Coordination System in the Worldʼs Biggest Underground Mine, LKAB Kiruna, Sweden

Abstract

SAMS is ASEA's planning and information system, used by those responsible for operation of the various departments of the mineThe system contains models for weekly and shift planning. It is the important link between long-term planning and process control. See Figure 1.“SAMS has been a successful product which supports the planners, maintenance people and miners in their daily work” says the manager of Products and Production Coordination, Kjell Ronnback, at LKAB's Kiirunavaara mine. After only a short period of use the system has meant much to LKABKjell also says that a number of important advantages have been observed: -We have reduced those “external disturbance losses” by 20%-Relations between the local planners, miners and maintenance people have been improved-We have acquired a better understanding of each other's problems and have tried to avoid unnecessary load on the weakest link in the ore flow-We have obtained an extremely good instrument which informs us much more accurately of what action to take for the various ore flow processes-We have discovered that no more investment is necessary in the part of the ore flow which we thought was the weak linkIn order to increase the capacity of the mine, LKAB had the following alternatives: -Increase the capacity of the buffer zones-Increase the capacity of production equipment-Improve coordination between the various process sectionsLKAB found that improved production coordination was the best alternative.ASEA has also developed a feasibility study for these systems. This study will provide information about the economic benefits of SAMS before it is installed