Diversified mining multinational Anglo American on May 11 provided a detailed overview and update of the technologies that are being developed and deployed group-wide, as well as the impact of its operating model changes, to sustain and improve its operations.
“Technology and innovation are central to how we create a fundamentally more sustainable business,” said group technical director Tony O’Neill .
He noted that the group’s FutureSmart Mining initiative, started in 2015, focused on how the group could change the footprint of mining, including its water and energy consumption.
“Other activities include precision and innovation to drive a step-change that is ambitious and transformational. It also looked at reliability and best-in-class performance, setting us up for the future over the next 15 to 20 years. The initiative was aimed at creating end-to-end systems across the entire group of businesses," he explained.
"It is clear that there are no boundaries between our FutureSmart and sustainable working programmes. The two areas are inherently interconnected and are part of the same purpose and ambition,” he added.
Group head of mining Matt Daley , meanwhile, provided an overview of the P101 value chain improvement initiative, which used a 2017 self-assessment to benchmark Anglo’s value chain against the industry baseline.
This includes mine design and life-of-mine (LoM) planning, blasting design, drill and blasting execution, design of roads and haulage improvements, simulation of equipment activity and interactivity and plant performance.
"The initiative was designed to identify best practice principles and embed them into management's routine and it is fully integrated with the group's operating model," he noted.
This approach also enables the group to more effectively deploy technology, and has led to it achieving or exceeding industry benchmarks, and supporting new ways of mining and processing as part of the FutureSmart programme, he pointed out.
P101 is layered onto the group’s operating model to deliver new benchmark levels of performance across its operations and provides stability and predictability to performance, explained O’Neill.
“FutureSmart is integrating technology and digitalisation with the full spectrum of our sustainable mining plan ambitions – particularly our water and energy targets and our pathway to carbon neutral operations by 2040.
“Together, our approach is providing the next step-change in our operating and financial performance,” he said.
The P101 initiative has led to operations learning from one another and enables the group to more effectively roll-out new technologies to operations.
The initiative has delivered benefits of $2-billion and has contributed to lowering capital intensity by about 30%, while planning and analysis of each aspect of operations are at levels not achieved before, he said.
"This gives us different insights and an understanding of the business, particularly value flows and further opportunities to add another layer of stability to unlock further value."
Further, Daley stated that LoM planning was key to locking in performance over an operation’s LoM and ensuring the right materials were in the right place at the right time.
The company has also improved mine geometries, eliminating vertical interactions and achieving a step change in productivity.
"Blasting design led to a 14% improvement in fragmentation at the Los Bronces copper mine, in Chile, and the change led to optimal downstream milling benefits, and helped to eliminate trim and buffer blast.
“This reduced the frequency of weekly blasts by 20% to 50% and led to more productive hours and improved shovel load rates by about 50%, leading to a more than 25% improvement in shovel productivity," he detailed.
An additional focus on blast execution led the company to develop a standard and real-time in-field digital platform to ensure all aspects of drilling and blasting compliance are met and that allows for blasts...
