Lessons from the Digital Mine Summit 2023
This week marked the highly anticipated Digital Mine Summit 2023 held in Perth, WA. This exceptional event gathered mining industry pioneers, including the IntelliSense.io team, to delve into the potential of digital technologies in revolutionizing the mining landscape.
In the face of challenging global issues like economic fluctuations and the growing demand for critical minerals in the energy transition, mining operations are compelled to focus on increasing ore recovery and throughput while safeguarding profit margins.
To address these challenges, digital technologies, especially AI, are becoming crucial tools for driving efficiency, productivity, and cost reduction in the mining industry. Although the benefits of adopting these technologies are evident, their successful integration and optimization can be challenging.
In some cases, improper implementation can lead to having all the necessary tools without the know-how to utilize them effectively or even starting from the wrong unit.
Are Stockpiles just ‘Piles of Dirt Material’?
In operations, there is a lot of focus on the Mine and a lot of focus on the Plant, but all too often, the Stockpiles are regarded as ‘just piles of dirt’ when in fact they are the vital link between the mine and plant.
Given this context, maximizing value extraction starting from the mining pit operations becomes paramount to fully leverage the ore body knowledge for better improvements in downstream mineral processes.
Envision having a digital twin of your stockpile, providing a comprehensive view of the material’s spatial distribution, along with crucial properties like ore type, mineral characteristics, and age range.
IntelliSense.io have made this become a reality with the Stockpile and Inventory Optimization Application.
This pioneering approach utilizes 3D block modeling to monitor real-time changes in stockpile operations. From dumps and reclaims to material flow and residence time, our application provides dynamic insights, empowering efficient stockpile management and optimizing overall operations.
The 3D Block Models are x,y, and z centroids, and as many properties as desired are tracked and updated within each block (see video).
By integrating this detailed knowledge into the plant’s feed, we unlock the potential for making smarter decisions, such as optimizing the grinding circuit setup, leading to significant performance improvements.
The power of higher granularity data empowers us to enhance overall efficiency and achieve better results across the mining operation.
You can find more about the value gained by big mining companies already using the Stockpile and Inventory Optimization Application by clicking below.
Success Adoption – Where to Start?
Digitization should not be seen as a disruptor, but rather as the solution to co-create a new era with a holistic mining operating system, oriented towards shared value and transparency.
This requires the implementation of a strategic mix of approaches and best practices to optimize operations, boost efficiency, and enhance profitability throughout the entire mining value chain. Starting by better knowing what is coming from the mine can move your marketers from maximization of benchmark sales to maximization of the NPV of your mine geology.
IntelliSense.io pre-built applications have a fast implementation framework (with low risk) that help miners in this race against time. We use available mining data, combining spatial (mine) and time-series data (plant) to drive even greater efficiency gains. On the brains.app platform, our suite of real-time decision-making applications uses Scientific AI*-based technologies to optimize each process; complete from mine to market.
*Scientific AI is the fusion of physics models with machine learning techniques. It was developed by Intellisense.io to further increase net metal production through the use of our AI solutions.
