Aeterna Automation runs a live digital twin of your SAG mill, pebble crusher, and ball mill, and drives it with model predictive control — so the circuit holds its true throughput limit at lower energy per tonne. Live in weeks.
Comminution is often the largest single energy consumer on site. Operators protect the SAG from overload and grind-out by running well below its real limit, and ore that changes hardness by the hour makes that limit a moving target.
Fear of overload and slurry pooling keeps mill load conservative. The safety margin is unmilled tonnes you pay for in lost throughput every shift.
Feed hardness and size shift constantly. Manual setpoints can't chase it, so the circuit is rarely at its true optimum for long.
Pebble recycle load and cyclone overflow grind size pull against throughput. Pushing one usually upsets another without coordinated control.
The Rock Analyzer reads feed particle size on the SAG feed conveyor, continuously — turning the circuit's largest disturbance into a measured signal the twin and the controller act on ahead of time.
A non-contact camera over the feed belt sizes every parcel of ore as it passes, reporting the full distribution — fines through top size — every few seconds.
Aeterna mirrors your SABC circuit as a continuously calibrated digital twin, then runs multivariable MPC against it — coordinating feed, water, mill speed, and pump and cyclone setpoints to hold the bottleneck without breaching any constraint.
A continuously calibrated model of your full SABC circuit that stays in sync with the plant — the trustworthy picture the controller acts on.
Multivariable MPC that looks ahead, predicts constraint violations before they happen, and moves every handle together to hold the bottleneck.
We calibrate the twin from your own historical and live data instead of a months-long manual modeling campaign — so MPC reaches closed loop while a traditional project is still scoping.
Read circuit tags over OPC-UA and auto-calibrate the digital twin to your ore and equipment. No new sensors.
Days 1–10Twin checked against history and soft-sensor benchmarks, with what-if runs reviewed alongside your metallurgists.
Weeks 2–3MPC online as operator advice, then closed loop. Operators stay in command; Aeterna holds the limit.
Live by week 6Representative ranges for SABC circuits. Your numbers depend on ore, circuit, and current variability — the calculator below estimates yours.
Hold mill load and motor power at the overload limit for maximum stable tonnes, adapting to feed hardness in real time.
Manage recycle so critical-size material is crushed and returned without choking the SAG or starving the crusher.
Stabilize slurry density and sump level, keeping the secondary mill fed and protecting pumps from upset.
Hold overflow grind size on target and manage circulating load so downstream recovery gets the size it needs.
A 5 Mt/a gold plant, valued at the current spot gold price. The figure is the incremental gold revenue from the modeled throughput uplift — lower energy per tonne and recovery gains are additional upside.
Gross incremental gold revenue at the live spot price; it excludes operating cost per tonne and the additional upside from lower energy per tonne and recovery gains. A site study produces a net, plant-specific figure.
“The twin was matching our circuit inside two weeks, and MPC was holding SAG load tighter than any operator could by hand — at higher tonnes.”
— Metallurgy Superintendent, copper concentrator
(reference available under NDA)
Send us a tag list and a slice of history. We'll stand up a digital twin of your SABC circuit and show you what MPC is worth — before you commit to anything.
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