In a win for the domestic supply of critical minerals and local ingenuity, the Federal Government’s Advanced Manufacturing Growth Centre has backed Australia’s only operating primary tungsten producer’s use of advanced technology from deep-tech mining start-up Plotlogic.
Tungsten producer EQ Resources has secured $600,000 from the AMGC commercialisation fund to support the deployment of leading-edge innovations. The $1.97m project will enable more efficient recovery of tungsten from the Mt Carbine mine.
One of the new technologies being used at EQ Resources’ Mt Carbine Tungsten Project, 130km northwest of Cairns, is Plotlogic’s OreSense.
This proprietary technology uses a combination of advanced imaging and artificial intelligence to characterise ore in real time. It creates and analyses huge amounts of data which can be used to enable real time decision making.
The technology will improve environmental outcomes as well as reducing health and safety risks.
At the 481.36ha, 10 million tonne Mt Carbine project, Plotlogic’s sensors will be used to conduct digital assay testing of drill samples as well as scanning of active mining faces. Used in this way the technology optimises identification of tungsten while minimising the volume of waste material to be processed. This improves the economics and ESG/sustainability practises at a project that is already cleaning up environmental legacies from mines abandoned in the 1980s and 1990s.
It’s an application that could transform the mining industry by replacing, or at least complementing, existing geology techniques. By assaying samples in real time, the company saves both time and money while updating the geological model in real time. Using it to identify tungsten while mining a face, it can improve ore grades and minimise inefficiencies. It can also reduce field work hours, and therefore minimise health and safety risks.
The system includes high powered software which features artificial intelligence (AI) and is provided as a service (SaaS). It is the culmination of years of research and development led by mining engineer, PhD, and Plotlogic CEO Andrew Job. The company is now well and truly in the commercialisation phase. As well as EQ Resources, Plotlogic now counts three of the world’s four largest miners as its clients including BHP, Glencore, and Anglo American.
Mining should be able generate the resources society needs without harming the environment. Plotlogic’s goal is to work with our customers to use AI and automation deliver the future of natural resources – one that benefits both the industry and society,” Dr Job said.
For the Australian critical minerals sector, Plotlogic’s technology can facilitate more domestic supply, plus meet overseas demand from increasingly ESG-conscious customers seeking to secure supply from outside of China.
Even within a 100km radius of Mt Carbine there are two significant historical mines with potential for tungsten extraction, with more opportunities across Australia.
“Already companies based in western countries are seeking to buy tungsten from Mt Carbine and are asking for supporting documents about the source of the material,” said Damien Lefevre, CRONIMET Manager Business Development. The CRONIMET global commodities and metals recycling group is the joint venture partner for the refurbished 300,000 tonnes per annum capacity tungsten processing plant at Mt Carbine.
As EQ Resources further explores Mt Carbine’s potential for underground mining, the company foresees using Plotlogic’s technology to pinpoint high grade ore within the narrow, deep veins in which tungsten is commonly found.
Why tungsten is a critical mineral
While tungsten may not be as well-known as other minerals on the Government’s “critical” list, such as rare earths and cobalt, it’s an essential ingredient in a myriad of products and applications necessary for a modern economy.
These include hardening steel, drill bits used in mining, batteries and other components of renewable energy infrastructure, smartphones, airframes on Airbus and Boeing planes, and defence equipment.
Due to it having the highest melting point and highest tensile strength of any element, there is no substitute for tungsten in many applications.
Australia’s tungsten resources are the second largest globally, accounting for 12% of world economic demonstrated resources, but our current production levels are currently negligible.
China controls 83% of the world’s tungsten production, leaving Australia and its allies vulnerable to export controls, especially when Chinese domestic consumption is growing at 10% annually. That’s why tungsten is also on the US and European Union’s critical minerals lists.
While Australia has large reserves of tungsten, with Economic Demonstrated Resources of 394 kilotonnes, the extraction costs from thin underground veins can be high.