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Sustainable Development

Our approach to sustainability is found in the solutions we provide for our clients, spanning the entire project lifecycle, from design and construction to operations and maintenance.

Our strategic partnerships also demonstrate our commitment to sustainable development and our desire to play a meaningful role in the decarbonisation transition as we collectively work towards the goal of net zero by 2050.

Dry Mining Unit (DMU) – Innovative Modular Solution

The Dry Mining Unit (DMU) represents the radical marriage of underwater track crawler technology with high-capacity skid-mounted materials handling and sand pumping systems, into a single remotely controlled mobile sand processing machine.

The unit allows for large tonnage run-of-mine (ROM) material to be efficiently pumped at high densities to processing facilities, reducing tramming distance and therefore decreasing the use of front-end loaders (FELs), excavators, articulated dump trucks (ADT’s) and consequently the consumption of diesel fuel on site.

 

The remotely operated tracked unit receives mineral sand ROM in excess of 1500 tph from cycling FELs into a ROM bin. This material is drawn out via a feeder at a controlled tonnage, discharged via a pulping chute, fluidised and screened into a wet bin.  Thereafter it is drawn out and pumped up to two kilometres by a centrifugal pump and booster stations to the wet concentrator plant. The DMU is mobile and relocated every seven days to follow the mining face.

The technology represents an innovative operating cost saving asset for clients in the mineral sands environment and could also be used in other operations where sand or fine overburden material can be slurried and pumped to either a concentrator plant or a tailings facility.

The efficiency compared to conventional tramming is substantial, with the machine relocated regularly to keep tramming distance to a minimum, thereby lowering diesel fuel consumption and carbon emissions. It is estimated that the power saving will be significant compared to the conventional load and haul method.

 

The Dry Mining Unit (DMU) offers the following special features:

  • No man to machine interface required for relocation – a safety imperative.
  • Increased production availability due to ease of equipment mobility and speed of relocation.
  • Reduced operating costs as the unit is fully self-supported and requires no additional EMV to relocate modules.
  • Single, robust remote controlled tracked vehicle.
  • Remotely operated via pendant requiring no physical ‘hands-on’ human interaction or machinery to tow or push during relocation.
  • Heavy duty, robust material feeder used in many mining operations.
  • Heavy duty tracks and drive system from world leader in track drive systems.
  • Diesel generator to allow machine relocation while being disconnected from HT umbilical power supply.
  • Hard wearing rubber screen panels.
  • Steel lined slurry pumping system.
  • On board service hoists and beam crawlers for ease of maintenance.
  • Fully automated slurry control system loops.
  • Customised, pressurised and ventilated motor control centre.
  • On-board medium voltage supply transformer.
  • High accuracy level of density and velocity control.

 

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ATA™ Technology – Repurposing Waste

ADP has designed and constructed a unit to implement ATA™ technology on a mine site. Developed by Soane Energy, ATA™ comprises three basic components – an Activator polymer, a Tether polymer, and an Anchor particle – to convert mineral waste slurry into two discrete products, being a dewatered solid that possesses sufficient mechanical integrity for landfill, construction and / or reclamation, and a clean water stream that can be immediately reused on site. Maximally recycling the clean water significantly reduces the need for fresh raw water.​

 

The unit is containerized and designed for easy relocation for test work at different facilities. It receives process tailings online and measures and tests all process variables as the sample is treated using the ATA™ process.

Designed to cater for a wide range of feed types, it also simulates various dewatering and mixing scenarios to pilot all processes that may be employed in the full-scale plant. The unit is currently in test phase at a diamond mine in Southern Africa and all process data currently being recorded will be used to generate a design envelope for the full system. Subsequent to this pilot phase, ADP has received an order to advance to design a production scale ATA system for the same mine.

This modularized unit, enabling ATA™ technology to be implemented at the source location where the waste is generated, will significantly reduce the amount of water required for mineral processing.

A significant reduction in process water requirements will materially reduce the demand for water in dry regions where water supplies are “stressed” and shared with local communities.

In addition, the dewatered tailings are recycled as a solid by-product with immediate reuse for construction material, among other things, reducing the consumption of imported materials with their associated carbon footprint.

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Digital Twin, Augmented and Virtual Reality Technology

ADP is deeply engaged in brownfield optimisation work and greenfield plant design using advanced digital technology and engineering for process simulation and control.

Working collaboratively with two Tier 1 clients, we are jointly developing connected digital twins as well as dynamic simulations using leading-edge integration software and specialist proprietary applications (apps) tailored to specific minerals of interest. 

 

The process plants are being designed using the latest smart engineering software tools and embedded into a full immersion digital twin software platform for design reviews, project delivery and commissioning, operator training and to facilitate effect remote operations and optimization.

The connected digital twin approach, whereby the plant is engineered as a static digital twin (digital replica of the asset) using augmented reality and virtual reality technology, enables the static digital twin to be the primary interface for operations and plant maintenance, linked to the connected digital twin (simulation) running in the background. This functionality enables early operator training (during plant construction) via a simulator and thereafter to be connected into the live operational data via the client’s Internet of Things global platform.

Artificial intelligence software, interfacing with plant data and the simulator, can be used on live operational data to optimize the predictive capability of the simulator, which is able to run predictive models many times faster than real-time. The simulator will be dynamically linked to the mine plans and will utilise geo-metallurgical data to predict and optimize plant performance and mine-blending.

This software technology facilitates extensive options analysis and scenario planning during the project study phases, significantly reducing the man-hours required by both ADP and the client to make a final process decision, which in turn reduces the carbon footprint of our deliverable, being a final process design.

Once deployed, the digital twin provides clients with a vast array of project whole-of-life benefits that will lead to better designs, more efficient energy utilisation and ultimately lower carbon intensity per unit of production. The digital twin also provides a tool to test decarbonization strategies and potential pathways for absolute reduction in carbon emissions.

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