PRESS RELEASE: “We are aligned with CEEC’s mission of joining together and sharing learnings for the good of the industry,” PETRA principal and managing director Penny Stewart said of the pairing, which she said she hopes will help drive efficiency improvements industry-wide.

CEEC chief Alison Keogh noted that the addition of PETRA brings new options to fast-track productivity and efficiency improvements.

One example of that, Stewart said, is progress the company has made with sag mill downtime, which can account for availability loss of up to 5%.

“Since PETRA’s SAG mill overload algorithms went live at Newcrest’s Lihirmine in PNG, overload events have been completely eliminated, adding significant value,” she said. “PETRA developed algorithms to predict SAG mill overload events, using SAG mill operating parameters tracked by the control system. This enables operators to prevent stoppages, and SAG mills can operate at maximum throughput with minimum risk of overload.”

PETRA now has a team of nine to support mining companies in their efforts to bring together big data with machine learning and optimisation.

“We use our engineering knowledge to derive engineering parameters from the raw data. Engineered data signals are typically 10% to 15% more reliable at detecting events than raw data signals. This brings real benefits in energy and productivity in mining,” she said.

As a non-profit, CEEC’s sponsors allow the group’s services and tools to remain free, and new funding aids in the development of new initiatives to accelerate mining comminution and processing efficiency improvements worldwide.

Other sponsors include Anglo American, Antofagasta Minerals, Ausenco, Barrick Gold, Bechtel, CITIC-HIC, Donhad, Eriez, FL Smidth, Freeport McMoran, Gekko Systems, Glencore Technology, Goldcorp, Hatch, Metso, New Gold Inc, Orica, Oz Minerals, PETRA Data Science, Sandvik, Steinert, TOMS Institute and Weir Minerals. CEEC facilities and other in-kind support has been provided by AMIRA International, Austmine, IMARC, MEI, UQ Sustainable Minerals Institute and the AusIMM.