Abstract:

Many mines use a number of ad-hoc and often disconnected methods – usually a mixture of paper, spreadsheets and specialized program – to record mine production. These methods might include simple Excel spreadsheets. Some of these methods – used by geologists, mine planners, engineers, lab scientists, financial planners, etc. in many different parts of the mining process – require users to take data from one system (paper log sheets, for example) and manually enter it into another system, or to extract Excel data and email it to a co-worker who asked for it so that other employee can then paste the data into yet another spreadsheet system, before it then (maybe) gets stored in a shared network folder or emailed on. This is slow and it encourages mistakes. It also makes it difficult for mine management to know about, react to and correct production issues in a timely way. An advanced mine operations management solution not only eliminates time-consuming entry/re-entry issues and reduces the possibility of error, it also integrates materials data from pit to port and ensures that data is securely stored and flows automatically, without human intervention, to wherever it is needed. Most importantly for mine production, advanced mine operations management consolidates all material data in a single database, allowing for far more detailed and accurate material reconciliations. For example, right now, some mines simply subtract the pit survey at the end of each month to determine the amount of material moved. But that leaves out essential information from the other end of the process: the plant. How much of the original material actually arrived for processing? A mine operations management system like MOM, on the other hand, connects material movements end-to-end – recording the tonnes of all movements from pit to plant – and performs what is called a “Material Balance” that automatically adjusts all movements to compare the balance of original weights against received weights. Using a reporting tool, then analyse the material balances to expose any anomalies, such as a larger than usual material adjustment or a consistent over-estimation of weights. With that information in hand, it’s easy for mines to identify areas needing improvement and make informed decisions about the best corrections to make to increase production. Here's how it works: Material Balance process MOM’s Material Balance uses all recorded information about movements within a mine to balance flows from pit to plant, in order to identify where previously accepted values need to be corrected.

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Graham Allen

Biography