# Distribution of Operating Costs Along the Value Chain of an Open-Pit Copper Mine
## 3 Results
### Estimation of Operating Costs  
The results of estimating operating costs across the entire mine value chain, using Equations (1)-(16), are summarized in Table 2. Additionally, Table 3 presents a comparison of operating costs between the case study and the industry benchmarks. Figure 10: Distribution of operating cost components associated with flotation in percent fraction. Figure 9: Distribution of operating cost components associated with milling in percent fraction. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c} \hline \hline
**Category** & **Operation** & **Parameter** & **Cost (USD/Year)** & **OPEX (USD/t)** & **\%** \\ \hline \multirow{8}{*}{Mining} & \multirow{3}{*}{Drilling} & \(K_{Dt}\) & 13,977,120 & \multirow{3}{*}{0.35} & \multirow{3}{*}{3.35} \\  & & Contingency & 1,397,712 & \multirow{3}{*}{0.44} & \multirow{3}{*}{4.21} \\  & & \(K_{Dt}\) & 15,374,832 & & \\ \cline{2-5}  & & \(K_{Bt}\) & 22,062,530 & \multirow{3}{*}{0.44} & \multirow{3}{*}{4.21} \\  & & Contingency & 2,206,253 & & \\ \cline{2-5}  & & \(K_{Bt}\) & 24,268,783 & & \\ \cline{2-5}  & & \(K_{Lt}\) & 24,433,800 & \multirow{3}{*}{0.51} & \multirow{3}{*}{4.88} \\  & & \(K_{Lt}\) & 26,877,180 & & \\ \cline{2-5}  & & \(K_{Ht}\) & 41,041,953.46 & & \\ \cline{2-5} Mining & \multirow{3}{*}{Hailing} & \(K_{Ht}\) & 4,104,195.35 & \multirow{3}{*}{0.94} & \multirow{3}{*}{8.99} \\  & & \(K_{Ht}\) & 45,146,148.81 & & \\ \cline{2-5}  & & \(K_{St}\) & 764,910.81 & & \\ \cline{2-5}  & & \(K_{Stc}\) & 841,401.89 & & \\ \cline{2-5}  & & \(K_{Bdt}\) & 349,775.42 & \multirow{3}{*}{0.06} & \multirow{3}{*}{0.57} \\  & & \(K_{Bdtc}\) & 384,752.96 & & \\ \cline{2-5}  & & Total & & 2.32 & \\ \hline \multirow{8}{*}{Processing} & \multirow{3}{*}{Crushing} & \(K_{Cl}\) & 10,825,104.77 & \multirow{3}{*}{1.15} & \multirow{3}{*}{10.99} \\  & & Contingency & 1,082,510.48 & & \\ \cline{2-5}  & & \(K_{Clc}\) & 11,907,615.25 & & \\ \cline{2-5}  & & \(K_{Clc}\) & 58,175,061.51 & \multirow{3}{*}{6.18} & \multirow{3}{*}{59.08} \\  & & \(K_{CLc}\) & 63,992,567.66 & & \\ \cline{2-5}  & & \(K_{Fi}\) & 21,080,648.06 & \multirow{3}{*}{0.81} & \multirow{3}{*}{7.74} \\  & & \(K_{Fic}\) & 23,188,712.87 & & \\ \cline{2-5}  & & Total & & 8.14 & \\ \hline \multicolumn{5}{c}{Total OPEX} & \multicolumn{5}{c}{10.46} & \multirow{3}{*}{100} \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 2: Summary of all operating costs characteristic of the mine value chain in USD/t and percent fraction. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c} \hline \hline
**Category** & **Operation** & **OPEX** & **Benchmarks (\%)** & **References** \\ \hline \multirow{8}{*}{Mining} & \multicolumn{3}{c}{(USD/t)} & (\%) & \multirow{3}{*}{8–15} & \multirow{3}{*}{[31,40,41]} \\  & Drilling & 0.35 & 15.09 & & \\  & Blasting & 0.44 & 18.97 & 10 & [31,42] \\  & Loading & 0.51 & 21.98 & 9–16 & [25,30,41,43,42,43] \\  & Hauling & 0.94 & 40.52 & 43–70 & [30,41,44,44,45,46,47] \\  & Stockpiling & 0.02 & 0.86 & 0.05–0.25 & [48] \\  & Blending & 0.06 & 2.59 & 0.5–3 & [48,49] \\  & Total & 2.32 & 100 & & \\ \cline{2-5}  & Comminution & 7.33 & 90.05 & 40–50 & [50,51] \\ Processing & Flotation & 0.81 & 9.95 & 15–20 & [52,53,54,55] \\  & Total & 8.14 & 100 & & \\ \hline \multicolumn{5}{c}{Total OPEX} & \multicolumn{5}{c}{10.46} \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 3: Comparison of operating costs between the case study and industry benchmarks. In Figure 11, the operating cost breakdown reveals that 59.08% of the overall OPEX is attributed to milling, followed by crushing at 10.99%. This means that approximately 70% of the overall OPEX is associated with comminution alone. Zooming in on mining operations in Figure 12, one can see that hauling constitutes the largest share of mining OPEX at 40.52%, followed by loading at 21.98%. Blasting accounts for 18.97%, while drilling represents 15.09%. Blending contributes 2.59%, while stockpiling is the smallest portion at 0.86%. Similarly, Figure 13 unpacks processing costs. It is evident here that milling is the largest cost driver, accounting for 75.92% of the total processing OPEX.