Working smarter with data – SMEs join gold plant data analysis project

@AuManufacturing’s new series, ‘Working smarter with data‘, continues today with the SME-led effort that is using data to automate gold processing.

A consortium has come together to commercialise a complete solution package for collecting and analysing and acting on gold mine processing plant data in real-time.

SME manufacturer of gold processing equipment Gekko Systems leads a consortium of Gold Fields, Orway IQ, CSIRO and Curtin University that have been backed by a METS Ignited Industry Growth Centre collaborative grant.

The METS Ignited funding will help develop a system to collect and analyse real-time gold reconciliations in a real mine gold processing circuit, automating gold processing by providing the technology, software, skills and expertise to miners as an integrated package.

The project will address difficulties in accounting for gold during production, lag times in assessing data and adapting procedures to maximise production from the data provided and the safety around a number of those procedures.

This is a process that will revolutionise the industry’s ability to measure circuit inventory and recovery in real time, move it into the digital world and provide opportunity for full automation.

Gold Field’s Processing Projects Coordinator Matt Dixon said the value of this ‘world-first’ collaboration was having information available in real time to make decisions – a capability that does not exist anywhere in the gold sector.

Dixon said: “The METS Ignited project is looking to integrate multiple technologies to achieve a step change in the automation and optimisation of gold processing.

“Gold Fields have chosen the Gruyere Gold Mine (main picture) as the site to install and test these technologies.

“Combining the OLGA (OnLine Gold Analyser) and Gekko Systems Carbon Scout (pictured below) with newly developed data capture and analytics technologies, aims to provide a step change to how we measure, monitor and optimise gold recovery.”

The ultimate aim is to have gold process and recovery data being analysed within minutes rather than days from anywhere in the world and for production to be adapted to reflect this data.

METS Ignited CEO Adrian Beer said : “The METS Ignited Collaborative Project Funds are a catalyst for industry collaboration to enable commercial pathways for Australian technology to deliver global results.”

In a world-first, the project draws together a range of technologies and skill sets that are the first step to truly understanding what is happening in a gold production plant real time and will eventually lead to a fully autonomous gold plant.

Pictures: Gekko Systems/Gekko Carbon Scout/Main: Gruyere Gold Processing Plant – a joint venture between Gold Fields and Gold Road Resources

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