A High-Fidelity Modelling Method for Mine Haul Truck Dumping Process

Aaron Young,William Pratt Rogers

doi:10.3390/mining2010006

Abstract

Dumping is one of the main unit operations of mining. Notwithstanding a long history of using large rear dump trucks in mining, little knowledge exists on the cascading behavior of the run-of-mine material during and after dumping. In order to better investigate this behavior, a method for generating high fidelity models (HFMs) of dump profiles was devised and investigated. This method involved using unmanned aerial vehicles with mounted cameras to generate photogrammetric models of dumps. Twenty-eight dump profiles were created from twenty-three drone flights. Their characteristics were presented and summarized. Four types of dump profiles were observed to exist. Factors that influence the determination of these profiles include the location of the truck relative to the dump crest, the movement of the underlying dump material during the dumping process and the differences in the dump profile prior to dumping. The HFMs created in this study could possibly be used for calibrating computer simulations of dumps to better match reality.

Highlights

Mine-to-mill optimization is a longstanding goal of the mining industry [1,2,3,4]
To improve the understanding of end-dumping and rock pile construction, we present a method for creating a high-fidelity model (HFM) of the dumping process through a digital transformation approach
The HFMs presented in this paper offer a novel look at individual dumps

Summary

Introduction

Mine-to-mill optimization is a longstanding goal of the mining industry [1,2,3,4] This approach focuses on optimizing the entire process around run-of-mine (ROM) material characteristics, rather than optimizing the unit operations to material characteristics individually. Unit operations are defined within the context of mining as the basic steps used to produce mineral value from a deposit. They generally fall into either the category of rock fragmentation or materials handling [6]. While there are minor differences in each of these earthworks, for the simplification of this article, they are referred to as rock piles [8]

Methods

Discussion

Conclusion