As mining projects become increasingly challenging and complex against a restrained economic backdrop, project delivery company WorleyParsons says it is focusing on implementing technical solutions that will bring projects to fruition quicker, with reduced costs to the customer. Henry Jonker, General Manager – Minerals, Metals & Chemicals for WorleyParsons RSA, says that the company is continuously evolving with technology and that it is becoming the norm for all new projects to utilise technical advancements in order to work more efficiently and cost effectively.
“We want to demonstrate to our customers that we can add value by doing things differently through technology, and we encourage them to take a more of an intellectual design view which will ensure that a project will be executed in a more effective and quicker way. For example, we are deploying integrated and intelligent design engineering systems such as SmartPlant on a number of projects, which uses 3D technology to gain intelligence that will streamline efficiencies,” explains Jonker. Mushir Khan, Manager of Engineering at WorleyParsons RSA, comments: “There are very few companies implementing the full intelligent design suite and WorleyParsons is leading the field in the mining industry with an integrated application of this technology. Its power lies in the fact that it delivers myriad downstream benefits, including meeting budgets, coming in on schedule, reducing rework, minimising contractors’ standing time, implementing JIT procurement strategies and implementing logistics.”
He adds: “The technology concentrates all the data into one environment that is used in several dimensions in different engineering disciplines. This single repository of data effectively eliminates the risk of multiple disciplines manipulating data and introducing errors. The results we’re achieving are demonstrated in improved productivity and efficiency, which help address time and cost restraints and improve data and document management quality.”
“The rapid development and application of digital technologies, automation and mechanisation is fundamental to meeting the challenge of safety in future capital intensive mining projects such as shaft development,” adds Murray Macnab, Global Director, Mining & Mine Development at WorleyParsons RSA. “It’s a fact that today our shaft sinking industry achieves less than half of the peak productivity performances recorded 50 years ago. With the right know-how and industry experience, leveraging new technologies that combine mechanisation/automation with information technology will return us back to the highs of the past, with a predictable safety outcome of zero harm.” Through data integrity alone, Murray says it is possible to achieve significant capital costs reduction through reduced leakage at the interfaces and removal of rework, and increased speed to market through reduced project cycle times as a result of the re-use of data and design.
In executing the detailed engineering design for the permanent surface and underground infrastructure at De Beers’ Venetia diamond mine underground project, WorleyParsons harnessed a methodology to create an intelligent 3D model of the vertical shaft that incorporates the historic and technical information of every component. It is believed that this is the first time this methodology is being used on a vertical shaft project from the design stage. In using 3D modelling to design the vertical shaft from scratch, the customer has been able to review the designs and have any changes incorporated and represented in the model well before fabrication even commences, which has effectively shortened and de-risked the design process.
WorleyParsons added that it is also one step closer to realising its goal of a fully integrated design with its work on the greenfields Golpu Project in Papua New Guinea, which will be the first intelligent underground design in the world. All systems infrastructure will be executed with an integrated and intelligent design and be modelled in 3D.
Finally, WorleyParsons developed an innovative methodology, dubbed ‘OptiMap’ to identify the most economically viable location for the proposed new processing plant at the Port Durnford greenfield site at Tronox’s KZN Sands operation. Incorporating various cost relationships and value chain theory, OptiMap calculates the optimal costs over the lifespan of a mine. As the name implies, OptiMap also provides a visual representation on a map of the most optimal location of the infrastructure. The tool has the functionality to identify cost implications immediately if the position is changed. The total cost over the life of mine is minimised by determining the plant position using OptiMap.