to develop the most efficient ways to extract ores and to better support a circular economy, they have selected Malvern Panalytical’s MintecRobo, a fully automated and smart analytical laboratory solution which gives direct feedback to the processing plant. This allows the method of extraction to be adjusted according to changing ore composition and environmental conditions.
The MintecRobo maximises the speed and accuracy of sample preparation while allowing the monitoring of multiple ore properties using different sensors. This will enable more control over the extraction
process than ever before.

Benefit to customer

The MintecRobo will provide real-time information about the changing ore compositions and the processing conditions during the extraction process. It shortens feedback loops and enables fast counteractions. By detecting and then avoiding low-grade ores or waste material, recovery rates are increased, and energy consumption is reduced, which, in turn, minimises carbon emissions. The transition
to fully automated and flexible laboratory solutions with real time monitoring represents a significant step towards more sustainable mining operations.