MICROMINE’s exploration and mine design solution, Micromine, has underpinned Norilsk Nickel’s ‘Technological Breakthrough’ project.
The data created with Micromine software is proving invaluable at Norilsk Nickel’s new operational control centres at its Oktyabrsky, Taimyrsky and Komsomolsky mines in Russia.
The mining giant has developed a “ten-day shift schedule” to help schedule the work of miners that is reliant on Micromine data.
“The planning system’s algorithm distributes the amount of work and equipment per production and shifts, taking into account the cyclical nature of the process and the initial data,” Norilsk said in a statement.
“Based on this distribution, a ten-day shift schedule is generated for each mine and shift. Planned mining operations for different periods and sites across the mines are integrated into plans for extended time periods within a single centralised planning system.”
This has enabled the company to abandon a non-centralised and manual approach to mine planning.
The shift scheduling system runs on data provided by Micromine, which creates 3D ore-body models to clearly identify the seam occurrence, helping to optimise the production processes and the processing sequence of the reserves.
The control centres have been developed as part of Norilsk’s Technology Breakthrough program, a project designed to digitise and automate most processes at the nickel miner’s extensive mining and processing facilities by 2020.
“Setting up operational centres at our mines we seek to significantly improve mining efficiency by streamlining operations management and planning,” said Andrey Gritsenko, head of the working group to transform mining management processes at Norilsk Nickel’s Polar Division.
“It will also help increase productivity of mining divisions by up to 10%, ensure ore quality compliance with established standards and facilitate charge preparation for the processing stage.”
Providing for real-time 24/7 monitoring of mining operations and playing a central role in mining operations planning over all time horizons, control centres are also scheduled to open at two other Polar Division mines – Skalisty and Mayak – by the end of the year. [Source https://www.nornickel.com/news-and-media/press-releases-and-news/nornickel-s-smart-digital-mines/?sphrase_id=3250189]
Norilsk Nickel, Russia’s leading metal and mining company and the world’s largest high-grade nickel and palladium producer, has been using Micromine solutions since 2011, with the software integrated at the majority of the miner’s sites.
To see how Micromine can support your exploration program, visit our Micromine product page or contact us.
