NLMK mining company adopts predictive process management

Stoilensky (an NLMK Group company, core asset of NLMK Mining Division) has embarked on the implementation of a predictive management system for ore crushing and beneficiation processes. In the long run, this will enable an increase in the efficiency of the beneficiation equipment to 400,000 tonnes of concentrate per year.

Twenty units of the beneficiation plant operate to obtain iron ore concentrate from ore. An information management system, one of its kind in the Russian mining sector, gathers data from control and measuring devices on the current modes of these units in real time, compares it against historical data accumulated for the previous period, and gives out instructions on how to adjust the equipment modes. Settings of the predictive system itself are updated to incorporate new statistical data.

Such adjustments enable an increase in equipment productivity and the quality of the finished product. Industrial testing of the system has commenced at Section IV of Stoilensky’s beneficiation plant.

Konstantin Lagutin, NLMK Group’s Vice President for Investment Projects, said:

“The key goal of implementing such an intelligent system is to strike and maintain a point of technical and economic balance, an optimal mode for equipment operations, whereby output of high-quality concentrate is maximized, and resource consumption and losses are minimized. By using this system, we are able to extract 1.5-2% more pure Fe from iron ore, adding over 100,000 tonnes of iron ore concentrate per year for just one of the beneficiation sections. We are now beginning to roll out the system to the remaining three sections.”

This and other projects aimed at upgrading production and boosting operational efficiency at Stoilensky will enable an increase in iron ore concentrate production capacity from its current 15.4 million tonnes to 17.4 million tonnes per year by 2018.