Case Study: Rio Tinto Iron Ore (Pilbara Iron)Centralized Monitoring Solution

ProfileThe mining operations of Rio Tinto Iron Ore (Pilbara Iron) in Australia are located in the Pilbara Region, a remote outback area in northwest Western Australia, some 1200 kilometers from Perth. Pilbara Iron has three export port facilities and, by the end

of 2007, seven mines all linked by the world’s largest privately owned rail network.

ChallengesTo meet the growing demand for their iron ore, particularly from the ever-growing Chinese market, Pilbara Iron were faced with the challenge of increasing production from their mining operations, or more importantly preventing stoppages in production, while maintaining quality. It was recognized that the process control systems at their processing plants were critical assets required to be available and reliable while keeping the plant within the optimal production limits.

At the same time the mining industry, like most industries, was and is facing a worldwide shortage of skilled labor to operate and maintain their plants. Rio Tinto Iron Ore has the added burden of very

remote mining operations, making it even harder to attract and retain experienced and skilled labor, particularly control and process engineers.

In order to offer the benefits of living in a modern thriving city, a group of process control professionals was established in Perth.

Figure 1. Pilbara Iron’s operations

The members of this team came from Rio Tinto Asset Utilization, a corporate support group established within Rio Tinto at the time to address performance improvement across all operations worldwide, and Pilbara Iron itself. This team was, in the words of Pilbara Iron’s Matt Harvey, Specialist on the centralized monitoring initiative “challenged with the task of improving the performance of process control assets across Pilbara Iron operations.”

To meet this challenge the team would:

Undertake improvement projectsHighlight maintenance issuesImprove the understanding of how process control effects operational processesImplement measures that describe current performance and identify opportunities for improvement

Since the team was located centrally in Perth, some 1200 kilometers from the mine sites, they had to have remote access to the plant data, as well as automated tools providing diagnostic information on control system performance and highlighting problem areas. They also needed to be able to echo this information back to the sites so onsite operations and maintenance people could better understand their processes and take action to ensure continuous optimal operation.

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a web-based solutionTo meet this need a centralized monitoring solution was established, with data collection performed at the sites and analysis and diagnosis undertaken centrally. To get the information to the team, the sites and management in a timely manner so it could be acted upon, it was decided that web delivery of the information would be the preferred choice. After reviewing the current technology in the market it was decided to combine a tool developed in-house with commercial off-the-shelf web-based products from Matrikon to deliver the centralized monitoring solution.

The solutions implemented for the components of The centralized monitoring solution were:

Dynamic Constraint Utilization (DCU) – an in-house application that identifies, from a control perspective, which units or areas in a process are causing a bottleneckMatrikon Alarm Manager – a web-based product used to historize alarms and events and provide powerful analysis tools for alarm managementMatrikon Control Performance Monitor – a web-based product used to analyze the performance of control loops, identify problem areas and provide problem diagnosis

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High Speed Ethernet Network (Perth to Pilbara - 1400km)

Perth Ethernet Network

Mount Tom Price Paraburdoo Marandoo Brockman West Angelas Pannawonica Yandicoognia Dampier Cape Lambert Web Report Client

OPS PIHistorian

Servers at each Site

Thick Client Admin TerminalAnd Web Report Client

Web Report Client

Firewall

MatrikonTM Control Performance Monitor

Figure 2 – Centralised Monitoring Architecture for Matrikon™ Control Performance Monitor.

benefitsThe benefits Rio Tinto realized through the centralized monitoring project include:

Increased visibility of the process control systems and how they are affecting performanceIdentification of bottlenecks in the process using the DCU, Matrikon Alarm Manager and Matrikon Control Performance Monitor leading to improvements in production and reduction in downtimeThe ability to benchmark sites against one another in order to discover why some sites may be performing better than others. This allows Rio Tinto to implement best practices across all sites.Significant reduction in numbers of nuisance alarms. For example, the Tom Price processing plant operation, the largest in the group, reports a 70% reduction in standing alarms, chattering alarms and alarm flooding. Development of best-practice operating and maintenance strategies based on sound engineering data made available by using the tools.

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Moving forwardFollowing on the demonstrated successes of the centralized monitoring solution, Pilbara Iron will continue to use the software tools to identify, quantify and qualify opportunities for improvement in production and reliability. As familiarity with the system grows, Pilbara Iron’s work processes continue to be refined in order to maximize the value of their process control resources and personnel.

On a larger scale, the results, experience and best practices taken away from the Pilbara Iron monitoring project will inform the direction of Rio Tinto’s Operational Technology Excellence (OTX) initiative. This initiative is focused on refining common methodology for assessment of process control assets, defining a tool set for this process, and undertaking improvement projects that will provide quantified value to Rio Tinto’s worldwide operations.

High Speed Ethernet Network (Perth to Pilbara - 1400km)

Perth Ethernet Network

Mount Tom Price Paraburdoo Marandoo Brockman West Angelas Pannawonica Yandicoognia Dampier Cape Lambert Web Report Client

Thick Client Admin TerminalAnd Web Report Client

Web Report ClientWeb Report Client

AlarmCollectors onSCADA (HMI)

Terminals

Note: Collectorsalso buffer

alarms

Central AlarmArchiverPERTH

Firewall

Figure 3 – Centralised Monitoring Architecture for Matrikon™ Alarm Manager

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about rio tintoRio Tinto is a world leader in finding, mining and processing the earth’s mineral resources. The Group’s worldwide

operations supply essential minerals and metals that help to meet global needs and contribute to improvements in living standards. Rio Tinto encourages strong local identities and has a devolved management philosophy, entrusting responsibility with accountability to the workplace. In 2006 Rio Tinto had underlying earnings of 7.338 billion US dollars with Iron Ore contributing some 29% to these earnings.

about MatrikonMatrikon Inc. is a publicly traded (TSX:MTK) software

company that enables operational excellence for the process industries. The Matrikon Suite of products addresses specific operational excellence challenges in the domains of Production Management, Asset Effectiveness and Operations Optimization. Typical applications range from connectivity to alarm management to downtime reduction to production accounting.

Figure 4 – Typical Alarm Management Reports provided by Matrikon™ Alarm Manager.

Figure 5 – Typical Control Asset Performance Management Reports provided by Matrikon™ Control Performance Monitor.