Solutions · NuMetrik Platform
Know what is in your process — continuously, accurately, without stopping to find out. Real-time measurement of the parameters that drive operational decisions.
The Problem
Mineral processing plants move complex slurry through kilometres of pipe, and the parameters that govern efficiency, safety, and compliance change continuously. The instruments needed to track those parameters have historically either failed in the process environment — or never existed for slurry at all.
Without continuous feed characterisation, grinding circuits default to conservative set points. Over-grinding consumes excess energy and reagents. Every tonne processed without accurate, real-time density data is a tonne processed at suboptimal conditions.
Slurry is abrasive. Pipe wall thinning progresses continuously in high-velocity lines. Without ongoing wall thickness measurement, the first sign of a problem is often a breach — unplanned downtime, environmental incident, and an emergency repair on your timeline, not yours.
Pump cavitation in slurry circuits begins as a detectable acoustic signal — present long before it damages impellers. Without continuous acoustic monitoring, cavitation typically goes unnoticed until vibration anomalies or flow degradation appear, by which point significant mechanical damage has already occurred.
Environmental reporting and mass balance closure typically rely on periodic grab samples — discrete points in a continuously varying process. Excursions between sample intervals are invisible. A compliance record built on grab samples is a record with gaps.
The Instrumentation Gap
The measurement challenges in mineral processing are not solved by adapting instruments from other industries. Slurry is aggressive, opaque, and heterogeneous — and each conventional measurement approach has a specific failure mode in this environment.
The incumbent technology for slurry density measurement. Requires radioactive source licensing, ongoing radiation safety program management, periodic regulatory reporting, and eventual disposal of spent sources. Single-point cross-pipe measurement with no spatial resolution. Source decay requires periodic recalibration or source replacement.
Requires pipe penetration and wetted electrodes in direct contact with the slurry. Abrasive particles erode the liner and electrodes on a predictable schedule. Reliable in clean water applications; maintenance-intensive and failure-prone in high-solids slurry. Repair requires process interruption.
Still the primary method for slurry characterisation at most operations. Captures discrete points, typically hourly or less frequently. Introduces measurement latency, labour cost, and analyst variability. Process excursions between sample intervals are undetected. Mass balance closures based on grab samples carry compounding uncertainty.
Differential pressure meters require flow restrictors in the pipe — vulnerable to scaling and blockage in mineral slurry. Coriolis meters require the full process flow to pass through a vibrating element; wear and plugging make them impractical in most slurry applications above moderate solids concentrations.
A genuine step forward: clamp-on instruments that measure bulk flow velocity without pipe penetration or wetted parts. The gap is in scope. Non-intrusive flow meters address flow and void fraction — but slurry density still requires a separate gauge alongside them. Pipe wall condition is not measured. For operations looking to eliminate the nuclear gauge or build a complete process measurement picture, the gap remains.
Inline rheological characterisation is actively addressed by commercial instruments — but existing solutions each involve a compromise. Bypass loop viscometers divert a side-stream and introduce latency. Direct-insertion probes measure apparent viscosity at a single shear rate and require process contact in an abrasive environment. None delivers continuous, non-intrusive full flow curve characterisation from outside the pipe without side-stream diversion. The most physically rigorous non-intrusive approach — combining ultrasonic velocity profiling with pipe pressure differential — shares the same clamp-on transducer infrastructure as the measurement system. Full flow curve measurement from outside the pipe is a natural extension of the acoustic platform already in place for flow and density.
Conventional process instrumentation tells you what is flowing — not what is happening to the equipment carrying it. Pump cavitation, impeller erosion, bearing wear, and developing mechanical faults each produce characteristic signatures in the process stream and in the pipe wall — detectable acoustically before they manifest as flow anomalies or vibration alarms. Condition monitoring and process measurement are treated as separate disciplines with separate sensor systems. The result is that equipment failures announce themselves through the process data only after damage is already done.
Where It Applies
Process Intelligence is relevant at multiple points in a mineral processing plant. The measurement needs differ by circuit area — and so does the value delivered by continuous, accurate data.
SAG and ball mill discharge lines carry the highest-consequence slurry flows in the plant. Continuous flow and density measurement enables real-time feed characterisation, optimised mill loading, and early detection of pipe wear in high-velocity discharge lines. Cavitation detection on pump lines provides early warning of mechanical stress before impeller damage occurs.
Key parameters: volumetric flow · pipe wall thickness · slurry density (R&D roadmap)
Feed density and flow rate to the flotation bank directly affect reagent dosing efficiency and recovery. Continuous measurement replaces intermittent grab sampling — enabling tighter density control and more responsive reagent management. The difference between a process running at setpoint and one running on last hour's sample.
Key parameters: flow velocity · slurry density (R&D roadmap)
Tailings lines are long, high-wear transfer circuits where pipe condition monitoring has significant safety and environmental implications. Continuous wall thickness measurement provides an ongoing wear record without taking the line out of service. Continuous flow measurement supports mass balance closure and provides the audit trail that environmental reporting requires.
Key parameters: volumetric flow · pipe wall thickness
Market Entry
NuMetrik's first Process Intelligence solution addresses these measurement challenges directly — deployed externally, without process interruption, and built on a proof base from one of the most demanding measurement environments on earth.
Flow velocity, volumetric flow, and pipe wall thickness — three parameters immediately actionable in a mineral processing plant. Deployed now, from outside the pipe, without cutting the line or stopping the process.
Entrained gas void fraction is in active validation for mineral processing conditions. Slurry density, particle size distribution, rheological properties, and cavitation detection are on the active R&D roadmap — signal processing algorithms for these parameters are in active development. Results are published as each program advances.
The acoustic measurement physics generalise. Oil sands, cement, water treatment, and other natural resource industries have analogous measurement challenges. Mineral processing is the first entry point — the validated application record built here is the foundation for what follows.
Tell us about your process environment. We'll tell you what Process Intelligence can deliver today and what is on the near-term roadmap.