Selection of appropriate maintenance strategy is key to economic viability of aviation and manufacturing industries. The study discusses and presents an approach to facilitate the selection of the most appropriate maintenance strategy on the basis of the cost-benefit analysis by using Analytical Hierarchical Process (AHP). The goal is to select the most cost-effective alternative, among Run-To-Failure (RTF), Preventive Maintenance (PM), incorporating Prognostic Health Management(PHM) capability, or any possible Design-Out Maintenance (DOM) strategies, which positively affects on aircraft operational availability. In this paper we proposed a stepwise algorithm to guide the selection process, based on two criteria of operational availability (benefit) and cost of failure.

The measurement and improvement of track quality are key issues in determining the time at which railway maintenance must be performed and its cost. Efficient track maintenance ensures optimum allocation of limited maintenance resources which has an enormous effect on maintenance efficiency. Applying an appropriate tamping strategy helps reduce maintenance costs, making operations more cost-effective and leading to increased safety and passenger comfort levels. This paper discusses optimisation of the track geometry inspection interval with a view to minimising the total ballast maintenance costs per unit traffic load. The proposed model considers inspection time, the maintenance-planning horizon time after inspection and takes into account the costs associated with inspection, tamping and risk of accidents due to poor track quality. It draws on track geometry data from the iron ore line (Malmbanan) in northern Sweden, used by both passenger and freight trains, to find the probability distribution of geometry faults.

The measurement and improvement of track quality are key issues in determining both the restoration time and cost of railway maintenance. Applying the optimal tamping strategy helps reduce maintenance costs, making operations more cost effective and leading to increased safety and passenger comfort. In this paper, track geometry data from the iron ore line (Malmbanan) in northern Sweden, which handles both passenger and freight trains, are used to evaluate track geometry maintenance in cold climate. The paper describes Trafikverket’s (Swedish Transport Administration) tamping strategy and evaluates its effectiveness in measuring, reporting, and improving track quality. Finally, it evaluates the performance of the maintenance contractor and discusses the importance of the functional requirements stated in the outsourcing contracts.

The measurement and improvement of track quality are key issues in determining both the time and cost of railway maintenance. Efficient track geometry maintenance ensures optimum allocation of limited maintenance resources and has an enormous effect on maintenance efficiency. Applying the appropriate tamping strategy also helps reduce maintenance costs, making operations more cost effective and leading to increased safety and passenger comfort. In this paper, track geometry data from the iron ore line in northern Sweden, which handles both passenger and freight trains, are used to calculate track quality degradation trend in a cold climate. The paper describes Trafikverket’s (Swedish Transport Administration) tamping strategy and illustrates the distribution of safety failures in different seasons. It also analyses the track geometry degradation and discuss about the possible reasons for distribution of failures over a year and along the track.

“Face to Surface” is a project within the strategic innovation program “Mining and Metals”, which is a collaboration between Vinnova, Formas and Energy Agency of Sweden with additional funding from Boliden Mineral AB and LKAB. The project is aimed to improve productivity and efficiency of mining activities through optimization of the overall production chain. The current status report corresponds to the first task of the project–Baseline Mapping.The report presents the overall process chain of mining operation in Boliden Aitik copper mine, Sweden. The production chain is initially described as a system of singular processes. Each process is then described in more details, including inter-relations and downstream effects of each process within the operation. The report provides a basis for identification of potential fields of improvement in the process. The subsequent tasks of the project will be conducted upon internal discussions based on the findings of this report.

As demand for optimisation of mining processes increases, more attention is drawn to blast performance and fragmentation improvement. Fractures and discontinuities are among the most influential factors in blast results, therefore one of the initial steps towards blast optimisation is to gather information about the rock mass and integrate it in blast design. This paper presents a method for assessment of rock mass discontinuities and integrating it in production blasts in the Aitik open pit copper mine in Sweden. 3D photogrammetric techniques were utilised to map discontinuities and distinguish domains of similar geologic structures in the pit. As a pilot study for a future campaign, four different initiation directions were tested through six pilot blasts in one of the domains. The results were compared in terms of swell and loading efficiency of rope shovels to identify the correlation between blast performance and initiation direction compared to major discontinuity families. It was established that in the trial domain, blasts initiated towards north or north-west yielded larger swell and better performance of loading. Comparing these blasts with discontinuity families show that there is a correlation between blast performance and initiation direction according to the dip and strike of these discontinuities. Such knowledge can be used for future blasts in the same domain to increase long-term operational efficiency through slight modifications in drill pattern and initiation design.

In sublevel caving, blasted material flows gravitationally into the drawpoint from above in a periodical manner. This type of flow behavior entails muck pile conditions that are variable along the course of extraction. The effect of this variability on the LHD (Load-Haul-Dump) operation in terms of loading efficiency and ability to undermine the blasted ring is not fully understood as of today. This paper presents results from a field test in LKABs Malmberget mine in Sweden, where the influence of fragmentation on the loading operation has been studied in detail. Drawpoint filming was conducted for extraction of two rings equivalent of roughly 10000 metric tons (~9842 long tons) of material each. The analysis includes fragmentation measurements, muck pile classification, and general estimations in terms of loadability. Further, an evaluation of LHD machines from two different manufacturers was conducted to identify and highlight differences. The results show that fragmentation, muck pile compactness, and flow characteristics are all interdependent. Flow disturbances and the subsequent loading of compacted fine material in the back of the ring have been identified as the main reason for occurring problems and prolonged digging times. However, the ability to sufficiently undermine the blasted ring has been identified to primarily depend on digging depth which is only observed to be high during flow disturbances. An absence of flow disturbances seem to promote high loading efficiency but simultaneously limit the maximum digging depth. A mid-range particle size distribution with a low amount of fines has proven beneficial for overall loading efficiency. The various LHDs employed showed significant variations in terms of ability to handle difficult loading situations (e.g. compactness, boulders, etc.).

The modern mining industry is highly mechanised and relies on massive, multimillion-dollar pieces of equipment to achieve production targets. In an increasingly challenging international economic climate, mining operations are reliant on economies of scale to remain competitive. To maximise revenue, it is imperative that at each stage of the mining process, equipment is operating optimally without preventable and unnecessary interruptions. As a result, the focus of all mining operations is to increase equipment uptime and utilisation.The data used for this investigation have been sourced from the Aitik mine, a large open pit copper mine in Northern Sweden. In the loading area, power shovels load trucks with blasted material for transport, either to the crushers or to the waste dumps. The Aitik mine employs various computer-aided applications to track and maintain mobile mining equipment like the shovels. These applications also serve as chronological operational and maintenance databases for the equipment. This paper’s study of six mining shovels is based on the analysis of three data types: historical maintenance data from CMMS Maximo, operational data from mine management system Cat® MineStarTM, and event-log data from individual shovels.The results indicate that such a synthesis is viable. A regular time-lapse integration of the diverse data types displays potential and could prove helpful in achieving overall improvements in maintenance.

A rock drilling system always responds to variations in the mechanical properties of the penetrated rock mass. Combining the drill response with a detailed understanding of the drill system has the potential to give a detailed and high-resolution characterisation of the penetrated rock mass along the borehole. This paper analyses 186 boreholes, drilled using a water powered in-the-hole (ITH) drilling technique considering drill parameters; penetration rate, rotation pressure, feed pressure and percussive pressure. In addition, it suggests, calculates and uses a parameter reflecting rock fracturing. Sixty-three of the holes were filmed with a borehole camera to reveal the geo-mechanical features. The results show that the responses from the drill monitoring system can distinguish between solid rock, fracture zones, cavities and damaged rock. The ability to extract this information directly from the drilling operation provides unique prior information and can be useful to adjust production planning before charging and blasting boreholes.

In the mining industry, the ability to charge and blast a production borehole is fundamental. However, if rock mass conditions are challenging, with cavities, fracture zones or even unstable boreholes, the charging crew may fail to insert the required amount of explosives, resulting in bad fragmentation and significant production disturbances in the downstream process. Prior detailed knowledge of the chargeability of each production fan or ring will improve both the planning and execution of the charging work in a mine. The paper describes a study using the drill monitoring technique to assess the chargeability of production boreholes. For the study, data were collected on four drill parameters, penetration rate, rotation pressure, feed pressure and percussive pressure, from 23 drill fans with a total of 186 boreholes. A parameter called fracturing was calculated based on penetration rate variability and rotation pressure variability. Sixty-three boreholes were filmed to establish different rock mass conditions: solid rock, cavities, fractured zones and cave-ins. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was performed to model the relationship between drill monitoring data and the geological features. The developed model shows high potential by identifying charging problems directly from drill monitoring data, and has been verified and validated in a real charging operation in an operating mine.

A detailed understanding of the drilling system and the drilling control is required to correctly interpret rock mass conditions based on monitored drilling data. This paper analyses data from hydraulic in-the-hole (ITH) drills used in LKAB’s Malmberget mine in Sweden. Drill parameters, including penetration rate, percussive pressure, feed pressure, and rotation pressure, are monitored in underground production holes. Calculated parameters, penetration rate variability, rotation pressure variability, and fracturing are included in the analysis to improve the opportunity to predict rock mass conditions. Principal component analysis (PCA) is used to address non-linearity and variable interactions. The results show that the data contain pronounced hole length-dependent trends, both linear and step-wise linear, for most parameters. It is also suggested that monitoring can be an efficient way to optimize target values for drill parameters, as demonstrated for feed force. Finally, principal component analysis can be used to transfer a number of drill parameters into single components with a more straightforward geomechanical meaning

In the mining industry, rock mass characterization is necessary for both short term and long term production planning, but it is a challenge to get detailed information on the geo-mechanical properties of rock mass. Measurement While Drilling (MWD) is a well-established technique to retrieve data on the mechanical response of the rock mass in penetrated horizons. With this data the mining process could be improved regarding drilling cycle time, blast design, loading, hauling, crushing energy and grinding energy for present and underlying benches. This paper presents an attempt to characterize the rock mass in Boliden Minerals Aitik Mine, the largest open pit copper mine of Europe, located in the Northern part of Sweden. Penetration rate and specific energy are used to describe how subsequent benches (upper and lower) are inter-related. The behavior of Specific Energy and Penetration Rate is further evaluated and analyzed.

Projekt inom ramen för SIO STRIM

For integration purposes, a data collection and distribution system based on the concept of cloud computing could be possible to use for collection of data or information pertaining from various sources of data. From a maintenance point of view, the benefit of cloud computing is that information or data may be collected on the health, variability, performance or utilization of the asset. It is especially useful in data mining where different types of data of different quality must be integrated. This paper discusses the concept and presents one example from the underground mining industry.

As ore grades have decreased and the mining depth has increased over the past few decades, other characteristics than ore grade and tonnage are becoming important. The underground mining process, from in-situ rock mass characteristics to the final mill product with fully liberated minerals, consists of a chain of unit operations that impact, and are influenced by, fragmentation. This report presents the baseline mapping of the project “From Face to Surface”, studying the effects of fragmentation on the process flow in an underground SLC mine. It analyses the underground unit operations in detail, from mine planning to shafts, and maps the blast fragmentation’s effect on the process flow. The goal is to provide a deeper understanding of fragmentation´s effect on different unit operations. The objective is to describe the mining operation at Luossavaara-Kiirunavaara AB (LKAB) and identify key areas for improving fragmentation. To understand how fragmentation influences different operations in the mine, the project conducted a literature study, collected data and interviewed mine personnel in LKAB’s Malmberget mine. Data were collected from the mine’s internal systems, such as GIRON, WOLIS, IP21 and a local drilling data system. The interviews were conducted in cooperation with research personnel from the mine.This baseline mapping shows that the mining operation in Malmberget is affected by fragmentation in several ways. For some unit operations, the fragmentation has a large impact, while for others, it has none at all. The influence of fragmentation starts with the loading operation after the initial blasting and ends with the crushing operation. For the former, boulders are the largest problem, as they cause a great deal of idle time, either when they have to be moved to a separate drift for secondary blasting or when they create hang-ups in the ore passes. When boulders are dumped into the ore passes, they risk damaging the ore pass walls. If boulders create a hang-up, it has to be removed. If the hang-up must be removed with explosives, there is a risk of further damaging the ore pass. In addition, the toxic fumes created by the explosives hinder production until the pass is ventilated. Finally, hang-ups affect the transportation operation as the trucks cannot use an ore pass blocked by a hang-up or closed for ventilation of toxic fumes. There is also a slight possibility that a boulder which does not get stuck in the ore pass will get stuck on a truck. The last operation affected by fragmentation is crushing; boulders and large fragments risk creating a hang-up in the crusher. There are no reports of problems related to fragmentation after this point.The results suggest that further work and mine trials are required in the following areas: drilling, loading, ore passes and crushers.

The underground mining process, from in-situ characteristics of the unmined rock mass to the final mill product with fully liberated minerals, consists of a chain of unit operations. Some of them influence fragmentation while fragmentation impacts others. From a production point of view, fragmentation is a key parameter for the proper functioning of many unit operations and affects total production; it influences the ability to load, haul and crush the rock later in the process. Fragmentation varies because of rock mass strength, the presence of joints, the chosen explosive, specific charge (kg/m³) and quality of drill holes. The efficiency and result of unit operations such as drilling, blasting, loading and crushing depend on the rock properties which vary throughout a mine. Generally speaking, operations are not well adapted to the actual rock properties, leading to a non-optimised flow in production. This paper presents the initial part of a project that will build knowledge on the impact of fragmentation on each step of the production chain in an underground mine. It identifies the key parameters of fragmentation which influence the overall energy consumption and productivity in a mining operation through interviews, mine visits and a literature review. In the subsequent stages of the project, a number of field tests in the case study mine will address important segments of the production process where fragmentation is a major obstacle to improvements. Optimising the entire process, rather than isolated unit operations, will lead to increased productivity, decreased amount of interruptions and lower energy consumption.

This paper compares three ways to operate a load haul dump (LHD) machine, manual operation, automatic operation (fleet operation) and semi-automatic operation, to find the best operating mode. In a fault tree analysis, different failures are classified and analysed, but the way to recover from certain states is not accounted for, which is something a Markov model can handle. The paper is based on the analysis of real data from an underground mine. A Markov model has been built for mining application and it is shown that a semi-automatic LHD has the highest probability of being in a productive state since it has the advantage of changing operating modes (manual and automatic) depending on the need and situation. Hence, the semi-automatic LHD is the best choice from an operational point of view. The paper fills a gap in the literature on manual vs. automatically operated LHDs by providing a new way of evaluating the operating mode of LHDs using Markov modelling, while considering the operating environment.

The use of automatic load-haul-dump (LHD) machines in underground metal mines is a promising way to overcome some of the challenges now facing mining companies. They offer several potential benefits over man-operated units, mostly in terms of safety and health of the workers, but also in terms of higher availability, increased productivity, and reduced mining cost. That said, using such systems at their full capacity is a challenging and complex task. In this context, after describing some commercially available equipment and systems, the paper examines factors affecting reliability, availability and productivity of automatic LHDs and notes several technical and operational concerns.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are performance measures directly related to the overall goals of the company and some of them depend on the maintenance function. In mining companies top managers use the maintenance cost per unit versus budget as one of the KPIs. However many other technical, organizational and economical parameters in a company can be helpful during the decision making process.In this paper the productivity of Load-Haul-Dump machines (LHDs), that is obtained when manual and/or automatic mode are used, are being analysed. The correlation between the productivity and the maintenance KPIs as well as the issues related to the acquisition of data will be shown in this paper highlighting the complexity of getting accurate decision process parameters. It is recognized that the data for some of the components and failure modes originating from different sources are not compatible. This situation must be considered when compiling the data, especially to permit comparison the data should be made compatible. The problem of incompatibility is most severe when dealing with demand related failures. The philosophy and mechanisms of demand related failures as well as the methods used to denote the time and demand related failures in common form have to be taken into account.

In underground mines, mobile mining equipment is critical to the production system. Drill rigs for development and production, vehicles for charging holes, LHDs for loading and transportation, scaling rigs and rigs for reinforcement and cable bolting are all important units in the process to generate a continuous ore flow. For today’s mining companies, high equipment availability is essential to reduce operational and capital costs and to maintain high production. High and controllable reliability is also important especially in attempts to automate the production equipment. This paper compares existing maintenance work in a Swedish and a Tanzanian mine. The various maintenance procedures are identified and evaluated based on a TPM framework.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to evaluate and analyse the production and maintenance performance of a manual and a semi-automatic Load Haul Dump (LHD machine to find similarities and differences.Design/methodology/approach – Real time process-, operational- and maintenance data, from an underground mine in Sweden, have been refined and aggregated into KPIs in order to make the comparison between the LHDs.Findings – The main finding is the demonstration of how production and maintenance data can be improved through information fusion, showing some unexpected result for maintenance of automatic and semi-automatic LHDs in the mining industry. It was found that up to one third of the manually entered workshop data are not consistent with the automatically recorded production times. It is found that there are similarities in utilization and filling rate but differences in produced tonnes/machine hour between the two machines.Originality/value – The originality in this paper is the information fusion between automatically produced production data and maintenance data which increases the accuracy of reliability analysis data. Combining the production indicator and the maintenance indicator gives a common tool to the production and maintenance departments. This paper shows the difference in both maintenance and production performance between a manual and semi-automatic LHD.

The automated load-haul-dump (LHD) machines have the potential to increaseproductivity and improve safety, but there are many issues to be considered when optimising the operation of LHDs. Today’s focus on improved equipment reliability is part of the problem, and another difficult issue is the special conditions and constraints of the operating environment. For automated LHDs, the latter issue is even more important, as humans have been removed from the production area and are not close by to solve the problems. The purpose of this paper is to find the causes of LHD idle time and to study their impact on the operation of LHDs. In this study, real-time process data and maintenance data from an underground mine in Sweden have been refined and integrated. The study takes into account the complexity of the mine environment, discusses the factors to be considered when optimising and automating the operation and uses fault tree analysis (FTA) to analyse the idle time.

The working environment for ground support installation in mines has improved a lot during the last 20-30 years, with more and more mechanized installations of the different ground support elements such as bolts, cable bolts and screen. However ground support installation productivity has not followed the same development curve. In fact, its productivity has more or less remained constant and in some cases has even fallen if, as an example, comparisons are made between the manual and mechanized installations of bolts. One reason for this is that modern mechanised bolt rigs are very complex, capable to perform many tasks. To be able to fully utilize this equipment’s capability a different level of maintenance and product support is required. This paper describes the bolting process in Outokumpu’s Kemi mine that has a very interesting procedure for bolt installation and has also paid an unsurpassed attention to the maintenance procedures to improve productivity.

In a sublevel caving mine, the ore recovery, side rock dilution and the total ore extraction rate are determined and controlled at the draw point. The decision to stop loading at a drawpoint and continue blasting the next fan is critical. Abandonment of the draw point too early leads to ore losses and inefficient use of ore resources. On the other hand, closing a draw point too late leads to increased side rock dilution and increased production costs. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the used technique for draw control and the potential for increasing the loading level efficiency using available data sources as well as other types of information from the Luossavaara Kiirunavaara AB (LKAB) mines.

Today's trend of replacing manually operated vehicles with automated ones will have an impact not only on machine design, working environment and procedures but also on machine breakdown and maintenance procedures. In the harsh environment of underground mines, the transition from manual to automatic operation is believed to fundamentally change the basis for break downs, maintenance and machine design. In this paper, differences and similarities between manual and automatic underground loading equipment is analysed from a reliability point of view. The analysis is based on a case study performed at a Swedish underground mine. In the contrary of common thoughts, this paper proves that there is a difference between the manual and semi-automatic machines and in particular for the transmission, in favour of the manual one. This paper also shows a path for detailed reliability analysis, and the results may be used for improving maintenance programmes for other types of mobile equipment

The loading process in sublevel caving mines entails loading material from the drawpoint using load haul dump machines that transport the material to orepasses or trucks, depending on the mine conditions. When each bucket is drawn from the drawpoint, a decision must be made as to whether loading should continue or be stopped and the next ring blasted. The decision to abandon the drawpoint is irrevocable, as it is followed by the blasting of the next ring. Abandonment of the drawpoint too early leads to ore losses and inefficient use of ore resources. Loading beyond the optimal point increases dilution as well as mining costs.The experience of the LHD operators is an important basis for manual drawpoint control. However, it has been difficult to establish which specific factors manual drawpoint control is based on. To try to shed more light on these factors we analysed the operators' experiences at LKAB's Kiirunavaara and Malmberget iron ore mines. The operators in the two mines completed a questionnaire on the current loading practices and the process of deciding to abandon 'normal' rings, opening rings, and rings with loading issues.It was found that in both case study mines, most decisions on the abandonment of drawpoints are made by the operators. The more experienced operators tend to make more decisions themselves rather than rely on support from the existing support functions.

The working environment for ground support installation in mines has improved during the last 20-30 years, with more mechanized equipment for installation of ground support elements such as bolts, cable bolts, and screens. Ground support installation productivity has, however, not followed the same development curve, remaining more or less constant. In some cases, for example the mechanized installation of bolts, productivity has even dropped. One reason for this is that modern mechanized bolt rigs are complex. In this paper we evaluate manual and mechanized ground support systems, propose a way to measure the productivity of bolt rigs, and make relevant comparisons between different mines and equipment. Some productivity measures for rock reinforcement are suggested, using productivity results from eight case study mines

The transition from open pit to underground mining involves drastically changes in the production system. The equipment for underground mining will change as well as the logistics and the transportation system. Demands of rock stability and control will also change in nature and in equipment needed. At the same time the large investments in underground infrastructure and equipment require short lead times to maintain a high cash flow for the companies. Without proper planning many problems can arise influencing the production flow. Therefore it is essential to have detailed planning and modeling before reaching the transitional depth of the mine. Computer software like Surpac can be a suitable tool for simultaneously planning of both the open pit and the underground mining operation.This paper presents some experiences from Björkdal Gold mine, one of the earliest and largest Gold mines in Scandinavia. The paper presents the mine and how the transition from surface to underground mining has been handled and optimized.

Gold ores often consist of nuggets associated with quartz veins. In other ore types gold can be found as a by-product to pyrite. For both types, mine planning of scattered veins type deposits is often complicated regarding both mine design and production scheduling. Despite the cold climate in the Arctic region, near surface deposits are initially mined with open pit mining. As the mine goes deeper, the stripping ratio and the transportation cost increases which economically limit the possibility to continue the project with open pit mining. The transition to underground mining, with gradually decreasing production from an open pit, near its final depth, and with gradually increasing production from newly developed underground production areas, require detailed planning and production scheduling to avoid production delays and maintaining a high cash flow. This paper high-lights the main operational aspects of the Svartliden gold mine in Sweden and in particular how a scattered gold deposit during harsh cold weather conditions was dealt with. The on-going transition from surface to underground mining and the applied concept of minimizing own personnel in favour of national and local contractors for production purposes are also discussed.

Blast damage in tunnels is usually regulated in Swedish infrastructure contracts as it can influence the quality and lifecycle cost for tunneling projects. The topic is important for underground constructions with a long operation period such as tunnels for public transport, permanent access tunnels in mines or underground repositories for nuclear waste. This paper aims to evaluate the influence of design and geology variables on the resulting blast fracture length and frequency by means of multivariate data analysis. The analysis was based on data from five field investigations carried out at tunnel sites in Sweden and Finland where emulsion explosives were used. Data was compiled and analyzed using Principal Component Analysis (PCA). Charge concentration was found to be the most influential design variable and hole spacing had limited influence on blast fracturing. Results from the PCA suggest that blast fractures length could be dependent also on geology and natural fractures. Three main groups of fracture patterns were identified, one group with relatively few and short blast fractures, a group with several longer blast fractures and a group with few or a single long blast fracture. The result shows differences in fracture length between the column and bottom charge part of the contour holes, with blast fracture lengths up to approx. 40 cm for the column charge and up to approx. 60 cm for the bottom charge.

This paper will discuss a suggested methodology and data collection carried out within the EU-project SLIM (Sustainable Low Impact solution for exploitation of small Mineral deposits based on advanced rock blasting and environmental technologies). The field work took place during 2017 at a test site near Stockholm, Sweden. This paper suggests a method to measure the detonation front curvature and the velocity of detonation of explosives. The purpose for this is to increase the understanding of the detonation properties of emulsion explosives as used in many blasting operations around the world. In this study, the key parameters of the performance of the emulsion explosive are its non-ideal detonation front curvature and its velocity of detonation (VOD). The charge diameters have been varied Ø25 mm up to Ø65 mm i.e. from nearly critical diameters for a steady detonation up to diameters used in mining/quarrying and tunnelling. The suggested methodology also introduces a heavy and thick-walled mortar as a confiner for the explosive. This to simulate similar conditions as in blasting in rock. Additional to the proposed methodology and set-up, a scheme to analyse and evaluate the measurements is also proposed.

Detailed knowledge of the content and geometrical variation of ore grade is essential in mining operations for production planning and economic analysis. Common ore grade specification methods, sampling and analysis are costly and time consuming. Measurement While Drilling (MWD) technique can directly extract grade information from the drilling process increasing data resolution and reducing cost.

This study introduces a supervised feature selection method based on the Hilbert-Schmidt independence criterion to increase the accuracy of the results and decrease processing time. Potential of the method for recognizing the most effective and non-repetitive dimensions of input data has also been investigated. By exploiting the lower dimension data, a classification model is developed to map the parameter values to ore grade levels.

Evaluation of the model using MWD data from LKAB’s Leveäniemi mine proved the effectiveness of the proposed feature selection and classification method.

Fragmentation analysis is an essential part of the optimization process in any mining operation. The costs of loading, hauling, and crushing the rock are strongly influenced by the size distribution of the blasted rock. Several direct and indirect methods are used to analyse or predict fragmentation, but none is entirely applicable to fragmentation assessment in sublevel caving mines, mainly because of the limitations imposed by the underground environment and the lack of all the required data to adequately describe the rock mass. Over the past few years, measurement while drilling (MWD) data has emerged as a potential tool to provide more information about the in-situ rock mass. This research investigated if MWD can be used to predict rock fragmentation in sublevel caving. The MWD data obtained from a sublevel caving mine in northern Sweden were used to find the relationship between rock fragmentation and the nature of the rock mass. The loading operation of the mine was filmed for more than 12 months to capture images of loaded load-haul-dump (LHD) buckets. The blasted material in those buckets was classified into four categories based on the median particle size (X₅₀). The results showed a strongercorrelation for fine and medium fragmented material with rock type (MWD data) than coarser material. The paper presents a model for prediction of fragmentation, which concludes that it is possible to use MWD data for fragmentation predict ion.

Variations in rock fragmentation are very likely to occur in a sublevel-caving operation. This study conducted a comprehensive test in an iron ore mine to monitor rock fragmentation. The results show a clear trend in fragmentation variations from start to end of production from a ring. These variations suggest an increase in coarse and oversized fragments with increasing material extraction from the rings that can be linked to increased overburden and drill hole deviations in the upper part of the rings. These problems can be addressed by shortening the drill hole length or directional drilling but need further investigations.

Sublevel caving operation relies on the estimation of ore grade at drawpoints, as the mine management uses grade to decide whether the material at a certain ring should be loaded or abandoned. Grade is estimated in various ways, including visual estimation, density-based calculation, and sampling and assay methods. The grade estimation at the world’s two largest underground iron ore mines owned by LKAB in northern Sweden is based on the density difference between ore and waste. The calculations assume a constant swell factor, a theoretical fill of 100%, and a linear relationship between bucket weight and material grade. This study evaluated these assumptions in detail based on the loading data for 12,237 buckets and concluded that the method has some shortcomings which render the assumptions invalid. Further research is required to deal with these shortcomings to improve estimation of the material grade.

Oversize rock fragments are highly undesired in a sublevel caving (SLC) operation as they affectthe production cycle, equipment, and infrastructure. In this study, afield test was carried out inMalmberget mine to analyse the impact of oversize fragments on the production cycle and thecosts of different procedures for handling such fragments. The tests involved monitoring ofdumping oversize fragments in two orepasses, one with a grizzly and the other one withouta grizzly, using cameras. The cycle times of load-haul-dump (LHD) machines weredetermined for both orepasses. The results indicate that the grizzly increased the availabilityand productivity of the orepass despite increasing the cycle time of the LHD machines.Moreover, installation of a boulder breaker system along with the grizzly can furtherincrease the productivity and the cost of such a system will be paid offin a shorter time interms of enhanced productivity.

Rock fragmentation is vital in a sublevel caving operation. The oversize fragments are the most undesiredfragmentation category because of their challenges; as such, they require special attention. This study carried outa field test in one of the LKAB’s iron ore mines in northern Sweden to analyse the occurrence of oversizefragments. The analysis involved correlation and regression tests and was performed for different types of rockmasses. The results showed that an increase in the percentage of solid rock mass caused an increase in thepercentage of oversize fragments. The other rock types, including slightly fractured, highly fractured, and rockmass with minor and major cavities, tended to have a reduced percentage of oversize fragments. The resultsindicate that oversize fragments can be predicted using linear regression or partial least square regression modelswith R2 values of 0.78 and 0.73, respectively. 

Ground vibrations from blasting are one of the main challenges faced by mines located near populated areas. To confront this challenge, Luossavaara-Kiirunavaara Aktiebolag’s Malmberget underground iron ore mine in Sweden tested a change in blast design. Specifically, it tested production holes with smaller diameter to decrease the explosive detonated per delay and thereby lower the ground vibrations. However, smaller holes normally increase hole deviation and may also influence the chargeability of the holes, both of which have a negative effect on fragmentation. Therefore, a detailed evaluation was required before a final decision could be made. To evaluate the fragmentation, field tests were carried out in two drifts of an ore body in the mine. Cameras were mounted in both drifts to record the fragmentation in every loaded bucket. The recording was configured to start by a motion detection parameter; consequently, every movement underneath the cameras was captured. The recording process continued for over a year and resulted in more than 15,000 videos. To analyse such an enormous data for fragmentation, an internally developed quick rating system (QRS) was used to evaluate a total of 7,258 loaded buckets. Blasted rock in the load–haul–dump buckets was classified as fine, medium, coarse, or oversize based on the median fragment size (X50). This paper explains the experimental setup of the test and the analysis procedures. The test results showed that smaller diameter boreholes tend to reduce the median fragment size slightly, and therefore favour the reduction of borehole diameter to deal with the ground vibration problem. The influence of borehole deviation and chargeability was not specifically investigated in this test and need further research to better understand subsequent fragmentation variations.

Geologists, mine planners, geotechnical, and mining engineers always strive for maximum information to get a better insight of the rock mass before interacting with it. Over the recent decades, close-range terrestrial digital photogrammetry (CRTDP) has been increasingly used for data acquisition and to support the conventional methods for rock mass characterization. It provides a safe, time-saving and contact-free way to gather enough data to minimize user dependent biases. However, it requires an expensive camera, fieldwork and some software to extract the information from images. In addition, it can over-estimate the rock fracturing sometimes due to weathering of the rock face or poor blasting practices. Measurement while drilling (MWD) data include the responses of different drilling parameters to the variations in the rock mass. MWD data are produced in large quantity, as they come from every hole drilled. These data correspond to the inside variations of rock rather than the surface ones counted in photogrammetry.

In this paper, structural data are obtained from different bench faces of an open pit mine using a commercial software package, ShapeMetriX3D (by 3GSM). These data are compared to the MWD data of the boreholes that were blasted to produce these bench faces to establish certain relationships between drilling parameters and rock mass structures. Half casts of the boreholes with MWD data were visible on the bench faces of the pre-split wall that allowed a better correlation. The results show abrupt changes in MWD parameters for open joints or cavities with some infilling material and overall increases or decreases in parameters for closely spaced bedding planes, fractures or foliations. The results are promising and suggest the method can be used to characterize the rock mass, modify the charging of explosives in blasting operations and facilitate the geological modeling of the rock mass.

Measurement while drilling data are produced in enormous quantity in underground and surface mines across the world. The data comprise parameters recorded during the drilling process, including penetration rate, rotation pressure, feed pressure, percussive pressure, damping pressure and flush pressure. MWD data are shown to be very useful for rock mass characterization, blasting applications and geological modelling of the rock mass. In this study, an open pit mine in Austria was selected for data collection as a part of SLIM project. The MWD data collected from drilling rigs were processed to identify different zones of rock mass, i.e. weak, fractured or competent rock. The results were compared to 3D images obtained by close-range terrestrial digital photogrammetry for validation; which showed a close agreement with each other. The method can be used to characterize the rock and to modify the charging of explosives in the boreholes for improved blasting results.