7% Increase in Mucking Rate for Hudbay using Epiroc's Mobilaris Mining Intelligence Software

The Canadian 777 zinc-copper mine in Flin Flon, Manitoba, was on the wane. After 15 years in production, the underground operation was expected to close in 2022 unless Hudbay Minerals discovered more ore. In order to keep the doors open as long as possible, the Toronto-based company was trying to find efficiencies to enhance the viability of the operation.

One way to boost efficiency is to increase mucking intensity, or the number of hours spent actually moving ore, while reducing variability in the number of buckets mucked per stope per shift. During 2018, some shifts underperformed at Hudbay 777. From a perspective of number of buckets mucked to target while others exceeded for an average of 56 buckets per stope. To address this challenge, Hudbay implemented Epiroc Digital Solutions Canada's Mobilaris Mining Intelligence (MMI) to see if it would make a difference..

And it definitely did. Using Epiroc’s Mobilaris solution to track equipment 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐛𝐲 𝟕% 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐩𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐚 𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐟𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐝𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐝𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐟𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐲’𝐬 𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐬.

In a broader sense, MMI, helped Hudbay apply Short Interval Control (SIC), a means of keeping a process – in this case mucking – on target by reducing variation. Typically in underground mining, managers must wait until the end of a shift to assess the difference between their target production and the actual tons of ore mucked. Any losses during the shift cannot be recovered. 𝐀 𝐛𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐟𝐢𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐌𝐌𝐈 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐢𝐟 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐝𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐟𝐭 𝐬𝐨 𝐚𝐝𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐛𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲.

For example, if one stope is ahead of target and another is behind, it is easy to reassign the mucking fleet to keep both stopes on target. Results By implementing technology from Epiroc’s Digital Solutions: first in the 777 mine and thereafter also in the gold-zinc mine Lalor, 𝐇𝐮𝐝𝐛𝐚𝐲 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬 𝐛𝐲 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐫𝐢𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐧𝐨𝐧-𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐞-𝐚𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞.

“At the mine the first thing we did was to implement Mobilaris Situational Awareness, which helped to improve both our interactive management of the shift and also the process improvement initiatives. This gave our miners a way to find equipment in the mine which reduced their frustration and showed them that the technology we implemented actually helped them in their work”, says Mike Jankowski, Manager of Technology Development.

Closing the loop between planning and reality with Epiroc's Mobilaris Operator Client™

By implementing Mobilaris Operators Client™, Hudbay has been able to apply Short Interval Control (SIC), a means of keeping a shift process – in this case mucking – on target by reducing variation. Typically, in underground mining, managers must wait until the end of a shift to assess the difference between their target production and the actual tons of ore mucked. 

Any losses during the shift cannot be recovered. With Mobilaris Operator Client™, the operator will always have an updated list of planned work tasks dispatched. Progress and issues are reported by the operator digitally in real-time, reducing the need of radio contact and making the information visible for the control room. A benefit of Mobilaris Operator Client™ is that it signals if mucking intensity is underperforming during the shift so adjustments can be made right away. For example, if one stope is ahead of target and another is behind, it is easy to reassign the mucking fleet to keep both stopes on target.

 “With Mobilaris digital solutions we have experienced an increased value-added time during the lineup meetings. Instead of focusing on logistics, our lineup meetings now focus on strategic, targets and the cross-functional critical path for the mine”, continues Mike Jankowski

The products that have been implemented at Hudbay Minerals were: Situational Awareness, Operators Client, Onboard, Planning and Scheduling