CB Omni Agile Online Elemental Cross-Belt Analyzer

The Thermo Scientific™ CB Omni Agile Online Elemental Cross-Belt Analyzer is a flexible process optimization tool that generates real-time information for monitoring of mine grade and plant feed, material sorting and blending, and stockpile control. Utilizing industry-leading Prompt Gamma Neutron Activation Analysis (PGNAA) or Pulsed Fast Thermal Neutron Activation (PFTNA) technology, the CB Omni Agile performs minute-by-minute uniform and precise measurement of an array of elements for entire raw material process streams. A modern, modular design ensures exceptional configurability, simultaneously making the elemental analyzer lightweight and easy to install. Use the CB Omni Agile to eliminate sampling and manual analysis, access new levels of efficiency in process control, and achieve an attractive return on investment.

By delivering precise real-time elemental analysis, the CB Omni Agile allows you to monitor, sort and blend process streams with exceptional efficiency. Key features include:

• Substantial configurability to meet individual process control requirements for optimal performance across a wide range of applications
• Real-time, precise, and uniform measurement for timely process upset detection and responsive, accurate process control
• Choice of one, two or four large volume Nal scintillation gamma ray detectors for superior precision without the need for an additional source
• Source flexibility(radioisotope or neutron generator)for a safe, cost-effective solution for every process regardless of market fluctuations and shortages
• Lightweight, modular design for easy installation and relocation
• Comprehensive choice of industry-specific software packages for relevant data presentation and streamlined data use

Advantages of PGNAA analysis on stockpile feed

Stockpile feed can be highly variable, with some material being highly desirable while other material is below an acceptable grade. With PGNAA online analysis, data about the feed can be obtained before the material reaches the mill. This information can be fed back to the mine or the truck dispatch, allowing corrective action to be taken if necessary. When used in mine-to-mill accounting, PGNAA provides a point of reconciliation that can more easily be related back to a given situation with mine ore feed grades, without the issues of lag time or stockpile dilution that can come with mill flotation feed grade evaluation. It illuminates the variability of the ore grade from mine to mill, allowing action to be taken to reduce variability and thereby ensure a more stable feed supply to the plant.

PGNAA analysis introduces several distinct advantages:

• Use of PGNAA provides finer resolution than truck or shovel sensors
• Rapid feedback to the mine helps to optimize operations by allowing quick response to mis-routings or grade control sampling errors
• Production economics can benefit from data provided on potentially mishandled waste and ore that might be inadvertently routed into the stockpile—such undesirable material could either be recovered or, at the very least, not sent to the plant
• PGNAA makes possible tracking of gangue minerals through light element analysis

By providing an understanding of the variability of the ore grade from mine to mill, and allowing action to be taken to reduce variability, PGNAA analysis can optimize a plant’s performance. Such refinements can impact the performance of the concentrator and influence the production costs of the final product, improving the business model for the life of the mine.

Advantages of PGNAA analysis on mill feed

While stockpile feed analysis by PGNAA reveals variations in material prior to that material reaching the mill feed, once material reaches the mill feed, further analysis can be performed to determine the optimum particle range size for a given mill feed grade. The grinding that happens in the mill is an essential first step in mineral liberation, but often there is no clear understanding of what the target particle size should be. With more than 50% of energy consumption coming at the crushing and grinding state, overgrinding beyond the ideal particle size rang has definite economic implications. PGNAA analysis on mill feed helps determine what the optimum particle size range should be, thus helping operators set up process control strategies to achieve optimal grind size and maximize the metal yield.

• PGNAA analysis provides mill feed data to the plant for process control purposes, allowing operating setpoints to be adjusted prior to the Flotation feed
• Tracking of gangue minerals through light element analysis is made possible, thus allowing decisions/actions on gangue control strategies
• For end-of-month mine/mill reconciliation purposes, having PGNAA analysis on the mill feed provides a much more "provable" point of issue as compared to attempts at reconciling mine to flotation feed.(In the latter situation, the issue is often difficult to identify and often the flotation feed sampler or weightometers are "blamed," requiring expenditures of time and resource to either prove or disprove the accusation.)

Having the data to find the balance between particle size and circuit throughput, thus limiting consumption of grinding medica and maximizing metal yields, is crucial to limiting energy costs and optimizing plant output. PGNAA analysis of the mill feed can provide this highly advantageous information.