The growth in diamond mining has not been matched with an equivalent growth in technology development, thereby leaving many Botswana engineers and scientists as mere technology consumers of European and Asian products.
This is the observation of Professor Adamu Murtala Zungeru, the Principal Inventor of an invention known as ‘Method and System for Sorting of Diamonds’, which has been registered as a Patent by the Office of the Registrar of Patents, Marks and Designs under the Companies and Intellectual Property Authority (CIPA).
Zungeru is Head of the Department of Electrical, Computer and Telecommunications Engineering at Botswana International University of Science and Technology (BIUST). The other inventors that worked with him in this invention are Ernest Modise, a PhD student under Prof. Zungeru and Maintenance Manager at African Mining Services (AMS)), as well as Prof. Joseph Chuma, the Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and Technology, BIUST.
Responding to Botswana Guardian enquiries, Zungeru said that the new paradoxical dual modality x-ray diamond sorting method was inspired by two perspectives - in the first dimension, Botswana has been involved with mining for at least five decades, with mining being a key national income generator.
However, the growth in mining has not been matched with an equivalent growth in technology development, leaving many Botswana engineers and scientists being technology consumers of European and Asian products.
“Our endeavour thus was to demonstrate understanding and capability within Botswana and Africa of developing an internationally upheld product,” he said.
The second dimension is a commercially driven perspective taking into consideration market forces that influence mineral pricing. Zungeru observed that Botswana has outplayed significant capital investment in setting up operations to beneficiate and recover its previously rich diamond ores.
Consequently, it is under pressure to break even and make profits from its investments. Investments are generally timed, and a good investment is one that has a fast return, sustainable and competitive.
The introduction of artificial diamonds with comparable quality at a very low price is now becoming a real threat and placing significant pressure on Botswana’s diamond companies to, by whatever means, implement methods that will optimise on recovery. Thus, it is important to be mined cost-effectively when a resource has been identified.
Zungeru says that the cost-effectiveness of a diamond recovery plant is driven by throughput and quality of recovery. In the diamond value chain, most subsystems are capable of handling high tonnages or throughput up to and exceeding 500 tph. Modern-day diamond sorting is achieved through the application of x-ray luminescence (XRL) and x-ray transmission (XRT) techniques due to diamond ores containing small size diamonds < 32 mm, and large size diamonds > 10 mm.
Such applications have hitherto been used independently of each other and have subsequently progressed mutually exclusively. With these methods, object classification is based on the material absorption coefficient under irradiation with X-rays. Key challenges affecting classification are self-absorption and contrast, which are subjects of luminescence and transmission. Luminescence suffers from self-absorption for large particles and high energy measurement, while transmission suffers from poor contrast on small particles.
“With this patent, we developed a new paradoxical method of sorting diamonds combining the strengths of XRL and XRT techniques. Key features of our new paradoxical model performance are contrast mitigation for small particles, self-absorption rejection for a large particle at high energy, and improved particle detectability and classification,” Zungeru says.
He observes that in addition, mining precious minerals have been with human beings since the dawn of time. Despite the lack of advanced exploration technologies, the discovery of rich ores seemed to happen without much difficulty, leading to the depletion of such resources leaving predominantly suboptimal or noneconomic ore grades.
This presents a difficulty for today's mining companies in deriving value from such operations, often leading to closure and loss of multiple employment. To leverage any profit from such establishments, a new paradigm is needed. Currently, the exploitation of X-ray sensor-based sorting techniques is providing the right answer, with companies now able to mine what would otherwise be regarded as suboptimal ore grades.
Tomra, DebTech, Bourevestnik, Flow Sort, and RedWave are some of the pioneers of X-ray sensor-based technologies. While the pioneers have gained strength in either of the x-ray-based diamond sorting, the BIUST new diamond sorting machine leverages the strengths of X-ray luminescence and X-ray transmission sorting techniques to improve the recovery of minerals.
“Our method, though applied in the context of diamond sorting, is unlimited and is applicable to other precious minerals and base metals such as copper and nickel sorting,” Adamu says.
Asked how the development of diamond sorting machines will benefit Botswana, Zungeru says it will do so by: Enabling beneficiation of low-grade ores leading to massive job creation and industrialisation. It will lead to waste sorting at source; low trucking requirements and low waste handling.
Secondly it will benefit the country by enhancing the cost-effectiveness of diamond sorting in the region as it will be produced locally and easily accessible to users. As a result, products will be produced at local labour rates, thereby cutting first-world experts’ costs. In addition, costs of shipping will be cut drastically.
Other benefits include; Lowering product importation and loss of foreign exchange advantage; Creation of local employment and skills development; Providing a new green paradigm towards mining as this technology can be extended to waste sorting, thus reducing downstream processing load; Low power consumption due to low load handling, and low power bill; and Low greenhouse index due to low power consumption.
The invention will lead to a reduction in environmental pollution as waste can be removed early in the processing steps so that downstream processes that require chemical reagents see low tonnage, which would translate to low water and reagent usages.
Prof. Zungeru concedes that in some processes, it may be possible to dispose of dry waste, which has no environmental effects. And above all, Botswana will benefit from this invention by gaining international recognition in the space of technology, innovation, and production through patent application and granting.
This technology space employs a large foreign population. In Botswana, Tomra, DebTech, Bourevestnik, and Flowsort are the main providers of sensor-based sorting machines based on X-ray technology.
In one operation of a diamond mine, such installations attract in the order of P150 million of capital expenditure on replacements every five years, with tens of millions spent on operational spare supplies and other maintenance requirements.
Summary of the Invention The Invention describes a system for sorting of diamonds. The system comprises a conveying system including a conveyer belt to transport material sample including diamonds. Further, the system comprises an x-ray source configured to fire or emit x-rays at the material sample.
Furthermore, the system comprises an x-ray luminescence (XRL) detector configured to measure radiated intensity of the x-rays from the material sample and an x-ray transmission (XRT) detector configured to measure the transmitted intensity of the x-rays through the material sample.
Also, the system comprises a processor that is configured to: receive the radiated intensity and the transmitted intensity from the XRL detector and the XRT detector, respectively; process the radiated intensity and the transmitted intensity to determine an equivalent absorption coefficient; and identify the material sample as diamond based on a comparison of the equivalent absorption coefficient and a pre-stored model species absorption coefficient.
This is the observation of Professor Adamu Murtala Zungeru, the Principal Inventor of an invention known as ‘Method and System for Sorting of Diamonds’, which has been registered as a Patent by the Office of the Registrar of Patents, Marks and Designs under the Companies and Intellectual Property Authority (CIPA).
Zungeru is Head of the Department of Electrical, Computer and Telecommunications Engineering at Botswana International University of Science and Technology (BIUST). The other inventors that worked with him in this invention are Ernest Modise, a PhD student under Prof. Zungeru and Maintenance Manager at African Mining Services (AMS)), as well as Prof. Joseph Chuma, the Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and Technology, BIUST.
Responding to Botswana Guardian enquiries, Zungeru said that the new paradoxical dual modality x-ray diamond sorting method was inspired by two perspectives - in the first dimension, Botswana has been involved with mining for at least five decades, with mining being a key national income generator.
However, the growth in mining has not been matched with an equivalent growth in technology development, leaving many Botswana engineers and scientists being technology consumers of European and Asian products.
“Our endeavour thus was to demonstrate understanding and capability within Botswana and Africa of developing an internationally upheld product,” he said.
The second dimension is a commercially driven perspective taking into consideration market forces that influence mineral pricing. Zungeru observed that Botswana has outplayed significant capital investment in setting up operations to beneficiate and recover its previously rich diamond ores.
Consequently, it is under pressure to break even and make profits from its investments. Investments are generally timed, and a good investment is one that has a fast return, sustainable and competitive.
The introduction of artificial diamonds with comparable quality at a very low price is now becoming a real threat and placing significant pressure on Botswana’s diamond companies to, by whatever means, implement methods that will optimise on recovery. Thus, it is important to be mined cost-effectively when a resource has been identified.
Zungeru says that the cost-effectiveness of a diamond recovery plant is driven by throughput and quality of recovery. In the diamond value chain, most subsystems are capable of handling high tonnages or throughput up to and exceeding 500 tph. Modern-day diamond sorting is achieved through the application of x-ray luminescence (XRL) and x-ray transmission (XRT) techniques due to diamond ores containing small size diamonds < 32 mm, and large size diamonds > 10 mm.
Such applications have hitherto been used independently of each other and have subsequently progressed mutually exclusively. With these methods, object classification is based on the material absorption coefficient under irradiation with X-rays. Key challenges affecting classification are self-absorption and contrast, which are subjects of luminescence and transmission. Luminescence suffers from self-absorption for large particles and high energy measurement, while transmission suffers from poor contrast on small particles.
“With this patent, we developed a new paradoxical method of sorting diamonds combining the strengths of XRL and XRT techniques. Key features of our new paradoxical model performance are contrast mitigation for small particles, self-absorption rejection for a large particle at high energy, and improved particle detectability and classification,” Zungeru says.
He observes that in addition, mining precious minerals have been with human beings since the dawn of time. Despite the lack of advanced exploration technologies, the discovery of rich ores seemed to happen without much difficulty, leading to the depletion of such resources leaving predominantly suboptimal or noneconomic ore grades.
This presents a difficulty for today's mining companies in deriving value from such operations, often leading to closure and loss of multiple employment. To leverage any profit from such establishments, a new paradigm is needed. Currently, the exploitation of X-ray sensor-based sorting techniques is providing the right answer, with companies now able to mine what would otherwise be regarded as suboptimal ore grades.
Tomra, DebTech, Bourevestnik, Flow Sort, and RedWave are some of the pioneers of X-ray sensor-based technologies. While the pioneers have gained strength in either of the x-ray-based diamond sorting, the BIUST new diamond sorting machine leverages the strengths of X-ray luminescence and X-ray transmission sorting techniques to improve the recovery of minerals.
“Our method, though applied in the context of diamond sorting, is unlimited and is applicable to other precious minerals and base metals such as copper and nickel sorting,” Adamu says.
Asked how the development of diamond sorting machines will benefit Botswana, Zungeru says it will do so by: Enabling beneficiation of low-grade ores leading to massive job creation and industrialisation. It will lead to waste sorting at source; low trucking requirements and low waste handling.
Secondly it will benefit the country by enhancing the cost-effectiveness of diamond sorting in the region as it will be produced locally and easily accessible to users. As a result, products will be produced at local labour rates, thereby cutting first-world experts’ costs. In addition, costs of shipping will be cut drastically.
Other benefits include; Lowering product importation and loss of foreign exchange advantage; Creation of local employment and skills development; Providing a new green paradigm towards mining as this technology can be extended to waste sorting, thus reducing downstream processing load; Low power consumption due to low load handling, and low power bill; and Low greenhouse index due to low power consumption.
The invention will lead to a reduction in environmental pollution as waste can be removed early in the processing steps so that downstream processes that require chemical reagents see low tonnage, which would translate to low water and reagent usages.
Prof. Zungeru concedes that in some processes, it may be possible to dispose of dry waste, which has no environmental effects. And above all, Botswana will benefit from this invention by gaining international recognition in the space of technology, innovation, and production through patent application and granting.
This technology space employs a large foreign population. In Botswana, Tomra, DebTech, Bourevestnik, and Flowsort are the main providers of sensor-based sorting machines based on X-ray technology.
In one operation of a diamond mine, such installations attract in the order of P150 million of capital expenditure on replacements every five years, with tens of millions spent on operational spare supplies and other maintenance requirements.
Summary of the Invention The Invention describes a system for sorting of diamonds. The system comprises a conveying system including a conveyer belt to transport material sample including diamonds. Further, the system comprises an x-ray source configured to fire or emit x-rays at the material sample.
Furthermore, the system comprises an x-ray luminescence (XRL) detector configured to measure radiated intensity of the x-rays from the material sample and an x-ray transmission (XRT) detector configured to measure the transmitted intensity of the x-rays through the material sample.
Also, the system comprises a processor that is configured to: receive the radiated intensity and the transmitted intensity from the XRL detector and the XRT detector, respectively; process the radiated intensity and the transmitted intensity to determine an equivalent absorption coefficient; and identify the material sample as diamond based on a comparison of the equivalent absorption coefficient and a pre-stored model species absorption coefficient.
