Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
from Austin Powder, widely used in Chile, and JKSimBlast, from the Australian
Institute, JKRMC.
The Production Chain... Is a Process of Transformation of Energy.
An economic focus on the Mining Production Chain shows us that this is a Process of Energy
Transformation, applied as a process of pre-conditioning via the reduction of material size and
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incorporation of micro-fractures, for its later physical and chemical treatment. That is to say, its
transformation into a commercial product.
The sources of energy are basically explosives, and electricity either generated in thermo-electric
plants (petroleum, carbon, natural gas) or bought from public networks. The understanding of the
Energy Balance of the global process is a powerful management tool. Various publications show
that the proportion of the cost of energy necessary to induce a change of similar proportions
through explosives, in the mine, crusher and grinder is in the order of 1 / (4-6) / (8-12), for a wide
range of types of rock and industrial equipment.
This indicates that the blast is the most efficient step in the comminution process. In any case, we
need to know more, however we cant import the knowledge or experience from other
environments, other rock, other equipment, and other circumstances. We need to generate it from
our own mines and situations.
In an established operation it isnt easy to determine the optimum relations between the different
unit operations. In spite of the existence of specialized instrumentation and platforms of
communication for gathering on-line, real time performance data from equipment, we frequently
give little priority to the task of transforming this data into useful information for the Management
Team.
The work methodology that can assist us to advance in the understanding of our Global Process,
and the impact of each one of our own activities in incorporating value is based on Groups of
Continuous Improvement. In this respect, there have been various successful experiences in Chile,
that have assisted the respective mining companies to be leaders on a world level in the mining of
copper.
The authors are sure that there doesnt exist an appropriate way to incorporate technologies of the
latest generation for the improvement of our business, without previously assuring that we have the
resources to extract the benefits of the new technology. Why purchase a new on-line data system,
if we dont have the resources, commitment, or tools to utilize the new information? We should be
able to anticipate the benefits to the Value Chain and the Improvement Cycle, and clearly define
the requirements for the new technologies and support systems.
The Improvement Cycle.
In the administration of a Continuous Improvement Group in a mine, where it is assumed the blast
is the process initiator, it is fundamental to highlight the idea of negotiating the objectives
expected of the blast between its different clients. These departments are principally: Planning,
Geology, Geo-technic, Operations and Plant. The requirements of these clients are sometimes
conflicting, but we must search for the optimum for the global operation, not that of the client with
the most power or influence in the organizational structure.
For example, the demand for meters drilled will not guarantee a good location of the hole, the
precision of its angle or its correct depth. There seems to be little awareness of the importance of
Quality Control in drilling in achieving the expected result of a blast, and many operations
immediately focus on the explosive as the guilty party when results are unfavorable. It is very
common to observe that the factor having the greatest impact on blasting results is the quality of
the design implementation and drill plan rather than the explosive itself (type of explosive, powder
factor).
In an analogous form, the success of slope control is frequently related to the inefficiencies of the
Production Equipment. Stop the extraction because the shovel reached the designed bench line,
even if it can easily remove more material? Carry out buffer blasts or pre-splitting in small
diameters even if the available equipment has larger diameters and is more efficient? A short term
decision, such as complying with the daily extraction goals, can sometimes prevail over the longer
term interests, such as the slope quality and its impact on the bottom line of the Statement of
Results of the company.
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This, although it may be a trivial problem, is a complex situation. A change that can seem
technically obvious is often in reality impractical if it wasnt foreseen and addressed appropriately in
the Mining Plan. It isnt always possible to acquire or contract additional equipment, such as drills
with a smaller diameter, loaders to clean the walls or backhoes to clean the crests. There also
exist contract type restrictions such as the productivity bonuses of the equipment operators, which
generally dont consider work quality indexes, but rather only production volume. These are, in
short, perverse incentives that can have complex negative impacts on the optimization of the
business.
Generally speaking, there is limited knowledge in the mining industry of the physical fundamentals
of the daily phenomena that we confront. Few professionals make decisions with regard to knowing
or referring to themes such as wave propagation or fracture theory. There is a tendency to regard
specific experiences as representing inexplicable departures from the universal concepts of
physics, without considering the characteristics of each case. In our mine things are different... is
the excuse in many cases, to evade the responsibility of investigating and understanding the
problem.
It is clear that it is not always possible in practical terms to apply sophisticated concepts as useful
tools to the management of a business. However, on the other side, neither is it possible to bend
the Laws of Mother Nature. The way that we see, in the short term at least, is to establish cause
and effect relations between the parameters that we have the capacity of measuring and adjusting
in the operation and relate these to the measured and predicted results. The current information
systems and data administration systems should have the capacity to allow a complex analysis of
the variables of the mining process as a whole. Importantly, we must learn to use the data we are
constantly gathering (e.g. Dispatch High Precision Data), and to transform the data into information
upon which decisions can be made by use of Process Models. The application of statistical tools,
together with the ability of computational simulation should allow the integration of the majority of
the unit operations into a complex but useful network.
Today we have the use of innumerable support tools, instruments and software, to model our
process and the power to incorporate these sophisticated procedures of analysis and control, with
support systems of the latest information technology (Risk Analysis, Failure Mode Analysis,
Tendencies/Trends Analysis of Active Parameters of the Process, Systems for Fragmentation
Assessment through Photo-analysis, Registry Systems of Equipment Vital Data, Simulation of the
Blasting Process Systems, Systems of Structural Mapping in 3D; etc.)
Our challenge is to develop an Expert System, combining artificial intelligence and our knowledge,
that will allow control of our Mining Process (Mine Plant Market), to achieve the maximization of
the value incorporation as a product of management excellence. The pre-requisite step will be to
learn certain techniques such as fuzzy logic and neural networks so as to improve our knowledge
of the phenomenology of the processes themselves.
Summary
The Blast, as the first stage of the rock comminution process, has the mission of pre-
conditioning, or preparing, the rock for its subsequent processing, in order to obtain a
commercial product in the most economic way possible.
It is necessary to know (=quantify) the impact of blasting on the processes of loading,
hauling, crushing, and grinding, as well as in the movement of waste material
(productivity of extraction equipment and transport).
Today, we know too, that we can impact on aspects such as the efficiency of leaching,
using appropriate explosives and systems of high precision initiation
It is necessary to define the relevant Key Performance Indicators of the mining process:
fragmentation (size distribution), pre-conditioning (reduction of the Work Index), swell of
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the muckpile, damage to the walls, dilution, energy consumption, and impact on the
environment and personnel, e.g. dust)
A system of measurement should be implanted to continually assess these parameters:
that which cannot be measured, can not be controlled.
It must be linked with the Mining Plan and correctly implanted for the value creation of
the business throughout the Production Chain.
A missing link in the Value Chain is our ability to quantify the VALUE of improved pit wall
stability, and reduced probability of failure, in dollar terms. Until we can do that, we can
not make properly informed decisions regarding wall control blasting. Further
development in Quantitative Risk Assessment would appear to be a high priority.
References
Eloranta, J., 2001. Improve Milling Through Better Powder Distribution, Proc 27
th
Annual Conf.
ISEE, Orlando, USA Jan 28-31, pp 55-63.
Fribla, M., Orlandi, C., 2000. Effects on Economics in the process of optimization of the specific
load of explosive and its relation with the micro-fractures generated through Blasting, 2
nd
Jornadas
de Tronadura ASIEX 2000.
Fribla, M., Navea, D., Orlandi, C., 2001. Micro-fracturing Produced by the Explosive and the
Increase of the Dissolution of Metal in an Oxidized Copper Ore, 3
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Jornadas de Tronadura ASIEX
2001.
Katsabanis, P.D, Gregersen, S., Pelley, C, and Kelebec, S., 2003. Small Scale Study of Damage
Due to Blasting and Implications on Crushing and Grinding, Proc 29
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USA, Feb 02-05, pp 355-364.
McKenzie, C.K., 2005. Blasting A Focus on Value, ASIEX Conference 2005, Via del Mar, Chile,
May 25-27.
McKenzie, C. and Holley, K., 2004. A study of damage profiles behind blasts, 30
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Annual Conf.
ISEE, New Orleans, USA, Feb 01-04, pp 203-214.
Nielsen, K., and Kristiansen, J., 1996. Blasting-Crushing-Grinding Optimisation of an Integrated
Comminution System, Proc Fragblast 5, Montreal, Canada, pp 269-277.
Orlandi, C.P., 2001. Precise Initiation, Blasting for Open Cut Mining Conference, ASIEX, Iquique,
November 28-29.
Paley, N. & Kojovic, T., 2001. Adjusting Blasting to Increase SAG Mill Throughput at the Red Dog
Mine, Proc 27
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Annual Conf. ISEE, Orlando, USA, Jan 28-31, pp 65-81.