Capabilities & Investments
Continuous investment sees an increase in capacity, ensuring Amdel customers receive improvements in turn around, quality and service.
Amdel's most recent investments in Drop Tower, Pilot Plant and QEMSCANÒ technology highlight Amdel's commitment to the mining industry. Latest investments include the following capabilities:
Latest investments include the following capabilities:
Ultra Trace's Robotic Sample Preparation Cells were the first technology of their kind in the world. Capable of reporting large samples in a single stage mix and grind operation, the system provides a massive boost in capacity, sampling in excess of 1000 samples per day.
Over the last few years Ultra Trace have increased its capacity for Loss of Ignition (LOI), predominantly to meet the demand for Iron Ore analysis.
An initial investment in robotically services Thermo Gravimetric Analysers (TGA) instrumentation, which dramatically increases throughout for this determination, has proved to be so accurate and productive that Ultra Trace has commissioned two more cells, each capable of analysing approximately 1500 samples per day.
Ultra Trace also operate numerous conventional TGA which are the accepted industry standard for LOI testing. These instruments boost the overall capacity for LOI determinations to over 4500 per day, as well as providing a reference technique for calibration of the Robotic Systems.
Pilot Plant
Amdel have a long history of working with clients on all aspects of their Pilot Plants. In the early 1960s Amdel were intimately involved in the very first pilot plants operating out of South Australia. Today we have secured a large, established industrial site in Canning Vale that holds all the necessary base infrastructure for the next modern Pilot Plant.
With the nearby Amdel owned Ultra Trace mineral assay laboratories (also located in Canning Vale) housing state of the art robotics and quality processes, the Amdel Mineral Processing Team are well credentialed and prepared for their next large pilot plant.
Amdel's Drop Tower is an integral part of an Iron Ore test work program, used to predict the final lump/fine split and particle size distribution expected from the blasting and processing of an ore.
The Amdel Drop Tower (Perth, Western Australia) provides extensive iron ore testing capabilities across the group. Iron Ore testing also incorporates Amdel's Davis Tube and Bulk Magnetic Separation facilities (Perth, Adelaide and Whyalla), and ISO Pyrometallurgical test capabilities (Whyalla). The Amdel Drop Tower incorporates the following features:
• Engineering design including the incorporation of a PLC together with pneumatics to operate the components of the tower.• The Drop Tower is controlled by a PLC which enables accurate data capture and provision of various interlocks. The interlocks are designed to:
- Increase safety of operation
- Minimise dust and noise
- Maximise data integrity
• The PLC operation minimises the possibility of operator error and ensures that the ore can only be dropped from the target height and requires no manual intervention to affect the ore drop.
Laboratory Expansions
Amdel have also increased the capabilities and efficiencies of the business through the major expansion of its South Australian Wingfield facilities.
Wingfield is a prime industrial estate (just 10km N/W of Adelaide CBD) with excellent access to major trucking and shipping corridors for local, national and international customers. Wingfield is situated on 16 hectares of land.
Furthermore Amdel has invested in it's Western Australian Laboratories. In 2007 Amdel acquired Ultra Trace and Independant Metallurgical Laboratories (IML) and in early 2008 Amdel also invested in a new site based in Canning Vale in Western Australia (located in the same suburb as Ultra Trace).
In Western Australia alone Amdel now occupies over 30,000m2 of land and has the single largest bank of robotic cells in the southern hemisphere to process mining samples.