Polaris Metals was pleasantly surprised with the results from the Evorelution software for a life of mine schedule at the Carina iron ore project. The superintendent of technical services, Craig Harris, turned to Evorelution based on a suggestion made by his mine manager, and he liked what he saw. “It’s capable of handling a lot more variables and parameters in a much shorter space of time than traditional software,” he says.
Carina has two open pits coming online over the next year and the company wanted to look at scheduling options for two production rates. “Before engaging them this year, we were under the impression we would require a fleet of 16 trucks and four diggers to achieve our production targets for the next 12 months,” Harris explains.
After Polaris had initially planned for a larger fleet, the Evorelution software revealed that the project only needed 13 trucks and three diggers. Thanks to Evorelution, Polaris was able to stop the purchase of the three additional trucks and pack-up one of the diggers for the time being. This left Harris with no doubt that the software saved the company unnecessary capital expenditure.
“The savings to us was the most significant benefit,” he says. “The other benefit for us in this particular exercise was the fact that they were not only able to provide us with a systematic production schedule for our pit, but a practical development plan for our waste dump as well.”
The Evorelution software was also able to create optimised haulage routes for Carina, allowing Polaris to tell its mining contractor exactly what was required and what equipment was needed to achieve the best outcome.
“I think the team at Evorelution are extremely engaging, and proactive in keeping us informed on how the project is progressing,” Harris says.
“Really I suppose the relaxed atmosphere in which they tackle the whole project is probably quite refreshing in our industry,” he says. “For us it’s been both a pleasure to deal with them and we got results, so it’s been great.”
The Evorelution team was also very pleased with their work for Polaris and the results, as it proved what they had been saying.
“This is a great example of what Evorelution is able to do,” says Managing Director Steve Craig.
“We were able to deliver the clarity the client was looking for, while providing both short-term and life of mine planning at the same time, using the same data set. In the end it was quite a good result.”