The MBA Oscar Calero, will be in charge of the Short Course «Optimization of Surface Mining Operations».
The Chamber of Mines of Peru continues with its educational work aimed at achieving a responsible and sustainable mining industry. Therefore, the institution offers a presentation to optimize surface mining operations.
Approximately, more than 50% of the success possibilities depend on the results during the drilling task. In this sense, one of the best ways to optimize this phase is to make a correct selection of equipment. One of the most used are rotary drilling rigs and one the main concerns is the search for the drilling parameters that provide the highest penetration speed per revolution of the drill bit. In addition, the study of cut depth becomes an indispensable tool to achieve continuous improvement in this activity.
Another important aspect is to increase the service life of the ticonical bits. For this, the technical contribution of external companies specialized in the design of these elements and drilling accessories is important. In addition, this makes it possible to achieve very high speeds. For example, the Mexican company Varel International launched a new series of tricone drills called High Energy a few years ago. These allow increasing performance, as well as durability and penetration speed.
Material loading and transportation is one of the most expensive activities in the production cycle; investment represents, on average, 60% of the total. One of the factors that condition this work is quality of ore fragmentation; therefore it is necessary to have obtained the maximum performance in the previous phase (drilling).
Selection of equipment is a good strategy to optimize performance of loading and transport tasks. For example, for loading, shovels, excavators and front loaders are used. One aspect to improve performance is to define the loading fleet, which will depend on amount of material to be extracted. In addition, the number of work fronts and the budgeted time to carry out the work will be important.
Once number of units has been defined, the next step is to implement an operational plan. In this way, the downtime of equipment will be shortened, whether due to circumstances of the process, planned stops or any other unforeseen event.
The main criteria for unit selection can be grouped into four groups. The first is performance, which is directly related to production capacity. The second is design, which includes power, weight, shelf life, stability, maintenance and safety. As for service, the necessary spare parts, technical stops, repairs and components must be analyzed. Finally, there is the economic aspect, which is about the characteristics such as cost of ownership, leases, fuel investment and maintenance expenditure.
In transportation, in addition to vehicles, another aspect to be noted to is track design. The track must be designed in a way that allows safe operation, minimizing the risk of accidents, thus obtaining a100% truck productivity.
Likewise, dimensions must be verified, since they must be three times wider than trucks so that the tires do not hit the safety berms or sink into ditches. In surface mining activities, we must consider that trucks use six tires and that the unit of these tires is around US$50,000.
Due to the increased price in 2013, a joint work was carried out between two companies of Chile (Codelco and Andina), within the framework of the Productivity and Cost Structural Project (PEPC). This agreement was important to reduce tire costs by increasing their useful life.
Approximately 80% of large tires fail before they are completely worn out. About 45% of the losses are due to cuts, while 30% are due to shocks. «One of the important measures that can be taken is to take care and clean up any dropped objects on haul roads,» notes Mr. Kent Kliffton, Caterpillar applications consultant.
The Chamber of Mines of Peru is organizing the event GeoMet 2016, which will be held next October and will last four days (from the 10th to the 13th). These talks will be given by renowned professionals in the field, who have a wide and successful professional career at national and international level.
Finally, the presentation on the optimization of surface mining operations will be given by MBA Oscar Calero. The expert is Director of Mining Projects at the Chamber of Mines of Peru. He also has 20 years of professional experience in Oceania, Europe and America.
