As pressure mounts on miners to cut emissions, conserve water and still grow production, Weir believes that smarter technology and re‑engineered flowsheets are the way forward. For the group, sustainability isn’t a side project – it’s the organising principle behind its entire innovation strategy.
Christian Stehle, Regional Engineering Director EMEA at Weir, explains that providing technology for a sustainable future is the essence of what the group does. “That promise plays out in four main areas: energy, water, waste and digital, all underpinned by a strong safety culture,” he states.
Nowhere is the sustainability challenge more acute than in comminution, the energy‑hungry heart of most mines. Rather than just tweaking individual machines, Weir is promoting the redesign of the entire circuit where possible.
“At Weir, we are promoting ‘non‑traditional’ flowsheets built around high-pressure grinding rolls (HPGRs), large ENDURON vibrating screens, coarse particle flotation and stirred mills to cut back on conventional tumbling mills. If you can do that in your flowsheet, then you use less water and significantly less energy compared to tumbling mills,” Stehle explains.
Weir conducted a study that highlights a significant opportunity to reduce energy use and emissions in comminution by leverage alternative technology combinations which was independently assured by SLR Consulting Ltd. Stehle adds: “The study demonstrated that replacing conventional technology with innovative new solutions can reduce energy use by 40% while also avoiding 50% of CO2e emissions.”
A recent order for HPGRs for Ivanhoe Mines’ Platreef project in South Africa is an example of these technologies being deployed at scale. Weir also received an order for a crushing and screening plant for a gold‑copper operation in Namibia, including its ENDURON® crushers and vibrating screens to provide the customer with more efficient equipment that provides a lower total cost of ownership.
Using water more wisely and creating less waste
Weir’s technology roadmap also targets water stewardship and waste reduction. On the water side, Stehle highlights solutions that change how tailings are handled. “For example, we have developed the Terraflowing dewatering solution which enables discrete tailings fractions to be handled in a way to produce an engineered paste product. By separating the tailings stream into discrete fractions, operators can handle them in different ways, providing a higher level of flexibility in the way they dewater their tailings, while still having a consistent end product.”
More efficient separation and classification, such as Weir’s new CAVEX® CVD hydrocyclone range, helps reduce recirculating loads and unnecessary re‑grinding, lowering both energy and water use.
Extending the life of wear parts is another, often overlooked, sustainability lever. “If you can make your parts last longer, that in and of itself is also a sustainability improvement, because you are using fewer resources to make new parts. Also, there’s a commercial advantage for the customers because their equipment runs longer with less downtime.”
Digital, AI and safety
On the digital front, Weir has made a number of significant acquisitions including Motion Metrics and, more recently, Micromine and Fast2Mine. Through these acquisitions and partnerships, Weir aims to focus on software and data solutions from pit to plant.
