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Typically, mining companies such as CVRD Inco use a labor-intensive, inexact process to determine ore yields and grades. By improving the accuracy of such information, CVRD Inco believes it could optimize the mix of chemicals it uses to produce nickel, copper, cobalt and other metals.

That's why the Toronto-based mining company is testing an ultrahigh-frequency (UHF) RFID system at its Stobie Mine in Sudbury, Ontario, incorporating EPC Gen 2 tags, ruggedized to withstand blasts and rock-crushing, as well as mobile and fixed UHF interrogators. Ship2Save helped develop, test and implement the system, which includes tracking software with a dashboard interface that offers a real-time view of ore extractions, as well as end-user reporting tools. The software can be configured to transmit alerts about specified events.

After blasting an area of the mine, workers toss an RFID tag or two into the debris. Using a handheld reader to collect tag ID numbers, a geologist enters location coordinates. At the end of each shift, the handhelds are placed into docking stations to upload this information. The ore and tags are scooped into buckets, and then dumped into a shaft leading to a crusher, which breaks up the ore. The ore chunks are then brought to the surface, funneled onto a conveyor belt, where an interrogator reads each tag amid the jumble of rocks, and loaded onto railcars.

The tag data is entered into CVRD Inco's modeling system and shared with mill operators to ensure that the appropriate chemical mixes are ready as the ore arrives.

After the pilot is completed, the firm hopes to expand the system by deploying tags in rock prior to blasting, as well using the tags to track railcars moving the ore to the mills.


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