# Mining Forum: Friedland wants to kill the SAG mill

Canonical Atlas analysis: https://atlas-staging.minestarters.com/news/mining-forum-friedland-wants-to-kill-the-sag-mill--0343b624-2d66-49a6-ac92-f96a6473f5a5

Original source: https://www.northernminer.com/news/mining-forum-friedland-wants-to-kill-the-sag-mill/1003895256/

Publisher: northernminer

Original announcement: 2026-09-29T15:47:58.000Z

Analysis by Minestarters Atlas

Atlas analysis published: 2026-09-29T16:50:57.321Z

Atlas analysis updated: 2026-09-29T16:50:57.321Z

- Company: Ivanhoe Mines

- Ticker: IVN

- Exchange: Unavailable

- Region: Democratic Republic of Congo

- Primary commodity: Copper

- Secondary commodities: None reported

- Document categories: Metallurgy, Other

- Extracted: 2026-09-29 16:50:58 UTC

Narrative sentiment: 0.20 · Bullish

## Minestarters Atlas summary

Robert Friedland's private company, I-Pulse, is developing pulsed-power technology designed to replace conventional SAG and ball mills. The technology claims to reduce energy consumption by up to 80% and increase metal recoveries by approximately 5%, though commercial-scale results have not yet been published.

Reasoning: The article discusses a novel pulsed-power technology \(I-ROX\) that promises significant efficiency gains, but notes that commercial-scale validation is still required.

- Positive factor: potential 80% energy reduction

- Positive factor: potential 5% increase in metal recovery

- Positive factor: lower carbon footprint

- Negative factor: no commercial mine-scale results published

- Negative factor: no independently verified results comparing to conventional circuits

- Negative factor: industrial scale and cost details undisclosed

Facts used in scoring: 1

## Classification and evidence

**Bench Scale Only**

Polarity: negative

Definition: Only preliminary bench tests completed — no locked-cycle or pilot work.

Why it applies: The technology is described as being in the research/testing phase with no commercial mine-scale results published.

Evidence · text

> it hasn’t published commercial mine-scale results supporting its headline claims

**Theoretical Recovery Only**

Polarity: negative

Definition: Only theoretical or liberation-derived recovery reported, with no actual test result.

Why it applies: The reported 5% recovery increase is a projection/claim by the company rather than a measured result from a specific test.

Evidence · text

> Those are I-Pulse’s projections for the technology.

**Gravity Route**

Polarity: neutral

Definition: Gravity separation forms a material part of the flowsheet.

Why it applies: the document describes a gravity route \("gravity"\)

**Single Domain Only**

Polarity: negative

Definition: Testing limited to one composite or domain — representativeness not established.

Why it applies: only one composite was tested

## Extracted facts

Stored fact records: 1. Some facts used in scoring do not have a stored record.

## Metallurgical Results (1)

### unspecified

[Link to this fact](https://atlas-staging.minestarters.com/news/mining-forum-friedland-wants-to-kill-the-sag-mill--0343b624-2d66-49a6-ac92-f96a6473f5a5#fact-metallurgical-facts-0)

Kamoa-Kakula · copper

#### Identity

- Project: Kamoa-Kakula
- Commodity: copper
- Region: drc
- Reported Region: Democratic Republic of Congo
- Ticker: IVN

#### Test Work

- Program Status: preliminary
- Test Type: unspecified
- Processing Route: unspecified
- Sample: ore and tailings from Kamoa-Kakula copper complex

#### Recovery

- Recovery: 5 %
- Recovery Basis: theoretical

#### Lab

- Laboratory: I-ROX research centre

#### Review

- Needs Review: No
- Historical: No

#### Dates

- Event date: 2026-09-29T00:00:00.000Z

Reasoning: The 5% recovery increase is a projection from the technology developer, not a reported test result from the Kamoa-Kakula samples.

- Positive factor: potential recovery improvement

- Negative factor: theoretical projection only

- Negative factor: results not disclosed

Evidence · text

> increase metal recoveries by about 5%

#### Tags used in scoring

**Theoretical Recovery Only**

Polarity: negative

Definition: Only theoretical or liberation-derived recovery reported, with no actual test result.

Why it applies: recovery\_basis is theoretical

**Low Recovery**

Polarity: negative

Definition: Recovery below the weak band for the commodity and processing route.

Why it applies: 5% is below the weak band \(80%\)

## How Atlas produces this analysis

Minestarters Atlas uses automated extraction to summarize mining announcements, identify reported measurements, and classify supporting evidence. Sentiment reflects the extracted narrative and classification rules; it is an interpretation, not a reported measurement. Evidence quotes and context are provided where available. Missing data, low-confidence results, and review flags indicate limitations. Check the original publisher announcement before relying on an interpretation.