Abstract
A primary concern of the mining industry is to meet production targets, which are required and defined by customers. Deviations from these targets, in terms of quality and quantity, highly affect the economical aspect. Recently, an efficient resource model updating framework concept has been proposed aiming for the improvement of raw material quality control and process efficiency in any type of mining operation. The concept integrates online sensor measurements, obtained during production, into the resource model. In this way, due to the spatial variability, quality attributes of the blocks that will be produced in the next days or weeks are being updated based on real-time measurements. The concept has been applied in a lignite field with the aim of identifying local impurities in a lignite seam and to improve the prediction of coal quality attributes in neighbouring blocks. This paper investigates the added value of using the resource model updating framework by using the value of information analysis. The expected benefit of additional information (integration of the online sensor measurements into the resource model) is compared to a case where there is no additional information integrated into the process. These benefits are evaluated based on the economic impact determined by applying the resource model updating framework in mine planning.
Highlights
One of the main challenges in mining is spatially highly variable grades or quality attributes of the resource
The expected benefit of additional information is compared to a case where there is no additional information integrated into the process
The following observations can be made: (i) the mean value of penalties for the schedule based on the prior model is e 47,000, while periods vary between e 40,000 and e 52,000, (ii) penalties for the schedule based on the posterior model gradually decrease from e 46,000 to e 31,000, (iii) the mean value of penalties for the schedule based on the benchmark model is e 37,000, while periods vary between e 31,000 and e 43,000, (iv) for this case study, the calculated value of perfect and imperfect information (VOPI) is e 10,000 and the calculated value of information (VOI) moves from e 4000 to e 8000 (Fig. 11), and (v) the above-mentioned VOI numbers will lead to approximately a e 300,000 to e 600,000 annual cost reduction or savings
Summary
One of the main challenges in mining is spatially highly variable grades or quality attributes of the resource. The expected benefit of additional information (integration of the online sensor measurements into the resource model) is compared to a case where there is no additional information integrated into the process These benefits are evaluated based on the economic impact, for example, the monetary value such as cost per shift of mining operation, determined by applying the resource model updating framework in the mine planning process. This contribution addresses the following question: What is the value of integrating real-time production measurements into the resource model and executing an optimized mine plan, considering economic aspects?. The article concludes with a summary of the research contributions and directions for future research
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