MINGDER Optoelectronics' intelligent sorting technology: a new engine to solve the dilemma of overseas mineral processing

Against the backdrop of global green transformation and accelerated industrialization, China, as the world's largest consumer of mineral resources, has seen explosive growth in demand for minerals. However, the bottlenecks of domestic resource reserves and quality have forced Chinese companies to look overseas. From manganese ore in South Africa to spodumene in Nigeria, from copper mines in South America to bauxite in Southeast Asia, the vulnerability of transnational supply chains has gradually been exposed, especially the high transportation costs and inefficient mineral processing links, which have become key problems restricting resource security. Against this background, intelligent mineral processing equipment companies represented by MINGDER Optoelectronics are reconstructing the cost logic of the global mineral supply chain through innovations in pre-sorting technology.

1. Transportation cost dilemma: the double squeeze of inefficient mineral processing and high logistics losses

Overseas mineral development generally faces the "ore transportation trap": due to the lack of modern mineral processing facilities in mining areas, a large amount of low-grade ores are directly transported without pretreatment. For example, in the transportation of South African manganese ore, 30%-40% of impurities (such as silica and clay) are loaded together, resulting in a 25% decrease in the effective cargo capacity of a single ship; Nigerian spodumene is not sorted to remove mica, feldspar and other gangue minerals, and the ineffective transportation cost per ton during sea transportation is as high as US$18. This extensive model not only pushes up freight rates, but also causes hidden losses in port storage, tariff calculation and other links.

Traditional solutions rely on manual sorting or simple screening, which is inefficient and costly. The average daily sorting volume of Pakistani phosphate workers is less than 2 tons, and the labor cost accounts for more than 15% of the total cost; the hand-selection error rate of African lead and zinc mines is as high as 30%, and a large amount of high-value ores are misjudged as waste rock and discarded. The vicious cycle of inefficient sorting, ineffective transportation and out-of-control costs urgently needs a technical breakthrough.

2. MINGDER Optoelectronics Intelligent Sorting: Reconstructing the Cost Model from the Source of the Mine

MINGDER Optoelectronics' intelligent sorting equipment can quickly realize ore pre-sorting at the mine site through high-precision sensing and AI algorithms, reshaping the supply chain efficiency from three dimensions:

Transportation cost compression: The equipment can use visible light and X-rays to identify the differences in color, texture, luster, shape, gloss, density, etc. between ore and waste rock for sorting according to the characteristics of the ore, with a sorting accuracy of more than 95%. Taking a manganese mine in South Africa as an example, after pre-sorting with MINGDER equipment, the ore grade increased from 28% to 42%, the transportation volume of invalid impurities decreased by 60%, and the cost of a single ship of manganese ore was reduced by 22%.

Ore dressing efficiency has increased: the processing capacity of a single device can reach 50-100 tons/hour, which is 20 times higher than the efficiency of manual sorting. In the Vietnamese mining area, the labor demand of Mingder's sorting line has been reduced by 80%.

Breakthrough in resource utilization: AI dynamic learning system can identify mineral particles larger than 0.5cm. If copper oxide ore is applied, the average grade of ore can be increased by 40%-60%, and the resource recovery rate can be increased by 15 percentage points.

3. Global practice: technology empowers supply chain resilience

MINGDER Optoelectronics' solutions have verified their value in multiple key mineral supply chains:

Southeast Asian limestone: Deployment of optoelectronic sorting equipment in Indonesian mining areas can effectively select concentrate, secondary ore and miscellaneous stones from limestone, which can increase revenue by more than 13.8USD per ton.

Afghanistan quartz mine: The Afghan quartz mine uses MINGDER equipment to pre-throw tailings, throws out 25% of miscellaneous stones, and increases the value of ore by more than 30%.

Vietnamese white silicon and white potash mine: Vietnamese mines remove white potassium from white silicon through pre-sorting, and the selected concentrate can be directly processed for use in high-end plate sand.

The more far-reaching impact lies in the innovation of supply chain models: pre-sorting equipment enables the front end of the mine to produce high-value-added semi-finished products. For example, the fluorite mines in Outer Mongolia directly output concentrates with a grade of more than 90 after sorting, and the transportation volume is only 3/5 of the original ore, and it can be directly used in terminal products after arriving at the port.

4. Industry transformation: the strategic value of intelligent sorting

The technological breakthrough of MINGDER Optoelectronics indicates that China's high-end mineral processing equipment is changing the rules of global resource competition:

Cost control rights are shifted forward: Through sorting at the source of the mine, Chinese companies can reduce the proportion of freight from 30% to 15%, weakening the logistics premium advantage of Australian and South American miners.

Acceleration of low-carbon transformation: Every reduction of 10,000 tons of ineffective transportation can reduce carbon emissions by about 150 tons, helping China's mineral imports achieve the "dual carbon" goal.

Strengthening resource security: In policy-sensitive areas such as Indonesia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, pre-sorting equipment can shorten the retention time of ore and reduce the risk of sudden export bans.

According to industry estimates, if China's overseas mines fully promote intelligent sorting technology, it can save more than US$12 billion in logistics costs annually and release 300-500 million tons of ineffective transportation capacity. This is crucial for the growth of benefits and the control of transportation costs.