How Much can We Afford to Invest?
Today,most requests for quotations force all bidders to follow the bid document to the letter.The choice is then made based on price since it is the only difference in technically identical offers.However,clients allow and even encourage suppliers to come up with alternatives.Overall economy again,is much more than low investment costs.Operation costs may affect the economy of a project far more than a million saved in investment.There is almost always the choice:Should we go for the cheapest solution or should we go for the most economical solution?We strongly recommend the study of the long-term effects on investments as they often surpass any apparent savings in capital expenditure.With high operating costs,time is never on our side.Almost all relevant inputs and outputs in a concentrator have a value that can be expressed in a suitable currency.Unit prices may differ substantially from one operation to the other,but everything has a price tag and globalization has made it possible to move both goods and services to almost any place in the world.Even a rather simple exercise can give a good indication on which process improvements are worth pursuing when investing in new systems or equipment.The ones that do not qualify,as money earners,will naturally appear as clearly.No rocket science is required,just process knowledge,practical experience,an open mind and some common sense and the reward may be the difference of having a good or an excellent project.The model we have developed can be made as detailed as required,but we do not recommend too much detail,as it sometimes tends to distract work and obscure the important issues.Two different process solutions compared in a simplified example illustrate the importance of evaluating a project based on its long-term effects rather than focusing on the investment costs only.
Capital expenditure Operating expenditure Project economy Process solutions
H.Allenius H.Oravainen M.Virtanen
Process Plant Solutions,Outotec Minerals Oy,Finland
国际会议
XXIV International Mineral Processing Congress(第24届国际矿物加工大会)
北京
英文
4191-4198
2008-09-24（万方平台首次上网日期，不代表论文的发表时间）