Scheduling of the location and relocatin of a semi mobile in pit crushing and conveying (SMIPCC) system in mines

Abstract

In-Pit Crushing and Conveying (IPCC) systems are known as a transportation system in mines, which are considered as an alternative for the conventional truck-shovel system. Among different types of IPCCs, Semi Mobile In-Pit Crushing and Conveying (SIMIPCC) system is in a high interest in mining projects because of its relocation feature. However, it is very important to design its optimum location and relocation plan in a manner that minimize the operating costs. In spite of some previous works, which propose methods for this problem, they are not able to evaluate both location and time of relocation at the same time. This paper defines the optimum location and relocation plan of the SMIPCC in a frame of a transportation prolem with different “sub-phases” as the sources and “benches” as the destinations. This model is able to calculate the optimum solution simultaneously in the both case of location (bench) and time (sub-phase). The results show that this method can efficiently use as a planning tool for calculating the operating costs, optimum location and relocation plan of the SMIPCC.