BHP Billiton Illawarra, which produces coal from five longwall collieries in the district, decided last year to install production monitoring and reporting system MineSuite across all of its underground operations, after success with the product at West Cliff and Appin.
Advanced Systems Integration (ASI), now part of the Maptek Group, designed and developed MineSuite 10 years ago in response to market interest in a system that could be applied to all mining operations while also integrating the various processes in the mine.
MineSuite enables all parts of the operation to view production details in a way that is relevant to their needs, according to ASI.
MineSuite consists of three fundamental procedures: set-up, data capture and reporting. Set-up creates the model of the mine, data capture actualises the model with historical data, and reporting publishes the data. As a generic system, MineSuite is completely user configurable -- all equipment, processes, KPIs, delays, formulae, and reports are defined by the user. Each individual site can set up the product to reflect their specific requirements.
The nature of the underground longwall mine makes the capture of relevant data difficult. Like other recently developed programs of this kind, MineSuite acquires data from the programmable logic controllers (PLCs) and other instruments controlling and collecting equipment data. This information is typically fed into a SCADA system that controls plant and equipment in real time. The SCADA system usually logs periodic data and alarms to a database. MineSuite is best used in these situations to interface to these existing control systems and transform this logged data into information to provide comprehensive reporting for the site.
A second option is to manually enter the data into the system through MineSuite’s manual data entry module, as opposed to automatic data retrieval direct from a real-time system. Once data for a shift has been captured, MineSuite allows this data to be edited or changed through the shift editor. This consists of three main sections: the graphical user interface (GUI), the text selection panel and the data entry panel.
The GUI represents the data of the shift as items (coloured rectangles) on a timeline, giving personnel a view of all the processes and equipment monitored, as well as the assignments and delays entered for the shift.
Previously, data could only be edited after a shift had ended but the development of an electronic log sheet (ELS) culminated in direct editing functionality. Personnel can edit records from the SCADA system’s tables in a user-friendly way, changing, deleting or adding delay or production data during the shift.
In a longwall mine, equipment that can be monitored includes longwall unit, continuous miner unit, coal clearance system, shearer, fan and gas drainage.
Reporting is one of the most important aspects of a mining operation, providing an overview of the operation’s productivity. MineSuite’s advanced reporting features allow reports and output formats to be user configurable and soft coded. Reports can be created at any time without writing any code or having knowledge of the database. The reporting module has three main components: ‘query’, ‘data sets’ and ‘page’
The query wizard gives the ability to develop and save queries. This step-by-step procedure allows the user to select KPIs of interest either on equipment or processes. The relatively new Data Sets feature addresses more advanced manipulation of query tables, permitting more complicated mathematics on multiple queries. And the Page tool allows the user to create custom reports.
Reporting can be quantity or quality based, on all KPIs and with comprehensive breakdowns. Generally grouping is by equipment, time period, location, personnel and crew.
A recent addition to MineSuite’s reporting module is cross-database reporting. For example, an operation with MineSuite installed in both its underground operation and preparation plant could develop reports using information from both databases. MineSuite also has the ability to automatically publish corporate group-wide reports in HTML format and place them on the company intranet for easy viewing amongst personnel.
Steve Mancinelli, international manager for MineSuite, sees a great future for the application of this technology in longwall mines.
