Process and System Improvements in Underground Mining

摘要

The mining companies will have to produce their earnings in continuously thinner slices even with the added control over markets through consolidation. This control forms an unbreakable chain from planning through development to underground excavation and mineral processing and sales. The attempts of introducing better control have been considered difficult due to complexity of underground mining with number of variables and sudden unexpected events involved. Improved process identification and system design equal to other industries utilizing process technology is needed to meet the future in fine tuned mining. Today the underground mining operation is defined as a group of loosely combined tasks attached to descriptive working procedures, which provide material for the mineral processing plant. An optimized underground process has the basis for building in desired level of technology and maximizing resource utilization in creating a high-yielding mining operation and no future e-mine can truly work without them. Most scheduling problems originate from inaccurate or delayed communication and poor resource management. The ability to control the process and further improve the system output will then rely on accuracy and relevancy of the information and understanding how the systems work. Identified process description enables to visualize the reality in a mine, the impact of events and the interaction of sub-processes. It is generally cheaper to reach increase in productivity through operational changes, higher resource utilization and improved operational control rather than direct capital cost of technology. This demands a highly flexible and measurable system and accuracy in controlling it. The comprehensive approach considers all aspects to improve quality, reduce cost and build a better social climate. With advanced configuration the best working procedures can be introduced and material flow reliability can be obtained. When the total mining process output can be measured with sustainable accuracy at any given point the need of large intermediate stockpiles can be reduced. With structured on-line systems, the process chain becomes visible, guidance gets better and the system output reliability can be increased.