PNL QUALITY EXAMINER

In Arizona’s early years, its five C's (Copper, Cattle, Cotton, Citrus, and Climate) served a foundational role in the developing economy, providing many jobs in mining, agriculture, and ranching. Copper, the first of the C’s, is experiencing a mighty resurgence with the Resolution Copper Project. It seeks to undertake the region’s largest copper mining endeavor. In a very real way, the sixth ‘C’ is chips. Motorola began its foray into chip development when it opened a research lab in 1949. By the 1980’s Intel opened its first semiconductor factory in Chandler. The synergistic interrelationship between mining and semiconductor manufacturing has created Arizona’s state-of-the-art technological dynamic duo.

The Resolution Copper Project is a proposed underground mine 60 miles east of Phoenix, Arizona, near the town of Superior. The project is a joint venture owned by Rio Tinto and BHP. The ore deposit lies nearly 7,000 feet below the earth’s surface. It represents one of the most significant untapped copper deposits today. The mine has the potential to supply nearly 25% of US copper demand.

The area around Superior, Arizona, has a long mining history dating back to the 1870s. The Magma Mine, located in the Town of Superior, started production in 1910 and operated until 1996.

On March 22, 2024, representatives from Resolution Copper, a joint venture between Riot Tinto and BHP, and communities and organizations around Superior Arizona met on March 20 to sign a landmark agreement- A Good Neighbor Agreement, forging a commitment for a two-way dialogue that will provide both sides with a means to meet the needs and interests of citizens, protect the environment and communities, help drive the local economy, support regional infrastructure and plan for anticipated growth.

The CWG (Community Working Group) focuses on potential environmental impact issues, science and policy, economic development and growth, and the pros and cons of the proposed development of the Resolution Copper mine, which could become one of the world's largest copper mining ventures.

Arizona is home to an abundance of critical and strategic minerals capable of meeting our nation’s manufacturing and national security needs. In fact, 74% of our nation’s copper output came from Arizona. 

The mining industry is an important contributor to our state’s economy, providing a total economic impact of approximately $15.4 billion in 2020. 47,657 jobs are directly and indirectly related to mining in Arizona. The average wage is $102,859. The benefits of mining are diffuse throughout the state as mining continues to be a leading industry in several rural counties.

Copper, an essential element in semiconductor manufacturing, is crucial in connecting and transmitting signals within these intricate circuits. It is used to produce interconnects, electrodes, memory chips, electronic devices, and wires connecting them.

Semiconductors are the building blocks of modern electronics, consisting of complex arrangements of transistors and interconnections. Copper, with its exceptional electrical conductivity, mechanical strength, thermal conductivity, and corrosion resistance, has been a staple material for interconnects that link these transistors. Its ability to efficiently transmit electrical signals with minimal resistance is vital to the functionality and performance of semiconductor devices.

In recent years, the world has become increasingly reliant on technology, with semiconductors at the heart of many technological advancements. These semiconductor components power everything from smartphones and laptops to electric vehicles and medical devices. However, a concerning trend has emerged in the semiconductor industry – copper shortages. The ramifications of copper shortages on semiconductor applications, exploring the causes, consequences, and potential solutions to this growing challenge is an imminent concern.

The causes of copper shortages are a result of factors including increasing demand for electronics, geopolitical factors, clean energy requirements, deterioration in copper ore quality and rising costs. Among the potential solutions strategies are diversification of suppliers, recycling, circular economy, material substitutions and efficiency improvements.

PNL has been supporting both the mining and semi-conductor industries since its inception in 1994 providing a host of quality services including nondestructive testing, equipment integrity inspections (tanks, piping, vessels, processing, and hoisting systems) welder qualifications, mechanical and metallurgical services.

PNL provides systematic quality testing in both open pit and underground mines in the southwest region. While hazards exist in open pit settings, underground mines can be decidedly dangerous for miners and service workers for a myriad of reasons. We have narrowed our focus in this Tech Talk video discussion to underground mine risks.

Some of the dangerous conditions that occur in underground mines are explosions, toxic air, fires, electrical hazards, lung damage, noise, high temperatures, ground fissures and cave-ins, rock falls fatigue drowning and falls.

PNL offers a host of quality testing services that serve the diverse mining industry. The specialization of equipment in the mining field is wide ranging, including countless components and machinery such as heavy-duty trucks, hydraulic shovels, acid tanks, loaders, excavators, grinding mills, crushers, blasting tools, conveyor belts and processing apparatus. While PNL utilizes many nondestructive technologies in this industry, we will focus this newsletter article on the specificity of Ultrasonics Testing Phased Array (UTPA) in mining.

PNL has recently upgraded its Ultrasonics Phased Array Technology to include three additional Omniscan X3 Scanners, which has become an industry standard in the mining industry. Olympus, which is now Evident Scientific, has improved its advanced technology nondestructive testing equipment significantly enhancing the interpretation of discontinuities found in welds and steel structures.

A UTPA transducer uses multiple elements during a scan. Beams are emitted sequentially at multiple angles allowing UTPA to create a more detailed scan. Other UT methods, on the other hand, use a single probe to analyze an asset. By emitting multiple beams, UTPA allows for the inspection of even the most complex assets.

FMC (Full Matrix Capture) is an advanced ultrasonic testing technique that uses UTPA probes to focus energy at every point of a region of interest, or ROI. Instead of performing a linear or sectorial scan, FMC defines a ROI where optimal spatial resolution provides improved sensitivity throughout the ROI.

The Omniscan X3 is a field proven flaw detector that offers UTPA and FMC (as well as conventional UT and Time-Of-Flight-Diffraction, or TOFD) in a compact and portable package for in-service inspection. The embedded software flattens the learning curve for any level inspector who also benefits from high-resolution and speed when performing weld inspection and corrosion mapping. When you consider the various heavy machinery involved with mining operations, there’s a range of critical components that require regular integrity assessments.

UTPA and FMC are used separately or in tandem to inspect difficult configurations and enhance flaw characterization in some of the following mining applications:

• Tank Floors, shells and piping are subject to external and internal conditions that may cause corrosion from content reactance, bottom soil reactance and weathering such as water build up from rain. These areas are detected during routine internal/external inspections in accordance with API 510, 570 and 653 as performed by PNL. Corrosion areas are generally detected with the use of other NDE methods such as MFL, Visual or Guided Wave examination, but these tools should only be used in forms of detection and not qualitative. UTPA corrosion mapping can be used to map these areas in a recorded X, Y C-scan for length, width and location as well as being displayed with a color pallet to show the wall loss present. Figure 1 represents a 10”x 5” corrosion map taken on a tank floor plate in a corroded area.

• Weldments for both new production and in-service applications can require UTPA examination. In-service critical welds can be scanned with UTPA/FMC looking for formed cracks and can be used for fracture mechanic sizing of length, location, height and depth, see Figure 2 for a previous crack examination in a welded joint. For new production welds, UTPA can be used to satisfy the volumetric requirements for most ASME and API applications on both pipe and plate by being able to detect size inclusion, lack of fusion, inadequate penetration, and porosity, see Figure 3 for a production weld lack of fusion indication. FMC can also be used to distinguish original weld geometric or repair conditions prior to welding based on enhanced indication placement, see Figure 4 for PJP weld display in a FMC-PCI Mode.

• Complex and thick geometries like bearing structures, gears, anchor bolts, hubs and other miscellaneous heavy mining equipment that are under constant cycling or stress may develop detrimental cracking. UTPA / FMC can offer views into restricted areas with a single sided or restricted access to interrogate these areas looking for fatigue-initiated flaws. Scaled drawings called scan plans can be designed to help show beam layouts as compared to the geometric reflectors to increase the probability of detection. Some of these complex geometries can also be overlaid to readily identify indications at the time of inspection.  Figure 5 demonstrates scan data of a hub to the original scan plan view.

The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) continues to work to reduce injuries, illnesses, and deaths through strong enforcement as well as active outreach, education, training, and technical support to the mining industry.

Working on a mine site requires initial and periodic safety training. 30 CFR Part 48 detail the required training required by MSHA for both surface mines and underground mines. 

Surface miners must receive a minimum of 24 hours new miner training prior to working at a mine site, plus 8 hours annual refresher training thereafter.

Underground miners must receive 40 hours of new miner training, 8 of which are to be at the mine site where work is to be conducted. Thereafter, underground miners must receive 8 hours annual refresher training.

The flourishing Arizona mining industry has necessitated additional training providers. PNL currently employs a MSHA certified surface miner trainer. Together with our 60-seat training center we can provide both 24-hour new miner surface training, as well as 8-hour annual refresher training for a variety of miner needs.

Our market analysis revealed the three benefits our clients and trainees enjoy are availability, flexibility and mobility, which apply to both MSHA and OSHA training. In an interview with two state training experts, they shared the insufficiency of online training. When newly certified trainees show up at the mine to work, they often have no proof of on-site mine experience, causing chaos because the trainees cannot substantiate their mine site knowledge.

PNL’s trainer can be available with a single phone call and is available to conduct MSHA or OSHA safety classes at PNL’s facility or at any Client’s location throughout Arizona, Nevada, and New Mexico. Some live trainers host class listings that are in different rotating locations throughout Arizona. It is challenging to get a group together to meet at an outside location or city, on slated days, while accommodating everyone’s schedules.

Shared topics which are addressed in both OSHA and MSHA training are confined space entry, electrical safety, fall protection, fire prevention and control, first aid, forklifts, aerial devices, hand and power tools, HAZCOM, lockout tagout and noise exposure. There are additional enhancements for MSHA on certain topics when working in a mine.

If you are interested in safety training for your employees, call (602) 431-8887 to schedule an MSHA or OSHA training course.