CiDRA Minerals Processing announced today that they have successfully installed and commissioned SONARtrac® process monitoring systems at Minera Antamina.
The SONARtrac systems will provide volumetric flow measurements on all three of the critical hydrocyclone feedlines within the concentrator plant, and will work integrally in the monitoring and control of the plant. Flow measurement on hydrocyclone feedlines is important because it assists in the proper operation of the hydrocyclones themselves which in turn affects the performance of the two main sections of the concentrator plant: grinding and flotation.
Compañía Minera Antamina represents the most significant investment in the history of Peruvian mining (approximately $2.26 billion). Located at more than 4,300m above sea level, Antamina produces different mineral concentrates of which copper and zinc are the main products. The concentrates, which are shipped to smelters abroad, are composed of fine mineral dust that have been reduced to micron size.
Antamina’s mineral reserves contain other minerals such as molybdenum, silver, lead and bismuth, which are secondary by-products of the production process. Located in the department of Ancash, 270km north-east of Lima, Antamina has a concentrator plant that is currently the largest polymetallic treatment plant in the world.
CiDRA’s SONARtrac flow technology is a new class of industrial flowmeter, utilizing measurement principles that are distinct from all other flowmeter technologies operating in the mining industry.
SONARtrac non-intrusive flow monitoring systems make no contact with the slurry and can be removed and reinstalled when it is necessary to replace the pipe. In addition, SONARtrac systems demonstrate a very stable output in the presence of a variety of ores, and demonstrate superior levels of performance. This passive, sonar-based technology enables measurements of single phase and multiphase fluids, as well as slurries, with the same level of accuracy and performance.