As a CRC ORE integrated case study, one of Australia’s most remote mines has become host to a range of radical new technologies that could significantly impact how the industry does business. Newcrest Mining’s Telfer site has partnered with CRC ORE to improve production efficiency at their operations, with particular focus on energy and water conservation.

Experts from CRC ORE will gather and analyse data to assist in the design of new circuit configurations, which will then be compared to the more conventional crush-grind-float circuits currently in use. Newcrest and CRC ORE are expecting significant outcomes such as an increase of effective feed grades and a decrease in overall tonnage processed.
 

CRC ORE regards the mining process as one integrated progression, with cumulative gains possible through optimisation at all handling points. Support from cross-discipline specialists supplied by CRC ORE has made it possible for Newcrest to review the effectiveness of existing extraction processes at the Telfer site against the new generation of flexible modular processing circuits. The project will also produce options for management resulting from the evaluation of the new circuit designs. 
 

The Telfer project is focused on increasing feed grade and reducing energy and water consumption by classifying feed material as early in the process as possible. Rock breakage (particularly at the finer size ranges) requires a significant amount of energy, accounting for approximately 60 percent of all energy used in the mining process.
 

Telfer was selected for its geological structure, which exhibits a number of characteristics which make it appropriate for this project. Telfer ore tends to separate grades by fragment size, making it possible to screen material during processing. This reduces the amount of rock that must be crushed and milled and raises the mineral content of ore being fed to the mill.

 With technology outpacing the discovery of new deposits, miners are returning to areas previously considered unviable with old methods. Effective exploitation of the finer size fraction will bring precision in sorting coarse ore, earlier rejection of waste and a significant decrease in overall energy consumption. 

As an organization committed to seeing innovative and cost-effective advancement in ore extraction technologies, the benefits for CRC ORE are accumulating. This important partnering with Newcrest’s Telfer mine has already seen the fast-tracking of data that will be used to bring positive future outcomes for the whole mining industry.