Value Driven Product Planning, or VDPP, has given momentum to several business improvement projects at Cape Lambert.
The principle has been used to guide a range of initiatives at the site, including those involved in the PPI 55 project.
Cape Lambert senior metallurgist Brendan Cannell said there had been encouraging results from using smaller screen panels as a means of increasing saleable lump product from the Lump Rescreening (LRP1) plant.
“Recently, we have installed smaller screen panels in LRP1, which in turn displaces finer product into the lump product whilst maintaining contractual specification,” he said.
“These changes have initially shown encouraging results that indicate a positive shift in material to lump product and increased capability of the circuit.
“A number of VDPP improvement ideas have also been incorporated in the PPI 55 project (Process Plant Improvement — 5500tph), such as the optimisation of crusher gap settings to increase the lump yield and increase plant productivity.”
Operations improvement specialist John Tatkovic said workshops were held throughout May and June with the production, engineering and maintenance crews to capture improvement opportunities and current best practice.
Improvement opportunities identified focused on areas such as coarse ore stockpile management, crusher mantle re-profiling to accommodate adverse ore types and the optimisation of the
Rubble 3 conveyors to increase lump yield and productivity and relieve plant bottlenecks.
“A recent focus on the plant constraint controls has yielded some encouraging outcomes through challenging current paradigms historically associated with the Rubble 3 circuit,” he said.
“The workshops achieved a lot; they were a cross-disciplinary project that was rewarding for everyone involved.”
This article was first published in Coastal News [September 2007, Issue No. 2] – Rio Tinto’s Coastal Division Newsletter.