OPERATION FOCUS- GOLDEN STEPPES_proof 26/10/2016 10:15 Page 4
OPERATION FOCUS
One of two new IZ-Kartex EKG-20K rope shovels
at the mine
maintenance and repairs. These qualities are
worth their weight in gold in the challenging
conditions of Uzbekistan operation sites which
include arid deserts and high altitude ridges.”
The dealer estimates that despite tough
competition BELAZ retains about 90% of the
Uzbekistan market of off-highway haul trucks.
Major technology breakthroughs
During the independence years the volume of
gold production at Muruntau has increased by
1.5 times to well over 2 Moz/y. These
achievements were reached owing to full
technology updates to the existing operations,
construction of new facilities as well as to
application of recent engineering designs to
significantly increase gold production efficiency.
Many of these designs included research carried
out by NMMC together with INTEGRA Group Ltd
in the US and INTEGRA Closed Joint-Stock
Company (Russia), as well as the
VNIPIPROMTechnology Institute (Russia),
Tashkent State Engineering University, the
Seismology Institute of Academy of Science of
the Republic of Uzbekistan, and the Institute of
Nature Use and Ecological Problems of the
National Mining Academy of Ukraine.
“Experience in design, construction and
operation of open pits shows that cost efficiency
of a mining facility in many respects depends on
the proper construction decision, selection of the
technology and mining mode, calendar
distribution of overburden and ore volumes as
well as the type of comprehensive mechanisation
of production processes. To optimise
development of mining facilities we designed
and put into operation new special computeraided technologies that are equal to Western
ones and in many cases even exceed them.”
The mine System for Computer-Aided Design
of Mining Works (SCAD MW) system works
together with its “ORE” Computer-Based System
(CBS). The tasks of providing mining works with
geological surveying data are solved within the
frames of these systems. It also includes tasks of
current and future planning of the deposit
14 International Mining | NOVEMBER 2016
development. Based on the results
of exploration hole sampling
contained in a database, the block
model for a simulation of
operations is formed. The
procedure of grade plans drawn up
is a core part of “ORE” CBS which
has now been successfully used for
more than 10 years. In particular,
owing to application of this system,
a 6% increase in economic ore
output without ore deterioration
was reached, which made it possible to extend
the period of development of Muruntau’s open
pit reserves without an increase in the volume of
mining works.
The relative error in reserves evaluation
obtained using the model decreased as follows:
for ore – from 20.7% to 9.5%; for gold – from
23.2% to 14.8%. Thus the more reliable
evaluation of the raw material base of the
deposit was obtained and it was used for
designing Stage IV of Muruntau open pit; and
will soon be used for Stage V.
This technology makes it possible to obtain a
determination of the open pit borders (with
prescribed angl