Sensor-based Real-time Resource Model Reconciliation for Improved Mine Production Control: A Conceptual Framework

Sensor-based Real-time Resource Model Reconciliation for Improved Mine Production Control: A Conceptual Framework

Benndorf, J.
Buxton, M.W.N.
Shishvan, M.S.

Civil Engineering and Geosciences

Geoscience & Engineering

2014-11-24

The flow of information, and consequently the decision-making along the chain of mining from exploration to beneficiation, typically occurs in a discontinuous fashion over long timespans. In addition, due to the uncertain nature of the knowledge about deposits and the inherent spatial distribution of material characteristics, actual production performance in terms of produced ore grades and quantity and extraction process efficiency often deviate from expectations. Reconciliation exercises to adjust mineral reserve models and planning assumptions are performed with timely lags of weeks, months or even years. With the development of modern information and communication technology over the last decade, a flood of data about different aspects of the production process is available in a realtime manner. For example, sensor technology enables online characterisation of geochemical, mineralogical and physical material characteristics on conveyor belts or at working faces. The ability to utilise this additional information and feed it back into reserve block models and planning assumptions opens up new opportunities to continuously control the decisions made in production planning to increase resource recovery and process efficiency. This leads to a change in paradigm from a discontinuous method to near real-time reserve reconciliation and model updating, which calls for suitable modelling and optimisation methodologies to quantify prior knowledge in the reserve model, process and integrate information from different sensor sources, back propagate the gain in information into reserve models and efficiently optimise operational decisions in real-time. This paper introduces the concept of an integrated closed-loop framework for real-time reserve management, incorporating sensor-based material characterisation, geostatistical modelling under uncertainty, modern data assimilation methods for sequential model updating and mining system simulation and optimisation. The effectiveness of the framework and the value added will be demonstrated in an illustrative case study.

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:ebca6d12-bcb0-44e4-8250-1d0dfec64eeb

SMP Symposium 2014 "Orebody Modelling and Strategic Mine Planning: Integrated mineral investment and supply chain optimisation", Perth, Australia, 24-26 November 2014

Institutional Repository

conference paper

(c) 2014 The Author(s)