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INTRODUCTION
The principal mission of the Mining Department is to
provide to the processing plant a mineral in optimal
condition for its subsequent treatment, either at the lowest
cost or at the highest possible production rate, depending
on the management philosophy of the mining operation. Of
high importance also are the requirements to minimize the
environmental impact, to ensure a strong community
benefit, and to provide a safe and rewarding working
environment.
To win the mineral, it is usually necessary to remove
large quantities of waste or low-grade material, the
quantities of which are generally much greater than the
quantities of ore being mined and processed. It is
common, in the copper mining industry of Chile and Peru,
to have a stripping ratio in the order of 3/1; this being
larger still in the mining of gold, reaching levels
approaching 20/1. As far as the operations in the pit are
concerned, the primary cost item then becomes the
waste, not the ore, due to the greater quantities and
longer haul distances. It isnt unusual to see the primary
focus directed towards the production of mineral to the
plant, while the extraction of waste attracts insufficient
attention to permit optimization of the total mineral
recovery process. The specific mission of blasting is,
therefore, to pre-condition the rock, either mineral or
waste, for its subsequent treatment in the most
economical way possible for the whole business.
The first step of the comminution process is blasting.
blasting is conducted.
Fundamentally, the objective of blasting is to break rock,
thereby rendering it amenable to excavation and removal.
Excluding maintenance issues, the cost to run an excavator
is more or less constant, on a per-hour basis, with costs
controlled by capital depreciation, labor, servicing, and
energy costs. But the cost per tonne of material excavated
will also depend on how many tonnes of material can be
excavated per hour of operation, and it is here that the
efficiency and intensity of blasting affects the Value of the
process.
Figure 3: Cost minimization curve v Value maximization
curve, as a function of the intensity of blasting (powder
factor), after McKenzie, 2005.
Rather than striving to achieve the cheapest tonne
broken, one can focus on the tonne that is the most
economical, or the fastest tonne (i.e. the tonne of material
that is most quickly loaded, most quickly hauled, most
quickly crushed and most quickly passes through the
grinding circuit), Figure 3. This will be the tonne that
complies with all the requirements of the Global Process,
since it will produce higher productivity for the same capital
expenditure. The qualities of this tonne of broken rock will
be different for waste and for mineral, and as we are
seeing, for different types of mineral as well. A process
model combining blasting, loading, hauling and crushing
operations (Figure 3) highlights two important issues.
Firstly, the average powder factor required to maximize
Value is significantly higher than that required to minimize
costs. Secondly, the slope of both curves is steeper before
OF TRANSFORMATION OF ENERGY
An economic focus on the Mining Production Chain
shows us that this is a Process of Energy Transformation,
applied as a process of pre-conditioning via the reduction
24 Santiago Chile, May 2006 Fragblast-8
Fragblast-8 Santiago Chile, May 2006 25
of material size and incorporation of micro-fractures, for its
later physical and chemical treatment. That is to say, its
transformation into a commercial product.
The sources of energy are basically explosives, and
electricity either generated in thermo-electric plants
(petroleum, carbon, natural gas) or bought from public
networks. The understanding of the Energy Balance of the
global process is a powerful management tool. Various
publications show that the proportion of the cost of energy
necessary to induce a change of similar proportions
through explosives, in the mine, crusher and grinder is in
the order of 1 / (4-6) / (8-12), for a wide range of types of
rock and industrial equipment.
This indicates that the blast is the most efficient step in
the comminution process. In any case, we need to know
more, however we cant import the knowledge or
experience from other environments, other rock, other
equipment, and other circumstances. We need to generate
it from our own mines and situations.
In an established operation it isnt easy to determine the
optimum relations between the different unit operations. In
spite of the existence of specialized instrumentation and
platforms of communication for gathering on-line, real time
performance data from equipment, we frequently give little
organizational structure.
For example, the demand for meters drilled will not
guarantee a good location of the hole, the precision of its
angle or its correct depth. There seems to be little
awareness of the importance of Quality Control in drilling in
achieving the expected result of a blast, and many
operations immediately focus on the explosive as the
guilty party when results are unfavorable. It is very
common to observe that the factor having the greatest
impact on blasting results is the quality of the design
implementation and drill plan rather than the explosive itself
(type of explosive, powder factor).
In an analogous form, the success of slope control is
frequently related to the inefficiencies of the Production
Equipment. Stop the extraction because the shovel
reached the designed bench line, even if it can easily
remove more material? Carry out buffer blasts or presplitting
in small diameters even if the available
equipment has larger diameters and is more efficient? A
short term decision, such as complying with the daily
extraction goals, can sometimes prevail over the longer
term interests, such as the slope quality and its impact on
the bottom line of the Statement of Results of the
company.
This, although it may be a trivial problem, is a complex
situation. A change that can seem technically obvious is
often in reality impractical if it wasnt foreseen and
addressed appropriately in the Mining Plan. It isnt always
possible to acquire or contract additional equipment,
such as drills with a smaller diameter, loaders to clean the