Bringing Norwegian mine into world of bits and bytes——possibilities and pitfalls
(Department of Geology and Mineral Resources Engineering, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway)
Abstract: Rana Gruber AS is a mining company situated in northern Norway, just south of the artic circle. The hematite/magnetite ore is low grade, steeply dipping and intensively folded. The company excavates about 1.2 million tonnes of ore annually. The mining method is sublevel stoping. The final products are a hematite concentrate and different magnetite-products. The bits and bytes based methods and systems implemented for production planning and controlling are presented in the paper. Focus is on geological modelling, utilisation of variations in the deposit and associated uncertainty accumulating throughout the value chain. The methods and systems enable the mining department in greater extent than before, to deliver fragmented ore according to the specifications given by the processing plant.
Key words: mining； geological variations； uncertainty