NTWIST: Preventing Ore Losses with a ROM Pad Digital Twin

NTWIST helps mining operations reduce ore losses with a real-time ROM Pad Digital Twin that tracks material movement, monitors haul truck dump locations, and provides live visibility into stockpile conditions. By replacing manual processes with AI-driven insights and real-time data, mining teams can quickly detect ore misplacement, improve stockpile management, optimize ore blending, and make faster operational decisions. The result is higher recovery, fewer material handling errors, and more efficient Mine-to-Mill optimization.

How a Mine Digitally Upgraded Their ROM Pad and Averted $0.5M in Losses

At first glance, ore misplacement may appear to be a small operational problem. However, it is a costly, frequent problem across many medium-tier mines. During one site's ramp-up, the team realized how costly ore misplacement was. The team decided to create a real-time digital twin of the site’s ROM pad.

The Problem: Misplaced Ore and Missed Revenue

Generally, open pit gold mines in Brazil's production of approximately 50,000 ounces per year require ore and waste to be delivered to stockpiles. Inadequate communication and coordination of the planning, geology, and operations teams resulted in the misplacement of ore and waste, and significant stockpiling challenges.

The cost? Misplaced loads caused blending and recovery challenges that reduced revenues.

The Solution: A ROM Pad Digital Twin

NTWIST built a site-focused digital twin of the mine’s ROM pad. The system captured data of the site’s live haulage and map of dump events, and flagged discrepancies. The system also sent alerts to operators when advanced notifications of the concerns were warranted. The operational teams were also given a common display that provided real-time updates on stockpiles, including grade, hardness, and mass.

For this mine, the effects were instant:

• 24 Dumped loads that should have been routed were identified and corrected.
• $0.5 million in ore loss was saved.
• Short-interval control was made feasible across all departments.

Visual Intelligence, Operational Impact

Prior to this, there was no reliable way to check if the load had been dumped in the correct slot. Now, operators can see in real time, where each dump truck loads, the contents of each pile, and how it relates to the blending strategy. Rather than only being documented, misroutes were corrected.

Under: An example of a dump pad heat map, showing detection of misrouted ore in real time.

*ROM Pad digital twin flagged a loss of $0.5M in misplaced ore during the initial run. Visual overviews allowed teams to respond accurately and efficiently.

Beyond Prevention: Better Blending Starts with Clarity

Effective stockpile management is not only about tracking, it's about planning. With the digital twin implemented, this site not only eliminated misrouting, but also enhanced operational blending, and removed the need for inter- departmental guess work. The result was expedient decisions and actions along with an improved system.

Each Area of a stockpile grid map, as shown above, listed a real time grade, hardness, and mass without the need for a spreadsheet or other manual data uploads.

Are You Interested in Solving the Same Problem?

Misrouted material is most likely more common than you think. If you rely on disjointed systems and manual reconciliation, your ROM pad is likely leaking value. Mine-to-Mill Optimization by NTWIST solves this problem by integrating planning, haulage, and processing teams through real-time data and AI-based insights.

If you would like to see this solution in action, please contact us to arrange a real-time demonstration of our ROM pad digital twin and the operational impact it could create.

FAQs

What is a ROM pad digital twin?

The ROM pad digital twin is a real-time digital model of the ROM stockpiles of an active mine. It integrates data of ongoing haulage, stockpile structures, and shed operational views to allow the mining team to visualize the flow of material, avoid misplacement of ore, manage stockpiles dynamically, and assist with improved ore blending.

How does a digital twin prevent ore losses?

A digital twin for mining continuously monitors the events of haul trucks dumping at designated stockpiles. Each ore misplacement is corrected before it impacts production, thus minimizing loss of ore, maximizing recovery, and optimizing the operations.

What is the significance of ROM pad management in mining?

Proper management of the ROM pad ensures optimum delivery of ore to the designated stockpile, simplified ore blending, reduced operations of moving materials in and out of the stockpile and improves visibility and trust of the planning and geology and operations teams.

Why does ROM pad misplace ore?

ROM pad ore misplacement is generally due to isolated or manual systems reliant on spreadsheets, disparate departmental communications, and stockpile data out-of-date and without real-time visibility concerning haul truck dumping. These disconnect impact blending, recovery, and productivity.

What's the value of having real-time data on stockpiles?

With real-time stockpile data, the mine can now track the movement of materials, maintain visibility of stockpiles, optimize ore blending, and identify misplaced loads earlier. Operational and blending efficiencies improve and mine to mill data optimization activities yield increased productivity.