Australia-based sensor technologies and software provider Gap Explosive Ordnance Detection (EOD) has developed a technology that can detect deep-buried metal in magnetite stockpiles.

Gap EOD specialises in the detection of explosive ordnance and other near-surface targets that require high-accuracy and -fidelity results.

Gap EOD director Dr Stephen Billings highlights that the company has found a solution to a key problem for many mines that many had deemed impossible to solve – the removal of ground-engaging tools (GETs), or broken machinery parts, from stockpiles.

Using the principles of deep minerals exploration and the company’s experience in detecting unexplored ordnance, Gap EOD developed UltraTEM, which consists of exceptionally sensitive electrical receivers and high-powered transmitters that enable technicians to scan 2.5 m to 3 m of stockpile at a time. Some traditional methods are capable of scanning only 15 cm.

In addition to allowing for ultra-high-definition digital mapping with high efficiency, the UltraTEM system can distinguish closely spaced individual targets, provides accurate estimates of object position and depth, and produces an auditable digital recording of all data, Billings explains.

UltraTEM makes the process easier, faster and more effective, he says, noting that, in one case, the projected time to sift stockpile was six months, but the stockpile was sifted in six days using the technology.

Following the development of UltraTEM, which started in 2013, Gap EOD has been improving and refining the equipment, and deployed UltraTEM II in 2014 to a mining site in Laos. The company also built the UltraTEM Marine, a system for underwater deployment, last year.

“We are working on a new version of UltraTEM II, UltraTEM III, which will have expanded capabilities and which we [hope] to commission within the next six months,” says Billings.

He believes that the solution can also assist mining companies in saving millions of dollars. “Failure to remove . . . broken machinery parts can result in costly damage to processing machinery, consequent downtime and a slowdown in production,” he says, adding that a crusher, for example, can cost up to $1-million in repairs every time it is damaged. There are also knock-on costs in production delays.

He points out that some mines regard the GET contamination of stockpiles as an occupational hazard, as well as a pervasive problem. However, those that have tried to locate the lost metals traditionally used a tedious, time-consuming process with little success, Billings avers, highlighting that it is particularly difficult to find GETs at a magnetite stockpile, as this is what steel is made of.

“[Therefore], there is a significant demand for the product,” Billings says, suggesting that the technology will have a significant impact on the mining sector, with the technology applicable to a variety of ore, and not just magnetite.

Citic Pacific Mining’s (CPM’s) Sino iron-ore project, in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, has been using the UltraTEM system since August 2014.

CPM explored several options to remove historical GETs from a five-million-ton stockpile at the project.

CPM geology manager David Mason highlights that, while removing the GETs without causing operational inconvenience or cost expenses had been a challenge, there had been positive results using the Gap EOD solution.

“It’s a clean process . . . and you’re not left with equipment you can’t use,” Mason says.

Gap EOD was to be deployed to the mine again for another scan of the stockpile at the end of last month.