Gemcom Software International, a supplier of specialized mining productivity software, has signed a collaborative agreement with Sandvik Mining and Construction to develop a system and interface for monitoring underground mobile mining equipment.

With sustainability now being a global buzz-word in a variety of applications, it was perhaps timely that the German-based engineering company, Siemens, chose this as the theme for its fourth media summit, held in Essen in early May. Once at the heart of Germany’s industrial power-base, Essen today epitomizes the greening of the rust-belt, with its coal mines, cokeworks and steel plants now remembered only as part of its heritage.

One focus of sustainability from Siemens’ viewpoint lies in adopting a holistic approach to saving energy and water in industrial processes, including mining and metallurgy. Examples cited by the CEO of the company’s Industry Solutions division, Jens Wegmann, included its Corex steelmaking process, endless strip processing for steel coil production and Siemens’ new design of hybrid flotation cell. This, Wegmann claimed, uses 17% less energy than conventional cells and has a smaller footprint, yet achieves better recoveries.

Rio Tinto Iron Ore’s Further Fines Processing Plant (FFPP) in the Australian Pilbara region processes about 22 million mt/y of iron ore, reducing impurities and increasing iron ore concentration. However, trials at the plant had identified a range of issues which were compromising the original design throughput, such as unresolved problems involving the inability to control the pressure in the slurry process.

In a move similar to the McNally Bharat Engineering acquisition of KHD’s Coal & Mineral Technologies last year, Hindustan Dorr Oliver Ltd. (HDO) has bought the Sheffield-based heavy engineering company Davy Markham from Endless LLP.

Outotec announced on March 8 that it will design and deliver a new manganese sinter plant to the Kalagadi Manganese Pty. Ltd project at Hotazel in South Africa’s Northern Cape Province.