Funds cut copper bets by $20 billion as bull trade unravels
Mounting worries about Chinese demand are helping to spark a rapid exodus from copper.
LAS VEGAS – MINEXPO 2012 – (September 24, 2012) Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., the world leader in serving science, is exhibiting its Next-Gen Mining portfolio during MINExpo 2012. The company’s highly integrated range of instruments, equipment and consumables, anchored by its industry-leading laboratory information management system (LIMS), is the only offering that addresses all segments of the mining process, from early stage exploration through processing. The company is demonstrating its Next-Gen Mining portfolio within booth 949 at MINExpo 2012, taking place from September 24-26, in Las Vegas.
“The mining industry is constantly seeking new technologies and methods for maximizing the efficiency of exploration activities and mining operations,” said Daryl Belock, vice president, innovation and R&D collaboration for Thermo Fisher’s analytical technologies businesses. “We’ve built the industry’s most comprehensive portfolio of analysis and material handling solutions with technologies that are designed to scale as mining operations rapidly change. We deliver next-gen mining today, with instruments, equipment and software that promote healthier, cleaner and safer operations while enabling greater efficiency and profitability from exploration to processing.”
Featured Exploration Solution
Thermo Fisher announced today that its Thermo Scientific Niton XL3t Series analyzers are now available with embedded GPS functionality. By making it easier to capture the exact position of a sample at the same time geochemical analysis is performed, the instrument is more efficient and helps accelerate exploration. More than 3,000 analyzers, including the Thermo Scientific Niton FXL Field X-ray Lab, are deployed across the global mining industry today.
Featured Extraction Solutions
Also announced today is the new Thermo Scientific Ramsey Micro-Tech 9000 Electronics platform, which provides enhanced communications and connectivity for process industry weighing and monitoring applications. Built-in Ethernet and USB capabilities improve system communication and prevent downtime by enabling independent load cell troubleshooting. Thermo Fisher offers a comprehensive line of bulk weighing and monitoring products including conveyor scales, automatic sampling systems, weighbelt feeders, tramp metal detection, coal and mineral sampling systems, level indicators and conveyor safety switches.
New to MINExpo is the Thermo Scientific Personal Dust Monitor PDM3600. The PDM3600 is specifically design for U.S.-based mining applications, protecting mine personnel by ensuring that shift-average respirable dust exposure does not exceed regulatory limits. The monitor is designed to be a first line of defense in preventing long-term effects from exposure.
Featured Processing Solutions
The Thermo Scientific Nitus Gamma Backscatter (GBS) Gauge measures level, density and wall buildup in large mining vessels of any size and in pipes 24 inches or larger. Backed by patented, non-contacting gamma backscatter technology, the sensor on the Nitus gauge features a highly stable and sensitive scintillation detector that enables it to respond instantly to level or density changes so plant personnel can optimize process efficiency and maximize productivity.
The Thermo Scientific Enviroflex Series hose pumps bring process efficiencies to a broad range of applications including extraction processes in hydrometallurgical plants, tailings management, reagent dosing and other mining operations involving the transfer of highly abrasive, high-solids sludge and slurries. Enhanced compliance features tie instrument and operator information to calibration samples and results so that instrument configuration, along with operator name and training level, can be automatically rendered.
Thermo Scientific elemental and particle size analyzers, coupled with sampling systems, provide an integrated solution that maximizes availability and accuracy with minimal head loss. Instruments such as the Thermo Scientific AnStat 230 Analysis and Sampling Station supply reliable, accurate process data and lead to improved recovery, lower costs and environmental compliance.
Featured Data Management Solution
Thermo Scientific SampleManager LIMS enables field and onsite laboratory and plant managers to continuously track, monitor, measure, analyze and report on all activities. Enhanced compliance features tie instrument and operator information to calibration samples and results so instrument configuration, along with operator name and training level, can be automatically rendered. Managers can produce a full audit trail for ISO 17025 or regulatory requirements and gather, review and quickly drill down on real-time data in a dynamic environment.
SampleManager LIMS provides interactive graphs, charts, tables, maps and many other data mining tools for real-time information and decision-making. It is flexible and configurable to accommodate various workflows and integrates easily with other applications and instruments inside and outside a lab, providing one standard user interface that helps mining companies maintain process standardization across multiple labs.
During MINExpo 2012, Thermo Fisher is also featuring solutions ideal for central laboratory analysis, including the Thermo Scientific ARL 9900 Series XRF-XRD spectrometers, which provide reliable analysis of elements and compounds in minerals and rocks, and the Thermo Scientific ARL PERFORM’X analyzer, which augments typical elemental analyses on pelletized or fused mineral samples with an ability to analyze small spots of 0.5mm and perform elemental mapping of rock or mineral samples. Both the ARL 9900 Series and ARL PERFORM’X analyzers can be linked to automatic sample preparation machines (mill and press or fusion machines) to fully automate routine labs with high sample throughput.
