University of Saskatchewan
Geological Engineering
GEOE 498.3
Introduction to Mineral Engineering
Lecture # 3
 Production Rate
 Productivity
 Stope Production
 Mine Production
 U/G Infrastructure
Productivity vs. Production
 Productivity is the rate at which a task is
completed or ore is produced. In mining it is
usually reported in units per machine or man
hour.
 Drilling: metres per drill - Hour
 Mucking: Tonnes per LHD - Hour
 Development: metres per man-shift.
 Production is the total amount produced. In
mining it is usually the total production per day,
week, month or year.
Determining Productivity and Production
 Rule’s of Thumb
 Benchmarking
 Historical Data
 Equipment Specifications
 First Principle Calculations
Rule of Thumb
 Rule of Thumb – An easy to remember guide that
falls somewhere between an engineered solution
and an experienced or educated guess.
 Are the Rules always correct? Absolutely no. Can
they provide a quick answer or a starting place?
Absolutely yes.
 The primary usage of Rules of Thumb should be in
the development of conceptual designs and
feasibility studies or, when a quick decision is
required in the solution of an operating problem.
 When the time arrives for final design and actual
construction, Rules of Thumb are no substitute for
sound engineering practices.
Productivity - Rule’s of Thumb
Activity
Measurement
Sink timber shaft
Sink bald concrete shaft
Sink equipped concrete shaft
Equip concrete shaft
Cut shaft stations - slusher
Cut shaft stations – LHD
Drive raw raises up to 10 m
Drive timbered raises
Drive alimak raises
Raise bore drill
Set up
Drill Pilot
Ream
Track drift
Trackless Drift
Ramp
Drill and Install Rock Bolts (stoper)
Drill and Install Rock Bolts (mobile)
Drill Jack Leg
Drill Stoper
Drill Jumbo
Drill Tophammer (small diameter < 76mm)
Drill Tophammer (large diameter > 105mm)
Drill ITH
m/day
m/day
m/day
m/day
cu m/day
Productivity
m/m-sh
m/m-sh
m/m-sh
2 - 2.8
3-4
2.4 - 3.6
10 - 15
50 - 65
65 - 95
0.5 - 0.7
0.45 - 0.6
0.75 - 1.0
days
m/day
m/day
m/m-sh
m/m-sh
m/m-sh
m/m-sh
m/m-sh
m/m-sh
m/m-sh
m/m-sh
m/machine-shift
m/machine-shift
m/machine-shift
2-5
20 - 25
7 - 10
0.5 - 0.75
0.65 - 1.0
0.55 - 0.8
45 - 60
100 - 125
10 - 15
8 - 12
75 - 100
75 - 120
25 - 50
25 - 50
Mucking
Productivity
Productivity - Drilling
Productivity - Drilling
Mucking Productivity - Trucking
Mucking Productivity Large Scoop
Benchmarking
 Gathering information and statistically analyzing
how other similar operation are performing.
 Production
 Productivity
 Cost
 Safety
 Information is not always readily available.
 Must ensure that orebody, skill of labour, work
organization, consumable costs, etc. are in fact
similar.
Benchmarking
First Principle Calculations
 Zero based calculations where the
production or productivity estimate is
created by the mine engineer.
 Typically used at the detailed design
stage.
 Equipment specifications, quotations,
detailed drawings, established
engineering practices form the bases.
Equipment Manufacturer
 Equipment Manufacturers have detailed
specifications for their equipment that
will provide data on:
 Productivity
 Energy consumption
 Water Consumption
 Compressed Air
 Size of Openings
 Weights
Equipment Manufacturer
 The specifications are typically derived under
ideal conditions.
 The mine engineer must factor in site specific
conditions such as:
 Skill of work force
 Environment (heat, depth, humidity)
 Condition of openings
 Hardness of rock
 Maintenance
 Availability and Utilization
Play LHD Video
First Principle
Shotcrete
Calculation
Input Data
Arch back is assumed.
Roughage Factor
Rebound Factor
Overlap Factor
Drift width
Drift height
Round length
Shotcrete thickness
Shotcrete Height from Floor
20%
20%
20%
0.5
4.5
4.5
3.2
3.0
1.5
m
m
m
m
in
m
Calculated Data
Shoulder Height
Back Arc Length ...
Perimeter Coverage of Shotcrete
Shotcrete thickness
3.60 m
4.97 m
9.2 m
0.0762 m
Results
Theoretical volume
Actual volume considering
overlap, surface roughness and rebound
2.58 m^3
3.72 m^3
Productivity Mucking Equipment
Mucking Productivity - Trucking
Productivity Drill Equipment
Tunneling Equipment
Historical Data
 Usually applies to existing operations
and is used to forecast production and
create annual operating budgets.
 If a site does things the way they
always did, can expect the same
results.
 Data gathered from time studies.
 May also be used when estimating
productivity, production and costs for an
expansion.
Summary
 In most estimating situations a combination of
history, benchmarking, rule of thumb and first
principle calculations are used.
 CAUTION: in mining “stuff happens” It is important
to build efficiency factors and reality into the estimate.
 Types of Delays:
• Gas Check
• Equipment down
• Ground Conditions
• No Materials
• Surveying
• Air, water, vent, power
• Travel and Breaks
Equipment Availability
Availability (Operational Availability)



It is the probability that an item will operate satisfactorily at a given point in time when used in
an actual or realistic operating environment.
Includes all sources of downtime, (administrative, logistic as well as actual time to repair)
Operational availability is used to isolate the effectiveness and efficiency of maintenance
operations.

Operational availability can be calculated on a calendar basis or on a scheduled work basis.
Uptime
Equipment is available to the operators
Total Time
Based on 24-7, i.e. 168 hours in a week
Scheduled Time
Based on work schedule, i.e. 2x10hr shifts per day 7 days per week = 140
hours /week
AOT = Total Operational Availability = uptime/total time
AOE = Effective Operational Availability = uptime/scheduled time
 Rule of Thumb - New and/or well maintained equipment will have 8090% effective availability
Equipment Utilization
Utilization


Utilization is defined as the percentage of time in which equipment is in production. In other
words production is not prevented by equipment malfunction, operating delays, or scheduled
downtimes.
Utilization is used to isolate the effectiveness and efficiency of mine operations.
UT = Total Utilization = equipment operating time/total time
US = Effective Utilization = equipment operating time/scheduled time
UA = Actual Utilization = equipment operating time/uptime
 Rule of Thumb - New and/or well maintained equipment should have
60-70% effective utilization
Equipment Reliability
 Reliability: is the probability that a piece of equipment or
system will perform its required function under stated
conditions for a stated period of time.
 MTBF: Mean Time Between Failures – how long a piece of
equipment or system will operate before it fails.
 TTR : Time to repair
 Preventative Maintenance : routinely schedule equipment
for service and inspection of key components
 Predictive Maintenance : Schedule changeout of key
components and major overhauls or rebuilds prior to
equipment failure.
Example 1
 Estimate development advance and metres per
manshift in a typical development
 Assumptions:
 RMR : Very Strong
 2 man Crew,
 2 boom Jumbo, stoper for ground support,
med sized scoop
 Round size is 5x5x3.5
 Drill pattern requires 65 holes
 Bolting pattern is 1.5x1.5 and 2m long bolts
Example 1
Estimating Mine Production
 Taylor’s Rule is a means of estimating Mine Life
and Daily Production. It has been calibrated
against many mines over several years and is
adequate for pre-feasibility level estimates.
L=0.2T0.25
PR=T/(LxDPY)
Where
L=Mine Life
T=Resource (inc. Dilution and Recovery)
PR=Daily Production
DPY=Scheduled Days Per Year
Example 2
 Orebody A is 2 000 000 t
 The expected Recovery is 90% and dilution is
estimated at 20%, therefore the Resource = 2mt
x .9 x 1.2 = 2.16 mt
 L=0.2T0.25
L = 0.2 x (2 160 000)0.25
L = 7.7 years
 If the mine is scheduled to operate 350 days per
year, then the daily production is
PR=T/(LxDPY)
PR=2 160 000/(7.7 x 350)
PR ~ 800 tpd
Example 3
 Orebody B is 20 000 000 t
 The expected Recovery is 80% and dilution is
estimated at 10%, therefore the Resource = 20mt
x 0.8 x 1.1 = 17.6 mt
 L=0.2T0.25
L = 0.2 x (17 600 000)0.25
L = 12.95 years
 If the mine is scheduled to operate 350 days per
year, then the daily production is
PR=T/(LxDPY)
PR=17 600 000/(12.95 x 350)
PR ~ 3900 tpd
Example 4
 Orebody A is a nearly vertical quartz vein
containing 0.25 oz gold per tonne (insitu). It is a
tabular, deposit that measures 215 metres on
strike, 240 m high and 15m thick. It has a strong
ore and f/w and a week h/w. The top of the
orebody is 200 metres below surface and the
bottom is 440 metres below surface. Both ore
and waste have a SG of 2.6 t/m3
 The chosen mining method is Transverse
Mechanized Cut and Fill.
 Stope dimensions Have been established as 7m
wide x 24m high x 15 m long
Example 4
 Determine:
 Average tonnes per day per stope of
ore and waste.
 Number of stopes required to meet
daily production target.
 The truck fleet size.
Example 5
 Orebody B is a thick, tabular steeply dipping
Nickel deposit with a diluted grade of 3% Ni. It
averages 330 metres on strike, 400 m high and
40m thick. It has a strong ore and h/w and a
moderate f/w. The top of the orebody is 100
metres below surface and the bottom is 500
metres below surface. The recovered ore has an
S.G. of 3.8 and the waste has an SG of 2.6 t/m3
 The chosen mining method blasthole stoping
with paste fill
 Stope dimensions Have been established as 15m
wide x 32.5m high x 20m long
Example 5
 Determine:
 Average tonnes per day per stope of
ore
 Number of stopes required to meet
daily production target.
 If 30 metres of development is required
to access each stope, calculate tonnes
of waste per day
Sequencing
 Once the number of stopes are
determined, they need to be sequenced
 Considerations:
 Stress
 Voids
 Fill Cure Time
 Logistics (congestion on a level)
 Ventilation
 Capital or access developement
Chevron & Primary/Secondary Mining
17
Primary Stopes
Secondary Stopes
6
8
2
778
42
12
15
9
3
13
14
1
11
5
10
16
Mining Sequence
1
Sill level
P
S
P
S
P
Sill level
Mining Sequence
2
1
Sill level
P
S
P
S
P
Sill level
Mining Sequence
2
3
Sill level
P
1
S
P
3
S
P
Sill level
Mining Sequence
4
2
3
Sill level
P
1
S
P
3
S
P
Sill level
Mining Sequence
4
Sill level
5
2
5
3
1
3
P
S
P
S
P
Sill level
Mining Sequence
4
2
5
Sill level
5
3
6
1
6
3
P
S
P
S
P
Sill level
Sequencing
144
143
143
127
126
124
123
125
123
121
125
123
122
121
122
121
123
121
107
106
105
106
105
104
101
104
103
102
101
087
086
085
086
085
084
083
080
084
083
082
068
067
066
068
067
066
060
067
064
049
045
044
043
048
047
046
043
041
049
047
045
043
041
105
103
102
101
085
084
082
081
080
066
065
064
063
062
103
084
083
081
064
063
061
044
043
063
061
044
043
041
101
103
101
083
081
045
044
043
122
102
082
062
042
120
100
080
060
040
029
028
009
008
025
029
006
005
009
008
023
022
029
028
027
026
023
003
009
008
007
006
003
028
027
023
008
007
026
006
007
025
024
021
025
022
005
004
002
001
006
005
002
001
989
988
984
989
988
987
989
988
987
986
988
987
985
984
981
987
986
984
983
985
984
983
982
981
986
985
982
981
969
968
967
969
968
962
969
967
966
965
968
967
965
964
961
967
966
964
963
961
965
964
963
962
961
966
965
962
961
949
948
947
946
945
S27
948
947
946
945
S26
S57
S47
S27
949
947
946
945
948
947
946
945
941
946
944
943
941
945
944
943
942
941
946
945
942
941
S27
926
925
921
924
923
925
922
S36
S16
S06
S25
S26
S05
S06
905
902
S58
S49
S28
S18
S29
S19
S09
S49
S39
S29
S19
S09
S49
S39
S29
S19
S09
S48
S38
S28
S18
S08
S48
S38
S28
S18
S08
S47
S27
S17
S07
S48
S28
S18
S08
S37
S27
S17
S07
S38
S28
S18
S27
S17
S07
S49
S39
S29
S49
S39
S29
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
Mine D - Schematic Longitudinal Section
Panels
112
110
108
106
104
102
100
98
96
94
92
90
88
86
84
82
80
78
GW1
GW2
GW3
GW4
GW5
GW6
GW7
GW8
GW9
Levels
68
primary
primary
primary
886
944
927
926
904
903
883
69
944
943
Block 1
903
902
926
70
981
71
981
944
943
942
961
943
942
73
101
882
961
981
961
primary
924
901
887
886
885
881
927
906
902
901
887
886
885
868
867
866
865
906
905
887
886
885
868
866
865
925
primary
829
828
827
822
821
829
828
827
826
825
867
848
865
844
864
843
863
842
866/867 849
864 847/848
863 845/846
862
843
861 841/842
849
868
848
866/867 847
863/864 846
861/862 845
primary
808
807
806
805
809
68-SL4 68-SL3 68-SL2 68-SL1 68-GW1b 68-GW1a
788
S37
S38
GW1 GW2 GW3 GW4 GW5 GW6
S47
S48
GW1 GW2 GW3 GW4 GW5 GW6
785
S45
S46
805
828
827
826
825
S44
848
847
846
S33
S23
S13
825
S45
GW1 GW2 GW3 GW4 GW5 GW6 GW7
S34
GW2 GW3 GW4 GW5 GW6 GW7
H1 2007
943
942
941
NIR
961
927
926
846
S31
S32
S22
74
055
015
993
976
919
918
917
957
956
937
936
938
937
936
918
917
917
918
S33
S23
S13
H2 2007
GW2
GW5 GW6 GW7 GW8
H1 2008
H2 2008
906
905
897
896
S55
877
S45
857
S36
S35
S26
S25
S16
S15
S05
S55
877
S45
857
H1 2009
S35
S25
S15
S05
S45
S35
S26
S25
S15
S05
GW5 GW6 GW7 GW8 GW9
75
015
055
014
012
994
993
992
977
976
975
957
956
995
994
993
977
976
957
956
938
937
936
977
976
958
957
956
939
938
937
936
977
976
957
956
977
976
957
898
897
GW5 GW6 GW7 GW8 GW9
77
033
093
074
055
054
015
014
78
055
093
075
053
033
017
015
014
013
994
993
992
012
011
997
994
993
79
074
073
072
071
093
092
034
033
032
031
035
034
032
031
030
035
80
113
074
073
072
071
070
093
092
82
111
109
126
107
105
106
83
105
106
107
104
105
106
107
84
055
083
084
085
086
087
085
086
087
015
012
011
994
993
105
103
101
99
062
043
004
063
044
005
085
064
046
006
086 065/066 048
007
067/068 049
009/10
061/062 043 023/024 003/4
063
044
025
006
064
045
026
007
067
048
029
009
068
049
0210
0010
044
024
045
025
005
066
008
067
029
009
97
989
9810
986
969
9610
989
9810
969
9610
988
989
968
969
93
947
948
949
9410
946
947
948
949
9410
946
947
948
949
897
S55
S45
S46
S36
S35
S25
S15
S05
897
S55
S56
S46
S45
S35
S25
S15
S05
917
916
915
S65
S55
S56
S46
S45
S35
S25
S15
S05
91
89
87
917
916
915
937
936
935
934
95
877
917
916
938
937
936
935
956
897
898
946
927
928
929
S0A
103
104
105
082
083
084
085
086
080
082
083
084
085
87
88
12A
10A
100
101
103
081
082
083
90
12A
10A
120
101
066
049
041
066
048
065
066
082
083
04B
04A
041
047
048
04A
110
108
005
028
029
023
026
027
028
029
008
009
003
006
007
008
009
021
022
025
026
027
005
006
007
008
026
027
102
004
005
006
007
100
041
91
112
023
043
106
104
986
987
988
989
966
967
968
969
965
966
967
968
969
984
964
986
987
988
966
967
968
989
988
987
986
98
964
965
966
967
96
987
988
989
S0H
948
947
946
948
947
946
945
94
S0E
S0X
S0F
S0Y
0
1
2
3
4
Block 2
GW6 GW7 GW8 GW9
GW6 GW7 GW8 GW9
GW5 GW6 GW7 GW8
GW4
GW8
GW7
GW3 GW4 GW5 GW6
GW6B
S13
S23
946
947
945
946
947
S0J/S0B
S0I
86
103
104
105
106
GW6 GW7 GW8 GW9
923
924
925
926
924
925
923
924
S12
S00
SA
S01
S02
S12
S22
S00
SA
S01
S10
S02
S12
S22
S32
90
88
S14
S15
S25
S35
S43/S53 s44/54 S45/S55
S03
S13
S14
S15
S23
s24
S25
s34
S35
S43
s44/54 S45/S55
S03
S13
S14
S23
s24
s34
s44
S45
S03
S13
S14
S23
s24
S33
s34
s44
S13
S23
S33
S43
H1 2007
H2 2007
H1 2008
H2 2008
H1 2009
92
86
84
GW4 GW5 GW6
Block 3
GW4 GW5 GW6
GW4 GW5
GW4
Block 4a