TOMRA Mining has successfully designed and installed large-scale ore sorting plants due to their collaborative approach and extensive experience.
The company’s expertise was instrumental in the design of the world’s largest lithium sorting plant at Pilbara Minerals in Western Australia, with installation currently underway and set to be completed by late 2023. Pilbara Minerals, which owns the world’s largest independent hard-rock lithium mine, produces a spodumene and tantalite concentrate.
Sustainable energy technologies
Their aim is to become a sustainable, low-cost lithium producer, and this investment will allow for the expansion of their large-scale operation to meet the growing demand for lithium driven by sustainable energy technologies such as electric vehicles and energy storage. The new facility at Pilgangoora Project will be the largest lithium mineral ore sorting plant in the world, thanks to TOMRA’s experience in large-scale plant design and installation.
“This new facility to be constructed at our Pilgangoora Project will be the world’s largest lithium mineral ore sorting plant. TOMRA’s experience in large global sorting installations, innovative technology, and ability to provide local support were significant factors in our decision to work with them. From the start, the TOMRA team has been working side by side with us and our engineering partner DRA Global to deliver this important project,” stated Dale Henderson, MD and CEO of Pilbara Minerals.
TOMRA has 50 years’ experience in sensor-based sorting technologies and has designed and built 90% of the world’s large-scale mining sorting plants with a capacity above 300t/h. These include plants such as the Ma’aden Umm Wu’al project, which is operating at 1850t/h, or the Lucara diamond operation which runs 15 sorters. Specifically for the Pilbara Minerals project, TOMRA Mining offers effective ore sorting solutions with high sensor resolution and ejection accuracy that ensure high lithium recovery and waste removal with a stable and consistent performance at high capacity.
