It looks like a picture postcard. Sheltered by the Balkan mountain range, the Chelopech copper-gold mine is tucked into a luscious green valley surrounded by gently rolling hills and forests and overlooking a small lake. At the entrance are manicured gardens, with no trace of belching smoke and minimal noise. Health and safety procedures have been rigorously enforced. Employees earn double the average Bulgarian salary, and rusty equipment has been replaced by cutting-edge technology.

The transformation began when Canada-based Dundee Precious Metals Inc. (DPM) purchased the mine in 2003. DPM wanted to improve efficiency and turn it into one of the most modern mines in the world, ramping up annual ore production to 2 million tonnes.

“As a relatively small player in the mining world, Dundee Precious Metals’ management believed you had to be innovative and find ways to do business better than the others,” says Nikolay Hristov, the mine’s general manager. “We said at Chelopech that we would do everything possible to succeed.”

The transformation plans were complicated by the administrative challenge of operating in a country burdened by the legacy of rules from the previous regime and changes brought about by Bulgaria’s entry into the European Union in 2007. On the operational side, the relatively high arsenic content in the Chelopech copper concentrate made it challenging to find a market. Since 2010, the concentrate has been shipped to DPM’s smelter in Namibia for further treatment.

To start with, the transformation team looked at the latest technology on the market and how it could be adapted to the underground environment. Real-time reporting and technology would optimize operations.

To enable this, the first step was to install a wireless network throughout the mine. Starting in 2009, it became possible to track the location of people and vehicles, increasing safety and efficiency.

“From this point on we could look at connecting machines, people, voice communication and data transfer,” Hristov recalls. “This is where Sandvik kicked in alongside other partners. We had a great vision. However, to make it happen we needed partners with the same appetite for challenges and taste for efficiency. Sandvik helped us to conduct audits to benchmark ourselves against others and to identify the gaps of a modern mine.

“Our mine was years behind time, and we had to bring it back to reality. That meant everything – the reliability and utilization of the machines, optimization of our processes and communication, which can be challenging as the mining industry tends to work in silos.”

The next issue was to change the mindset about planning. “We had to convince everyone that it is possible for a mine to plan and schedule everything down to the task level,” he says.

The previous materials-handling system was unable – and too old – to handle the increased output. A new underground crushing system was installed in 2012 to handle 2 million tonnes of material per year. A four-kilometre-long conveyor belt running along the Chelopech mine’s second decline to carry the crushed material to the surface was added the same year. Both were supplied by Sandvik.

Driving down the two-kilometre-long ramp into the mine, it’s clear what DPM’s CEO Rick Howes meant when he said the company was “taking the lid off” by making operations in underground mines as visible and well controlled as those in open-pit mines. Most of the underground mine is a wireless secured area, and the modern, remote-controlled ventilation provides a good work environment. The cutting-edge equipment provides safety and comfort for the operators, and everything is clearly marked, making the mine look like a model of good housekeeping.

Chelopech’s management realized that it couldn’t achieve its dreams alone. “I believe in partnership,” says Hristov. “You want to be able to say to your partner, ‘Look, this is my problem’ and be heard. Sandvik believed in our vision and wanted to help us. We really appreciated that.”

As Sandvik already supplied all the vehicles used in the mine, equipping them with OptiMine and InSite (from its partner Geovia) was a logical next step.

Truck operator Georgi Slavchev has worked at the Chelopech mine for 10 years, and he says his job is better since the introduction of the new software. “I prefer this way of working,” he says. “It’s much less paperwork.”

Instead of keeping track of his work on paper and handing it over at the end of his shift, he now simply logs on to system in his truck, completes his tasks electronically in real time – the results are instantly fed to the control room upstairs – and logs off seven hours later.

Georgi Atanasov, the mine’s underground mobile equipment supervisor, has worked for both Chelopech and Sandvik. He says his major task, and challenge, is to avoid maintenance surprises and improve the allocation of regular maintenance activities.

“With OptiMine we can check the technical condition of the equipment,” he says. “For example, overheating is a common problem, so we get an alert, which means we can troubleshoot and solve the problem before it escalates.”

Integrating the systems was important. “We integrated the relevant systems so that the right information gets to the right people at the right time,” says Anna Ivanova, director of business systems for Dundee Precious Metals. “We really got down to the processes, incorporated them into systems and made the systems work together.”

Besides offering round-the-clock support, sharing best practices is important in an often conservative industry like mining.

“Sandvik leverages on the fact that they are a global supplier, and via their networks and forums they put us in contact with other people in the global mining industry,” Hristov says. “Through their forum we visited automated mines in Scandinavia, which helped us piece by piece to visualize how things work in different ways.”

The experience at Chelopech has benefited both parties. “It’s always nice to have this kind of mine as a partner,” says Taina Heimonen, business development manager for mine automation at Sandvik. “It’s more than just a normal business relationship as we share the same vision and passion to see how we can take that extra mile together. I believe some of the best practices here will certainly be taken further.”

Vesselin Kandarashev, Sandvik’s territory manager for South EU, agrees. “Customers like this are important for Sandvik as we share the same journey in innovation wanting to be pioneers.”

Today, Chelopech is a reformed mine. Water usage in operations has been reduced by 60 percent. CO2 emissions have been decreased by reducing transport journeys and putting the crusher underground, compensating for the increased production output. Modernizing the mine and process plant has decreased the volume of waste on the surface by 30 percent, reduced electricity consumption by 25 percent and cut fuel usage by up to 70 percent. The railway line is currently being upgraded to eliminate truck transport.

What’s the next step? “It’s difficult to read the future, as I don’t know what challenges tomorrow will bring,” Hristov says. “But let’s just say that we are not done yet. We got to 2 million tonnes of ore per year, and nobody believed we could reach that. Now we need to continue on this basis for the mine’s life and find new ways to squeeze more efficiency out of the process.”

Back outside in the warm sunshine, three vintage Sandvik vehicles are parked alongside two brand new Sandvik loaders that will soon go into operation. Out with the old and in with the new as the journey at Chelopech continues.