Mining Customer Stories

TOMRA X-Ray Transmission (XRT) sorters provide a game-changing solution for the Mt Carbine mine in Queensland, Australia. On the one hand, they deliver remarkable cost savings while achieving high-purity Tungsten for the processing plant. On the other hand, they contribute to a circular economy by effectively eliminating contaminants from the waste rock, which is used to produce green aggregates for sale – also creating an additional revenue stream for owner EQ Resources.

K+S Minerals and Agriculture, a major salt producer. turned to TOMRA Sorting Mining for a solution for the replacement of the existing sorting system at its rock salt mine in Grasleben, in Lower Saxony, Germany. The two companies have a long-standing research and development relationship, focused on exploring the application of TOMRA's technologies to salt sorting.

The Mt Cattlin mine, owned by Galaxy Resources Ltd (part of the Allkem group of companies), is located in the Great Southern region of Western Australia. The open pit mine produces high-quality spodumene concentrate for the global lithium market. The demand for this commodity is ballooning due to the role of lithium and lithium-ion batteries in mobile devices and in electric vehicles (EV), as manufacturers vie for leadership in the EV race. With supply struggling to keep up, lithium prices are expected to be strong for years to come.

MINSUR SA is a Peruvian mining company, part of the Breca Group of Companies, that owns and runs the largest underground tin mining operation in the world. Located in San Rafael, in the Eastern Mountain chain of the Andes in Peru at a high altitude between 4,500 to 5,200 metres above sea level, the mine contributed about 6% of the total world production of tin in 2015, when about 1 million tonnes of ore with an average grade of 2.13% were mined and processed, resulting in 20 kt of tin in concentrate.

TOMRA Mining provides effective solution for the extreme conditions at the Bluestone Mines Tasmania JV (BMTJV) Renison tin mine in Tasmania, with its XRT sensor-based sorting technology unlocking significant value and delivering environmental benefits.

Turkish Quartz mining company Mikroman Maden A.Ş, first adopted sensor-based sorting technology at three of its processing plants. It installed three high-capacity TOMRA PRO Secondary LASER sorters and reached its target of improving product quality and increasing capacity at these facilities. At its Kula plant in Manisa province, which requires the most precise mineral sorting, it combined TOMRA’s COLOR and LASER technologies to achieve the best results and recovery with the highest purity levels.

Stornoway Diamonds is a leading Canadian diamond exploration and producing company. It owns and operates the Renard Mine, in commercial production operation since 2017. It is the first diamond mine in Québec and one of six in Canada. Renard Mine started with an open-pit mine and subsequently opened an underground mine.

The integration of TOMRA’s ore sorting technology at the mine is a story of close collaboration between two companies that share the same philosophy: make the most of natural resources towards a circular economy. Its success is testament to TOMRA’s capacity to listen to the customer and develop tailored solutions for mining companies of all sizes – from large international concerns to small local operations with limited budgets.

Vista Gold Corporation owns the Mt Todd project in Australia, which was acquired in 2006 and is one of the country’s biggest undeveloped gold resource. The project, briefly operated in the 1990s, is known for having hard ore. This, and the fact that the project was operated previously, presented particular challenges for Vista Gold.

Lucara Diamond Corporation owns the Karowe diamond mine in Botswana. Historic recoveries include the 1,109 carat Lesedi La Rona – the second-largest gem quality diamond ever found – and the 813 carat Constellation diamond. Lucara’s success at the Karowe mine continues, most recently with rare gem quality blue and pink diamonds recovered in September 2019.

TOMRA’S XRT sensor-based sorting technology unlocks significant value for Gem Diamonds at its Letšeng Diamond Mine in Lesotho. It delivered an effective solution for coarse fractions in historical tailings dumps, recovering 15 times the initial investment in 4 years. This success has led to the installation of the first TOMRA Final Recovery sorter in the world, now in its final commissioning stage. Projects to further upgrade the mine’s Recovery Plant with more TOMRA XRT sorters are in the pipeline.

The rise in demand for chrome has been driven in great part by the China-dominated stainless steel industry, which represents more than 75% of chromium consumption. South Africa is a dominant global supplier of chrome ore and ferrochrome, and the biggest exporter to China – in 2017, it accounted for 73% of the country’s chrome imports. TOMRA’s X-Ray Transmission (XRT) sensor-based ore sorting is an established technology in physical separation that has proved extremely effective in mining operations for a variety of minerals, including chrome.

The big challenge in diamond mining is not only to find the diamonds hiding in the rock, but very importantly to extract them minimising breakages and dealing with waste effectively and cost efficiently.