PETRA is extremely proud and excited to have MAXTA nominated as a finalist for this years METS Award.
We can’t wait to see the results, the winners of all awards will be announced at the Austmine Industry Leaders’ Dinner and Awards evening, part of the Austmine 2021 Conference & Exhibition, taking place in Perth on Wednesday 26 May 2021.
Austmine prides itself on promoting innovation in METS and mining, and this award is given in recognition of a new innovative product, process or strategy that has been developed that stands out from the crowd in terms of wider implications for mining operations or the industry as a whole.
Why MAXTA was nominated
MAXTA is now, and has the potential to change the way mine optimisation and planning decisions are made, with significant positive impact on the bottom line performance of a mining operation. This is because MAXTA can predict, with great accuracy how all the various characteristics of the ore being mined will combine and behave for a given downstream process, and can make this information known and usable at the planning and decision making stages.
For example, the throughput of a crusher can be predicted to less than 2% accuracy as a function of the specific rock type and the blast design details used. This allows planners to understand the production rates, as well as to selectively design blast patterns and charges to optimise for a given result at the crusher.
Previously throughput predictions were either fixed numbers or estimates based upon regressions or empirical models with limited sampled. MAXTA can be applied at various stages of the value chain, allowing for a dramatic increase in the precision of how a mining operation is run, as well as reducing variability and uncertainty in the mine planning process. Applied consistently this can have huge positive impact on the production results and operating costs at a mine.
MAXTA can be applied at a large number of operational areas in the mine value chain. MAXTA is delivered as a number of modules allowing modelling and prediction of various processes and details. MAXTAGeomet describes the geometallurgical behaviour of ore in downstream processes such as beneficiation plants and adds this detail to the block model. MAXTADrill&Blast advises engineers of downstream process performance for blast design parameters selected for a geological domain. MAXTALoad&Haul predicts dig rates for certain rock based upon blasting and/or rock types.
MAXTAProcess predicts material process performance for equipment such as crushers and mills. These applications have been developed as a result of demand and opportunity in the market, and all have been successfully delivered and deployed commercially. MAXTA can be applied to hard rock mines and coal mines and to open cut or underground operations, and is scalable across very large, complex operations.
Our largest customer now has over 20 instances running across a number of process stages at their operations in WA and is considering scope to expand this further.
There are a wide range of potential applications for MAXTA within other process areas. The fundamental concept of using machine learning to create insights about the behaviour of a certain process with a certain material is embodied within MAXTA, and there are a wide range of potential applications that could be considered, including energy use, water use, fleet schedule and utilisation optimisation and more.
MAXTA joins top tier innovators 3ME Technology and Emesent for the METS Innovation Award. A truly great achievement by the team allowing mines to plan, optimise and track ore using machine learning.
More about the Austmine Industry Leaders’ Dinner and Awards evening
Limited tickets available, see more about the event here.
Learn more about MAXTA here.
