Water scarcity is a global challenge with highly localized impacts, particularly affecting the metal and mining industries. With the global population expansion and intensified impact of climate change, existing freshwater resources are depleted, and water itself has become a precious commodity. Although the metal and mining industries have put greater pressure on their own sustainable water resource management, water scarcity has exacerbated the challenges. With the decline in ore grade, the water consumption of the industry is also increasing, and the energy transition has put forward higher requirements for production.

In the current situation, the dialogue around water resource management has shifted from operating costs to strategic investment. Simply put, no water means no production.

As the industry seeks to strengthen water resource management, water resource reuse and improving the efficiency of the entire mine water cycle are clear solutions. However, only by solving the fundamental problem can these solutions fully unleash their potential – optimizing the mine water circulation system.

Using automation technology to improve data visibility

Today’s mine water circulation almost does not use automated equipment, and still relies on manual data collection and operator experience to manage equipment control methods. The only automated process is to provide the overall situation of water cycle input and output – ignoring the deeper automation potential in the system to help guide operations and improve efficiency.

Wireless sensors, flow meters, valves, software, and analytical instruments help mines comprehensively understand how much water they use, as well as how much water is lost or wasted, while simplifying and optimizing control processes. Given that the mining industry uses 1% of the world’s water, improved efficiency means lower operating costs for operators and benefits for local communities.

Intelligent on-site devices open up more water-saving opportunities

Higher levels of visibility are crucial for truly optimized operations, and validated intelligent on-site device solutions are readily available for use. Intelligent on-site devices help improve data integrity by continuously capturing critical data and analyzing this data to identify optimization opportunities.

Enterprises can use wireless instruments in remote mining areas to create digital snapshots of the entire water infrastructure. By combining wireless and wired instruments, the introduction of automation technology enables operators to design water management programs, integrate real-time data to optimize the entire mine water circulation system, and accurately quantify water input, loss, consumption, and recovery.

Automated data collection can also simplify regulatory reporting. At present, miners regularly report their water intake and discharge volumes, and compile them into annual reports. Automation technology supports real-time data, simplifies processes, and enables faster and more transparent information sharing.

A Peruvian mining company needs to install a new flow metering system to meet local water requirements. The cost of stopping the measurement process in order to increase appropriate measurement is high. The 40 inch large pipeline that needs to be measured requires instruments with wide range and wide range flow variability, as well as limited straight pipes due to out of plane elbows at both ends of the pipeline (some flow measurement techniques require a diameter of 30 times the diameter length). These are the challenges they face.

Mining companies have considered electromagnetic flow meters, but they also have significant drawbacks: they may not be suitable for wet and polluted underground environments, require new technical knowledge for installation, are not suitable for pipelines with non bonded linings, and have a volume accuracy of 1%. In addition, the electromagnetic flowmeter paired with the 40 inch pipeline is heavy and difficult to transport and install to such a remote mining area. During equipment installation, work must be stopped, and the company’s daily expenses are over 500000 US dollars.

Therefore, the company chose the Flexim non-invasive ultrasonic flowmeter installed on the pipeline, which uses ultrasonic signals alternately emitted from one sensor to another. The physical quantity is determined by the transmission time of ultrasound signals; The transmission time difference is proportional to the flow rate. The microprocessor controls the entire measurement cycle and verifies the measurement availability and reliability of the signal. The noise signal is eliminated.

The benefits of non-invasive flow meters are significant: receiving flow measurement results immediately after installation of the flow meter; The instrument diagnostic display is installed correctly; Accurate zero stability; Accurately calculate the total flow rate of high and low flow rates; Three years of stable instrument diagnosis; No maintenance is required after installation.

The mining company achieved 100% process availability during the installation process, with a 60% reduction in installation costs, a 90% reduction in maintenance costs, a 75% reduction in replacement inventory, and a 50% reduction in project costs compared to other instrument technologies. In the end, the company not only solved the problem of tracking the water consumption of its beneficiation plant to report to regulatory agencies, but also made progress in achieving sustainable development goals.