In a statement, the company said it is aiming to lift production by about 400,000 metric tons annually through use of the system, which is capable of making real-time adjustments to the production process, based on data collected from control and measuring devices and camparisons to historical operating data. Testing is underway, the company said. 

“The key goal of implementing such an intelligent system is to strike and maintain a point of technical and economic balance, an optimal mode for equipment operations, whereby output of high-quality concentrate is maximized and resource consumption and losses are minimized,” said Konstantin Lagutin, NLMK Group’s vice president for investment projects. 

“By using this system, we are able to extract 1.5% to 2% more pure iron from iron ore, adding over 100,000 metric tons of iron ore concentrate per year for just one of the beneficiation sections. We are now beginning to roll out the system to the remaining three sections,” he said.