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Rio Tinto is seeking sensing solutions for environmental and waste streams application

Deadline: June 28, 2023

Rio Tinto is a mining company working in 35 countries. Most of their mines or processing facilities, include some form of environmental monitoring for water, air, soil, and sediment quality, using manual (or semiautomated) sampling in remote locations followed typically by chemical analysis in the laboratory. Opportunities exist to improve the current environmental analysis practices with online, connected in-situ and remote sensor technology.

Challenge
Rio Tinto seeks opportunities to add value to their environmental monitoring and management of mineral and industrial waste streams characterisation across the mining lifecycle. Rio Tinto aims to identify and support the development and validation of emerging in-situ and remote sensing technology solutions that are at a technology readiness level (TRL) between 3 to 8.

Solutions seeked
1) Monitoring for environmental, revegetation, and wastewater treatment optimisation applications:

- Regular (or continuous) monitoring for:

  • Groundwater at multiple depths (e.g. wells, bores, aquifers etc.)
  • Surface water flow and at multiple depths (e.g. ponds, dams, pit lakes, creeks, rivers, channels, trenches, etc.) or wastewater treatment plants input and outputs
  • Air (e.g. personal monitors, ambient, source emissions etc)

- Rapid and intermittent contamination detection for soil/growing media

- Regular and continuous soil/growing media characterisation to improve revegetation outcomes.

2) Monitoring waste streams characterisation for valorisation, remediation, or contamination avoidance applications:

  • Rapid and intermittent rare earth elements (REEs) and critical minerals detection in water, mineral and industrial wastes
  • Regular (or continuous) characterisation of tailings storage facilities, waste rock dumps and industrial landfills
  • Rapid and intermittent in-situ testing for generation prediction of acid and metalliferous drainage generation in waste rock (alternative to lab-based humidity cells)

Timeline

- Webinar: 07 June 2023

- Stage 1 (concept paper) submission deadline: 28 Jun 2023

- Stage 1 successful submissions announcement : 26 Jul 2023

- Stage 2 (full proposal submission) deadline: 04 Sep 2023

- Informing selected submission for contracts discussion: 09 Oct 2023

Submission
Please submit via the form on the Rio Tinto Pioneer Portal. You must agree to the Terms and Conditions.

Deadline
The initial phase - Concept Paper, will close for submissions on 28 Jun 2023.

Possible Outcomes
Rio Tinto is looking to partner with experts to identify, develop, and validate leading-edge in-situ and remote sensing solutions for various environmental monitoring and waste stream characterisation applications.

Deadline: June 28, 2023
Posted on: May 18, 2023
Industry: Energy, Mining
Key Words:
mining, environmental monitoring, wastewater remediation, waste streams

Rio Tinto is a mining company working in 35 countries. Most of their mines or processing facilities, include some form of environmental monitoring for water, air, soil, and sediment quality, using manual (or semiautomated) sampling in remote locations followed typically by chemical analysis in the laboratory. Opportunities exist to improve the current environmental analysis practices with online, connected in-situ and remote sensor technology.

Challenge
Rio Tinto seeks opportunities to add value to their environmental monitoring and management of mineral and industrial waste streams characterisation across the mining lifecycle. Rio Tinto aims to identify and support the development and validation of emerging in-situ and remote sensing technology solutions that are at a technology readiness level (TRL) between 3 to 8.

Solutions seeked
1) Monitoring for environmental, revegetation, and wastewater treatment optimisation applications:

- Regular (or continuous) monitoring for:

  • Groundwater at multiple depths (e.g. wells, bores, aquifers etc.)
  • Surface water flow and at multiple depths (e.g. ponds, dams, pit lakes, creeks, rivers, channels, trenches, etc.) or wastewater treatment plants input and outputs
  • Air (e.g. personal monitors, ambient, source emissions etc)

- Rapid and intermittent contamination detection for soil/growing media

- Regular and continuous soil/growing media characterisation to improve revegetation outcomes.

2) Monitoring waste streams characterisation for valorisation, remediation, or contamination avoidance applications:

  • Rapid and intermittent rare earth elements (REEs) and critical minerals detection in water, mineral and industrial wastes
  • Regular (or continuous) characterisation of tailings storage facilities, waste rock dumps and industrial landfills
  • Rapid and intermittent in-situ testing for generation prediction of acid and metalliferous drainage generation in waste rock (alternative to lab-based humidity cells)

Timeline

- Webinar: 07 June 2023

- Stage 1 (concept paper) submission deadline: 28 Jun 2023

- Stage 1 successful submissions announcement : 26 Jul 2023

- Stage 2 (full proposal submission) deadline: 04 Sep 2023

- Informing selected submission for contracts discussion: 09 Oct 2023

Submission
Please submit via the form on the Rio Tinto Pioneer Portal. You must agree to the Terms and Conditions.

Deadline
The initial phase - Concept Paper, will close for submissions on 28 Jun 2023.

Possible Outcomes
Rio Tinto is looking to partner with experts to identify, develop, and validate leading-edge in-situ and remote sensing solutions for various environmental monitoring and waste stream characterisation applications.

For further clarification

Please email pioneerportal@riotinto.com

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