Seattle-based mining technology company Datacloud has partnered with Trevali (TSX:TV) on orebody evaluation at their Caribou mine in New Brunswick, Canada and at Rosh Pinah in Namibia, using cutting edge technology to provide information on ore-waste boundaries and to identify mineralized zones.
The Caribou zinc-lead-silver mine is currently on care and maintenance amid the covid-19 outbreak, while Rosh Pinah continues to operate at full capacity with enhanced health measures in place.
The technology is a combination of direct measurement of rocks, and uses the measurements of each blast hole to generate information on volume using machine learning, AI, and geostatistical techniques to determine what the volumes are
Datacloud is developing disruptive mining technologies – building a modern platform to digitize operations at mining sites, enabling more efficient workflows to increase productivity, Thor Kallestad, founder and CEO of Datacloud told MINING.COM.
Datacloud’s MinePortal is cloud-based software that connects to a mine’s databases for exploration drilling, geo-modeling, production drilling data, blast design, and the comminution process to effectively integrate orebody knowledge from the pit all the way to the processing plant.
Kallestad said the technology is a combination of direct measurement of rocks, and uses the measurements of each blast hole to generate information on volume using machine learning, AI, geostatistical techniques to determine what the volumes are, based on the data collected from the blast holes.
“We export that information into existing systems, whether its blasting programs that need to know rock properties that we derived, or general mine planning software that needs to know about where ore-based boundaries are, for short term and long term planning,” Kallestad said.
Datacloud is also working to improve mining’s energy consumption through improved fragmentation, which requires less energy at the crushing stage.
“There are a lot of people looking at ways to increase operational efficiency, and one of the ways we see that we help with it is…characterizing where the ore, and where the waste is,” Kallesstad said.
“It allows companies to be more productive in operation – cycle times get quicker, unit costs go down, you use less energy per unit of production, and it has a lot of knock- on effects downstream, knowing where the ore is versus where the waste is.”
Production is up at Trevali operations, and the miner reported a strong operational third quarter for 2019.
“Collaborating with DataCloud is a step in our mission to be the world’s best sustainable underground mining company,” Trevali’s chief technology officer, Derek du Preez, said in a Linked-In post.
“We are excited to deploy DataCloud’s innovative orebody knowledge platform… utilizing the latest technology in mining will be key to Caribou’s emergence as an efficient, hi-tech Canadian underground mine, du Preez said.
On March 30, Trevali reported exploration successfully increased global zinc measured and indicated resources at all mine sites aside from Perkoa, and globally, exploration successfully replaced and increased its mineral resources by 9% — with significant increases at Rosh Pinah in particular.