{
  "id": 10762978,
  "title": "Mining Forum: Friedland wants to kill the SAG mill",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/29/mining-forum-friedland-wants-to-kill-the-sag-mill",
  "topic": "finance",
  "section": "Finance & Markets",
  "published": "2026-09-29T18:47:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Mining.com",
    "slug": "mining-com",
    "url": "https://www.mining.com/mining-forum-friedland-wants-to-kill-the-sag-mill/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Mining executive Robert Friedland claims his company's technology could replace the energy-intensive SAG mill in favor of short bursts of electricity that fracture ore from the inside. I-Pulse, a subsidiary of Ivanhoe Mines, projects the technology could use up to 80% less energy and increase metal recoveries by about 5%. Friedland believes replacing the SAG mill with the I-Pulse technology could significantly cut mining's largest operating cost while helping companies get more metal from lower-grade ore. However, turning promising tests into industrial-scale equipment that can process thousands of tonnes of rock around the clock remains the main challenge. The technology, which uses electrical pulses to fracture ore, is also being tested for use in drilling ahead of conventional drill bits.",
  "summary": "The Ivanhoe Mines founder says technology developed by his private company, I-Pulse, could use up to 80% less energy.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 2,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "Investing.com",
        "title": "Alamos at Mining Forum Americas 2026: cash flow, growth and mine-life focus",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/29/alamos-at-mining-forum-americas-2026-cash-flow-growth-and-mine-life",
        "published": "2026-09-29T20:57:30.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}