Analysis of alternative schemes for organizing the open pit mine operations for one of the biggest open cast iron mines in Russia. We used MineTwin to create a detailed simulation model of mine operations that was used to answer the following questions:
- Determine how many dump trucks are required to fulfill the after replacing rail transportation with conveyor system?
- Determine how will the standard deviation of ore quality change?
Period: March 2022 — April 2022
Industry: Mining
Client / Partner: One of the iron ore mines / Piklema
Project objective
Determination of the required quantity of equipment units after replacing rail transportation with conveyor system for one of the largest iron ore quarries in Russia
The main stages of work and characteristics of the model
- Definition of the problem on a series of off-site sessions with the mine’s personnel and implementation partner
- Creating the simulation model in MineTwin by configuring it and programming the client-specific coordination logic
- Validation of the model to make sure it correctly captures volumes, speeds and mining rates
- Performing experimentation with the model to obtain the numeric results addressing the business challenges
Model input data
- Geometric and geological features of the mine
- Schedules, technological operations execution order and durations
- Technical characteristics and limitations of current and prospective trucks and excavators
The main structural elements of the model
- Input data file of scenario in MS Excel format
- Simulation model on the MineTwin platform
Model output data
- Availability and utilization of trucks and excavators
- Mine production volumes with different fleet sizes and configurations
Project result
- It was determined, that at least 37 trucks of the currently used model will necessary to sustain operations without negative impact on grade variability
- It was additionally determined, that if current trucks are replaced with bigger 220-ton trucks, then 25 trucks are sufficient to perform the same required haulage volumes