IN THE MINING INDUSTRY, SPECIFICALLY IN THE FLOTATION PROCESS, THERE IS A CHALLENGE ASSOCIATED TO NONINVASIVE, REAL-TIME CONTAMINANT AND IMPURITIES ESTIMATION. ACHIEVING PREDICTIONS ON CONTAMINANT LEVELS HAS A HIGH IMPACT ON QUALITY INSURANCE AND IT CAN HELP TECHNICIANS AND ENGINEERS TO MAKE ADJUSTMENTS IN ADVANCE TO IMPROVE THE QUALITY OF THE FINAL PRODUCT, AND THUS PROFITS. IN THIS PAPER, EXPLORATORY RESEARCH IS PERFORMED ON THE PROBLEM OF SILICA CONCENTRATE ESTIMATION FOR IRON ORE FROTH FLOTATION USING MACHINE LEARNING TECHNIQUES, WITH THE GOAL TO IDENTIFY ALGORITHMS THAT MAY BE SUITABLE FOR INDUSTRY SOFT SENSOR DEVELOPMENT. FOR THIS PURPOSE, A PUBLIC, REAL PROCESS DATASET IS USED AND THREE DIFFERENT MACHINE LEARNING TECHNIQUES ARE IMPLEMENTED: RANDOM FOREST (RF), LONG SHORT-TERM MEMORY (LSTM) AND GATED RECURRENT UNIT (GRU). THE TECHNIQUES WERE IMPLEMENTED, TESTED AND COMPARED IN TERMS OF THEIR ERROR PERCENTAGE, MEAN ABSOLUTE ERROR, MEAN SQUARE ERROR, AND ROOT MEAN SQUARE ERROR. OBTAINED RESULTS SHOW ACCEPTABLE PERFORMANCE FOR LTSM AND GRU IMPLEMENTATIONS, BEING LSTM NETWORK THE OUT-PERFORMER WITH ERRORS BELOW 9%.

ARE THE ONLY NATIVE VASCULAR SPECIES OF PLANTS IN THE ANTARCTICREGION AND ARE A SOURCE OF INTEREST IN THE CLIMATE CHANGE STUDIES.THESE PLANTS HAVE BEEN STUDIED FOR DECADES AND RECOGNIZEDAS BIOINDICATORS OF THE CLIMATE CHANGE. THE ARTICLE PRESENTSPRELIMINARY STUDIES AND RESULTS OF A THERMAL ACTUATOR, WHICH ISGOING TO BE APPLIED IN A CLIMATE CHANGE STUDIES. THE ELABORATED,FAR INFRARED ACTUATOR TOGETHER WITH A CONTROL SYSTEM MAINTAINSTHE TEMPERATURE OF THE ANTARCTIC PLANT CERTAIN DELTA ABOVE THEAMBIENT TEMPERATURE. SINCE THE HEAT TRANSFER IS BASED ON INFRAREDRADIATION A THERMAL MODEL IS INTRODUCED, WHERE THE PARAMETERSOF THE MODEL ARE DETERMINED EMPIRICALLY APPROXIMATING IT USING A1-ST ORDER DYNAMICAL SYSTEM. ONCE DETERMINED, THE SYTEM MODELPAREMETERS HELP TO DESIGN THE CONTROL STRATEGIES: CONTROL ON-OFF(1) AND CONTROL PID (PROPORTIONAL?INTEGRAL?DERIVATIVE) (2). ASA RESULT WE OBTAIN THAT THE CONTROL PID MAINTAINS THE OBJECTSTEMPERATURE WITH MAJOR STABILITY THAN ON-OFF, WHAT MAKES ITPREFERABLE IN THE ?NAL APPLICATION. THE FUTURE WORKS INVOLVEMODELING AMBIENTAL PERTURBATION, WHICH AFFECTS THE SYSTEM ANDDETERMINATION THERMAL PARAMETERS OF THE ANTARCTIC PLANTS.

COLOBANTHUS QUITENSIS AND DESCHAMPSIA ANTARTICA ARE THE ONLY NATIVE VASCULAR SPECIES OF PLANTS IN THE ANTARCTIC REGION AND ARE A SOURCE OF INTEREST IN THE CLIMATE CHANGE STUDIES. THESE PLANTS HAVE BEEN STUDIED FOR DECADES AND RECOGNIZED AS BIOINDICATORS OF THE CLIMATE CHANGE. THE ARTICLE PRESENTS PRELIMINARY STUDIES AND RESULTS OF A THERMAL ACTUATOR, WHICH IS GOING TO BE APPLIED IN A CLIMATE CHANGE STUDIES. THE ELABORATED, FAR INFRARED ACTUATOR TOGETHER WITH A CONTROL SYSTEM MAINTAINS THE TEMPERATURE OF THE ANTARCTIC PLANT CERTAIN DELTA ABOVE THE AMBIENT TEMPERATURE. SINCE THE HEAT TRANSFER IS BASED ON INFRARED RADIATION A THERMAL MODEL IS INTRODUCED, WHERE THE PARAMETERS OF THE MODEL ARE DETERMINED EMPIRICALLY APPROXIMATING IT USING A 1-ST ORDER DYNAMICAL SYSTEM. ONCE DETERMINED, THE SYTEM MODEL PAREMETERS HELP TO DESIGN THE CONTROL STRATEGIES: CONTROL ON-OFF (1) AND CONTROL PID (PROPORTIONAL?INTEGRAL?DERIVATIVE) (2). AS A RESULT WE OBTAIN THAT THE CONTROL PID MAINTAINS THE OBJECTS TEMPERATURE WITH MAJOR STABILITY THAN ON-OFF, WHAT MAKES IT PREFERABLE IN THE FINAL APPLICATION. THE FUTURE WORKS INVOLVE MODELING AMBIENTAL PERTURBATION, WHICH AFFECTS THE SYSTEM AND DETERMINATION THERMAL PARAMETERS OF THE ANTARCTIC PLANTS.