| Originally focused on mining optimisation for blending scheduling, recent developments respond to ore processing options and sensitivities. |
| It took Jeff Whittle four years to develop an optimiser that could deal with the scale and complexity of the types of mining and processing operations that Whittle Consulting now supports. |
| Originally this work focused on dealing with the mathematical permutations involved in blending scheduling in the multi-pit scenario. It was foreseen that this solution would be most relevant to Iron Ore and Coal miners, where ore blending is both an opportunity and a necessity to produce a constant stream of product with predictable grades and other characteristics within the narrow bands of variation demanded by clients. As a solution, this service has been available from Whittle Consulting for several years and has been extended to cover alternative mining methods, stockpiling, and multiple products. |
| In the last twelve months, Whittle Consulting has worked extensively with MIM‘s Copper/Lead/Zinc operation, and Anaconda Nickel delving progressively deeper into the complex options that exist within their very different ore processing streams. |
| Iron Ore and Coal miners often beneficiate or wash their ore, which has the effect of changing its volume and characteristics, and this must be accommodated in the modelling and optimisation process. Having determined the procedures for dealing with beneficiation/washing, it became clear that these techniques could be applied to a wider range of ore processing and extraction processes. |
| Processes including milling, leaching, concentrating, smelting and refining all affect the cost, throughput and recovery of the ore on its path down the value chain. Whittle Consulting is able to capture expressions of these relationships, which can depend on head grade/attributes, rock type, ore blends, processing settings (ball charge, cycle time, temperature, chemical levels), volume, hardness, density, viscosity, etc. and integrate these in the mining/processing model for schedule optimisation. |
| Expressions used are often complex, non-linear, and restricted to certain relevant ranges of foreseen operation. |
| The result is that the mining, processing and production schedule optimisation will respond to the detailed sensitivities represented in these expressions, and that additional value-in-use of the ore can be achieved by exploiting and harmonising the flexibilities that exist across all the steps in the value chain. The result is a long-term plan where the mining, cut-off grades, stockpiling, processing head-grade, processing options and product mix are managed in unison, identifying the maximum value that can be achieved from the mineral and technical plant assets within the corporate group. |
| In the last twelve months, Whittle Consulting has worked extensively with MIM’s Copper/Lead/Zinc operation, and Anaconda Nickel delving progressively deeper into the complex options that exist within their very different ore processing streams. Neither of these companies have major blending issues. However, the opportunities being revealed by applying these modelling and optimisation techniques have been significant. In these cases mining makes up a relatively minor portion of the overall value chain, the major capital investment and operating cost is in ore processing and metal refining. The result is a mining schedule that is driven by the processing streams and ultimate metal market that it is feeding. |
| Whittle Consulting’s approach, therefore, is not only applicable to Iron Ore and Coal, but can also identify new opportunities in mining/processing operations which could include Copper, Lead, Zinc, Nickel, Cobalt, Bauxite, and other metals, particularly where multiple mines, processing plants and/or products are involved. |
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