In an extremely competitive mining industry, onsite experience is a big advantage. Mining education at the universities is mostly focused on theoretical studies without a possibility of practical training in mining sites. Hence, experimental mines suitable for practical education are needed to provide a platform for systematic research and education in industrial scale and for training in real mining conditions. Yet, this kind of mine sites is rare worldwide. Thus, a new educational research project, namely MINETRAIN is introduced in a paper being given at this year’s SME, evaluating the transition of the Pyhäsalmi mine in Central Finland from an active base metal mine to a research, educational and training underground facility. This year 2019 is expected to be the operation’s final year of commercial production. Production is forecast at 5,000 t of copper, 3,000 oz of gold, 10,000 t of zinc and 250,000 t of pyrite.
“The uniqueness of MINETRAIN compared to other test mine programs is that the existing state‐of‐art infrastructure in Pyhäsalmi enables research and training facilities among all disciplines related to the overall mine value chain. Though all the above sound interesting in the context of research and education purposes, in practice Pyhäsalmi will have to become an experimental mine that can be sustainable in the future.” Accordingly, a prefeasibility study is being conducted and some preliminary results are being presented this week at a paper during the SME Annual Conference & Expo in Denver, Colorado.
MINETRAIN is just one project that forms part of Callio Lab, an umbrella organisation for a variety of non-mining activities in and around the mine. The scope of this project is to take over for the mine facilities and all associated infrastructure after operations are ceased, oversee scientific research and development, and propose new economic activities that will contribute towards the sustainable development and viable use of the mine site. Some research activity is taking place already inside the mine, parallel to mining operations. And two significant physics projects are currently using Callio Lab’s facilities.
Besides R&D, Pyhäsalmi can host other activities as well. The cessation of mining operations will not only increase the available space for research projects; a variety of mining equipment and facilities will be at the disposal of stakeholders to use as required. Thus, Pyhäsalmi could also turn into an excellent educational and training centre for students and mining industry professionals. This way, the demand for new training underground facilities can be met as well. Hence, an educational project named MINETRAIN initiated in 2018 for the development of an advanced level training program for mining industry professionals. MINETRAIN is under the auspices of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), a body of the European Union under the Horizon 2020, the EU Framework Program for Research & Innovation.
The consortium of the project consists of both academia and industry partners: University of Oulu, Finland; TU Bergakademie Freiberg, Germany; Pyhäsalmi Mine, FQM Ltd; Finland; Outotec Oy, Finland; Normet Oy, Finland; Sandvik Oy, Finland and Schneider Electric, Finland. “This project aims to develop, pilot, and establish a framework for commercially feasible training programs for mining professionals by holding multidisciplinary, practical, lifelong learning educational courses at the Pyhäsalmi mine. The novelty of this education is that it will provide learners with a holistic view of the whole mine lifecycle, as well as opportunities to test both skills and mining equipment in a real deep mine site. For this reason, a few objectives have been set: to design a detailed multidisciplinary course for mining professionals, to ensure that stringent health & safety standards can be maintained during the course, to ensure that course personnel and students can be accommodated at the site so they can plan, carry out and reflect upon practical assignments there, to ensure the practical viability of holding the course by testing and training modules at pilot scale, to recruit the first intake of course participants for the lifelong learning course, and to pilot the course successfully.
When compared to other existing test mine programs, the uniqueness of MINETRAIN is based on the fact that Pyhäsalmi is a deep modern metal mine, and that there is state-of-the-art equipment available to be used for training purposes. Looking back over the history of the mine one can clearly see that cutting-edge technologies have always been employed. For instance, in 2003 Immet initiated a drilling and loading automation project with Sandvik to test Sandvik’s new technology. Resultantly, the mine has been using two Sandvik TORO 11 automatic LHDs since 2006 in different stoping levels and routes inside the mine with the operator station located in a van. The company found that using this system resulted in better working conditions for the operators, increased safety and better ore recovery from the stopes. The mineral processing operation is comprised of primary crushing underground and three-stage grinding followed by conventional flotation using three separate circuits with water removal to produce copper, zinc and pyrite concentrates on the surface. The concentration plant at Pyhäsalmi will continue its operation for a few more years after mining activities stop this year.
“The potential training of mining professionals at Pyhäsalmi will not be limited to underground mining operations only; possible practical education in the processing plant will be offered as well. Furthermore, machine operators and other mining staff can be trained in the automated LHD system in the mine. Hence, a first pilot training module will be developed and tested in the underground facilities in the context of the MINETRAIN project.” This pilot course is expected to have duration of two weeks; the first week will include theoretical courses via an e-learning platform, whereas the second week will consist of practical training modules at the Pyhäsalmi mine. Both theoretical and practical courses will be given to offer training in several disciplines of the whole mine lifecycle, following a downward progression through five stages. Each training stage will have duration of two days; one day during the first week (theory) and one day during the second week (practice) respectively. Hence, stakeholders can identify all potentials of this new research and educational underground facility.
The first group of trainees will consist of employees working in mining related companies, who have general background knowledge in mining, but have not received training in an underground mine site before. This is a good reason for the training program to begin with a health & safety instructions course. An underground mining environment poses risks even for experienced personnel, not to mention people who have never worked in such conditions. Accordingly, the maximum number of trainees for this first module shall not exceed 15 to 20. Experienced underground mining and mineral processing professionals will be recruited to give the theoretical lectures and practical courses. Such may be academics with experience in teaching mining in theory, and/or actual employees at the Pyhäsalmi mine that are familiar with the underground facilities and the operation of the equipment. This two-week training program will be structured in a way that it will provide knowledge and experience to the trainees, as well as a very good impression of the working conditions in an underground mine. “The outcome of this pilot training program will provide the consortium of MINETRAIN with extremely useful remarks and conclusions. This material will be contextualised in order to establish further training modules in a safe, efficient and sustainable way. While the first pilot course will provide general knowledge about underground mining, future training modules can focus on specific areas of mining operations, or even be customer-tailored depending on the market and mining industry needs.”
