Promoting more sustainable mining practices with Malvern Panalytical’s water monitoring solution

A new mine water monitoring solution, Malvern Panalyticals Epsilon Xflow, for Geological Survey of Finland's (GTK) innovation projects promises real-time information about the quality of process- and wastewater from mining operations.

GTK is an international geoscience research agency operating under the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment. It is a leading European competence center on the assessment and sustainable use of geological resources. GTK provides geological expertise to create solutions for more sustainable growth.

“GTK and Malvern Panalytical are the best-in-class partners to help the mining industry not only to become more efficient but also to extract critical raw materials from waste and gain competitive advantages and deliver on ESG (environmental social governance) elements to promote more sustainable mining practices. We are pleased that GTK chose our leading Epsilon Xflow technology for their R&D projects dedicated to wastewater treatment, resource recovery, and recycling the process water in the mineral processing pilot plant” says Dr. Uwe König, Manager of Malvern Panalytical’s Mining and Metals business area.

GTK is directing efforts to accelerate the transition from a linear to a circular economy by offering customers smart solutions for the sustainable extraction and use of raw materials from secondary sources. The innovation projects carried out by GTK aim at creating solutions for harvesting critical raw materials from mine waste and side streams to boost sustainability in the raw materials sector.

“Our mobile pilot-scale recovery installation, together with mineral processing pilot plant and its laboratories, provide tailored water treatment solutions that best meet the customers’ demands. The investment in on-line energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectrometer Epsilon XFlow lets us monitor, control and correct essential process parameters in real-time. Development strategies for increasing the recycling rate of the process water and recovery of critical raw materials from effluents and side streams require reliable analytical techniques. Thanks to the Epsilon XFlow, we can offer our customers simultaneous analysis of a wide range of chemical elements in many different process streams with low detection limits.” says Dr. Małgorzata Szlachta, Senior Scientist from the Geological Survey of Finland.

“Mine water is a big environmental issue of mine sites globally. License to operate can depend on the mine water management solution among others. We at Malvern Panalytical believe that Epsilon Xflow helps with water treatment solutions the mining companies can overcome the challenge.” says Jarmo Lohilahti, Business Management Nordic at Malvern Panalytical.

The contract contains the shipment and commissioning of the Epsilon Xflow, a solution to analyze the chemical composition of mine liquids in real-time. The Epsilon Xflow incorporates the newest laboratory-proven X-ray fluorescence technology to enable simultaneous multi-element analysis, real-time results and high repeatability.

Epsilon Xflow enables on-line control of the composition of processing liquids, liquors and reagents under rough process conditions. It can detect traces of toxic metals and other elements to enable immediate counteractions to prevent environmental damage.

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