XXXI International Mineral Processing Congress 2024 Proceedings/Washington, DC/Sep 29–Oct 3 409
Mining productivity has begun to decline in recent
years. The mechanisation of the mining industry through-
out the 20th century delivered significant improvements to
the productivity of both labour and capital in producing
the metals necessary to drive modern life. However, these
gains in productivity were often the result of economies of
scale where selectivity was sacrificed for disproportionate
gains in efficiency. Modern mining has optimised these
economies of scale, with ultra-class mining trucks matched
to the very large electric shovels, mining is relatively indis-
criminate as an extraction methodology. In spite of that, as
shown in Figure 1, evidence suggests that cost and labour
efficiencies peaked around the year 2000 and are now in
reverse. The natural procession of declining grades is now
eroding productivity gains more quickly than technological
advancements have been able to overcome.
A body of literature has been developed over a number
of years reviewing potential options for application of bulk
ore sorting and calculating the scale of impact. These assess-
ments have shown that improvements delivered by bulk ore
sorting have the potential to drastically improve the value
of operations. An example output from one such study is
shown in Figure 2, which shows the potential to improve
NPV of a project by as much as 20% by preconcentrating
ore.
These studies have been effective at showing how dra-
matic the results of effective BOS can be, but relatively little
Source: Humphreys, 2020
Figure 1. Productivity growth in US copper ore mining in log scale (left) and the same data in linear scale (right)
Source: Duffy, Valery, Jankovic, Holtham, &Valle, 2015
Figure 2. Sensitivity analysis of the impact of ore sorting on NPV
Mining productivity has begun to decline in recent
years. The mechanisation of the mining industry through-
out the 20th century delivered significant improvements to
the productivity of both labour and capital in producing
the metals necessary to drive modern life. However, these
gains in productivity were often the result of economies of
scale where selectivity was sacrificed for disproportionate
gains in efficiency. Modern mining has optimised these
economies of scale, with ultra-class mining trucks matched
to the very large electric shovels, mining is relatively indis-
criminate as an extraction methodology. In spite of that, as
shown in Figure 1, evidence suggests that cost and labour
efficiencies peaked around the year 2000 and are now in
reverse. The natural procession of declining grades is now
eroding productivity gains more quickly than technological
advancements have been able to overcome.
A body of literature has been developed over a number
of years reviewing potential options for application of bulk
ore sorting and calculating the scale of impact. These assess-
ments have shown that improvements delivered by bulk ore
sorting have the potential to drastically improve the value
of operations. An example output from one such study is
shown in Figure 2, which shows the potential to improve
NPV of a project by as much as 20% by preconcentrating
ore.
These studies have been effective at showing how dra-
matic the results of effective BOS can be, but relatively little
Source: Humphreys, 2020
Figure 1. Productivity growth in US copper ore mining in log scale (left) and the same data in linear scale (right)
Source: Duffy, Valery, Jankovic, Holtham, &Valle, 2015
Figure 2. Sensitivity analysis of the impact of ore sorting on NPV