Article in Australian Mining TOMRA Mining’s XRTore sorting...

Article in Australian Mining

TOMRA Mining’s XRTore sorting technology delivers value and sustainability at Mt Carbine Tungstenmine

September 28, 2022News

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TOMRA X-Ray Transmission (XRT) sorters provide a game-changingsolution for the Mt Carbine mine in Queensland, Australia.

On the one hand, they deliver remarkable cost savings whileachieving high-purity Tungsten for the processing plant. On the other hand,they contribute to a circular economy by effectively eliminating contaminantsfrom the waste rock, which is used to produce green aggregates for sale – alsocreating an additional revenue stream for owner EQ Resources.

The Mt Carbine mine, located Northwest of Cairns, in the FarNorth Queensland region of Australia, was acquired by EQ Resources in 2019. Thecompany entered a joint venture with Cronimet Group to set up Tungstenextraction from the mine’s large waste dump and tailings. It is also planningto operate the open pit and underground mine, of which it has full ownership.

EQ Resources Management has a long-standing relationship withTOMRA, having used its sorters with success on a variety of projects since2011. Based on this experience, the company turned to TOMRA once again for theMt Carbine mine.

Test work conducted at TOMRA’s Test Center in Wedel, Germanyconfirmed that its XRT technology would provide the solution for the project.

“We were confident it would work, but we sent a small sample fortesting to make sure,” Mt Carbine mine, EQ Resources chief executive officerKevin MacNeill said.

“The advantage of TOMRA’s sorters compared to others is in theimage resolution: it is able to resolve the finer inclusions in the Tungsten.This high resolution gives us better recovery and more control over the sortingprocess.”

High recovery rates with considerable savings with TOMRA’s XRTsorting technology
Mt Carbine is currently mining the 12 million tons of low-grade historicalstockpiles. The ore is crushed and screened at 6 and 40mm. Two TOMRA XRTsorters are used to pre-concentrate the feed in the 6-40mm size range beforeprocessing in the wet plant.

Approximately 10 per cent of the sorters’ feed mass is ejectedas product with a high recovery of Tungsten well over 90 per cent. This meansthat only 10 per cent of the mass is processed in the wet plant, dramaticallycutting running costs, reducing the required size of the wet plant, as well assaving water and energy.

“We let the technology do the work for us and take out all therubbish and we’re left with just the pure Tungsten to send to the processingplant – and we do that very cheaply using the sorters,” MacNeill explained.

“One of the best things about the TOMRA XRT is the cost savingsto the operation. It costs approximately $1.5 Australian dollars/ton to sortand then it costs 14 Australian dollars/ton for wet processing: as we take out90 per cent of the sortable fraction mass, we only have to process 10 per centof the higher grade concentrate and natural -6mm material while maintainingrecovery, so our cost benefit is obvious. We couldn’t afford to run this wastedump if we had to crush everything to 6mm and process it through the wet plant,it would be too low grade and costly.”

Creating an additional revenue stream in a circular economy
EQ Resources is also taking advantage of the TOMRA XRT sorters to create anadditional revenue stream from the waste material.

“Normally you would grind the waste down to 6mm and put itthrough the jigs, but by putting it through the TOMRA sorters, we are able tokeep a whole range of aggregates on the coarser size fractions. The sortersremove any material containing acid-forming sulphides and the waste rock thatcomes out is incredibly clean. We are therefore able to use it in making allkinds of different quarry products – from road bases to concrete aggregates.It’s a perfect example of a circular economy,” MacNeill said.

“Selling these green aggregates adds a significant portion toour business – about 5 million Australian Dollars a year – and that’s allbecause of the TOMRA sorters. In fact, we’ve probably paid for each machinefrom this revenue 5 times over.”

The TOMRA XRT sorters are delivering both environmental andbusiness benefits to the Mt Carbine operation, to the satisfaction of MacNeill.

“They’re dry, they create no water usage, they require verylittle power compared to what we use in the processing plant, so it’s a realadvantage to us to have these, and we’re looking at purchasing a third one inthe near future. From an environmental point of view, I think the TOMRA sorterswill play a huge role in the future because of their capability of removingsulphides. If you remove sulphide before stockpiling waste rock, you will havethe benefit of no acid creation and drainage – and it would reduce yourfootprint in your closure plans.”

About TOMRA Mining
TOMRA Mining designs and manufactures sensor-based sorting technologies for theglobal mineral processing and mining industries.

As the world market leader in sensor-based ore sorting, TOMRA isresponsible for developing and engineering cutting-edge technology made towithstand harsh mining environments. TOMRA maintains its rigorous focus onquality and future-oriented thinking with technology tailor-made for mining.

About TOMRA
TOMRA was founded on an innovation in 1972 that began with the design,manufacturing and sale of reverse vending machines (RVMs) for automatedcollection of used beverage containers. Today TOMRA provides technology-ledsolutions that enable the circular economy with advanced collection and sortingsystems that optimise resource recovery and minimise waste in the food,recycling and mining industries, and is committed to building a moresustainable future.

TOMRA has ~100,000 installations in over 80 markets worldwideand had total revenues of ~10.9 billion NOK in 2021. The Group employs ~4,600globally and is publicly listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange (OSE: TOM).

For further information about TOMRA,