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CiDRA's Codelco mine trials a success

05/11/2009

WALLINGFORD, Conn. – May 11, 2009--CiDRA Minerals Processing announced the successful completion of a trial done in two mine sites of Codelco-Chile, the world’s largest copper mining company. The trial was conducted by Kairos Mining, a joint venture between Codelco and Honeywell, who chose the CiDRA’s SONARtrac flow monitoring system for a challenging slurry flow application at Codelco’s Andina and Norte mines.

Codelco is the world's largest copper producer, with production of 1.8 million tons of fine copper per year (about 15% of the world's production). The joint venture with Honeywell, named Kairos Mining, will help Codelco improve plant process stability and business performance.

CiDRA SONARtrac systems were chosen by Kairos Mining because of their non-invasive design, which provides exceptionally high reliability, performance and maintenance-free operation, thus lowering operating costs and total cost of ownership. 

TIAR Ltda., CiDRA’s exclusive representative in Chile, is providing in-country support in addition to the support provided by CiDRA’s headquarters in the United States.

CiDRA's SONARtrac flow technology is a new class of industrial flowmeter, using measurement principles that are distinct from all other flowmeter technologies operating in the mining industry. SONARtrac non-intrusive flow monitoring systems do not make contact with the slurry and can be removed and reinstalled when it is necessary to replace the pipe. As well, SONARtrac systems demonstrate a very stable output in the presence of a variety of ores. This passive, sonar-based technology enables measurements of single-phase and multiphase fluids, as well as slurries, with the same level of accuracy and performance.