CN213255039U

CN213255039U - Ore dressing device

Info

Publication number: CN213255039U
Application number: CN202021537031.8U
Authority: CN
Inventors: L·格伦瓦尔
Original assignee: Metso Sweden AB
Current assignee: Metsototel Sweden Ltd; Metso Outotec USA Inc
Priority date: 2019-07-29
Filing date: 2020-07-29
Publication date: 2021-05-25
Anticipated expiration: 2030-07-29
Also published as: EP4003614A1; CL2022000228A1; CA3148772A1; CN116945611A; WO2021018781A1; AU2020323233A1; SE544132C2; CN112295714A; MX2022001289A; SE1950907A1; PE20220541A1; BR112022001586A2

Abstract

Disclosed is a beneficiation plant for geological materials, the beneficiation plant comprising: an inlet region for geological material; a first sensor station comprising at least one sensor for determining a property of a geological material; a first classification station for classifying geological material; and an exit region where the geological material exits the beneficiation plant. The beneficiation system further comprises a conveying system for transporting the geological material, the conveying system extending between the inlet area and the outlet area, wherein the first sensor station is arranged along the conveying system downstream of the inlet area, and wherein the first sorting station is further arranged along the conveying system downstream of the first sensor station, further wherein the operation of the first sorting station is based on the information retrieved by the first sensor station. Corresponding methods and uses are also disclosed.

Description

Ore dressing device

Technical Field

The utility model relates to a mineral processing device in for example mining industry.

Background

The consumption of resources such as electricity and water is becoming an increasing focus when mining minerals or other valuable materials from the earth. As the grade of the global deposits available continues to decline and most of the high grade deposits are being consumed rapidly, more and more energy must be invested in order to obtain a given quantity of, for example, metal ore, since processing and discarding worthless material will result in a reduction in productivity. Available studies have shown that more than 90% of the energy consumed in the comminution process is thermally bound and does not contribute to the liberation/beneficiation process, meaning that significant energy savings can be achieved if it is possible to sort out worthless materials as early as possible. One solution is to apply coarse rejection (coarse rejection) techniques to enable the removal of barren material early in the process. This will minimize the tonnage that must be transported, crushed and handled. Over the years, different approaches to this dilemma have been proposed. For example, sensor-based bulk ore classification is used to separate large amounts of gangue from more valuable ore quantities. Low grade ore bodies usually contain a large amount of dissociated barren gangue, or in other words, the removal of worthless material from the coarse feed (coarse feed) will increase the grade of the ore entering the next stage for processing and avoid feeding material to the plant that only incurs processing costs, so that fewer tonnes of ore must be processed per tonne of product, thereby reducing energy and water consumption per tonne of product. Since silicates in gangue tend to be higher and generally harder than the mineral to be released, removing this hard and barren material prior to the comminution stage also has the potential to significantly reduce energy consumption and processing costs, and also to reduce ore transport requirements. This can be done by separating a large amount of barren gangue from a full conveyor belt based on the taste determined by the sensor measurements. A variety of sensors may be used, including photometric, electromagnetic, radiative, and X-ray in general. Sensors are typically applied to loaded truck boxes or full conveyor belts so that large amounts of ore can be evaluated.

Another method is to control and blast the body of the body to be mined in order to achieve beneficiation. US2014/0144342 describes a blasting method which achieves that those parts of the higher grade body to be mined have the smallest size fraction after blasting, while the less valuable parts (e.g. gangue) have a larger size fraction. The more valuable, finer size fraction can then be separated from the less valuable size fraction by means of a screening device or other separation equipment.

Another known approach is sensor-based flow classification. Such concepts are known from e.g. waste recovery and food processing, and those systems have been adapted and adapted to better suit the specific needs of the mining industry. However, the throughput of these systems, which is typically about 100 tons per hour, while mining applications typically require thousands or even thousands of tons per hour, has proven to be too small to be of practical significance.

SUMMERY OF THE UTILITY MODEL

It is an object of the present invention to overcome or at least alleviate the above problems, in particular those problems related to sensor based flow classification.

A particular object is to provide a beneficiation plant for geological materials. To better address this problem, in a first aspect of the present invention, a beneficiation apparatus for geological material is provided, the beneficiation apparatus comprising a sensor station for a geological material inlet area, the sensor station comprising at least one sensor for determining a property of the geological material. It also includes a first sorting station for sorting the geological material and an exit area for the geological material from the beneficiation plant. The beneficiation system further comprises a conveying system for transporting the geological material. The conveying system extends between an inlet region and an outlet region, and a first sensor station is arranged downstream of the inlet region along the conveying system. Furthermore, a first sorting station is arranged along the conveyor system downstream of the first sensor station, the operation of the first sorting station being based on the information retrieved (retrieve) by the first sensor station. An advantage of such an arrangement is that the sensor station can be used to obtain relevant parameters about the geological material (e.g. metal ore) and the data obtained at the sensor station is then used to control downstream sorting stations where the geological material can be sorted, for example, into a more valuable material stream which can be forwarded for further processing and a less valuable material stream which can be transported away for disposal.

According to an embodiment of the beneficiation plant, the inlet area comprises a separation device for dividing the geological material into a plurality of material streams before it reaches the conveying system. This has the advantage that each partial stream can be optimally treated in the beneficiation plant.

According to an embodiment of the beneficiation plant, the conveying system comprises a separate track for each material flow. By providing separate tracks, the material flows can be conveyed and sorted in parallel.

According to an embodiment of the beneficiation plant, the track bypasses the first sensor station and the first sorting station. Sometimes, if other previous pre-enrichment devices have been successful enough, a portion of the geological material may be directed through a sensor station and a sorting station directly to a subsequent processing facility, such as a downstream comminution line. The purpose of beneficiation is to treat only those portions of a geological material stream that need to be treated. Generally, processing in this field means crushing, but if it has been determined that a portion of the material is of sufficient grade, it makes no sense to pass it through sensors and sorting stations. This would only consume the beneficiation capacity which could be better used for other parts of the stream, or could even be argued that this would result in an increase in the energy required without any benefit.

According to an embodiment of the beneficiation plant, the plurality of material streams is divided by means of a screening device, which divides the material streams on the basis of particle size. This has a number of advantages. Generally, the post-blasting particle size can be used to estimate grade. As discussed in US-2014/0144342 (the teachings and contents of which are incorporated herein by reference), the more valuable portion of the ore body will have a finer size fraction, while the less valuable barren material gangue will break down into a coarser size fraction. For example, one possibility is to bypass the finest particles or particles in the finer range around the sensor station and the sorting station and to proceed directly with further comminution.

According to an embodiment of the beneficiation plant, the first sensor station comprises a plurality of sensors. By using a plurality of sensors, the measurement accuracy can be improved.

According to an embodiment of the beneficiation plant, the plurality of sensors comprises different sensor types. By measuring different properties of the geological material, the measurement accuracy can be further improved and the sorting station can be fed with higher quality information.

According to an embodiment of the beneficiation plant, the plurality of sensors comprises a sensor type selected from the group comprising, but not limited to: a laser sensor; a camera; a color sensor; a photometric sensor; a magnetic resonance sensor; a radiation sensor; a near-infrared sensor; a laser radar; a radar; x-rays; a gamma ray spectrometer; and a weight sensor. These are all applicable and the type of sensor may be selected according to the geological material to be evaluated. Different sensors have different advantages in the evaluation process, some based on external parameters for measurement (e.g. laser scanners and cameras) and some screening for internal parameters (e.g. X-ray sensors).

According to an embodiment of the beneficiation plant, at least a first sensor of the first type and a second sensor of the second type are arranged in series within the first sensor station.

According to an embodiment of the beneficiation plant, a plurality of sensors is arranged in series within the first sensor station, in particular 2-10 sensors, more in particular 2-7 sensors, even more in particular 3-6 sensors.

According to an embodiment of the beneficiation plant, the first sensor is arranged upstream of the second sensor, and wherein the second sensor is activated according to the information retrieved by the first sensor. This has several advantages. The application of the sensor will always imply certain power requirements. By way of the sensor arrangement that the result of the first upstream sensor is used to determine whether the second downstream sensor should be applied, to what extent it should be used if it is to be applied. If a first sensor can determine with a probability that a given threshold is exceeded that a particle of geological material has a certain property, e.g. is of no value, then there is no need to apply any downstream sensors, thereby reducing energy requirements and the available computing power can be used for better purposes.

According to an embodiment of the beneficiation plant, the sensors are arranged in an upstream-downstream arrangement order, and wherein the downstream sensor is activated according to information retrieved by one or more of the upstream sensors.

According to an embodiment of the beneficiation plant, the sensor comprises different types of sensors.

According to an embodiment of the beneficiation plant, the at least two sensors are arranged parallel to each other. In some cases, it may be advantageous to have two or more sensors perform their measurements simultaneously, for example, to improve measurement accuracy.

According to an embodiment of the beneficiation plant, at least two sensors arranged parallel to each other are arranged in series with at least one other sensor.

According to an embodiment of the beneficiation plant, the output data of the sensors is arranged to be combined in a fusion process. Each sensor used has certain advantages and disadvantages. The purpose of sensor fusion is to take advantage of the advantages of individual sensors to provide an accurate understanding of the environment.

According to an embodiment of the beneficiation plant, the fusion process is performed as direct fusion.

According to an embodiment of the beneficiation plant, the direct fusion is performed by using sensor data and/or historical values of sensor data from heterogeneous and/or homogeneous sensors and/or soft sensors.

According to an embodiment of the beneficiation plant, the fusion process is performed as an indirect fusion.

According to an embodiment of the beneficiation plant, prior knowledge about the environment and/or human input is used for indirect fusion.

According to an embodiment of the beneficiation plant, the fusion process is performed as a combination of direct fusion and indirect fusion.

According to an embodiment of the beneficiation plant, the fusion process is performed in a centralized manner. In this embodiment, the sensors forward their output data to a central computing unit, which is responsible for the correlation and fusion of the data and any decision based on the results.

According to an embodiment of the beneficiation plant, the fusion process is performed in a decentralized manner. In this embodiment, the sensor does not simply forward its output data to the central computing unit. Instead, each unit or at least some of the units handles the relevance and fusion itself and has some autonomy in how to use the results and what decisions to make based thereon.

According to an embodiment of the beneficiation plant, some sensors are arranged in a competitive configuration. This can be used, for example, to detect a sensor that is not functioning properly. For example, the sensor station may include more than one sensor, such as a laser scanner and camera, capable of determining the size of the geological material particles. The two sensors can then be run in a competitive configuration to see if they deliver comparable results. If not, error correction may be considered. Thus, it is not necessary or even necessary that the sensors always be in a competitive configuration.

According to an embodiment of the beneficiation plant, at least some of the sensors are arranged in a complementary configuration. In a complementary configuration, multiple sensors provide different information about the same geological material. During continuous operation, this is generally more energy efficient than competing configurations.

According to an embodiment of the beneficiation plant, the sensors are arranged in such a way that the sensor with less energy demand is arranged upstream of the sensor with more energy demand.

According to an embodiment of the beneficiation plant, the more energy demanding sensors are activated according to the information retrieved by the less energy demanding sensors. This arrangement makes it possible to save considerable energy. Some sensor types are very energy consuming, such as X-rays, and if those sensors are applied to the entire material flow, the entire material flow may be more than 3500 tons per hour, sometimes more than 6000 tons per hour, and in some applications even more than 15000 tons per hour, which will require a lot of energy. Thus, even though X-rays are a good method to improve the measurement accuracy, the energy consumption makes it impossible to apply it continuously. In contrast, the invention makes it possible to apply sensors with high energy consumption only in the case where the previous upstream and less energy consuming sensors are not yet able to establish the characteristics of the geological grain with a sufficiently high probability. Higher energy density sensors, such as X-rays, should be used only if the previous sensor data is insufficient to determine if the particle is valuable. This may save considerable energy while maintaining excellent measurement accuracy.

According to an embodiment of the beneficiation plant, the first sorting station comprises at least one robot arranged to sort the geological material transported by the conveyor system.

According to an embodiment of the beneficiation plant, the first sorting station comprises a set of robots.

According to an embodiment of the beneficiation plant, the robot of the first sorting station comprises a deflector. Sometimes the deflector is more suitable for diverting the particles into the correct flow.

According to an embodiment of the beneficiation plant, a set of robots is arranged in an upstream-downstream arrangement along the track of the conveying system.

According to an embodiment of the beneficiation plant, the separate tracks of the conveyor system comprise separate first sorting stations. It is advantageous to have separate robotic sorting stations for each track, as different tracks will convey geological material having different properties (e.g. different sized particles). Smaller particles may require a less powerful robot, but the speed is more relevant to being able to handle more particles per hour.

According to an embodiment of the beneficiation plant, the at least one robot arranged to classify geological material comprises a gripping device for picking up and placing geological material.

According to an embodiment of the beneficiation plant, the at least one robot arranged to classify geological material comprises a vacuum suction device for picking up and placing geological material.

According to an embodiment of the beneficiation plant, the at least one robot arranged to classify geological material comprises a pushing device for moving the geological material during classification of the geological material.

According to an embodiment of the beneficiation plant, the inlet area comprises an opening having a predetermined width and/or height.

According to an embodiment of the beneficiation plant, the width and/or height of the openings is adapted to the particle size of the respective tracks, such that particles can only pass through the openings one at a time. The information of the sensor will be more reliable, since the sensor can measure individual particles. The solution of using openings with a predetermined opening size will prevent the particles of geological material from entering the conveying system in groups. Instead, the particles will enter one after the other so that the system can distinguish between individual particles.

According to an embodiment of the beneficiation plant, the conveyor system comprises one or more conveyor belts per track. Conveyor belts are a convenient way of transporting geological materials (e.g., ore).

According to an embodiment of the beneficiation plant, at least one of the tracks comprises more than one conveyor belt, and wherein the conveyor belts are arranged to run at different speeds.

According to an embodiment of the beneficiation plant, the conveyor belt of the track runs at a speed exceeding the feed speed of the geological material. This will ensure that adjacent particles are far from each other so that the system will be able to evaluate each particle individually. The accuracy of the measurement is greatly improved if the sensor is allowed to measure one particle at a time.

According to an embodiment of the beneficiation plant, the conveyor system comprises one or more conveyor belts per track. The use of two or more conveyors per track may provide continuous material sorting. For example, the first conveyor belt may convey particles deemed valuable toward further comminution. The second conveyor may transport particles that have been deemed to be of little or no value toward a gangue dumps or similar location.

According to an embodiment of the beneficiation plant, the further sensor station and/or the sorting station is arranged between the first sorting station and the outlet area.

According to an embodiment of the beneficiation plant, the further sensor station and the further sorting station are arranged between the first sorting station and the outlet area.

According to an embodiment of the beneficiation plant, the beneficiation plant is arranged to use the information retrieved by at least another sensor station for system optimization. The further sensor station can be used as a quality assurance and can be operated continuously as a final sensor and sorting station or can be applied as a control stage at regular intervals to determine whether the system with the first sensor station and the first sorting station is operating as expected.

According to an embodiment of the beneficiation plant, the information retrieved by the at least one further sensor station is relayed back into the system for quality check purposes.

According to an embodiment of the beneficiation plant, a control unit is provided. The control unit is arranged to obtain information from all other parts of the beneficiation plant, and to process the information, and to send instructions to the various parts of the beneficiation plant based on the information.

According to the utility model discloses a second aspect provides a mineral processing method of geological material, including following step:

-feeding geological material through an inlet area;

-conveying the geological material from the inlet area to a first sensor station comprising at least one sensor by means of a conveying system;

-determining a property of the geological material by means of at least one sensor;

-conveying the geological material from the first sensor station to the first sorting station by means of a conveying system;

-classifying the geological material; and

-conveying the geological material from the first sorting station to an exit area where the geological material exits the beneficiation plant,

wherein operation of the first sorting station is based on information retrieved by the first sensor station.

According to an embodiment of the method, the method further comprises the steps of: the geologic material in the various material streams is separated at or near the inlet area prior to reaching the delivery system.

According to an embodiment of the method, the method further comprises the steps of: at least one of the material streams is caused to bypass the first sensor station and the first sorting station.

According to an embodiment of the method, the method further comprises the steps of: the material stream is divided based on particle size using a screening device.

According to an embodiment of the method, the method further comprises the steps of: a plurality of sensors is applied in the first sensor station.

According to an embodiment of the method, the method further comprises the steps of: different sensor types are applied.

According to an embodiment of the method, the method further comprises the steps of: selecting a type of sensor from the group consisting of: a laser sensor; a camera; a color sensor; a photometric sensor; a magnetic resonance sensor; a radiation sensor; a near-infrared sensor; a laser radar; a radar; x-rays; and a weight sensor.

According to an embodiment of the method, the method further comprises the steps of: at least a first sensor of a first type and a second sensor of a second type are arranged in series within the first sensor station.

According to an embodiment of the method, the method further comprises the steps of: a plurality of sensors, in particular 2 to 10 sensors, more in particular 2 to 7 sensors, even more in particular 3 to 6 sensors, are arranged in series within the first sensor station.

According to an embodiment of the method, the method further comprises the steps of: the first sensor is arranged upstream of the second sensor such that the second sensor is activated in dependence on the information retrieved by the first sensor.

According to an embodiment of the method, the method further comprises the steps of: the sensors are arranged sequentially in an upstream-downstream arrangement such that the downstream sensors are activated in accordance with information retrieved by one or more of the upstream sensors.

According to an embodiment of the method, the method further comprises the steps of: different types of sensors are applied.

According to an embodiment of the method, the method further comprises the steps of: at least two sensors are arranged parallel to each other.

According to an embodiment of the method, the method further comprises the steps of: at least two sensors arranged parallel to each other are arranged in series with at least one other sensor.

According to an embodiment of the method, the method further comprises the steps of: the output data of the sensors are combined in a fusion process.

According to an embodiment of the method, the method further comprises the steps of: the fusion process is performed in a centralized manner.

According to an embodiment of the method, the method further comprises the steps of: the fusion process is performed in a decentralized manner.

According to an embodiment of the method, the method further comprises the steps of: at least some of the sensors are arranged in a competitive configuration.

According to an embodiment of the method, the method further comprises the steps of: at least some of the sensors are arranged in a complementary configuration.

According to an embodiment of the method, the method further comprises the steps of: the sensors are arranged in such a way that the sensor with less energy requirement is arranged upstream of the sensor with more energy requirement.

According to an embodiment of the method, the method further comprises the steps of: the sensors are arranged such that the more energy demanding sensors are activated in dependence of the information retrieved by the less energy demanding sensors.

According to an embodiment of the method, the method further comprises the steps of: at least one robot is arranged, the robot being arranged to sort the geological material transported by the transport system at the first sorting station.

According to an embodiment of the method, the method further comprises the steps of: a set of robots is arranged at the first sorting station.

According to an embodiment of the method, the method further comprises the steps of: the set of robots is arranged in an upstream-downstream arrangement along the track of the transport system.

According to an embodiment of the method, the method further comprises the steps of: separate first sorting stations are arranged at separate tracks of the conveying system.

According to an embodiment of the method, at least one robot arranged to classify the geological material comprises gripping means for picking up and placing the geological material.

According to an embodiment of the method, at least one robot arranged to classify the geological material comprises a vacuum suction device for picking up and placing the geological material.

According to an embodiment of the method, the at least one robot arranged to classify the geological material comprises pushing means for moving the geological material during the classification of the geological material.

According to an embodiment of the method, the transport system comprises a separate track for each material flow.

According to an embodiment of the method, the inlet area comprises an opening having a predetermined width and/or height.

According to one embodiment of the method, the width and/or height of the openings is adapted to the grain size of the respective track such that the particles can only pass through the openings one at a time.

According to an embodiment of the method, the transport system comprises one or more conveyors per track.

According to one embodiment of the method, at least one of the tracks comprises more than one conveyor belt, and wherein the conveyor belts are arranged to run at different speeds.

According to an embodiment of the method, the conveyor belt of the track runs at a speed exceeding the feed speed of the geological material.

According to an embodiment of the method, a further sensor station and/or sorting station is arranged between the first sorting station and the exit area.

According to an embodiment of the method, a further sensor station and a further sorting station are arranged between the first sorting station and the exit area.

According to an embodiment of the method, the beneficiation plant is arranged to use the information retrieved by the at least one further sensor station for system optimization.

According to an embodiment of the method, information retrieved by at least one further sensor station is relayed back into the system for quality checking purposes.

Similarly, embodiments of the method according to the second aspect will provide substantial advantages over prior art solutions, corresponding to the arrangements disclosed above.

According to the utility model discloses a third aspect provides above-mentioned ore dressing device's usage.

Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed disclosure, the appended claims and the accompanying drawings. Note that the present invention relates to all possible combinations of features.

In general, all terms used in the claims are to be interpreted according to their ordinary meaning in the technical field, unless explicitly defined otherwise herein. All references to "a/an/the [ element, device, component, means, step, etc ]" are to be interpreted openly as referring to at least one instance of said element, device, component, means, step, etc., unless explicitly stated otherwise.

As used herein, the term "comprises," "comprising," and variations thereof, are not intended to exclude other additions, components, integers or steps.

Drawings

The invention will be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

fig. 1 shows a schematic structure of a mineral processing apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

The present invention will now be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which exemplary embodiments of the invention are shown. This invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art. Like reference characters refer to like elements throughout.

Referring now to fig. 1, it can be seen that a beneficiation plant 100 can begin with a feed device, for example, a feed conveyor 10, the feed conveyor 10 feeding a geological material, such as ore or other geological material, that can benefit from the present invention. The feed conveyor 10 may obtain material from the intermediate material storage directly from the dump truck or in any other suitable manner. The material is typically raw ore directly from blasting and has not been subjected to a previous crushing or similar operation. However, to avoid damaging the equipment, some sort of dimensional check is required. This can be done by using a so-called grid feeder (grizzly feeder). The feed conveyor 10 may then, if desired, convey the material to a primary crusher 20 (e.g. a jaw crusher or gyratory crusher) which reduces the particle size before further processing. Typically, the primary crusher reduces the particle size to <250mm, typically to a size between 100 and 200 mm. After the primary crusher 20, the material reaches a screening device 30, which screening device 30 divides the material flow into for example three different material flows F1, F2 and F3. The difference between these material flows is the size of the particles. In one embodiment, F1 may include particles between 150 and 250mm in size; f2 may include particles between 100 and 150mm in size; f3 may comprise particles of size between 75-100 mm. However, it should be noted that these particle sizes are merely exemplary and that large variations may occur depending on the geological material to be treated, the blasting method and the equipment used. Furthermore, the present invention is by no means limited to three material flows. In some cases a single stream may be sufficient, while in other cases more than three streams of material are required. Furthermore, according to another embodiment of the invention, an additional material flow FG is provided. As previously mentioned, other pre-concentration (pre-concentrations technologies) techniques may be used in conjunction with the beneficiation plant of the present invention. One example is to use an optimized blasting method, as described in e.g. US2014/0144342, which will result in the breaking up of higher grade portions of the ore body into relatively fine size fractions, whereas portions of ore body having lower grade will typically be broken up into coarser size fractions. This can be used in order to extract the finest fraction during the screening process at 30 and immediately transport it towards further comminution. If the pre-enrichment is confirmed to be successful (e.g. by applying a suitable blasting method), then no further beneficiation is required for the material and it can be fed directly to the comminution step. This saves energy consumption and/or makes it possible to increase the hourly throughput. Material flows F1, F2, F3 enter inlet region 40. The inlet area 40 comprises three inlets 41, 42, 43, one for each material flow F1, F2, F3, each inlet being fed by a respective output from the screening device 30. Each of these inlets 41, 42, 43 comprises an opening having a predetermined width and/or height. The width and/or height of these openings is adapted to the particle size of the respective material flows F1, F2, F3, so that only one particle at a time can pass through the openings. This is advantageous because it ensures that particles do not leave the inlets 41, 42, 43 stacked or piled on top of each other. Instead, they will leave the inlet area 40 and enter the respective first conveyor belts of the conveying system CS one by one. The openings of the inlets 41, 42, 43 may be arranged in the form of comb-like elements, i.e. tubes or the like extending in substantially vertical planes, keeping the particles laterally spaced apart. After exiting the inlet area 40, the particles will be transported by the conveying system CS, which comprises one track for each material flow F1, F2, F3. The transport system CS typically comprises several conveyor belts, at least one per track. Preferably, the conveyor belts are arranged to run at a speed higher than the feed speed through the respective inlet 41, 42, 43. This means that the particles will be separated laterally by the openings of the inlets 41, 42, 43 and longitudinally by the higher speed of the conveyor belt. Together, these two ensure that the particles remain separated. In a next step, the particles enter the

first sensor station

50, 51, 52. Note that in this embodiment, there are three

first sensor stations

50, 51, 52. One first sensor station per material flow F1, F2, F3, i.e. one per granularity range. Each of the

first sensor stations

50, 51, 52 comprises a plurality of different sensors arranged to determine the content of particles, i.e. to determine the amount of valuable material (e.g. iron, gold, copper or other material) present in each particle. The sensors are typically arranged in an upstream-downstream arrangement, and are arranged such that the application of the downstream sensor is dependent on the results of one or more upstream sensors. It may be the case that some sensors are very accurate in determining the particle content but have a large energy requirement. One such sensor type is an X-ray sensor. X-rays can be highly determinative of content and, if used for each particle, can deliver a very reliable output. But has the disadvantage that it requires a large amount of power. Other sensors (e.g., laser scanners or cameras) consume less power, but are less reliable in some cases. According to the invention, sensors using less energy are applied first, and if they are able to deliver results with a predetermined level of certainty, it is not necessary to use sensors that consume more energy downstream. For example, if an upstream sensor (e.g. a laser scanner) can establish that a given particle contains an amount of valuable material that exceeds a predetermined limit, and this information is at a certain level above a given threshold, then there is no need to apply a downstream sensor, e.g. an X-ray sensor. Thus, energy can be saved. However, if the upstream sensor is unable to determine the amount of valuable material in the particles, the downstream sensors are applied one after the other until a decision can be made. However, the sensor may also be applied in a more complex manner. For example, if the first sensor determines that a particle appears to have a particular set of attributes, based on the results of previous measurements, it may be determined that the particle is best evaluated by a particular sensor or a particular set of sensors of the sensor station. For example, a sensor disposed at the most upstream location (i.e., closest to inlet region 40) determines that the particles appear to have the same or at least similar properties as previously sensed particles, which properties are ultimately best determined by a particular sensor (e.g., X-ray or a particular set of sensors), which the system may immediately activate and avoid the use of sensors that have previously proven unsuccessful. It should also be noted in this respect that the sensors applied to the sensor station need not all be actual physical sensors. In addition, so-called soft sensors or virtual sensing means may be applied. These use information available from other measurements and process parameters to calculate estimates of quality of interest (interest) and can be used to provide a viable and economical alternative to expensive or impractical physical measurement instruments. The sensors may be arranged in a sensor fusion process. According to one embodiment, direct fusion may be applied. Direct fusion is the fusion of data from a set of sensors, soft sensors, and historical values of sensor data. According to one embodiment, indirect fusion may be applied, which also uses information sources like a priori knowledge about the environment and the human input.

After leaving the

first sensor stations

50, 51, 52, the first conveyor belt of the conveying system CS further transports the particles to a first sorting station (sorting station)60, 61, 62 comprising one or more sorting robots. It is advantageous if these conveyor belts have a certain minimum length. This will give the system sufficient time to process the data obtained at the

first sensor stations

50, 51, 52 and decide what action needs to be taken. Based on the data from the sensors, the system will send instructions to the first sorting

station

60, 61, 62. At or near these first sorting

stations

60, 61, 62, the conveying system CS comprises an additional conveyor belt running parallel to the first conveyor belt. The robot of the first sorting

station

60, 61, 62 will receive instructions to leave a given particle on the first conveyor belt or to move the particle to an additional conveyor belt. Each of the first and additional conveyors is assigned to particles that are considered valuable enough to be further comminuted or to particles that are considered not valuable and are therefore to be transported to a vein material dump or the like. The different

first sorting stations

60, 61, 62 each comprise one or more robots capable of sorting particles of the size of the respective material flows F1, F2, F3. Thus, the robot of a

first sorting station

60, 61, 62 may be arranged to handle larger particles than the robot of another first sorting

station

60, 61, 62. Typically, but not necessarily, the first sorting

station

60, 61, 62 handling smaller sized particles must be able to handle a larger number of particles per time unit than the first sorting

station

60, 61, 62 handling larger sized particles. The robots may operate according to the principles of pick and place by lifting the particles using any gripping means, vacuum means, magnetic means or any other suitable means, or they may operate as deflectors, guiding or knocking the particles to the correct position on the first or additional conveyor belt. By arranging a plurality of robots in an upstream-downstream arrangement along a conveyor system, the system can be sized to handle large amounts of material. And since the invention allows the use of a conveyor belt also having a considerable length, there will be enough space for a large number of robots arranged in series one after the other. Obviously, the robots may also be arranged on both sides of the conveyor belt.

After leaving the first sorting

station

60, 61, 62, the particles continue to move along the first or additional conveyor belt towards the second sensor and sorting

station

70, 71, 72. The second sensor and sorting

stations

70, 71, 72 may comprise a sensor station with, for example, an X-ray sensor and a sorting station with a sorting robot. This second sensor and sorting arrangement may be used at all times to evaluate particles that are considered less valuable, and if the system indicates that a certain particle does merit further comminution based on data from the second sensor station, the second sorting station may move the particle back to the conveyor belt to capture the valuable particle. The data obtained in this second sensor and sorting

station

70, 71, 72 can be used for quality checking of the

first sensor station

50, 51, 52 and the first sorting

station

60, 61, 62 and the results can be recycled back into the system so that the function will improve over time. The second sensor and sorting

station

70, 71, 72 may also be used in an intermittent manner, for example for regular quality inspection or when processing geological material, where the system has little or no prior experience, and where knowledge needs to be collected in order to put the system in place. This method can also be applied when applying new types of sensors in the

first sensor station

50, 51, 52 that require fine tuning. Upon leaving the second sensor and sorting

stations

70, 71, 72, the less valuable particles are transported to a gangue dump or the like, while the valuable particles are transported for further beneficiation and comminution.

The control unit 100 is arranged to receive information from all other parts of the beneficiation plant, such as sensor data, robot classification statistics, conveyor belt speed, feed speed from the primary crusher, flow ratios between different material flows F1, F2, F3, etc. Based on the input, the control unit decides the action to be taken, i.e. the instruction to the robot of the sorting station; the desired conveyor speed; which sensors are to be applied and in what order, etc.

The skilled person realizes that many modifications of the embodiments described herein are possible without departing from the scope of the invention, as defined in the appended claims. For example, the skilled person realizes that the device may not necessarily be connected to a central control unit, which processes all information and makes all decisions in a centralized manner. Instead, the various parts of the device (e.g. sensors) may themselves be responsible for processing the information obtained thereby, or even for other parts of the device, and take steps to correlate and fuse the data, and may decide in a decentralized manner with some self-control. A combination of centralized and decentralized systems may also be applied.

Claims

1. A beneficiation apparatus, characterized in that the beneficiation apparatus includes: an inlet region of geological material; a first sensor station comprising at least one sensor for determining a property of the geological material; a first classification station for classifying the geological material; and an exit region for the geological material from the beneficiation plant, wherein the beneficiation plant further comprises a conveying system for conveying the geological material, the conveying system extending between the entry region and the exit region, wherein the first sensor station is arranged downstream of the entry region along the conveying system, and wherein the first sorting station is arranged downstream of the first sensor station along the conveying system, further wherein the operation of the first sorting station is based on information retrieved by the first sensor station.

2. The beneficiation plant according to claim 1, wherein the inlet area comprises a separation device for separating the geological material into a plurality of material streams before the geological material reaches the conveying system.

3. The beneficiation plant according to claim 2, wherein the conveying system comprises a separation track for each of the material streams.

4. The beneficiation plant according to claim 3, wherein a rail bypasses the first sensor station and the first sorting station.

5. The beneficiation plant according to claim 2, wherein the plurality of material streams are divided by means of a screening device that divides the material streams based on particle size.

6. The beneficiation plant of claim 2, wherein the plurality of material streams are divided based on a structure of the geological material.

7. The beneficiation plant of claim 1, wherein the first sensor station comprises a plurality of sensors.

8. The beneficiation plant of claim 7, wherein the plurality of sensors comprises different sensor types.

9. The beneficiation plant according to claim 8, wherein the plurality of sensors comprises a sensor type selected from the group of: a laser sensor; a camera; a color sensor; a photometric sensor; a magnetic resonance sensor; a radiation sensor; a near-infrared sensor; a laser radar; a radar; x-rays; and a weight sensor.

10. The beneficiation plant according to claim 7, wherein at least a first sensor of a first type and a second sensor of a second type are arranged in series within the first sensor station.

11. The beneficiation plant according to claim 7, wherein the plurality of sensors is arranged in series within the first sensor station, particularly 2-10 sensors, more particularly 2-7 sensors, even more particularly 3-6 sensors.

12. The beneficiation plant according to claim 7, wherein a first sensor is arranged upstream of a second sensor, and wherein the second sensor is activated according to information retrieved by the first sensor.

13. The beneficiation plant according to claim 11, wherein the sensors are arranged sequentially in an upstream-downstream arrangement, and wherein the downstream sensor is activated according to information retrieved by one or more of the upstream sensors.

14. The beneficiation plant of claim 11, wherein the sensors comprise different types of sensors.

15. The beneficiation plant according to claim 7, wherein at least two of the sensors are arranged parallel to each other.

16. The beneficiation plant according to claim 15, wherein at least two sensors arranged parallel to each other are arranged in series with at least one further sensor.

17. A beneficiation plant according to claim 7, wherein the output data of the sensors is arranged to be combined in a fusion process.

18. The beneficiation plant according to claim 17, wherein the fusion process is performed in a centralized manner.

19. The beneficiation plant according to claim 17, wherein the fusion process is performed in a decentralized manner.

20. The beneficiation plant according to claim 7, wherein some of the sensors are arranged in a competitive configuration.

21. The beneficiation plant according to claim 7, wherein some of the sensors are arranged in a complementary configuration.

22. The beneficiation plant according to claim 7, wherein the sensors are arranged in such a way that the less energy demanding sensor is arranged upstream of the more energy demanding sensor.

23. The beneficiation plant according to claim 22, wherein the more energy demanding sensor is activated based on the information retrieved by the less energy demanding sensor.

24. The beneficiation plant according to claim 1, wherein the first sorting station comprises at least one robot arranged to sort the geological material transported by the conveyor system.

25. The beneficiation plant according to claim 24, wherein the first sorting station comprises a set of robots.

26. A beneficiation plant according to claim 25, wherein the set of robots are arranged in an upstream-downstream arrangement along the track of the conveyor system.

27. The beneficiation plant according to claim 24, wherein the separate tracks of the conveyor system comprise separate first sorting stations.

28. A beneficiation plant according to claim 24, wherein the at least one robot arranged to classify geological material comprises a gripping device for picking and placing geological material.

29. A beneficiation plant according to claim 24, wherein the at least one robot arranged to classify geological material comprises a vacuum suction device for picking and placing geological material.

30. A beneficiation plant according to claim 24, wherein the at least one robot arranged to classify geological material comprises a pushing device for moving geological material during classification thereof.

31. The beneficiation plant according to claim 3, wherein the inlet area comprises an opening having a predetermined width and/or height.

32. A beneficiation plant according to claim 31, wherein the width and/or height of the opening is adapted to the particle size of the respective track such that only one particle at a time can pass through the opening.

33. A beneficiation plant according to claim 3, wherein each track of the conveyor system comprises one or more conveyor belts.

34. A beneficiation plant according to claim 33, wherein at least one of the rails comprises more than one conveyor belt, and wherein the conveyor belts are arranged to run at different speeds.

35. The beneficiation plant according to claim 1, wherein a further sensor station and/or sorting station is arranged between the first sorting station and the outlet area.

36. A beneficiation plant according to claim 1, wherein a further sensor station and a further sorting station are arranged between the first sorting station and the outlet area, and wherein the beneficiation plant is arranged to use information retrieved by at least the further sensor station for system optimization.

37. A beneficiation plant according to claim 36, wherein the information retrieved by at least the further sensor station is relayed back into the system for quality check purposes.

38. A beneficiation plant according to claim 1, wherein a control unit is provided for receiving information from at least the first sensor station.