01 / Mine to mill
Mine-to-mill optimisation
Take the mine schedule as an input and optimise ROM stockpiles, reclaim and mill feed so the plant receives consistent ore, for copper, gold, lithium, nickel, manganese and other metals.
The BlendOpt platform
BlendOpt: optimisation for every mining value chain
BlendOpt aligns stockpiling, blending, processing and logistics with market demand. It is configured for each operation, whether coal, copper, gold, mineral sands, manganese, lithium or another commodity.
Read the value-chain overview
BlendOpt takes your mine schedule as an input and coordinates downstream decisions across time. The model is configured for your operation, from mine-to-mill planning to multi-mine, multi-plant and commodity trading networks.
- Mine and supply: connect scheduled and purchased material to downstream allocation.
- ROM stockpiles: choose classification, storage and reclaim strategies.
- Processing: coordinate feed, recovery, throughput, capacity and outages.
- Product and blending: plan quality and inventory across the product portfolio.
- Inland logistics: align road and rail movements with supply and demand.
- Port and terminal: connect arrivals, stockyard inventory and loading.
- Shipment: plan cargo blends against specifications and delivery windows.
- Sales and customers: compare feasible products and contracts on whole-operation value.
Gold mine-to-mill and pigment-feedstock views focus on their relevant stages; the complete reference chain remains available. Resource-use scenarios depend on the environmental costs and constraints configured in the model.
Open the interactive supply chain separately or discuss your operation with Paradyn.
What BlendOpt optimises in metals mining
Metals mining optimisation, from mine to mill
BlendOpt is a configurable optimisation platform for mining value chains. In metals mining it takes the mine schedule as an input and optimises ROM stockpiling, blending, crusher and mill feed, processing across one or many plants, product quality and logistics together, across the mine-to-mill and pit-to-port value chain.
02 / Recovery
Mineral recovery and concentrate quality
Control feed properties such as head grade, Cu:S ratio and deleterious elements to lift recovery and concentrate grade.
03 / Scale
Multi-plant and multi-mine optimisation
Allocate ROM ore from several pits or mines across several processing plants to maximise value for the whole operation, not throughput at each plant.
04 / Stockpiles
Stockpile optimisation
Set stockpile definitions, capacities and reclaim schedules that create blending options and cut rehandle costs.
05 / Strategy
Life-of-mine scenario planning
Test capacity, product and market scenarios over the life of mine and compare them in NPV terms.
06 / Market
Logistics and sales
Plan haulage between sites and plants, rail, port and shipping against sales contracts, specifications and price penalties.
Customer results
Results from BlendOpt customers
Measured against each customer’s existing plan or process. Every result links to the full case study.
Cu:S 0.4 → 0.03
mill feed variability in a copper mine-to-mill operation, with higher recovery
Copper mine-to-mill case study →
+18% NPV
over life of mine across multiple processing plants, like for like
Multi-plant life-of-mine case study →
Excel → digital twin
gold crusher, mill, stockpile and recovery planning in one optimised model
Gold mill feed scheduling case study →
+$24M / yr
forecast revenue from new stockpile definitions
Stockpile optimisation case study →
Capex avoided
a processing bottleneck in a multi-mine operation removed on a value basis
Bottleneck without capex case study →
35% → <5%
product specification violations across a five-year plan
Product consistency case study →
Integrated planning
A holistic solution for integrated planning
You can’t integrate a value chain without the right tool to support it. BlendOpt generates integrated plans from the same source of truth at different levels of detail, from minute-by-minute scheduling to life of mine, and for technical services to technical marketing. You decide what view of your organisation matters to you and how you should act; leave the rest up to BlendOpt.
01 / Inputs
With business silo knowledge
- Mining (production schedules)
- Shipping (vessel arrival schedules)
- Production actuals (survey and lab data)
- Finance (pricing calculations and reports)
- Processing (plant operations)
- Stockpiling (stockpile constraints)
- Fleet management data
- Lab results
- Surveys
- Customisable via turn-key digital twinning of your organisation
02 / Handling points
For every activity and handling point
- ROM haulage between sites and plants
- Transport
- Loading and unloading
- Multiple plants with complex processing stages and material flows
- ROM from multiple mines
- Stockpiling
- Port operations
03 / Objectives
Integrated planning and scheduling, from ROM to market →
With multiple optimisation objectives
- Maximise profit margins
- Consistently optimal quality
- Deliver contracts
- Optimise commodity trading
- Optimise anticipated inventory
- Optimise port efficiency and reduce demurrage
The BlendOpt platform
Optimisation Solutions with BlendOpt
One configurable optimisation platform, configured for each commodity and each value chain. It plans across every horizon, connects to the systems you already run, and produces plans that make sense to the people who act on them.
- 01From minutes to life of mineBlendOpt can simultaneously optimise multiple time horizons, from detailed tactical decisions to life-of-mine planning. Optimisation isn’t just about the best decision for performance over the next hour or shift, but ensuring decisions made today don’t place you in a worse position tomorrow.
- 02Integrate with existing systemsBlendOpt integrates with any system: web interfaces, web APIs, databases, third-party dashboards and reporting systems. The BlendOpt application can push or pull data to and from anywhere.
- 03From plans to practiceParadyn’s unique approach combines intelligently guided search, local knowledge of your decision makers and mathematical optimisation in a collaborative tool that is generating real value for our customers, with practical plans that make sense to decision makers.
- 04Adapt to the unexpectedBlendOpt doesn’t just discover optimised schedules and plans; it discovers practical and actionable planning and scheduling solutions that incorporate adaptability to unexpected events, via a collaborative and intuitive user-guided experience.
One platformConfigured for
- GoldConfigured for gold mine-to-mill →
Crusher, mill, stockpiles and recovery in one model.
- LithiumConfigured for lithium mining →
Stockpiles and blending for lithium operations.
- ManganeseConfigured for manganese →
Stockpiles, processing and product portfolio.
- Mineral sandsConfigured for mineral sands →
Feedstock grade and pigment production.
- Critical mineralsConfigured for critical minerals →
Critical mineral production planning.
- NickelConfigured for nickel laterite →
Environmental concerns in nickel laterite mining for EVs.
- CoalConfigured for coal blending →
Coal blending across the value chain.
- OptimisationBest feasible plan
Search the decision space while satisfying every constraint.
Collaborative mathematical optimisationParadyn IP
Solutions and insights
BlendOpt configured for each commodity and value chain
Commodity solutions, planning approaches and articles on how BlendOpt is applied across mining value chains.
Gold
Optimising gold mine-to-mill with BlendOpt
BlendOpt for gold processing and stockpiling.
Lithium
Lithium mining and BlendOpt
Lithium stockpiling and blending optimisation with BlendOpt.
Manganese
Optimising manganese value chains with BlendOpt
BlendOpt for manganese processing and stockpiling.
Mineral sands
Optimising mineral sands feedstock with BlendOpt
BlendOpt for the mineral sands value chain.
Critical minerals
Optimising critical mineral production planning
Production planning for critical minerals with BlendOpt.
Nickel
Addressing environmental concerns in nickel laterite mining
Nickel laterite mining for the EV industry.
Coal
Coal blending with BlendOpt
BlendOpt configured for coal blending across the value chain.
Integrated planning
Integrated scheduling and planning with BlendOpt
Integrated planning and scheduling across the value chain, from ROM to market.
Approach
Collaborative mathematical optimisation
Local knowledge of your experts combined with mathematical optimisation.
Planning silos
Solving the silo alignment problem
Breaking down silos in mining planning.
KPIs
KPI alignment for mine-to-market value
When local KPIs block mine-to-market value.
Your commodity
Talk to us about your operation →
Another commodity or value chain?
Any operation where ore quality varies and has to be blended and processed to a target is a good fit for BlendOpt.
Customer stories
Customer stories, from mine to market
BlendOpt has been applied to life-of-mine planning, plant production, blending, stockpiles, product strategy, logistics and day-of-operations scheduling.
Life of mine · Multi-plant
Multi-plant life-of-mine optimisation
Multi-plant processing optimisation over life of mine.
+18% NPVlike for like, over life of mine
Multi-mine value chain
Multi-mine optimisation
New production strategies across multiple mines.
+3 Mt / yrmore production
Gold · Mill feed
Gold mill feed scheduling optimisation
Excel recovery calculations replaced by a BlendOpt digital twin.
30+ calculationsin one optimised model
Copper · Mine to mill
Copper mine-to-mill optimisation
New ROM stockpile definitions and optimised reclaim.
Cu:S 0.4 → 0.03mill feed variability
Coal · Blend consistency
Coal quality consistency optimisation
Optimised stockpiling and CHPP strategies across a five-year plan.
35% → <5%specification violations
Stockpiles
Stockpile optimisation
New stockpile definitions and a moderate capacity change.
+$24M / yrforecast revenue
Coal · Technical marketing
Coal technical marketing optimisation
A small change to one product specification.
+8.4%overall profit
CHPP · Bottlenecks
Removing a CHPP bottleneck without capex
The bottleneck eliminated on a value basis, not a volume basis.
$10s of millionsin upgrade capital avoided
Product strategy · 10 years
Product portfolio optimisation
Optimising product portfolios over a 10-year planning horizon.
Order of magnitudeless planning time
Port · Day of operations
Port blending and day-of-operations scheduling
Train-to-vessel blend scheduling with transparency and confidence in daily decisions.
Over 30%more value from some blends
All results
Browse all BlendOpt case studies →
All customer case studies
Every BlendOpt case study in one place, from life-of-mine strategy to day-of-operations scheduling.
Your operation
Request a BlendOpt demo →
Discuss your value chain
Tell us about your operation and the decision you need to make, and we’ll show you how BlendOpt is configured for it.
Engineered for value chains
Supporting integrated operations
From technical services to marketing, trading, logistics and environmental decisions, every team plans from the same optimised model.
Planning
Technical services
- Optimise and integrate operational, tactical and strategic planning
- Improved collaboration and integrated operations
- Publish your decisions to relevant stakeholders
- Design your own methodical, systematic planning
- Easily repeatable and learnable
- Decision visualisation and transparency with predicted and actuals material traceability
- Reporting and analytics for your unique needs
- Quality reconciliation
- Multi-point quality control, from ROM to product
- Blend optimisation
Commercial
Marketing and logistics
- Maximise integrated operations cash flow to multi-year NPV
- Optimise and integrate sales and operations
- Maximise revenue and margins under different market conditions
- Optimise risk and cash flow across contracted and spot sales
- Determine the greatest economic benefit from any purchasing decisions over time
- Automate product portfolio optimisation, break-even analysis and sensitivity analysis across market scenarios
Trading
Commodity trading
- Concentrates commodity trade management (inventory and logistics)
- Reduce treatment and refining charges
- Optimise escalators and payable elements
- Trading and risk scenarios
- Optimise commodity trading plans (contract portfolio)
Logistics
Comprehensive multi-mine value chain logistics
- For any level of optimisation complexity, from single mine to multi-mine operations with complex processing and logistics
- Integrated planning and optimised scheduling that can be actioned on time, with full material traceability from multiple mines to vessels
- Value and logistics planning
- Demand scheduling for value-chain management
- Stockpile optimisation and constraints
- Forecast delivery risks and audit compliance to plan
Environment
Environment modelling
Decisions optimised with BlendOpt can also have significant environmental impacts, from beneficiation to carbon-chain footprint optimisation. Talk to us about whether environment modelling in BlendOpt is right for your operation.
Contact us about environment modelling in BlendOpt →- 01BeneficiationBlendOpt is well known for its optimisation and detailed modelling of recovery, concentrate grade and plant efficiency, and can likewise model and optimise environmental costs with ease, including processing of waste (rejects, tailings), chemical reagent usage, energy consumption and water usage.
- 02Carbon-chain footprintBlendOpt is probably best known for its ability to optimise product portfolios to align market, ROM supply, beneficiation and logistics conditions. But did you know BlendOpt can also model and optimise the carbon footprint of strategic decisions? We can help our customers discover and analyse options with comparable commercial optimality yet a significant difference in carbon footprint. In some cases this may even include modelling downstream value in use that extends outside the physical scope of your value chain.
FAQ
Metals mining optimisation FAQ
Common questions about mine-to-mill and metals mining production optimisation with BlendOpt.
What is mine-to-mill optimisation?
Mine-to-mill optimisation plans ROM stockpiling, reclaim, blending, crushing and milling together, so the processing plant receives the ore that maximises recovery and profit rather than whatever the mine delivers next. BlendOpt takes your mine schedule as an input, starts from run-of-mine (ROM) ore and optimises every downstream decision across the planning horizon.
What is metals mining production optimisation?
It is finding the production plan that earns the most from an operation's ore, within every physical, quality and contractual limit. That covers how ore is stockpiled and blended, how each plant is run, and which products are sold to which customers. The mine plan itself comes from your mine planning tools as an input.
Can BlendOpt optimise ore from several mines across several processing plants?
Yes. BlendOpt allocates ROM ore from multiple pits and mines across multiple processing plants in one plan. In a multi-plant life-of-mine study it found an 18% NPV improvement, like for like, over the existing plan.
Which commodities does BlendOpt support?
Copper, gold, lithium, nickel, manganese, mineral sands, other critical minerals and coal. Any operation where ore quality varies and has to be blended and processed to a target is a good fit.
Does BlendOpt replace our mine planning software?
No. Mine design and scheduling tools decide what is mined and when. BlendOpt imports that schedule and optimises what happens next, and integrates with existing systems through web APIs, databases and reporting tools.