NextOre, a mining services technology company, has been awarded the prestigious Mining Technology Company of the Year award at the Mines and Money Awards ceremony held in London on 1 December. The award recognises the company's innovative ore sorting solution that utilises Magnetic Resonance (MR) to accurately measure ore grade in real-time. Developed by CSIRO, Australia's national science agency, NextOre's MR technology represents a significant advancement in bulk ore sorting for mining companies, enabling accurate and rapid whole-of-sample grade measurements at high speeds.
Using a sensing technique similar to magnetic resonance imaging, the MR technology provides near-instantaneous estimates of whole-of-ore grade, allowing for the removal of low-grade waste ore, thereby increasing the grade of the ore stream and decreasing the tonnes delivered to the plant. The technology can be easily fitted over industry-standard conveyors and can operate at mining rates exceeding 5,000 tonnes per hour per conveyor belt.
NextOre's chief executive officer, Chris Beal, expressed his appreciation for the award and the company's success in commercialising the MR technology for mining companies. The technology has already been deployed at multiple copper operations globally and is capable of handling mining rates of up to 2800 tph, as demonstrated by the recent installation and full commissioning of a unit at First Quantum's Kansanshi mine, making it the highest capacity ore sorting plant in the world.