Mining in the world of innovation: new technologies to ensure high profitability of mines. Advanced tailings solutions. Technical visits to Neves Corvo and MATSA mines

Lisbon – Neves Corvo – Aguas Tenidas – Seville (Portugal-Spain) September 16-21, 2019

The practical implementation of the most advanced technical solutions for tailings thickening and a compacting compact tailing dump was demonstrated to a delegation of leading experts and managers of mining companies of Russia and Kazakhstan in Portugal at the Neves-Corvo ore processing plant of the Canadian company Lundin.

The project and equipment were delivered by Outotec, a Finnish company, the world leader in tailings and water management. Thanks to this technology, the need for tailings areas is reduced significantly. Outotec’s head of hydrotechnical solutions and tailings utilization Arturo Gutierrez del Olmo spoke in detail and demonstrated the technologies introduced at the mine to eliminate the extension of the dam and tail slopes due to dewatering of tailings, and Outotec equipment for tailings thickening and filtering.

During the second technical visit to Spain, the seminar participants visited the ore processing plant of the Swiss-Abu Dhabi company MATSA, where they got acquainted in detail with the norms and regime of industrial safety, technical equipment and the operation of an ultramodern enrichment plant with its fully automated control room, sample preparation laboratory and organization work of a chemical analytical laboratory.

Among the participants of the event were specialists of Daltsvetmet, Eurochem-Usolsky Potash Plant, IMC Montan, AGD Diamonds, Uralkali, Sary-Kazna and Eurochem-Project. In the evening, free from work at the seminar, the participants took a swim in the Atlantic Ocean and got acquainted with the history of Lisbon and Seville.

Photo 1 Tail dewatering, filtration and storage at the Neves Corvo plant (Lundin company) in Portugal
Photo 2 Neves Corvo tailing dump (tailings thickening up to 62% solids)
Photo 3 Seminar participants at the MATSA processing plant (Spain)