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For more than 5 decades, RPMGlobal has been the mining industry’s go-to partner for Advisory and Consulting, Software, and Training. With contracts and services rendered in more than 125 countries around the world, we support our customers out of offices in 21 locations across 14 countries. RPM has provided services and solutions in virtually every commodity and mining method there is.
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Chris will be supported by our industry partner, Freeport McMoRan (FCX), an international mining company operating large, long-lived and geographically diverse assets. Patrick Cahill, Mine Engineer and Mine Operations Supervisor at FCX will join Chris to present a novel strategic open pit optimization methodology, employing non-planar pitwall profiles and direct block scheduling.
The methodology maximizes net present value (NPV) and minimizes stripping ratio while maintaining the required factor of safety (FoS). A case study is presented, applying this methodology to an open pit gold mine. Taking into account the given stratigraphy, rock properties (unit weight and strength), FoS, and excavation depth, optimal slope shapes were determined for the pitwall of each mine sector. The profiles obtained were 4 to 8 degrees steeper than their planar counterparts exhibiting the same FoS. The adoption of overall steeper profiles reduced the amount of rockwaste and, consequently, the stripping ratio. The NPV of the strategic life-of mine schedule was then optimized, generating a direct block schedule that adhered to the optimal slope shapes throughout the life of mine. Three scenarios were optimized to assess the benefits of the presented methodology: planar pitwalls with Lerchs-Grossman (LG) pushbacks, optimal pitwall profiles with LG pushbacks, and optimal pitwall profiles with direct block scheduling.
All mining operations must create a long-term plan that returns value to stakeholders. The extended timeline of these plans means that the granularity of the plan is large. Expecting the work to be executed without these details causes miscommunication and incorrect prioritization of tasks. Given the dynamic nature of mining the more often this plan can be refreshed, the better the guidance to operations. The plan for tomorrow must incorporate as much recent activity as possible and still be ready before tomorrow arrives. The plan must also be communicated in a way that is easily consumed by those executing the work. That means, for a short-term plan to be useful, it must include: Sufficient detail and accuracy, which includes progress to date. Integration to reduce workload, reduce human errors, and decrease time to produce. Visual communication to ensure full understanding. In this presentation, we will discuss the benefits of using software to accomplish the requirements outlined for short-term plans. We will also cover how the gap between long-term and short-term planning can be closed to provide execution teams with the best chance for successful implementation.
Maintenance is a high-cost business with risks (apparent and hidden) associated with every decision. Costs are typically between 30%-50% of total operating costs and shifting the timing of activities can have huge knock-on effects associated with meeting the budget and changing the overall risk profile. This high-risk, high-cost environment makes it critical to understand and take control of what’s driving those costs. Balancing the day-to-day work with life cycle costing and strategy is one of the main challenges. This disconnect between the daily activities and the overall business plan creates difficulty in accurately forecasting and managing costs, equipment health, and labor. So as a maintenance professional, what are my options? How do I distil such a dynamic situation into something meaningful in real-time, so I can make the best holistic decision that delivers optimal asset performance over its life cycle? Effective asset management requires accurate dynamic life cycle modelling and analytics to create and evaluate multiple scenarios to determine the optimal strategy to deliver a sustained level of asset performance to meet corporate goals over the short and long term.
Effective management of mining assets is critical for long term success. Today’s mining industry demands better strategies and tools to overcome maintenance challenges.
AMT Asset Maintenance Software is the only in-shift maintenance solution that dynamically links to life-cycle costing and strategy. AMT provides accurate life-cycle positions and optimises maintenance strategies using Dynamic Life Cycle Costing (DLCC). DLCC constantly updates using actual events and real-time condition data to generate a forward-looking, life-cycle view of an asset.
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Combining RPMGlobal’s proprietary Product Optimiser with a game-inspired, 3-D interface, XECUTE enables planners to build a short-term schedule that’s easy to understand andcommunicate, providing a coherent link between medium-term planning and operational execution.
XECUTE is a multi-user solution that allows greater collaboration and planning efficiency than ever before. Enterprise data provides planners with the most up-to-date inputs and automatically pushes outputs downstream, closing the loop between planning and execution, ensuring compliance.
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SOT is the industry’s only strategic financial optimisation tool for both surface and underground mines that maximises productivity and profitability outcomes by optimising the net present value (NPV) of the mine schedule.
As a comprehensive mine schedule optimisation tool, SOT uses an evolutionary search algorithm to generate optimised schedules that maximise the NPV of any resource. SOT is purpose-built for scenario planning and comparisons. This allows mine planners to analyse multiple strategies and inform the selection of alternative, high-NPV schedules. Operations can extract more value from their resource with an NPV optimised schedule, mitigating risk and decreasing the payback period.
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