At the Tips & Tricks today we highlight an option that leaves the MinePlan Schedule Optimizer (MPSO) even better: the Process Point. A new type of target that enables sequencing that takes into account operational details of your mine. This excellent resource is already being used with excellence and obtaining significant operational and economic results here in Brazil for nickel and bauxite operations, according to the process flowchart below:
In classical sequencing methodologies, the transformations to which the materials “in situ” are submitted throughout the mining and beneficiation process are determined "a priori". In a simple example, in the traditional flow, if a material to be mined undergoes changes in mass and grade due to recovery in mining and dilution, these changes are introduced in the resources in the form of factors that affect the entire mass unconditionally and before sequencing.
what the Process Point permit is a conditional change that affects a specific portion of the plowed mass in a differentiated and optimized way over the sequenced periods, in response to conditions that can only be known during the sequencing. In other words, O process Point allows for a treatmenta posteriori" and "ad hoc” that much better reproduces the operational decisions made during the life of the mineral enterprise.
Functioning as an entry and exit point for material, the Process Point allows, through simple calculations, that material parameters such as mass, grade, recovery are changed and sub-flows are generated and sent to other destinations, thus respecting sequencing restrictions and offering opportunities for optimizing the benefit function.
A practical example would be to use the Process Point to model a beneficiation plant that separates the feed into a stream destined for the tailings dam and another of product, resulting from physical and chemical changes, destined for shipment or further processing.
In the figure below we present a real process in the MPSO, where the intermediate “pre-processing” plant can be evaluated in successive rounds of the sequencer in an optimized way to determine which would be the best destination for the material, sending it directly to the plant or going through a prior process.
Within the project in MPSO, O Process Point can be added in the Process Flow, as is done with the other destinations. Once added to the flow and clicking on its icon, it is possible to access its properties and set in Calculation what will be the change made in the material that passes through the Process Point. Calculations can be easily created using the templates existing or using tokens representing the different variables of the project.
In the following all restrictions related to destinations can also be set for the Process Point, thus creating limits for mass, volume, materials coming from retakes, grades, types of materials, ratios, and other specific restrictions.
Finally, after the optimized sequencing of your project, the dynamic reports of the MPSO will bring all the information regarding the entry and exit of materials in the Process Point in each of the periods.
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For more information about the Process Point, contact our team and we will be happy to serve you.
To the next!!!
Team Prominas Mining
