Las Cuevas from Koura

TOMRA Mining to provide XRT sorting technology for fluorspar mine

1 TOMRA COM Tertiary XRT sorter

2 TOMRA COM 1200 XRT 2.0 sorter

3 Amaury Colunga (left), Operations Manager and Javier Medellin (right), Crushing Superintendent from Orbia (Koura) with Albert du Preez (middle), Head of TOMRA Mining during the testwork conducted at the TOMRA Test Center in Wedel/Germany

4 Harold Cline, TOMRA Mining Verkaufsleiter für Nordamerika

Koura has once again chosen TOMRA Mining to support its operations at the Las Cuevas fluorspar mine in Mexico, convinced by the superior performance of TOMRA XRT sorters in removing waste from their feed. This choice also reflects Koura’s confidence in the high-quality, professional support of TOMRA Mining’s Applications and Service teams. Commissioning of the new XRT sorters is planned for early 2025.

Koura, Orbia’s Fluor & Energy Materials business and a leading global supplier of high-purity metspar and acid spar products, extracts the raw mineral from the Las Cuevas fluorspar mine in San Luis Potosí/Mexico – one of the world’s largest and most productive fluorspar sources. Koura has signed a contract with TOMRA Mining to install two cutting-edge X-Ray Transmission (XRT) sorters to significantly reduce silica and calcium carbonate content in their run-of-mine material, making processing more efficient and increasing the quality of their fluorspar product.

As one of the largest fluorspar producers in the world, responsible for over 20 % of global fluorspar supply, Koura’s choice to partner again with TOMRA reflects a decade-long relationship built on technological excellence and dedicated service. Koura has been using TOMRA’s Color sorters at its San Luis Potosí processing plant and the Las Cuevas mine to remove calcium carbonate waste from its fluorspar feed. With TOMRA’s XRT sorters, scheduled for installation in late 2024 and commissioning in early 2025, it aims to improve further the efficiency of the process while reducing costs and environmental impact through minimized water and chemical consumption.

The challenge: efficient removal of silica waste
from fluorspar feed

Koura turned to TOMRA to address the need to remove silica as well as calcium carbonate from the run-of-mine using less water – a scarce resource in the dry climate of San Luis Potosí – and fewer chemicals, as well as reducing the amount of material going through crushing and grinding.

TOMRA Mining’s XRT sorting technology precisely meets these requirements: the COM Tertiary XRT and COM 1200 XRT 2.0 sorters – for smaller and larger size material respectively – will provide Koura with higher throughput and more efficient silica removal compared to previous generations of sorters and traditional mineral processing technologies.

“Sensor-based sorting offers an amazing opportunity to remove waste while using fewer resources compared to flotation or media separation. With no water or chemicals needed, it is best in class for addressing our mining challenges,” says Amaury Colunga Di Bella, Surface Operations Director at Orbia.

A long-standing partnership with TOMRA Mining

Koura’s decision to select TOMRA’s XRT sorters also reflects the trust built over years of collaboration. “TOMRA has proven not only the high potential and capabilities of its technology but also the quality of its teams,” says Amaury Colunga Di Bella. “The attention and responsiveness of TOMRA’s service team are better than competitors’, and its Test Center is staffed with skilled professionals, passionate about showing the true potential of TOMRA’s solutions, and we love this.”

Harold Cline, TOMRA Mining’s North America Sales Manager, shares his enthusiasm for the next phase in the partnership marked by the supply of the new XRT sorters: “We are proud that Koura has reaffirmed its trust in TOMRA Mining with this new agreement, and we look forward to supporting Koura’s ongoing success at Las Cuevas with the same dedication and expertise they have come to expect from us.”

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