Advances in Mine

Engineering to Enable
Information Mobility for
Intelligent Mining
A Bentley White Paper
Leslie McHattie
Reliability Practitioner,
Bentley Systems
Published:
June 2014

www.bentley.com

Abstract
Intelligent mine conjures up a futuristic image of unmanned extractors and loaders
working in harsh conditions in a remote lunar landscape. The promise of increasing
mine fleet productivity and solving the problem labor shortages in mining regions can
certainly be achieved today through remote controlled extraction and automated hauling. The technology is available and it doesnt seem to be so much science fiction when
Googles self-driving cars hurtle down the freeway.
Intelligent mining, on the other hand, implies the application of information technology
at every phase of the mining value chain, from exploration and geological modeling to
equipment, operations and maintenance, and logistics and transportation. These are really industry-specific, enterprise-class software solutions focused on using information
technology to support the business processes of mining and make them more efficient
and effective.
Intelligent mining implies
that information and communications technology can
be applied to the entire value
chain and mining lifecycle.

Overlaying the physical world with the digital or virtual world enables us to model and
simulate our assets, giving us the ability to effectively design, build, and ultimately
optimize the performance and reliability of our assets throughout the lifecycle. The
digital asset, often a 3D model, is created initially during the engineering and construction phase, and is handed over to the operator before the mine goes into operation.
Combined with geospatial or geographic information systems, the operator has a
complete digital representation of the physical world, which forms the foundation for
risk and performance management, along with compliance and regulatory reporting.
Laser scanning and positioning technology can be used to create point clouds
information models consisting of millions of data points which enable the
visualization and representation of the as-operated reality.
But consider that once the mine is in operation, it throws off an endless stream of data
in the form of performance and condition data from sensors and monitoring devices on
fixed and mobile assets through networks, servers, and services. This big data can
be processed and analyzed to spot trends, help predict events, and formulate reliability
strategies as early as the design stage (e.g., reliability-centered design). Intelligent
mining implies that massive amounts of data augment the reality of the physical mine,
plant, and equipment. This embedded intelligence can be used to optimize operational
efficiency, increase asset availability and utilization, improve safety and environmental
integrity, and maximize return on investment.
Lastly, the sweet spot for intelligent mining is seen in the convergence of consumerization and industrialization. The application of consumer technologies that we use
every day on our iPhones and Android devices, such as cameras, motion sensors,
and positioning in an industrial context, are producing immersive experiences.
Overlaying the digital world on the physical world and connecting them accurately
through intelligent positioning results in intelligent infrastructure, which is safer
and more sustainable.
Bentley Systems works with many mining companies and engineering, procurement,
and construction companies involved in all aspects of mining infrastructure development. In fact, 10 of the top 20 mining companies ranked by market capitalization are

Advances in Mine Engineering to Enable Information Mobility for Intelligent Mining

users of Bentley software, including all of the top five. In addition, Bentley
provides software solutions to the worlds leading engineering, procurement, and
construction companies, as well as owner-operators, who design, build, and operate
the worlds infrastructure.
Bentleys solutions for mining and resource extraction industries help increase the efficiency of capital projects associated with the design, procurement, and construction
of mines and processing plants, as well as the operation and maintenance of mining
fleet and equipment.

Introduction
The day Rio Tinto wrote down its assets
by $14 billion and replaced its chief
executive officer, Tom Albanese, it was
not altogether surprising that the blogosphere took the opportunity to denounce
the company as a big polluting company
that should be shut down for crimes
against the environment. Perhaps the
blogger was a disgruntled Rio Tinto
shareholder who had seen the value of her shares fall by 5 percent over the past 12
months. Certainly Rio Tinto is not the only mining company to disappoint. BHP Billiton
wrote down its shale assets by $2.8 billion last year while Anglo American replaced
its chief executive officer, Cynthia Carroll, amid multi-billion-dollar cost overruns at its
flagship Brazilian iron ore project. With commodity prices off their peak, these are challenging times for mining companies. Meanwhile, the general public clearly does not
make the connection between the conveniences of modern life and the need to extract
mineral resources in what are often dangerous conditions in harsh or extreme environments. It would prefer not to know that mining is complex, risky and unpredictable, and
that there is sometimes a person and a pickaxe working in some rough, dirty, and very
dangerous conditions.
So the vision of an Intelligent mine is very alluring and holds out the promise to
environmentalists, investors, and the general public that mining can be invisible, safe,
profitable, and have zero impact. The image conjured up is a remote, lunar landscape
with autonomous, unmanned extractors and dump trucks hauling ore 24/7 at production
levels that are determined by industrial demand, or a deep mine with conveyor belts
stretching over miles to a clean, low carbon, sustainable processing plant that one
day will be remediated and the land restored to nature conservancy. The vision of the
intelligent mine might not seem so much science fiction when Googles self-driving cars
hurtle down the freeway, or the drones controlled by a pilot at an air force base thousands of miles away conduct air strikes in central Asia. The technology that is available
today can achieve remote control or autonomous operation of highly complex, highly
engineered equipment costing millions of dollars. It is aimed at increasing the productivity of mine fleet and equipment, improving fuel efficiency, and solving the problem of
lack of labor in remote, inhospitable mining regions.

Advances in Mine Engineering to Enable Information Mobility for Intelligent Mining

Intelligent Mines
Indeed there are several examples of intelligent mines that are the focus of research
or are under construction or operating today. The I2Mine project in Kiruna, Sweden,
(www.i2mine.eu) has as its scope Innovative Technologies and Concepts for the Intelligent Deep Mine of the Future. The project is funded by the European Commission
and is complementary to the Smart Mine of the Future (SMIFU) initiative, which is a
joint Swedish/Polish conceptual study aimed at developing a common vision for the
future of mining. The I2Mine project is a consortium of 27 organizations from 10
European countries and focuses on the entire lifecycle of mining deep deposits,
including improving resource efficiency by increasing extraction rates 20 percent and
decreasing production costs by 20 percent. Another example in Europe is the Intelligent
Mine Technology Program at the Outukumpu Chrome Oy Kemi underground mine in
Finland that has researched mine planning, control, and maintenance systems, autonomous and remote controlled machinery and equipment, and mine-wide information
management and data acquisition. Another example is the Intelligent Mine project of
the VIST Group in Russia (www.vistgroup.ru), which has evolved through the robotizing
of rail locomotives in the 1990s. This created the technology to support unmanned
open-pit mining in Russia where in which rail haulage from the pit area is common.
More examples are reported in Chile and Australia.
The only good way to
improve asset reliability and
enterprise performance.
Michel Priv,
Manager Operational Process &
Maintenance Systems, ArcelorMittal
Mines Canada

And heavy-equipment manufacturers have marketed autonomous trucks for years. At

MINExpo in 2008, Caterpillar announced its vision of a completely autonomous mine.
In July 2011, it announced an agreement with Fortescue Metals Group to implement
an autonomous mining solution at the Solomon iron ore mine in Western Australia. In
2011, Rio Tinto also announced that it would double its fleet of Komatsu driverless haul
trucks in its iron operations in Western Australia.

Intelligent Mining
If the intelligent mine is mostly about autonomous dump trucks and dispatch systems,
then Intelligent mining implies that information and communications technology can be
applied to the entire value chain and lifecycle of mining and mineral extraction. Information and communications technology can be used in every phase, from exploration
and geological modeling to equipment operation and maintenance. It is often implemented in the form of enterprise-class software solutions focused on making business
processes more efficient and decision-making more effective. Intelligent mining owes
its existence to advances in information and communications technology over the past
10 to 15 years that have been truly transformative and have had a disruptive effect on
a long list of industries.

Big Data
The Internet was once perceived as a virtual destination where websites were often
set up as a portal enabling surfers to visit a location, using a uniform resource locator
(URL), and access the content stored there. Now the Internet is morphing into something conceptually and practically very different. With the implementation of sensors,

Advances in Mine Engineering to Enable Information Mobility for Intelligent Mining

cameras, monitoring devices, and embedded chips in myriad industrial, commercial and
everyday items, the Internet is becoming a digital or virtual layer that is superimposed
upon and coexists with the physical world. All these sensors and devices are continuously generating massive amounts of data status, performance, and condition data
that can be processed and analyzed. Rio Tintos Pilbara iron ore mining, transport, and
shipping activities are already generating 2.4 terabytes of data a minute. The terminology that has gained mindshare in the information technology world is big data. Big
data is the raw material that can be mined for insights, and to which algorithms and
expert systems can be applied to produce predictive analytics.

The Industrial Internet

The opportunities for big data and
predictive analytics are there for all to
see. Marc Andreessen, inventor of the
Netscape browser and co-founder of venture capital firm Andreessen-Horowitz,
an early investor in Facebook, Twitter,
and Skype, asserts that software is
eating everything. His investment thesis
is that more and more major businesses
and industries are being run on software and delivered as online services, and software
will continue to disrupt many more industries in the future. Jeff Immelt, chief executive
officer of General Electric, announced GEs vision of the Industrial Internet, the idea
of a new breed of connected equipment, including jet engines, generators, and locomotives. Using analytics to make machines more efficient can produce massive cost
savings. According to Immelt, a 1 percent improvement in fuel efficiency or reduction
in maintenance costs could result in millions of dollars in savings. The sensors on a jet
engine generate approximately 1 terabyte of data on a cross-country flight. It seems
that most information and communications technology companies have their own version of the Internet of Things. IBM has its Smarter Planet campaign, and Cisco has
its Internet of Everything. Overlaying the digital or virtual world on the physical world
and connecting them accurately through intelligent positioning results in intelligent
infrastructure, which is safer and more sustainable.

Consumerization vs. Industrialization

The other significant driver of disruption is the convergence of consumerization and
industrialization at a sweet spot of innovation. Over the past five years we have seen
incredible innovation in the consumer space as scanning, global positioning, camera
and video, and gesture and speech recognition have all been incorporated into smartphones and tablets. All these innovations are being deployed in an industrial context
and combined with advances in fabrication and modularization. The key point to consider is that these innovations dont have to be invented; they just have to be applied. The
application of consumer technologies that we use every day on our iPhones, iPads, and
Android devices to an industrial context are producing immersive experiences that

Advances in Mine Engineering to Enable Information Mobility for Intelligent Mining

we think of as augmented reality. Clearly, there are huge opportunities in applications

such as operations and maintenance and education and training.

Information Mobility
At Bentley Systems, we view information mobility as the key to unlocking value across
the entire asset lifecycle. Big data and predictive analytics, the layering of the virtual
and the physical world, and the convergence of consumerization and industrialization
all require information mobility to close the technology gap between operations technology and enterprise resource planning and corporate information technology systems,
and to span CAPEX and OPEX. Without information mobility, data languishes in islands
of automation; it becomes stale and obsolete, is not useful, and, consequently, will
not be used. Information mobility is a key success factor for intelligent mining. It links
the information models that are generated in the design phase, through the integrated
projects of the procurement and construction phase, and enables the intelligent
infrastructure that is the lifeblood and pulse of the operations and maintenance phase.
Managing information across the entire asset lifecycle is an emerging best practice
that is gaining the attention of leading owner-operators and their engineering, procurement, and construction partners.
This paper gives examples of information modeling and asset performance management in the mining industry, advances in mining engineering that enable information
mobility on the road to intelligent mining.
Information mobility is the
key to unlocking value across
the entire asset lifecycle.

Information Modeling
Overlaying the physical world with the digital or virtual world enables us to model and
simulate our assets, giving us the ability to effectively design, build, and ultimately
optimize the performance and reliability of our assets throughout the lifecycle. The
digital asset, often a 3D model, is created initially during the engineering and construction phase and is handed over to the owner-operator before the mine goes into
operation. Combined with geospatial or geographic information systems, the operator
has a complete digital representation of the physical world, which forms the foundation
for risk and performance management, as well as compliance and regulatory reporting.
Laser scanning and positioning technology can be used to create point clouds
information models consisting of millions of data points that enable the visualization
and representation of the as-operated reality.
The advantages of information modeling are self-evident in this large-scale
mining project.
When Vale, the worlds second largest mining company, planned a $2.6 billion copper plant in northern Brazil, it contracted SEI Engineering, a design and construction
firm based in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, to perform front-end loading (FEL) and deliver
detailed 3D models. The new mine, which was planned to have a life of 24 years,
will produce 16 million tons per year of run-of-mine, with an average annual production of 340,000 tons of copper concentrate. To build the 3D models and meet an

Advances in Mine Engineering to Enable Information Mobility for Intelligent Mining

aggressive design schedule, SEI Engineering leveraged Bentleys MicroStation,

Bentley Navigator, Bentley Architecture, and other Bentley software products.
The software helped SEI quickly create 3D models and streamline workflows. A
challenge of this project was to prepare the basic engineering as 3D models. Vale
wanted to use the 3D models to advance the study of key concepts prior to their
integration into the detailed design plan, as well as to give plant operations staff
the opportunity to provide early input during the detailed design phase. At the same
time, the models would accelerate project execution by shortening design review
sessions and approval processes. SEIs design team developed several simulated
3D plant layouts, including options showing different internal and external access
roads; these layouts helped Vale identify the optimal plant layout design that required the least enterprise investment; for example, they could quickly compare the
environment, cost, and construction times associated with various plans. The result
was the production of an initial mine layout followed by a master plan mapped out
in 3D complete with a timetable for execution.
Maintaining an information model of
the mining operation allows owneroperators to demonstrate their compliance with regulations and optimize the
performance of their assets. Kumba Iron
Ore, a leading value-added supplier of
high-quality iron ore to the global steel
industry, illustrated this at Be Inspired
2012 when it presented its environmental monitoring system.
Kumba Iron Ore developed an integrated environmental monitoring data management system for the Kolomela Mine in Postmasburg, South Africa. The system saves
time on the ZAR 1 million project by providing a one-stop shop for environmental
monitoring data, such as water, dust, and biodiversity. An innovative handheld unit
allows field data to be captured and automatically downloaded when the unit is
docked, eliminating human error during data transfer. Building on Bentleys
MicroStation platform for cadastral and survey data, Kumba used Bentley Map as
the source for GIS-related features. Bentley Geo Web Publisher was implemented to
share geospatial and attribute data with other departments in the mining operation.
Using the GIS tool to build an integrated Mine Closure Plan also allows Kumba Iron
Ore to track progress on managing closure liabilities and rehabilitation projects.
Another example of information modeling and information mobility is the Finsch
mine operated by Petra Diamonds.
Located in the Northern Cape province of South Africa, the Finsch mine is operated
by majority owner Petra Diamonds, which developed a ZAR 700,000 integrated
spatial data management system to manage geospatial data for five departments
that were functioning in isolation. The company also co-manages the mining town

Advances in Mine Engineering to Enable Information Mobility for Intelligent Mining

of Lime Acres, for which the GIS-based system captures data and bills residents for
water and electricity usage. The GIS links spatial data and information scattered
in various databases. Survey and plan data are captured and digitized in Bentleys
MicroStation; Bentley Map links features representing the mining lifecycle, town
layout, and residential setup; and Bentley Geo Web Publisher makes the geospatial
mining and town information accessible to the entire mining group. For billings,
the database interrogates the human resources system and automatically sends
invoices to residents.
Clearly, information modeling can help accelerate project delivery and, just as
important, help minimize the time it takes operations and maintenance teams to
learn the new plant and equipment, minimizing the time it takes to reach planned
production levels.
At the Cloudbreak ore-handling plant, a joint venture between AMEC and Fortescu
in Pilbara, Western Australia, the first phase of the project examined a previous
design, established feasibility, and recommended agreed-upon improvements. Phase
two entailed delivery of the project within 19 months. Rapid deployment of Bentleys
MicroStation, Structural Modeler, and PlantSpace enabled a multidisciplinary
project team to streamline workflows in an integrated, intelligent 3D modeling
environment. Bentley Navigator was used to visualize design concepts while model
reviews minimized downtime for tie-ins to the existing plant.
From an owner-operator perspective, information modeling lets teams simulate
what could be, evaluate what-if scenarios in design through construction and
operation, and deliver (current with the physical asset) a digital asset, a virtual
representation of the physical asset.

The secret sauce for

information modeling and
therefore information
mobility is the i-model.

Bentley i-models
The secret sauce for information modeling and, therefore information mobility, is
the i-model, a container for open infrastructure information exchange. Developed by
Bentley, i-models are information rich, including 2D and 3D geometry, from lines and
arcs to surfaces, solids, and point clouds. Bentley i-models also contain business properties and data, provenance (which Bentley defines as origin and evolution, i.e., change
history), the state of the information when the i-model was published, and the purpose
for which it was created. Bentley i-models store information reliably with assured
integrity, using digital rights management to secure access and reuse permissions, and
digital signatures to validate and verify the i-models status. The i-model is the digital
asset that is the result of information modeling. It is the digital representation of the
physical asset and enables simulation and management of the performance of the
physical asset.

Advances in Mine Engineering to Enable Information Mobility for Intelligent Mining

Asset Performance Management

Now that we have a digital representation of our mine and mining assets, as well as
the big data streaming constantly from sensors, monitoring devices, SCADA systems
and data historians, we are able to optimize the performance of these assets along the
dimensions of reliability and availability, including cost to maintain. Embedded intelligence can be used to optimize operational efficiency, increase asset availability and
utilization, improve safety and environmental integrity, and ultimately maximize return
on investment. Here, asset performance management has a great deal to contribute
to the goal of intelligent mining to decrease production costs by 20 percent. As Jeff
Immelt, chief executive officer of GE, noted, a 1 or 2 percentage point improvement in
maintenance costs can have a payoff in the millions of dollars. At Bentley, we have
applied advances in information and communications technology and advances in mine
engineering to seek these marginal gains.
According to Professor L. K. Daneshmend, chair in mine-mechanical engineering at the
Robert M. Buchan department of mining at Queens University in Kingston, Ontario,
benchmarks for the ratio of maintenance costs to total costs are around 35 percent
in underground mines in developed economies, compared to more than 65 percent in
open-pit mines in emerging economies. Compared to the 10 percent typically achieved
by manufacturing companies in the west, it would appear that there is ample scope
for efficiency gains in maintenance activities in the mining industry. One large open-pit
iron ore mine Bentley worked with spent around $200 million per year on maintenance
split 50/50 between mining and processing. Maintenance represented 40 percent of
the operating costs, and an estimated 5 percent of the total asset replacement value.
Compared to the 2.5 percent benchmark for world-class manufacturing companies, this
implied that savings of $100 million should have been possible.
Another way of looking at the problem
is to think in terms of a 200-ton haul
truck with a purchase price of around $2
million. Operating more than 5,000 hours
per year, the maintenance cost per hour
is only slightly less than the operating
cost. Total maintenance cost per year
is in the $500,000 range. Consider that
the increasing scale of mining operations has led to larger, more complex and
more costly mining fleet and equipment.
Industry-wide, in 2008 in open-pit mining, there were more than 35,000 large machines
operating in 1,100 mines in 76 countries valued at more than $90 billion. The mean
time between failures of large hydraulic shovels was less than 15 hours and the mean
time to repair was four hours. That implies that the availability of the shovel was less
than 75 percent. The reality is that reactive maintenance or corrective action still
predominates in mobile mining equipment often due to a lack of understanding of
failure modes.

Advances in Mine Engineering to Enable Information Mobility for Intelligent Mining

Understanding Failure Modes

During a recent maintenance task analysis on a Caterpillar 5130 excavator-crawler, one
of the potential failure modes identified was the stick cylinder oil leaks on the rod end
head of the cylinder. If not addressed, this failure leads to total hydraulic system failure
resulting in considerable costs and downtime. In the mining companys maintenance
program, it was recommended that this cylinder be changed on a time/usage-based
interval every 10,000 hours. Based on a combination of the manufacturers recommendations and the experience of the workforce, this time/usage-based replacement
strategy had seemed right and was followed for years. Yet, with this maintenance
program in place, there were two total hydraulic system failures at the mine site in the
past year. Why did this preventive replacement strategy not catch these failures before
they occurred?
Take good care of your
future because that is where
youre going to spend the
rest of your life.
Reliability will make your
future trouble free.
Marc St-Amant, Asset Integrity
Superintendent, Vale Inco

A maintenance task facilitator, well-versed in reliability-centered maintenance thinking,

had the answer. By analyzing the equipment within its operating context, at the component level where conditions could be monitored and understanding the effect that
the component had at the system level, the result was astounding because it applied
not only to this failure mode but to a multitude of failure modes. Moving to a proactive,
condition-based maintenance program recommended by the maintenance task analysis,
the maintenance technicians now perform a condition-based visual inspection bi-weekly
on the cylinder to prevent total failure from occurring. Based on the knowledge of the
engineers, technicians, and operators, it was determined that the cylinder lasts about
one month from the time a leak is noticed until total hydraulic system failure.
During the maintenance analysis, the maintenance technicians went out to inspect the
machine and found these cylinders were, in fact, noticeably leaking. It was promptly
recommended that the cylinders be changed immediately to avoid hydraulic system
damage. It was likely that if the cylinders were allowed to run, the hydraulic system
would have become contaminated leading to a total hydraulic system failure.

Table 1: Cost Comparison

Cost of Parts Cost of Downtime
and Labor

Total Cost

Time/usage based change-out

missed cylinder failure and resulted
in total hydraulic system failure

$435,000

3 weeks/$200,000 $635,000

Regular condition inspections and

stick cylinder change-out

$20,000

8 hours/$23,000

$43,000

The cost implications in this example reinforce the value of understanding failure
modes and moving to a proactive, condition-based process for managing the reliability
and performance of equipment.

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Reliability-centered Maintenance
There are many real-world, referenceable examples of asset performance management significantly improving the performance of equipment in support of a companys
productivity and profitability goals.
ArcelorMittal Mines Canada improved mine production levels by 28 percent without
increasing resources. It changed its repair/replace strategy and adopted a new
approach to reliability based on Bentleys AssetWise APM solution. With its old way
of thinking, equipment, including trucks, tractors, loaders and other mobile assets,
were taken out of service for repair at a specified number of running hours or when
they broke down, which required a larger
fleet and bigger inventory of spare parts,
or resulted in the worst-case scenario,
a halt in production. This old way of
thinking was no longer viable and a new
approach was required that focused on
optimizing asset reliability and paid close
attention to the health and condition of
the equipment, not just its hours of service. The maintenance shop at ArcelorMittal Mines Canada realized $7 million
in cost savings, getting more performance with half the fleet; extending the life span
of 190-ton off-highway trucks by more than 60 percent; and improving availability
from 75 percent to 81 percent. ArcelorMittal Mines has been able to defer and reduce capital expenditures and lower material carrying costs as a result of reductions
in the spare parts inventory.
Joy Globals Life Cycle Management division performed a reliability-centered
maintenance study on a generic 4100 XPB shovel at Teck Coals Fording River operation. Teck, Canadas largest diversified resource company, provided the operator
and maintainer experience. Before the reliability-centered maintenance analysis,
yearly preventive maintenance consisted of 279 recommended tasks combined with
planned component replacement. The context was notable for its lack of data
to support maintenance activities and a lack of communication between the
manufacturer of the equipment and the end user. In fact, the operating experience
was excluded from the maintenance program and design process. Many factors
influenced the operating experience, including shift arrangements, environmental
and safety standards and regulations, skill levels and capabilities, quality standards,
and logistics.
After the reliability-centered maintenance analysis, the yearly preventive maintenance tasks were reduced to approximately 100 recommended tasks and the
frequencies were extended on some tasks. The maintenance program took into
account the operating experience and the policy of planned component replacement
was altered. The manufacturer of the equipment examined nearly 500 failure modes

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11

and discovered that only 20 percent resulted in proactive maintenance tasks that
were technically feasible and worth doing. As a result, the preventive maintenance
program was reduced from 11 hours to 8 hours while reliability increased from 93
percent to 97 percent.
Agriums potash mining operation in Western Canada saw the need for more
reliable production in light of improving markets. Agrium implemented Bentleys
AssetWise APM solution on hand-held tablets to support operator and maintenance
rounds to monitor asset condition and ensure asset reliability and performance.
Over the past 10 years, Agrium had been working on improving asset management
performance and production excellence. Increased focus on turn-around planning
had seen significant improvements in budget and schedule performance. However,
Agrium was still suffering from plant trips and unplanned outages. While availability
numbers were in the 90s, Agrium still had a reactive culture in many of its plants.
Operator rounds were converted from a process to a reliability focus. Extra maintenance checks for equipment were dropped from the turnaround process and lube
routes and millwright inspection rounds were added. As a result, potash mill and
phosphate plant availability have improved.

To sustain a leadership
position and provide a superior value proposition to our
customers, operational excellence supported by optimized
equipment performance has
become the foundation of
our competitive strategy.
Bill Chisholm, Chief Executive
Officer, ArcelorMittal Mexico

Bentleys Asset Performance Management Methodology

At Bentley, we define asset performance management as optimizing processes for
day-to-day running of assets, to minimize operational costs and maximize production
capability, usually through minimizing downtime and running to peak performance as
much as possible. Bentleys asset performance management methodology provides
one consolidated view of asset health to identify which assets to maintain and when,
and eventually replace. The solution builds confidence that maintenance decisions
are based on what is really happening (i.e., are data driven). It integrates the asdesigned, as-built, and as-operated information models and helps engineers take
reliability and reliability-centered maintenance data into account during the design
phase. It helps drive operational changes such as renovations, expansion or repurposing to best consider implications across the asset lifecycle. It supports a continuous,
proactive engineering lifecycle recognizing that improvements can always be made.
With its asset performance management methodology, Bentley puts in place a business
process for managing the performance and reliability of infrastructure assets throughout their operating life.
Bentleys asset performance management methodology comprises an operational
information platform that integrates field and plant process and other day-to-day operational systems with work management and computerized maintenance management
systems, enterprise asset management, and enterprise resource planning systems. It
collects and consolidates performance and condition data from interactive inspections,
sensors, and real-time monitoring devices. It calculates numeric and rule-based performance indicators and produces alarms and triggers for non-normal states that can
be displayed in an asset health dashboard. This is used by operators and maintenance
engineers to optimize asset reliability and utilization. It generates work orders and
work requests that are transmitted to work management systems.

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Asset Lifecycle Information Management

Despite the availability of 3D information models, big data and predictive analytics,
asset performance management, and reliability-centered maintenance, there is still a
technology gap in many mining companies due to poor information mobility. The gap
arises out of the many disparate sources of performance and condition data and the
lack of integration with enterprise asset management, enterprise resource planning,
and corporate information systems. SCADA and online data capture systems and data
historians are not integrated with enterprise asset management and computerized
maintenance management systems. There is a gap between operations technology and
information technology, and between the mine or plant work site and the headquarters
or project office. In addition, information that is created by engineers during the design
phase is not made available to operations and maintenance technicians. Often, before
plants can go into production, operations and maintenance teams have to recreate and
resurvey the operational information and equipment data they require to comply with
health, safety, and environmental regulations. Operations and maintenance data is not
taken into account during the design and engineering phase so equipment is often not
designed and manufactured with maintainability in mind.
Studies show that poor information
management is a critical problem for
stakeholders across the lifecycle of
infrastructure assets. According to a
2004 NIST report that examined the cost
of inadequate interoperability in the U.S.
capital facilities industry, NIST estimated
that the increased CAPEX and OPEX
costs for poor information quality and
availability across the complete design,
build, and operate supply chain to be
nearly $16 billion per year. The report suggested that two-thirds of these costs are
borne by owner-operators.
Ultimately, asset lifecycle information management helps owner-operators achieve a
greater return on infrastructure investments, span CAPEX and OPEX, and sustain their
infrastructure assets. An asset lifecycle information management system comprises
operational applications and services, an operational information platform, and a digital asset. Operational applications and services ensure that asset information is always
up to date and continuously renewed through active use. From an owner-operator
perspective, these applications help operations and maintenance teams ensure that
ongoing and planned activities continually leverage asset information, organizational
knowledge and best practices, and condition and performance data, to achieve optimal
asset performance, extend asset life, and ensure safety for the operators of the asset
and the general public. An operational information platform helps assure information
integrity so that operations and maintenance teams can trust the information, whether
reacting quickly or appropriately to changes for minimum adverse effect, including the

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unexpected, such as disaster and incident response, system failures, corrective action,
rework, or repairs. A digital asset, a virtual representation of, and concurrent with, the
physical asset, enables operations and maintenance teams to simulate the performance of the physical asset. Applying immersive technologies (e.g., touch, gesture,
and augmented reality) in an industrial context, operations and maintenance teams can
more effectively manage reliability, safety, and risk.
Asset lifecycle information management helps owner-operators achieve asset health
visibility, proactively plan asset lifecycles, all with assured information integrity. Asset
health visibility helps ensure that ongoing and planned activities facilitate optimal
asset performance and extend asset life while at the same time virtualizing an organizations talent and expertise. Proactive lifecycle planning helps drive operational
changes such as renovations, expansions, or repurposing to best consider implications
across the entire asset lifecycle. Operations teams can operate the physical asset with
immersive interaction with the right information required for ongoing and project activities, accessing everything that is mapped, modeled, and simulated in the engineering
information model.
Bentley enables information mobility with integrity across the entire asset lifecycle,
starting with the information model in the design phase and enabling integrated
project teams to collaborate effectively during the construction phase, and helping
operations and maintenenance teams to optimize the performance of intelligent
infrastructure assets.
Intelligent mining could help
restore the reputation
of the industry.

Recommendations
Bentleys experts in asset performance management, reliability engineering, and
reliability-centered maintenance have completed hundreds of projects in diverse industries, including mining and metals, manufacturing, chemicals, utilities, oil and gas,
power generation, and transportation. While every company and every challenge is
unique, we have drawn on the collective wisdom and experience of our consultants to
list our top five recommendations:
1. Think information mobility. Always bear in mind that information is the key to
optimizing asset performance. Having the right information in the right format at the
right time can be a real game changer.
2. Improve the capture of performance and condition data. What gets measured gets
managed. Make sure that performance and condition data is accurate and complete.
Consider using handheld units and mobile technology to avoid error-prone manual
and paper-based processes.
3. Gain real-time visibility of asset health. A picture is worth a thousand words. A realtime dashboard and up-to-the-second key performance indicators beat week-old
printouts and work orders. The ability to calculate alarms and triggers in real time
could save thousands of dollars in lost production.

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4. Move from reactive to proactive maintenance. The numbers dont lie. In every
project on which we have ever worked, the total cost of reactive maintenance was
three to four times greater than proactive maintenance. This is asset performance
management 101, but it is surprising how many maintenance teams are still acting
like first responders.
5. Invest in asset lifecycle information management. The 1 percent or 2 percent marginal gain is a lot easier to find if you are managing asset information throughout
the entire lifecycle. Whether it is handoff, handover, startup, turnaround, shutdown
or rehab, having accurate asset information helps you save time and money.

Conclusion
The intelligent mine of the future could
well be invisible, safe, and have zero
impact on the environment. Perhaps in
the future, the general public will better
understand the contribution the mining industry makes to modern society.
Intelligent mining could help restore
the reputation of the industry and align
interests of investors, environmentalists,
and the communities in which mines operate. Certainly the environmental monitoring
and data management system at the Kolomela Mine in Postmasburg, South Africa,
which monitors water quality, dust, and biodiversity, is a pointer to the future and a
step in the right direction. For investors and owner-operators, intelligent mining has the
potential to capture the 1 percent or 2 percent marginal gain that helps contribute to
profitability. Intelligent mining is also a means to avoid the costly mistakes that result
in multimillion or multibillion dollar write-downs of assets. There is no doubt that the
future landscape of mining will be a digital landscape. The Industrial Internet and
the Internet of Things have established a foothold in the mining and metals industry.
Information modeling, asset performance management, and asset lifecycle information
management are three key activities that are enabling information mobility and helping
to advance mine engineering.

2014 Bentley Systems Incorporated. Bentley, the B Bentley logo, MicroStation, Bentley Navigator, Bentley Architecture, Bentley Geo Web Publisher, Bentley
Map, Sructural Modeler, and PlantSpace are either registered or unregistered trademarks or service marks of Bentley Systems, Incorporated, or one of its direct
or indirect wholly owned subsidiaries. Other brands and product names are trademarks of their respective owners. CS6221 05/14

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