Development of a compressed air demand simulation model for platinum mines

Abstract

There is an increasing demand for companies to incorporate the fundamentals of environmental, social and corporate governance factors (ESG) into their operations. The global mining industries are under immense pressure to increase the sustainability of their operations. The South African mining industry and mineral processing play a large role in the country's economy. South Africa is currently the largest producer of platinum and platinum group metals (PGM) in the world. The operating costs to supply PGMs are high and energy intensive. Most of the electrical energy consumed on a deep-level platinum mine can be granted to the compressed air systems in the shafts. Compressed air systems in platinum mines are intricate networks. These networks supply pneumatic equipment with the necessary pressures to be able to operate efficiently within their desired purpose. The primary objective of this study is to develop a simulation model able to predict whether the current compressed air network and supply will be sufficient for future demand. The future demand refers to development that still needs to be done in the mine and it is important to determine whether the current supply will be able to support this. Investigating the effect that compressed air inefficiencies have on the network pressure supports the above-mentioned objective. The effect that compressed air delivery pressure changes have in the working areas is also investigated. To achieve the objectives of the study, a five-step method was developed. The method made use of various methods to source data, which included data collection from the SCADA at the mine and manual measurements that were taken. From these measurements a verified simulation model was developed that can be used in a real-life scenario. The simulation model was used to simulate three different scenarios. The three scenarios focused on the number of additional cross-cuts (X/C's) to be added in order for the development area to still receive the required pressure to operate. The three scenarios revealed that, at the current compressed air supply and demand, it will only be possible to add one additional X/C to the current three active X/C's on the level. Any further development will need to be supported by a reduction in compressed air wastage in each of the currently active and future X/C's.