Save Costs without Destroying Future Value

Case studies, which includes work for major international mining companies such as Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton, have consistently reduced waste haulage costs by more than 5c per cubic metre of waste rock and occasionally as high as 30c.  Total savings amount to millions or tens of millions of dollars.

In a low commodity price cycle, we are able to show our clients how to save costs without destroying future value. When commodity prices improve, the low price dump is still valid but improved haulage efficiency will allow trucks normally allocated to waste to be used for ore haulage.

We don’t promote fuel additives but we do use tried and tested concepts and algorithms to calculate when to stop hauling waste horizontally and to build the next lift of a rock dump.

With DumpSolver, better economics and good environmental outcomes work together.

Plan your Rock Dump, Lock-in Cost Savings & Reduce the Environmental Impact

Waste rock dump design is often only given cursory attention by mine planners. This is certainly true compared to the open pit excavation which will usually have had all manner of optimisation and iterative design processes applied to it.

Would a diligent engineer design an open pit without pit optimisation? Obviously the answer is no. Why not consider similar strategies for a rock dump which will remain the largest legacy of a mine when the operation has closed? Compared to dumps designed by manual techniques, DumpSolver dumps are able to:

• Lower total cost by millions of dollars
• Reduce environmental impact
• Reduce greenhouse gas emission through reduced fuel consumption
• Lower environmental risk through strategies to mitigate acid rock drainage and improve rehabilitation
• Create more stable landforms which are safer for operators
• Improve haulage efficiency allowing equipment to be allocated elsewhere

Measure the Potential Reduction in Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Does your mine wish to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and then measure this reduction? Burning one litre of diesel fuel can produce 2.7kg of CO2 – not to mention nitrous oxides

For example, a truck with a payload of 350 tonnes will have an average fuel burn rate of around 400-450 litres/hour and may spend more than half its operating life on a waste dump. In a year a single truck may produce 5,000 tonnes of CO2 while on the waste dump.
Where the haul profile on the dump has been optimised using

Fuel savings of over 10% have been achieved.

DumpSolver calculates when it is more efficient to build the next lift on a dump and provides a design template to maximaise equipment efficiency. Apart from the direct fuel cost saving, CO2 emissions could be reduced by around 500 tonnes per truck.