Analysis of transportation possibilities from a satellite mine to the Aitik processing site

The Aitik mine is the largest copper mine in Sweden. In the surrounding area several minor deposits have been found. If these deposits will be mined the ore can be handled in the concentrator of the Aitik mine, which means that the ore has to be transported to the Aitik mine. Transportation options of one of these satellite mines, 15 km away from Aitik, are investigated. This is based on a pre-feasibility study provided by Boliden. The transportation scenarios of nearby mines have been analysed in order to find similarities to the satellite mine. The similarities are as follows: the Renstrom mine is located 15 km from the concentrator, the ore of the Aitik mine has the same composition and pit of the Kaunisvaara project is in the same order of magnitude. Selection criteria are listed, involving limitations, environmental issues and economics. The criteria are listed from low influence to high influence: forest, animals, emission, shareholders, employees, transportation costs, profit, maximum weight and fragmentation size. Eight different transportation scenarios are listed based on these similarities and selection criteria. Two of these scenarios are further analysed. In these scenarios the ore is loaded on a mine ruck to the surface and further transported with highway trucks to the concentrator. One of these scenarios involves stockpiling before the ore is brought to the concentrator, this is found to be the best option. In this scenario 11 mine trucks with a payload of 50 tonnes, 16 mine trucks with a payload of 25 tonnes, 3 shovels, 1 wheel loader and 4 highway trucks are needed. The total costs of the mining and the transportation to the concentrator will be 36 SEK/tonnes, which is about 5.5 USD/tonnes. Further investigation can be done by changing the duration of the project, in order to conclude what this will do to the costs. One can also investigate what will happen when the equipment will break down and what will happen when the equipment will be leased from a contractor. Finally, the mining schedule and the amount of equipment need to be geared to each other.Resources EngineeringGeoscience & EngineeringCivil Engineering and Geoscience