E+H develops mobile mine model

Endress+Hauser Australia has developed a working demonstration rig for the mining industry, called ‘Mine Model on Wheels’.

A world first, the transportable rig allows plant operators and process engineers to model and optimise complex wet processes, such as flotation cells and thickeners. Engineers can also develop an understanding of the instruments, automation strategies and plant asset management techniques.

Starting early 2010, the set-up will be taken to major mining hubs and sites across the country, providing a hands-on experience for process engineers, instrument technicians and plant operators.

The fully functional model incorporates most of the instruments used in a typical mining process plant and, as the processes run, the users can analyse their impact on the field instruments. Users are able to evaluate the pros and cons of different instrument solutions for each application.

The rig incorporates several control loops including level control, interface measurement, density, pH control, mass flow and dosing. Parameters measured include slurry density, bed level height, underflow density and thickener dosage.