WALLINGFORD, CT, June 15, 2009 -- CiDRA Minerals Processing Inc. announced that SONARtrac process monitoring instrumentation has been chosen for flow measurement on critical water lines within the Collahuasi mine in Chile. CiDRA, working with TIAR Ltda. of Chile, has installed more than ten systems in the mine's concentrator water lines, to accurately and reliably measure the water flow to the concentrator.
Collahuasi copper mine is situated in northern Chile, about 180km southeast of the port of Iquique, at an altitude of 4,000m. The mine is 44%-owned by Xstrata plc (following its acquisition of Falconbridge Ltd in 2006) in joint venture with Anglo American (44%) and a Japanese consortium (12%) comprising Japan Collahuasi Resources BV, Mitsui & Co. Ltd., Nippon Mining & Metals Co. Ltd. and Mitsui Mining & Smelting Co. Ltd. The operating company is Cia. Minera Doña Ines de CollahuasiMinera.
CiDRA's SONARtrac flow technology is a new class of industrial flowmeter, utilizing measurement principles that are distinct from all other flowmeter technologies operating in the mining industry. SONARtrac non-intrusive flow monitoring systems make no contact with the liquid or slurry and can be removed and reinstalled when it is necessary to replace the pipe. As well, SONARtrac systems demonstrate very stable output and superior levels of performance in the presence of highly variable fluid properties. This passive sonar-based technology enables measurements of single phase liquids, as well as multiphase fluids such as aerated liquids and slurries. This is a platform technology which also enables new capabilities like sand out detection, density correction, and acoustic pipeline monitoring.
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