JKFrothCam was one of the winners of an Australian Coal Association Research Program, (ACARP,see article) award at the recent 2000 Australian Coal Conference and Trade Exhibition.

 

The newly developed state-of-the-art imaging analysis machine is set to revolutionise mineral separation, via flotation, at mines around the world.

 

The Julius Kruttschnitt Mineral Research Centre team invention, JKFrothCam, consists of a video camera and software package which are positioned above the swimming-pool size vats, or cells, used to separate wanted minerals and coal from unwanted minerals. The BHP Coal-managed Peak Downs preparation plant in central Queensland has already purchased several of the $300,000 units and reportedly has many more on order. BHP’s giant Escondida copper mine in Chile is trialling the technology. Several other mining companies are said to have requested evaluations of the system.

 

Peak Downs coal preparation plant manager Ian Brake said BHPC was completing the world-first installation of the FrothCam system for control of the site’s large froth flotation circuit.

 

“The full plant installation was approved after the FrothCam had successfully controlled one quarter of the flotation circuit automatically for several months without operator intervention,” Brake said.

 

“The FrothCam system is robust and captures the flotation performance recognition and control strategies of the best operators and applies this to the control of the flotation circuit automatically as process conditions change. This system has the potential to optimise many other areas of mineral processing and mining.”

 

JKMRC project leader Dr Peter Holtham said the FrothCam unit systematically and consistently monitored the bubble size, speed and texture of flotation froth bubbling over cell lips, ensuring maximum efficiency of the process.

 

Developed five years ago as a PhD project by Dr Khoi Nguyen — now a senior researcher with JKMRC — JKFrothCam is poised to become the most significant development in flotation since in-stream analysis was introduced in the 1970s, according to JKProducts manager Peter Cameron.

 

“Miners throughout the world have expressed interest in buying units or clusters of units for each flotation cell in each plant. When you consider the average plant has around 10 cells, while large plants such as Minera Escondida have 80 cells, the system will be a big seller for the University,” he said.

 

Dr Nguyen said for the past 100 years, flotation process monitoring had been considered an art rather than a science. The downside to this was that every operator had a different way of looking at things. “FrothCam provides a consistent, accurate monitoring system 24 hours a day ensuring all cells are overflowing at the correct rate all of the time,” he said. “Its strengths lay in the fact that it can rapidly adjust to different light conditions and that it is extremely robust.”

 

The crucial separation phase in mineral and coal processing, flotation involves the mixing of slurry (fine ground mined particles) with reagents in cells, then adding air. Wanted particles stick to the air bubbles and float on the surface, forming froth which overflows the lip and flows on for further processing. Material left in the cell is disposed of as tailings waste.

 

Meanwhile, a new research venture aimed at integrating JKFrothCam with a prototype machine vision system, SmartFroth, developed in South Africa, has been launched by JKMRC and South Africa’s University of Cape Town. The venture could have significant implications for the recovery of platinum group metals, including palladium, by South African producers, JKMRC and UCT representative said. The former will drive development of an integrated system.

 

UCT mineral processing research unit spokesperson Dr Dee Bradshaw said while the PGM industry was performing well at present, processing of ores in the industry remained highly complex. “For that reason we are addressing increasingly important technical challenges in forth flotation with Australia’s JKMRC, who are acknowledged as world leaders in this field,” she said.