AI ENGINEERING SOLUTIONS
IONMET advises mining companies on mineral processing, process design, simulation, technical training and the AI tools that keep plants improving.
Services
Each engagement connects the ore, the plant and the data. We take a question from mineralogy to flowsheet to the model that runs it, and deliver work that stands up to technical and financial review.
Ore characterisation and testwork programmes that show what an ore will actually do in a plant: liberation, recovery, grade and reagent response.
Flowsheet development, mass and water balances, equipment selection and study-level engineering for new projects and operating plants.
Calibrated models of comminution, flotation and leach circuits, so that operating and investment decisions are tested before money is spent.
Courses designed around your plant and your people, taught by a university lecturer in mineral processing and hydrometallurgy.
Practical machine learning and AI assistants for mines and plants, trained on your data and deployed on your own infrastructure.
Decision models
A working version of the circuit models we build for clients: Bond grinding energy, first-order flotation kinetics with a rectangular rate distribution, pyrite and gangue entrainment, a cleaner stage and full plant economics. Change the plant, the operation or the market and every number below is recalculated.
| Stream | Solids t/h | Cu % | Cu t/h | Cu distribution |
|---|
Illustrative model, not plant data. Chalcopyrite 34.6 % Cu, 4 % pyrite in feed, Bond work index 13.5 kWh/t from F80 2.5 mm, installed mill power 18 MW, pulp 35 % solids, power US$0.09/kWh, collector US$3.2/kg, lime US$0.18/kg, concentrate treatment and freight US$210/t, payable copper 96.5 %.
Approach
The same five stages on every assignment. Each stage hands measured numbers to the next, so conclusions can be traced back to the ore.
Mineralogy, chemistry and liberation of representative samples.
Testwork designed around the questions that decide the project.
Circuit models and simulators calibrated on the test data.
Flowsheet, mass balance, equipment and economics.
Data and AI tools that keep the plant improving after start-up.
Commodities
Ores and metals from current and recent work, each with its own process route.
Porphyry flotation, leaching, electrowinning
CIL and halide leaching of concentrates
Coal analysis, gasification, syngas, coke
Lepidolite flotation
By-product recovery from Li-mica ores
Acid-grade CaF₂ (≥97 %)
Deep-sea nodule processing
Cemented carbide recycling
Selected experience
Representative work by IONMET's founder in research and industry. Client names are withheld; references are available on request.
Doctoral and postdoctoral research at TU Bergakademie Freiberg on ionometallurgical routes for complex concentrates, including deep eutectic solvents.
Outcome: patented copper processing method (2023)
Review of beneficiation and chemical purification routes to acid-grade fluorspar, with laboratory work on sequential acid and alkaline leaching.
Outcome: lead author, BGR Fluorspar Study of Mongolia (2025)
Mineralogical characterisation and froth-flotation testwork on a lepidolite-type ore, leading to a process route and pre-feasibility basis.
Outcome: flotation programme, XRF and MLA reporting
Full ore characterisation and flotation response study for a porphyry deposit, ending in reagent and grind recommendations.
Outcome: characterisation and flotation recommendation report
Simulation & training
Eighteen browser-based process simulators and sixty-three interactive lectures, built for university courses and professional training in Mongolia. We adapt them to your plant, your ore and your people.
Simulator library
CR-101ML-201ML-301FL-300CuFloatLi–RbTK-300TK-201EWPGSTATMLAR-101AHF3DCOALGASFUELProfessional course · mineral processing
| Module | Content | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Modern trends | Critical minerals, low-carbon technology, chemicals management, HSE | 6 h |
| Plant practice | Gold and lithium plant cases, MLA-SEM, XRF, XRD, laboratory sessions | 7 h |
| Digital transition | AI, machine learning, predictive maintenance | 5 h |
| Hydrometallurgy day | Eh–pH, kinetics, gold, copper, lithium, uranium, CaF₂, rare earths | 6 h |
Delivered in Mongolian with English technical terms, or in English. A 30-minute company presentation with a 15-minute sample lesson is available on request.
Course library
21121510AI development
Production data is sensitive. We build models and assistants on open-source foundations that run on your own servers, so plant data never leaves your network.
> mass balance: feed 0.55 % Cu, con 26.0 %, tails 0.06 % Mass yield C/F (f − t)/(c − t) = 1.89 % Cu recovery c(f − t) / f(c − t) = 89.3 % At 1,500 t/h concentrate 28.3 t/h · Cu 7.37 t/h > convert 100 mesh 100 mesh (Tyler) ≈ 150 µm > translate: froth flotation → mn хөөсөн флотаци + Saved: mass_balance_report.docx >
Roadmap
Work in progress and planned over the next two years. Dates are targets, and several items are open to partners and early clients.
Process flow diagram, a 1,000 t/d pre-feasibility basis and a full plant simulator from crushing to tailings, with economics.
Our engineering assistant served from our own hardware, with no cloud dependency.
Erdenet, Mongolia. Meet us there.
A two-day workshop and a six-month webinar series with German research partners.
Concept and economics for acid-grade fluorspar and a Mongolian HF plant.
Online courses and simulators for industry, with progress tracking and certificates.
A hybrid AI server pairing local open models with cloud models, sized for plant data.
An urban-mining flowsheet for recovering copper, gold and other metals from electronic scrap.
Recovery routes for tungsten and cobalt from worn tools.
Deep-eutectic-solvent leaching of copper–gold concentrates, from bench to pilot scale.
Working with us
Scope, deliverables and fees are agreed in writing before work starts. Confidentiality agreements are signed before any data is shared.
Advisory
Day-rate or retainer support for operating plants, reviews and second opinions.
Studies
Testwork management, flowsheet development and study reports with defined deliverables.
Training
Courses and simulator workshops for teams, on site or online.
Development
Simulators, dashboards and AI tools built, installed and handed over to your team.
About IONMET
Founder · Principal Process Engineer
Process engineer and hydrometallurgist. His doctorate at TU Bergakademie Freiberg developed halide and ionic-liquid processing of copper–gold concentrates, the field of ionometallurgy that gives IONMET its name. He continued as a postdoctoral researcher at Freiberg's Institute of Technical Chemistry and now teaches the engineering disciplines IONMET applies. He built the interactive lectures and process simulators of the teaching platform monprocess.org.
Contact
Send a short description of your deposit, plant or question. We reply within two working days with a first view and a proposed scope.
ION can be wrong · model figures are illustrative