● AUTOMATE

● OPTIMIZE

● MANAGE

Optimizing process control for mining and mineral processing operations

APC, MPC and loop tuning that recover the metal your circuit is already losing, backed by data analytics and visualization your team can actually interrogate, not just look at.

Talk to our Process Control team
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29

YEARS IN MINING OT

730+

PROJECTS DELIVERED

110

PROCESSING PLANTS SUPPORTED

55

COUNTRIES GLOBALLY

AVEVA Systems Integrator. Vendor-neutral across APC platforms. Developer of MPA suite of applications

our approach

Optimization your operators actually trust

An APC or MPC system that’s technically correct but sits in manual because operators don’t trust it delivers zero value. We build control strategies your metallurgists can validate themselves: transparent logic, real mass and metallurgical balances behind every setpoint, and documentation that explains why the model behaves the way it does, not just what it outputs.

That transparency is what keeps optimisation running in automatic six months after commissioning, instead of quietly being switched off the first time it disagrees with an operator’s instinct. It’s also the story behind Ok Tedi’s recovery gains: the fix wasn’t a smarter algorithm, it was giving the metallurgy team a system they could see inside.

See our approach in action
Optimiszing process control in mining

WHAT WE DEVILVER

The four pillars of process optimization in mining processes

From loop-level stability to plantwide advanced control and the data platform that ties it together.

01 – advanced process control (APC) & MPAC

Turning process stability into recoverable metal

APC closes the gap between a well-designed control loop and a genuinely optimised circuit. We design and commission APC strategies, including model predictive control (MPC) where a circuit’s interaction effects justify it, for flotation, grinding, leaching and other mineral processing circuits, built on real metallurgical understanding of the flowsheet rather than a generic control template applied to your P&IDs.

What this covers:

  • Auditing for APC readiness
  • Circuit-specific APC strategy design (flotation, grinding, leach, thickening)
  • Model predictive control (MPC) for circuits with strong multivariable interaction
  • Constraint identification and control narrative development
  • APC commissioning and operator training
  • Post-commissioning tuning and sustainment
Leanr more about APC & MPC
Advanced Process Control (APC) & MPC
Loop Tuning & Control Strategy Optimisation

02 – loop tuning & control strategy optimisation

The unglamorous fix that most APC projects skip

Advanced control built on badly tuned base-layer loops is optimisation built on sand. Before we touch APC or MPC, we audit and retune the underlying PID loops so the foundation your advanced control sits on is actually stable, often uncovering throughput and stability gains before a single advanced-control strategy goes live.

What this covers:

  • Control loop performance auditing
  • PID tuning and control strategy review
  • Loop performance product integration
  • Operator and engineer upskilling, including the Control Loop Tuning course
Explore loop tuning & control strategy optimization

03 – process optimisation (plantwide)

Finding the metal that's already there before spending on the metal that isn't

Most sites have recoverable throughput or recovery sitting inside the existing flowsheet, invisible until someone looks at the right data the right way. We combine metallurgical and control system expertise to identify where a plant is losing production: bottlenecked constraints, drifting setpoints, under-utilised capacity, and quantify the opportunity before recommending a fix.

What this includes:

  • Opportunity loss identification and quantification
  • Constraint and bottleneck analysis
  • Process control philosophy review
  • Metallurgical accounting and mass balance validation, aligned to AMIRA P754
View a process optimisation case study
rocess Optimization (plantwide)
Data Analytics & Visualization

04 – data analytics & visualization

Data your team can interrogate, not a dashboard they scroll past

Optimization lives or dies on trustworthy data. We design historian architecture and visualization, including AVEVA PI, that gives metallurgists and operators fast, exception-based answers instead of hours spent exporting spreadsheets, and gives engineers a platform they can build on rather than a static reporting tool.

What this includes:

  • Historian architecture and data infrastructure
  • AVEVA PI implementation and capability
  • Exception-based visualisation and dashboarding
  • Integration with the MPA platform (Production Monitor, Golden State, Logsheets, Alarm Manager)
View a data analytics case study

proof, not promises

Optimization results validated on real circuits

Ok Tedi mine in the PNG highlands Brownfield Copper / Gold

From “we don’t trust it” to a 7.4% gold recovery gain

Ok Tedi’s metallurgy team had lost trust in automated control and moved the plant to manual. A three-year program with Mipac, optimising instrumentation and controls, upgrading the AVEVA PI historian, and building process control capability on-site, raised copper recovery by 2.4% and gold recovery by 7.4%.

●Ok Tedi · Papua New Guinea

Newmont Merian Site brownfield Copper

Cutting hours of manual data entry out of every shift

Newmont’s Merian metallurgists were spending two to three hours a shift manually transferring production data into Excel. Moving to MPA on the site’s existing AVEVA PI asset framework removed that manual step and gave the wider team real-time visibility into production.

●Newmont · Merian,Suriname

First Qunatum Minerals Cobre Panama site Greenfield Copper

Building the data backbone for a 300ktpa concentrator

At First Quantum’s Cobre Panama concentrator, Mipac deployed a 70,000+ point AVEVA PI system, built an AVEVA PI-AF asset hierarchy of 8,000+ elements across 400+ templates, and configured PI Integrator for Business Analytics with Power BI dashboards and LIMS/SQL data publishing.

●First Quantum Minerals · Cobre Panama, Panama

NOT SURE WHERE TO START?

Building something new, or improving what you've already got?

Existing plant

Losing recoverable metal or throughput you can’t explain?

See how process optimization identifies and quantitifies opportunity losses in an existing circuit.

Explore process optimization →

Existing plant

APC installed but not trusted, or running in manual?

See how we build APC and MPC strategies that operators keep in automatic.

Explore Advanced Procesa Control →

not ready to call?

Download our capabilities guide

A concise overview of how Mipac works, what we’ve delivered, and where we can help; useful if you’re building a business case or evaluating OT partners. We’ll follow up once, at your pace.

ready to talk

Speak directly to an engineer who's worked on your type of operation.

No sales team in the middle. When you contact Mipac, you reach the engineers who will actually work on your project. Tell us what you’re dealing with – we’ll tell you honestly if and how we can help.

Tucson

+1 520 326 0062 · sales@mipac.global

Vancouver

sales@mipac.global

Brisbane

+61 7 3212 5600 · sales@mipac.com.au

Perth

+61 8 6424 9900 · sales@mipac.com.au

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did you know?

Some common questions we get about process optimization in mining and mineral processing

What is Advanced Process Control (APC) in mineral processing?

APC is a layer of control that sits above standard PID loops, using process models and constraint logic to hold multiple interacting variables closer to their optimal operating points. It's commonly applied to flotation, grinding and leach circuits to improve recovery and stability.

What is Model Predictive Control (MPC) and how does it differ from APC?

MPC is a specific type of advanced control that uses a mathematical model of the process to predict future behaviour and adjust multiple variables ahead of a constraint being reached, rather than reacting after the fact. It's often implemented as part of a broader APC strategy rather than as a separate system.

What is loop tuning and why does it matter before implementing APC?

Loop tuning is the process of optimising the parameters of individual PID control loops so they respond accurately and stably to process changes. Advanced control strategies built on poorly tuned base-layer loops tend to underperform or get switched back to manual, so loop tuning is typically the first step before APC or MPC is commissioned.

What’s the difference between process optimization and APC?

Process optimization is the broader discipline of identifying and closing production gaps across a plant, which may or may not involve advanced control. APC and MPC are specific control technologies used as part of a process optimization program, alongside things like instrumentation improvements, control philosophy review and operator training.

How does data analytics and visualisation support process optimization?

Reliable optimization depends on trustworthy, accessible data. Historian and visualisation platforms like AVEVA PI give metallurgists and operators fast, exception-based insight into process performance, replacing manual data exports and giving engineers a foundation to build further analytics and predictive tools on.

How does Mipac support process optimization?

Mipac combines metallurgical and control systems expertise to design, commission and sustain APC, MPC, loop tuning and data analytics solutions across mining and mineral processing operations, backed by 30+ years, 730+ projects and 55+ countries of delivery.

Book a discovery call with one of our industrial automation experts today.

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