156 Massmin 2004 Santiago Chile, 22-25 August 2004

1 INTRODUCTION
The most recent studies integrating mining and mineral
processing have been named "Mine to Mill". These studies
try to maximize the net present value by optimizing the
recovery-throughput relation for an on-going operation.
The concept has been previously explored.
Carlisle(1954), suggested the advantage of increased
throughput over the mill design capacity, Steine(1978)
shows the potential improvement of cash flow by the
throughput increments of increasing grinding size, without
considering the impact on the mine planning.
Camus(2002) suggests the advantage of increasing
throughput by sacrificing recovery, considering the recovery
as a lineal function of throughput.
These studies assume a maximum capacity in the mill,
accept the actual mine design and mining schedules,
and optimize only the cut-off grades. Initial apprehension
from mineral processing professionals for these kinds of
studies is understood as it is risky to assume a maximum
capacity without having information about the rock
properties. It is not valid to assume a potential recovery
without having certainty about product size as mineral
processing performances are evaluated by throughput
and recovery goals. Considering these factors, the
"initial" apprehension is largely justified and explained
by the uncertainty in one of the important variables for
the performance and design of conventional grinding
circuits, the Work Index (Wi).
The research presented here, developed by the Queens
University Mine to Mill project, incorporates previous
researchers findings but goes a step forward with the
inclusion of Work Index into the mining planning.
1.1 Wi Planning Methodology
The methodology is a recursive algorithm for long term
planning for operating mines. The method starts by
assuming a known mining method, an initial mining
schedule, an operational plant with its behavior studied by
laboratory testing or developed from historic data.
Better models or better optimization engines can improve
every step of the methodology. The target function is the
NPV for the long-term planning, and changing that target
would not change the structure of the methodology, just the
parameter and potentially the results.
1.1.1 Concentrator Elements
Considering an operating plant, the main work must be
centered in grinding and flotation. In conventional grinding
circuits, the first task is to build throughput-Wi-product size
relationships, usually based on the Bond approach,
calibrated and modified for real performance data. The
analysis will generate a set of equations or surfaces placing
a potential throughput in function of product size (Usually
P80) and Wi. The achievable production rate will be
indicated by the grinding analysis and must be constrained
by a maximum capacity analysis.
In flotation, the task is based on statistical analysis
using ANOVA, Stepwise Regression or Structural
Equation Modeling to build a predictive model for the
Metallurgical Recovery (Cu, Nickel.etc). The model can
be checked, corrected even replaced by flotation batch
tests, where the recovery is well correlated with control
variables (grinding size, average grade, lithology), the
support must be accompanied by a sensitivity analysis
where the predictive capacity can be checked. Back
analysis and/or cross validations are highly
recommended.
The flotation analysis must include the time/ residence
effect on the recovery, by the statistical analysis or the
flotation kinetics made on the plant.
The economical analysis in the concentrator must be able
to split the fixed and variable costs (considered fixed in this
marginal scenario where no new investments are
considered). The main items to be analyzed generally must
be the energy and iron consumption of grinding.
Abstract
Mine planning and mineral processing optimization are usually treated as two unconnected problems, especially at open
pit and panel caving mines where the cut-off grade is practically the only variable optimized and analyzed for in the
planning proposes.
Using existing planning tool, the output is a reserve consumption strategy privileging higher grades. With the earlier
consumption of the highest grades, every year produces revenues which are closer to the cost and potentially even
below cost. However, there are other ore characteristics that can also affect the profitability of the operation.
A new methodology has been developed, incorporating the grinding and flotation relationship into the mining economic
models for the simultaneous analysis and optimization of the throughput-work index-recovery relationship through
changes in the mining limits, sequence and redefinition of the reserve consumption strategy.
A mine-site that implements this new planning strategy, can expect to increase the NPV from 5 to 15% depending on
the actual operational settings.
Two case studies have been developed, showing how the inclusion of the work index in the economic model changes
the phase and mining sequence in an open pit mine and the caving sequence and the optimum column height in a panel
caving mine.
Integrating Work Index into
mine planning at large
scale mining operations
Jose A. Caceres S., MSc(Eng), PhD Candidate
Charles W. Pelley, PhD, P.Eng P.D. (Takis) Katsabanis, PhD, P.Eng.
Shadan Kelebek, PhD, Associate Professors, Department of Mining Engineering, Queens University
Massmin 2004 157 Santiago Chile, 22-25 August 2004
The final elements must be the analysis of the maximum
capacity reachable for the concentrator; the analysis must
review all the plant stages and identify bottle necks.
Summarizing, the elements required in the Concentrator
to apply to Mine Plant Simultaneous Planning are the
following:
The P80-Tonnage-Wi Relationship
A Recovery (P8,Wi, Grade, , other), predictive model.
Maximum Capacity Analysis
The Fixed and Variable Cost Structure.
1.1.2 Mine Elements.
Assuming a mining method is already selected, a mining
limit and sequence has been defined, a cut-off optimization
has been carried out based on the traditional throughput
definition (Probably defined by the concentrator); the mine
must produce an initial reserve schedule and mining plan
with a average grade and Wi by period (if the Wi
optimization is going to be included). All these initial
approaches are useful to build a Base Case to use an initial
evaluation.
The same structures cost analysis carried out on the
concentrator must be repeated on the mine, splitting again
the fixed and the variable costs.
Finally, just like the concentrator, a maximum capacity
analysis must be included. For an open pit mine, the
capacity is almost unconstrained and is directly related with
the equipment. For underground mines upper limits exist
and must be identified.
Summarizing, the elements required to apply to mine and
plant simultaneous planning for mining professionals are the
following:
An Initial Reserves Schedule
A Maximum Production Rate Analysis
The Fixed and Variable Cost Structure.
1.1.3 Evaluation Methodology including a Variable
Recovery
Acritical step is to accept the fact that recovery cannot be
estimated as a constant value for the next 25 years. All the
previous and following steps, and the extra value gained by
carrying out better planning, will be wasted if at the end,
somebody declares "The recovery for the next 25 years will
be 89.99%". The most critical step is to modify the actual
evaluation system in every mine site by including the
recovery as a reliable function of input data, like
throughputs, work index, grades or rock types. The
evaluation of any system depends on every operating
characteristic.
1.1.4 Base Case Economic Evaluation
Considering the data generated for the mine and the
concentrator, an economic evaluation estimating the initial
NPV has to be built. The economic evaluation must be the
result of the compromises assumed by the mine in the long-
term period, accepted by management, and define the most
relevant parameter of the mine. In most cases this will be
the NPV of the actual operation.
1.1.5 The Optimization Module.
The optimization model must recreate the economic value of
the base case, (based on the economic evaluation already
made) and must be able to calculate directly the target function,
net present value, cash flow or rate of return as a function of
changes in tonnage, recovery, grades, and Wi. This module,
core of the Mine to Mill, must be able to calculate average
grades facing increases or decreases in the production rate,
and simultaneously must calculate the new recovery caused by
new throughput and/or new grades and Wi.
The way to solve the problem in an open pit is using the
incremental technique provided by software package like
Opticut. In underground mines, an incremental technique
can be set up.
Once all the variables are set up and related to each
other, it is possible to estimate the effect of changes in
throughput and Wi on recovery and liberation size to find the
optimum production rate.
The optimization engine could be an iterative method like
dynamic programming, or multivariable methods for non
lineal problems starting with the generalized reduced
gradient, considering an important number of starting
solutions to increase the chance of finding the global
optimal solution.
1.1.6 Wi inclusion.
The Wi has to be included in the base case, the
production plan, the recovery-production rate functions
and into the maximum capacity analysis. The Wi must be
included in the economic model affecting simultaneously
production rate, capacity and recovery, in the block model
or mining units, (Blocks, Benches, Stopes, Panel and
Areas) and reevaluate these mining units and apply the
method used to define the sequence depending of every
mining method. For example for an open pit, it is
necessary to build the profit matrix and apply the Lerch &
Grossman method or Moving Cone with the decreasing
price series or increasing cost series and define the new
potential phases and sequence and optimize the cut-off
grade including the variable recovery and re-evaluate the
production schedule.
For Panel Caving mines, the method is similar, accepting
the caving level, including the effects of Wi on the caving
limits, the caving sequences and Lanes method applied to
optimize the column height. Figure 1 shows this concept.
1.1.7 Stop Criteria.
The global methodology stops when the difference
between the NPV for the solution immediately posterior and
the actual solution is lower than a tolerance value.
Figure 1 Wi Inclusion Concept
2 INDUSTRIAL CASE
The following is a simplified industrial case where grades,
work index, mineral processing data and correlations belong
to an actual mine site in central of Chile. With the intention
of simplifying and enhancing the general character of the
exercise and protecting the mine information, the analysis is
based only on copper as the main valuable component.
The analysis considers a conventional circuit and applies
the methodology previously described for an underground
Panel Caving.
158 Massmin 2004 Santiago Chile, 22-25 August 2004
2.1 Concentrator Analysis
The grinding circuit is composed of a single open-circuit
mill plus a conventional mill initially designed for 33
[Kton/day], based on an average Wi of 15 [Kwh/ston]. The
capacity analysis shows that without a constraint in the
product size the technical maximum capacity will be 38
Kton/day, limited by the behavior of the rod mill. Additionally
there is a product size constraint in the range 260-300 um
because of pulp transportation problems.
The throughput, work index, and product size relations,
calibrated with actual data, are shown in Figure 2.
Statistical Analysis shows that the P80 explains more than
80% of the variance in the recovery data and flotation
kinetics ensures adequate residence time for a scenario of
38 Kton/day. This justifies no inclusion of a penalty in the
recovery associated with a lack of residence time. Figure 3
shows the P80-Recovery relation considered. These figures
are from Kelebek (2000).
Figure 2 Actual Conventional Grinding Circuit Calibration
Figure 3 Recovery-P80 Relation
2.2 Underground Mine
The underground mine is a Block Caving operation with a
maximum capacity of 48 Kton/Day because of area and
caving constraints. The analysis is based on copper for
envelope limits and caving sequences design. Lanes
methodology was used to define the optimum column
height. A copper price of 130 US$/Ton was used with an
interest rate of 10%. Table 1 shows the economic
parameters considered.
The base case considers the same economic parameters
from Table 1 and a production rate of 33 Kton/day. An
important first step is to examine what happens if work index
information is simply omitted because, for example, the high
copper price suggests that grade is far more important or as
in the recent past with a price of $US0.70 /lb, there is neither
the time or economic resource to get Wi information.
Furthermore, it seems logical to assume that the "soft rock"
is associated with the higher grades which assumes when
planning using opportunity cost only one should get the best
grades and softest rocks in the first years of the mine life.
Under this assumption it is enough to consider the average
Wi from the annual reports to equal 15 Kwh/st.
Figure 4 Optimal Sequence, Average Wi
Considering a production rate of 33 Kton/day, average, an
average Wi (15 Kwh) and the economic parameters from table 1,
the optimal caving sequence, is highly orientated to the south part
of the mine as shown in Figure 4. This follows higher grades and
higher column heights due to the copper price considered.
Table 2 shows the production plan and economic evaluation
resulting after smooth the caving sequences and considering
the concentrator information shown in Fgures 2 and 3.
Table 2 Production Plan Average Wi
NPV = 1164.8 MUS$
Table 1 Economic Parameters Underground Mine
Parameters
Cu Price 130.00 cUS$/lb
Discount 35.00 cUS$/lb
Interest Rate 10.00 %
Total Mining Cost 3.26 US$/Ton
Processing Cost 4.30 US$/Ton
Mining Cost 0.98 US$/Ton
Processing Variable Cost 2.15 US$/Ton
Massmin 2004 159 Santiago Chile, 22-25 August 2004
The production plan is one from a mine site which does
consider mine to mill relationships and assumes a flat
recovery and a flat throughput. But, what happens if the
previous plan does not assume an average work index but
instead measures and includes those values in the block
model?
Because of work index inclusion, recovery is no longer flat
but changes according to liberation size, reflecting the
actual behavior of a flotation plant. The assumption of 15
Kwh/ston for the following 17 years has a cost in net present
value of 54 MUS$ as shown in Table 3. Very few planners
would predict that inclusion of the actual Wi in their plan
would reduce the NPV by 5%. This demonstrates the
problem with building production plans using non-evaluated
assumptions or, worst yet, to choose to ignore such an
important factor in their evaluations.
Table 3 Production Expected Work Index
NPV = 1111.5 MUS$
The important next step is to re-analyze, the caving
sequence and column heights now considering Wi and
concentrator relations. The resulting caving sequence, as
shown in Figure 5, is strongly central and north oriented,
because of the value added or subtracted by work index in
potential throughput increases, and variable recoveries.
Figure 5 Caving Sequence with Wi Inclusion
The 33Kton/day production plan, after smoothing the
caving sequence and now including Wi and Cu grade has a
net present value of 1149.6 MUS$. This recovers 38 MUS$
of 54 MUS$ initially "lost" because it assumes a more
realistic flotation plant. Table 4 shows the production plan
and evaluation for this new sequence.
Table 4 Production Plan and Evaluation Wi-CU Sequence
It is necessary to define the optimal production rate based on
information from the block model, projecting grades and Wi as
function of changes in throughput. This analysis must connect
the reserve behaviour to define the optimal throughput with a
NPV maximization target. Figure 6 shows the profit and
recoveries for a simplified case considering a fixed grade.
Is important to highlight that this kind of "static" analysis
is only for the academic purposes, as it is impossible to
assume that with increased throughput the grades will
remain constant. Connecting every block each containing
the true differing grades, Wi and cost to the optimal
throughput decision, and associating the mining variables
such as sequences and column height while always
respecting the constraint of maximum column height and
extraction speed, is the key to real mine to mill optimization.
Building the optimal production plan under the concentrators
constraints, increases the NPV for the 17 years of mine life by
8,7 % as shown in Table 5, and increases the profit by 14 and
32% during the first two years. (Figure 7).
It is necessary to question if all the sequences and column
height analysis is necessary. Why not accept the actual
sequence and column heights and just go to the maximum
capacity of 38 Kton/day. This is similar to Carlisle (1954) who
states "Except for gross maladjustment of mill capacity to ore
reserves, the optimum rate of recovery in the short run is likely
to be close to designed mill capacity. In many mines it is
profitable to work the mill at greater than designed capacity".
Figure 6 Profit and Recovery as Function of Throughput
static analysis.
160 Massmin 2004 Santiago Chile, 22-25 August 2004
Table 5 Expanded Production Plan Optimal Cu-Wi
Sequence NPV 1206
Accepting the original sequence and building a production
plan for 38 Kton/day (Table 6) without including the Wi
increases the NPV by just 1.3%, while increasing
throughput by 15% and forcing the P80 over the constraint
of 260-300 um, getting values around 310 um the year 1
and 322.8 um year 9. This is certainly not an acceptable
route.
Figure 7 Profit Comparison Underground Case
Table 6 Plan 38 Kton/day Original Sequence
A second and unavoidable question is whether it is
possible to get a lower Wi without decreasing Cu grade, is
there a correlation between them?. For some mines,
especially those based on selective mining, there is no room
for optimization, grades are extremely confined to small
spaces and there are no mining options. However, even
without sequence optimization, it is healthy to estimate the
behavior of a flotation plant based on something better than
an average value. The next industrial Case analyzes the
correlation between Wi and Grades for an Open Pit Mine.
3 ANALYSIS AND CONCLUSIONS
After reviewing the underground case, the following
conclusions can be drawn.
Work Index is a variable that in any case justifies its
inclusion in mine planning at an early stage, and has an
importance equivalent product grades.
Inclusion of Work Index, will imply changes in mining
sequences and mining variables as important as column
height definition.
In concentrators where recovery is strongly related to
product size or P80, work index selection or modification
by better mining sequences is a valid way to increase
throughput without additional investment.
A flat recovery curve, smooth work index-P80
relationship, plus a flat grade profile, is the manner to
increase revenues without additional investment.
Metallurgical recovery improvements by work index
reduction have the potential to significantly increase cash
flow and NPV.
The improvement in mining sequences by the inclusion of
work index data has the potential for significant increases
in profitability, as demonstrated the case study presented.
Relating this analysis to initial project design and linking
the mine sequence and Wi, with the plant design is an
unexplored area with an enormous potential.
ACKNOWLEGEMENT
Mr. Carlos Valenzuela Vega Metalica Consultoress
Engineering Chief.
Metalica Consultores for the support provided to the
author.
The mines that provided the information used in this work
and congratulate them for risking the resources required to
generate the Work Index information and including it in the
block model.
REFERENCES
Bond F.C. (1961) "Crushing and grinding calculations" pp
1-12, British Chemical Engineering, 6, 1960 (Revised
1961 by Allis Chalmers Publication 07R923B).
Camus, J., (2002) "Management of Mineral Resources:
Creating Value in the Mining Business", An SME
publication ISBN 0-87335-216-5.
Carlisle, Donald (1954) "The economic of a fund resource
with particular reference to mining". The American
Economic Review. September issue, pp. 595-619.
Lane, K. 1988 "The economic definition of ore"
S. Kelebek, (2000) "Analysis of Andina data on the effect
of primary grind size on the recovery of Cu with
implications on processing tonnage", An internal Queens
University report for Metalica, Santiago Chile.
Steane H.A. (1978) "Coarser grind may mean lower metal
recovery but higher profit" Canadian Mining Journal, June
issue, pp 2-6.