Increase Copper Mass Transfer by 3%
Major Copper Mine in South Africa
A case study in improving solvent extraction circuit stability to increase copper mass transfer by 3%
Customer Challenge
Lack of Stability and Real-time Monitoring
Fluctuations in feed ore properties such as grade and metal speciation.
Stability and performance monitoring are not in real-time which causes reactive decision-making.
Limited feedback on how best to modify control variables for optimal metal mass transfer, reduced impurity transfer, and reduced organic extractant losses via physical entrainment.
How We Helped
Solvent Extraction Scientific-AI Optimization
Real-time organic flow monitoring with the Loaded Organic Flow Virtual Sensor allows operators to control SX circuits more efficiently with real-time data availability.
Monitoring and predicting changes in organic-aqueous continuity in the SX mixers.
Applying the dynamic equilibrium isotherm optimizer to the stabilized SX operation offers
recommendations.
The Outcome
3% Improved Copper Mass Transfer
Increased Copper Mass Transfer Across SX Circuit Consistently from 95% to 98%.
Improved Acid Utilization Opportunity of 2%.
>$9M additional Cu sales per year.
>$350,000 in acid cost savings per year.
Discover how Stockpile & Inventory Optimization can be applied to your operation
Mine to Market: Value Chain Optimization
The Stockpile & Inventory Optimization Application is one of a suite of real-time decision-making applications that use Scientific AI to optimize each process; from mine to market.
Our Material Handling model connects these applications to drive even greater efficiency.
Our process optimization apps can be deployed on a specific process bottleneck or expanded across the entire value chain.
They are powered by our Scientific AI Decision Intelligence Platform, brains.app.
Stockpile & Inventory Optimization
Grinding Optimization
Thickener Optimization
Flotation Optimization
Solvent Extraction (SX) Optimization
