A group of geologists, enrichment technologists and occupational safety and health specialists from Russia, Kazakhstan and Ukraine attended an intensive training seminar with technical visits to Helsinki and Talvivaara.

At the Terrafame open-cast polymetallic mine (formerly Talvivaara), the delegation studied the organization of mining operations and examined the heap bioleaching zone, where the gold extraction process takes place, even in severe frosts, at a temperature of 40-60C due to the exothermic reaction in the heap. The technological scheme and equipment of the crushing line was disclosed in detail in the reports of Sandvik and Outotec specialists. 

The delegates for the geological section from MMC Norilsk Nickel, Norilskgeology and AGD Diamonds examined issues of quality control of geological exploration and core samples (speaker Dr. Julia Cherepanova), studied the On-Line Mine technology of the Finnish company IMA Engineering – collection and analysis in real time data on the metal content during production activities from core, drilling waste and from ore on a conveyor belt and visited the Finland Geological Survey GTK, founded in 1885 by decree of Emperor Alexander III.

On February 3-8, a delegation of 21 senior managers of the “Rosmorport” visited the ports of Antwerp, Rotterdam and Hamburg in order to familiarize themselves with the efficient operation and development projects at those largest port complexes in Europe. The program of the Rosmorport visit was extremely busy and included discussion of tariff policy and port charges, development and modernization of ports, ensuring maritime safety, environmental management, construction of new terminal complexes, modelling and calculation of cargo flows.

During meetings with colleagues from European ports special attention was paid to digitalization, in particular the development of an integrated digital system for all participants in the transportation process, simplification of cargo declaration and customs procedures.

The delegation was introduced to the activities of pilotage services and the management of the safe movement of ships in the port, the design and undertaking of dredging operations and advanced methods of port locks and jetties. In particular, they discussed the Maasvlakte 2 project to expand the port area of ​​Rotterdam.

A seminar of the Trans-European Center in Australia in Perth on the topic: “The experience of Australian mining companies in the automation of production was successfully held from November 4-9.

The event was attended by representatives of Altynalmas, EuroChem, Nordgold, Norilsk Nickel, Apatit, VIST-Group, Lake Mining Company, Polyus-Project and Ferrexpo.

The Transeuropean Centre successfully held a seminar and a series of technical visits for mining companies in Canada on September 9-14, 2019. Mining engineers from more than 15 Russian and Kazakhstan companies including Alrosa, Nordgold, SPB Mining, Uralkali, Arctic Palladium, Severstal and many others visited the Porcupine gold mine operated by the Canadian company GOLDCORP in Timmins and several technology companies and centres in Sudbury, Ontario. A large mining cluster is situated in Sudbury where nickel, molybdenum and other polymetallic ores have been mined for over 100 years.

A series of meetings on innovations in the mining industry took place in Toronto and Sudbury.

At a warm welcome reception organized by Canadian colleagues and Sudbury City Hall Mayor Brian Bigger  met the group of Kazakh and Russian miners and shared his experience of restoring ecology in the region, spoke about sustainable development initiatives by mining companies operating in the Sudbury region and support for mining industry and close cooperation with regional authorities. The visitors were greatly impressed by how the environment was successfully restored in a region that saw acid rains 50 years ago due to nickel production and emissions. The outskirts of this mining town, formerly reminiscent of “Lunar landscape” were used by NASA to test equipment for the Moon landing. Now the ecology of Sudbury can be admired and the city and its surroundings are green.

Part of the group visited the Porcupine mine and familiarized themselves with underground gold mining.

Porcupine Mine is a unique enterprise where mining operations are carried out both in open pits and underground. GOLDCORP implements a 5-year strategy 20/20/20, which comprises a comprehensive programme of cost reduction: in the period from 2017 to 2021 the mine has plans was to annually reduce costs by $250 million and this target was successfully met in 2017 and 2018. The main success factors are improving energy efficiency, reducing costs, introducing autonomous drilling rigs (manufactured by Epiroc), reducing accident frequency, improving operational safety, and introducing the most advanced search and rescue equipment in an emergency.

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.

Digital ecosystems for well construction, optimization of drilling and production through digitalization and navigation systems for ultra-deep formations were the subjects of a detailed discussion in the program of technical visits organized by the Trans-European Center in September 2019 in Hannover and Celle (Germany).

The seminar was attended by a delegation of managers and leading experts of oil and gas and drilling companies from Russia, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, who also attended the Drilling Celle 2019 international congress on drilling technologies (with simultaneous translation into Russian) in Celle.

It was here that in 1859 the first oil field in Europe was drilled. Now in Celle Hanover there is a cluster of oilfield services companies and manufacturers of innovative equipment for the oil industry.

The delegation visited the technology and production centers of Baker Hughes, Goes Well GmbH and Weatherford Oil Tool GmbH. Among the participants of the event are heads and specialists of LUKOIL and its subsidiaries in Perm, Astrakhan, Kogalym and Usinsk, RITEK, Eriell Group, YugGazEnergia, Kazmunaygaz-Burenie, Burgylau and SibBurMash.

A group of managers of the leading Ukrainian metallurgical holding Metinvest studied and analyzed in detail the industrial safety standards that have been implemented at metallurgical and other industrial enterprises in the UK.

Ukrainian metallurgists visited the Normanton Steel Plant in Middlesborugh and the laboratory complex of the Technological Institute of Materials Science, where they got acquainted with the practical design of the safety system and exchanged practical experience with the plant’s specialists.

The seminar was also addressed by representatives of DNV-GL, the European Center for Process Safety (Rugby) and DuPont Sustainable Solutions. 3M / ScottSafety British specialists demonstrated the latest developments and safety equipment when working at heights, and Schenck Process (Germany) talked about the latest technological innovations in the fight against dust and air pollution in industrial premises. The program of the seminar, technical visits and Q&A sessions was informative and practical.

A group of executives and specialists from leading Russian oil and gas companies, including Lukoil, Rosneft and Gazpromneft, studied the practical experience and economic effect of implementing solutions for digitizing and automating the drilling and production of hydrocarbons on the continental shelf of the North Sea. Baker Hughes General Electric, Cognite, Weatherford, Exebenus, FutureOn, Kongsberg Digital, Wellit, MHWirth, and others presented their innovative solutions for digitizing key production and business processes to Russian oil companies.

The workshop participants also visited the Norwegian Oil and Gas Research Center NORCE and the experimental Ullrig drilling rig (drilling depth 2.3 km), where robots are being introduced to fully automate the connection of pipes during descent.

“Exemplary, highly productive, environmentally friendly mine”, – so the delegation of leading Russian and Azerbaijani gold companies described the Jokosivu mine of the Australian company Dragon Mining in Finland. The director of the combined mine, Timo Ridaskoski, shared his experience in organizing work and operating safety, showed a rescue chamber with an air supply for 8 hours (in case of an accident), delegates visited the working horizon, where production is under way, and inspected water treatment facilities. He drew attention to a uniquely low rate of injury: over the past 6 years the company has had one minor injury.
The participants in the Industrial Geology section also visited the core storage facility of the National Geological Administration of Finland in Loppi, where more than 3,000 km of core samples of various rocks from all known deposits and mining ore bodies of Finland are stored.
Representatives of Outotec, Weir Minerals, Epiroc, Mineral Exploration Network, Mine On-Line Service, IMA Engineering Ltd, Dr Yulia Cherepanova, Finnish Association for the Sustainable Development of the Mining Industry, etc. spoke to the participants of the seminar.

Photo 1 – Delegation at Jokisivu Mine

Photo 2 – Mining Stope at Jokisivu Mine

Photo 3 – Delegation is Looking at Core Archived at Loppi Facility

Photo 4 – Russian and Azeri Geologists at Core Storage in Loppi

The program of the seminar was very intense and included a series of technical visits to the ports of Belgium, Holland, Germany, and to the coal mine and the fully automated coal depot Boksberg.

The seminar participants were extremely impressed by the achieved level of digitalization and reduction of human labor, used during the transshipment of iron ore and coal in the ports, high operational efficiency, which the operators of Hansaport in Hamburg were able to achieve. Hansaport is the largest port for transshipment of coal and iron ore in Germany, where it processes up to 110,000 tons of iron ore and 70,000 tons of coal per day. The storage area for 2 million tons of iron ore and 1 million tons of coal is 350,000 square meters. On the territory there are 4 unmanned locomotives, located 14 km of railway tracks and 10 km of conveyor belts. There are 5 combined stackers and reclaimers working at the same time, and a unique automatic dust suppression system is located throughout the territory. All loading and unloading operations at the port are fully automated.

In the photo: Participants during the inspection of the Hansaport Dispatch Office.

In the photo: Loading of river barges and small-tonnage vessels.

In the photo: Participants get acquainted with the unloading of coal from the Panamax class bulk carrier in the port of Hamburg. The operation must be accurate and synchronized by all participants in the process by the minute due to ebbs and flows to avoid vessel downtime – and most importantly, the dry cargo ship of this class should not be stranded.

In the photo: Automated dust suppression system in action. The diameter of the spread of the jet reaches a diameter of 90 m, effectively covering all areas of the storage of coal and ore.

In the photo: All work is controlled by one operator.

In the photo: The participants of the seminar, accompanied by the leadership of the North Sea Port on the captain’s yacht, inspect the water area of ​​the port of Ghent and the main moorings.

Recently, the two Dutch ports of Wisingen and the Belgian port of Ghent merged into a single commercial structure. The participants familiarized themselves with the work of stevedoring companies and visited the sea terminal for the storage of coal of the company Sea-Invest, on the territory of which 350 plugs of different grades and coal mixtures of various shippers are stored at one time.

In the photo: inspection of the dust suppression system at the Sea-Invest terminal.

In Boxberg, the trip participants visited the largest coal warehouse in Germany, owned by LEAG, which is part of the energy concern Vattenfalle. Over the past 20 years, together with Siemens, the energy concern LEAG has been automating and dispatching transportation from coal mines, storing, mixing different grades and the subsequent shipment of coal, making Boksberg one of the most advanced enterprises in the industry. Here a fantastically high level of automation has been achieved, in particular, a 3D model of warehouses with data on quantity and qualitative composition is used, and simple technology for 8 years of operation amounted to less than 1 percent.

In the photo: During a visit to the control room.

In the photo: During the inspection of the warehouse.

The German specialists were open to discussion with their Russian colleagues, which made the seminar extremely informative. Indeed, it is one thing to listen to presentations from equipment suppliers and consultants, and another to see firsthand how a fully digitized warehouse of bulk cargo works.