Short-term planning of open pit mines with Semi-Mobile IPCC: a shovel allocation model

Abstract

ABSTRACT In-pit crushing and conveying (IPCC) is considered a suitable alternative to truck haulage in open pit mines because it offers a lower operating cost than a truck-shovel system. It also reduces truck haulage distance and truck requirements. One of the IPCC variations is the semi-mobile system, which is relocated every two to five years. The short-term plan needs to be updated accordingly, based on the crusher’s optimal location and relocation time. To the best of our knowledge, short-term planning with IPCC is an area of research that has not been explored extensively yet and hardly any model can generate short-term schedules considering an IPCC in place. This research work proposes a mixed integer programming model to generate short-term production plans and near-optimal shovel allocation to mining faces, within a time horizon of 12 months. The objective of the model is to minimise the cost of material handling and maximise revenue, with respect to plant requirement, maximum allowable tonnage variation and IPCC location constraints, and the production and NPV targets set by the strategic plan. An iron ore mine case including a semi-mobile IPCC (SMIPCC) system with one relocation is used as the case study to verify the proposed model. The comparison of results between scenarios with and without IPCC justifies the use of IPCC in the iron ore mine from a short to medium-term perspective. The project can be considered a pioneering work in the arena of short-term mine planning with the IPCC.