MULTIPLE DISCRETE-EVENT SIMULATION AND ANIMATION MODELS TO ASSIST MODERN MINING OPERATIONS

This research investigation was conducted to develop, execute, and analyze a collection of discrete-event system simulation and animation models for different modern mining operations and systems, including two open-pit gold mines, an aggregate mine (sand and gravel), an open-cast (strip) coal mine, and an underground mine evacuation operation. The mine simulation and animation models aimed to study and assess a wide range of practical unique and common "what if?" scenarios that the mine engineers and managers of the case studies posed in different aspects during the research. A comprehensive and detailed literature review was also performed to provide a summary of the published discrete-event system simulation projects and their applications in the mining and mineral industry. The simulation results of the investigation were effectively implemented to assist the engineers in maximizing the productivity of the mines, improving the operation processes, reducing the environmental impact of the haulage operations, and enhancing the equipment utilization in various case studies. In addition, due to the shortage of powerful and flexible computer simulation tools in designing and analyzing underground mining evacuation operations and rescue equipment with respect to the mine operating characteristics and layout, the discrete-event system simulation and animation technique was innovatively implemented for modeling these complex systems. GPSS/H® and PROOF Professional® were the simulation language and animation software used for this research work

A review of the high performance rock-bolting method and Its application in a Nordic mine

Installing rock reinforcement in underground mines is one of the most time-consuming process steps. Rock-bolts are one of the most common methods of rock reinforcement. Rock bolts are increasingly installed by fully mechanized rock-bolting equipment. Commonly used bolting methods are rebar bolts with resin cartridges or cement as grout. These methods are compared with the newly developed ‘High Performance’ method from Epiroc. The ‘High Performance’ method uses self-drilling hollow bolts with a fast curing epoxy resin as grout. The aim of the case study is to determine if Boliden should switch to the ‘High Performance’ method. For this, the rock-bolting productivity of the current and ‘High Performance’ methods was estimated. In order to estimate this observations and time studies were conducted. The operational capacity of the current rock bolting operation at Kristineberg is believed to be 7.8 bolts per hour. With the ‘High Performance’ method this could increase to 9.4 bolts per hour. The calculation methods showed an improvement in the range of 3% to 9%. This while productivity of the ‘High performance’ method is believed to be 20% faster than the current method. The financial analysis has shown that if the price of the bolts doubles a 6% increase in production is necessary. If the price increase per bolt is below the limit set by the production increase than it is advised to invest in the ‘High Performance’ rock-bolter

Volume II: Mining Innovation

Contemporary exploitation of natural raw materials by borehole, opencast, underground, seabed, and anthropogenic deposits is closely related to, among others, geomechanics, automation, computer science, and numerical methods. More and more often, individual fields of science coexist and complement each other, contributing to lowering exploitation costs, increasing production, and reduction of the time needed to prepare and exploit the deposit. The continuous development of national economies is related to the increasing demand for energy, metal, rock, and chemical resources. Very often, exploitation is carried out in complex geological and mining conditions, which are accompanied by natural hazards such as rock bursts, methane, coal dust explosion, spontaneous combustion, water, gas, and temperature. In order to conduct a safe and economically justified operation, modern construction materials are being used more and more often in mining to support excavations, both under static and dynamic loads. The individual production stages are supported by specialized computer programs for cutting the deposit as well as for modeling the behavior of the rock mass after excavation in it. Currently, the automation and monitoring of the mining works play a very important role, which will significantly contribute to the improvement of safety conditions. In this Special Issue of Energies, we focus on innovative laboratory, numerical, and industrial research that has a positive impact on the development of safety and exploitation in mining

Applications of simulation and optimization techniques in optimizing room and pillar mining systems

The goal of this research was to apply simulation and optimization techniques in solving mine design and production sequencing problems in room and pillar mines (R&P). The specific objectives were to: (1) apply Discrete Event Simulation (DES) to determine the optimal width of coal R&P panels under specific mining conditions; (2) investigate if the shuttle car fleet size used to mine a particular panel width is optimal in different segments of the panel; (3) test the hypothesis that binary integer linear programming (BILP) can be used to account for mining risk in R&P long range mine production sequencing; and (4) test the hypothesis that heuristic pre-processing can be used to increase the computational efficiency of branch and cut solutions to the BILP problem of R&P mine sequencing. A DES model of an existing R&P mine was built, that is capable of evaluating the effect of variable panel width on the unit cost and productivity of the mining system. For the system and operating conditions evaluated, the result showed that a 17-entry panel is optimal. The result also showed that, for the 17-entry panel studied, four shuttle cars per continuous miner is optimal for 80% of the defined mining segments with three shuttle cars optimal for the other 20%. The research successfully incorporated risk management into the R&P production sequencing problem, modeling the problem as BILP with block aggregation to minimize computational complexity. Three pre-processing algorithms based on generating problem-specific cutting planes were developed and used to investigate whether heuristic pre-processing can increase computational efficiency. Although, in some instances, the implemented pre-processing algorithms improved computational efficiency, the overall computational times were higher due to the high cost of generating the cutting planes --Abstract, page iii

Advances in Computational Intelligence Applications in the Mining Industry

This book captures advancements in the applications of computational intelligence (artificial intelligence, machine learning, etc.) to problems in the mineral and mining industries. The papers present the state of the art in four broad categories: mine operations, mine planning, mine safety, and advances in the sciences, primarily in image processing applications. Authors in the book include both researchers and industry practitioners

Adapting methodologies from the forestry industry to measure the productivity of underground hard rock mining equipment

The purpose of this dissertation is to develop and apply a framework to characterize the ground support installation component of the mining development cycle in underground hard rock mines for the purposes of comparing equipment. A secondary goal is to identify opportunities to improve the productivity of the ground support installation process. It was found that the forestry industry faces similar challenges as the mining industry when measuring equipment output in a variable environment where equipment productivity is affected by a range of external conditions. Despite this challenge, forestry researchers successfully developed and applied a standardized methodology and nomenclature to measure the productivity of equipment for the purposes of equipment and process comparison in variable external conditions. The methodology used in the forestry industry was modified to measure mechanized and semimechanized ground support installation productivity in three Canadian underground hard rock mines. Furthermore, opportunities to improve the ground support installation process were identified. This framework can be modified to measure and compare other types of mining equipment. By using a standardized methodology to measure, compare and improve mining processes, development and production rates can be increased in underground hard rock mines. In summary, a framework was adapted from the forestry industry to measure and compare the productivity of the ground support installation cycle in three Canadian hard rock mines, and opportunities to improve the process were found.Master of Applied Science (M.A.Sc.) in Natural Resources Engineerin

SIMULACIJA DOSTUPNOSTI I ANALIZA RADA OKLOPNOGA TRANSPORTERA U ŠIROKOČELNOME RUDARENJU

Since coal mining production systems are very complex, repairing equipment is expensive. If a system failure occurs, it will cause disturbances such as inoperable equipment, reduced operating time, increased production costs, and reduced equipment performance. Therefore, it is necessary to consider the availability of the coal mining industry more than ever. For this purpose, the Armored Face Conveyor (AFC) machine failure data was gathered over a period of 29 months from the Tabas Coal Mine. Descriptive statistics, trends, and serial correlation tests of the data were calculated. Then, the system’s mean and point availability were simulated. Based on the results, the mean availability (all events) and point availability (all events) at 360000 h are 96% and 95%, respectively. The mean time to first failure (MTTFF) of the AFC machine was about 23.61 h. The ReliaSoft Failure Criticality Index, ReliaSoft Downing Event Criticality Index, and ReliaSoft Downtime Criticality Index electrical equipping have the largest effect, whereas the main drive subsystem is the least important. Analysis showed that availability has a direct correlation to activity management and improvements in the quality, efficiency, and the product extraction.Sustavi proizvodnje ugljena u rudnicima vrlo su složeni, stoga je i popravak opreme skup. Kvar sustava uzrokovat će smetnje kao što je nedostupna oprema, smanjeno vrijeme rada, povećani troškovi proizvodnje i smanjene performanse opreme. Stoga je nužno da se dostupnost industrije ugljena razmatra više nego ikad. U tu svrhu 29 mjeseci prikupljani su podatci o kvaru stroja tipa oklopljenoga širokočelnoga transportera iz rudnika ugljena Tabas. Izračunane su opisna statistika, trendovi i test serijske korelacije podataka. Zatim su simulirane srednje vrijednosti i dostupnost bodova u sustavu. Na temelju rezultata prosječna dostupnost (svi događaji) i dostupnost točke (svi događaji) na 360 000 h iznose 96 % odnosno 95 %. Prosječno je vrijeme do prvoga kvara (MTTFF) transportnog stroja oko 23,61 h. U trima metričkim vrijednostima, ReliaSoft indeksu kritičnosti kvara, ReliaSoft indeksu kritičnosti pada sustava i ReliaSoft indeksu kritičnosti zastoja, električno opremanje ima najveći učinak, dok je glavni pogonski podsustav najmanje važan. Utvrđeno je da analiza dostupnosti kontrolira upravljanje operacijama i poboljšanja u kvaliteti, učinkovitosti i izvedbi linije

Integrating materials supply in strategic mine planning of underground coal mines

In July 2005 the Australian Coal Industry’s Research Program (ACARP) commissioned Gary Gibson to identify constraints that would prevent development production rates from achieving full capacity. A “TOP 5” constraint was “The logistics of supply transport distribution and handling of roof support consumables is an issue at older extensive mines immediately while the achievement of higher development rates will compound this issue at most mines.” Then in 2020, Walker, Harvey, Baafi, Kiridena, and Porter were commissioned by ACARP to investigate Australian best practice and progress made since Gibson’s 2005 report. This report was titled: - “Benchmarking study in underground coal mining logistics.” It found that even though logistics continue to be recognised as a critical constraint across many operations particularly at a tactical / day to day level, no strategic thought had been given to logistics in underground coal mines, rather it was always assumed that logistics could keep up with any future planned design and productivity. This subsequently meant that without estimating the impact of any logistical constraint in a life of mine plan, the risk of overvaluing a mining operation is high. This thesis attempts to rectify this shortfall and has developed a system to strategically identify logistics bottlenecks and the impacts that mine planning parameters might have on these at any point in time throughout a life of mine plan. By identifying any logistics constraints as early as possible, the best opportunity to rectify the problem at the least expense is realised. At the very worst if a logistics constraint was unsolvable then it could be understood, planned for, and reflected in the mine’s ongoing financial valuations. The system developed in this thesis, using a suite of unique algorithms, is designed to “bolt onto” existing mine plans in the XPAC mine scheduling software package, and identify at a strategic level the number of material delivery loads required to maintain planned productivity for a mining operation. Once an event was identified the system then drills down using FlexSim discrete event simulation to a tactical level to confirm the predicted impact and understand if a solution can be transferred back as a long-term solution. Most importantly the system developed in this thesis was designed to communicate to multiple non-technical stakeholders through simple graphical outputs if there is a risk to planned production levels due to a logistics constraint

Thermo-hydro-mechanical simulation of a generic geological disposal facility for radioactive waste

Geological disposal is required for the safe and long-term disposal of legacy radioactive waste. High level waste and spent fuel generate significant heat that will cause thermo-hydro-mechanical coupled processes in the rock mass. The thermal expansion of the fluid will be greater than the grains causing a decrease in mean effective stress with the low permeability restricting Darcy flow and excess pore pressure equilibration. A decrease in mean effective stress can reduce material strength in granular materials, which may be significant near excavations where differential stress is increased. Microseismic monitoring provides cost effective, non-intrusive and three-dimensional data that can be calibrated with the stress and strain behaviour of a rock mass. However, there is no precedent for the microseismic monitoring of heat-producing radioactive waste. Generic concepts, analogue materials and data from in situ experiments are used to demonstrate the potential for the microseismic monitoring of heat-producing radioactive waste in lower strength sedimentary rocks. A mechanism for early post-closure microseismicity is demonstrated, whereby excess pore pressure decreases the mean effective stress towards yielding in shear. The rock and fluid property uncertainties are ranked according to their contribution to the excess pore pressure. Permeability is found to be important as expected, however, Biot's coefficient is demonstrably more important and yet often overlooked. Furthermore, the microseismic event locations, timings and pseudo scalar seismic moments are shown to have statistically significant relationships with the engineered backfill swelling pressure. Therefore, early post-emplacement microseismic monitoring could provide constraints for the engineered backfill swelling pressure and rock property uncertainties whilst the facility is still operational. Insights could prove timely for adapting the engineering designs, if they are not behaving as expected, in further high level waste and spent fuel tunnels

Evolution, Monitoring and Predicting Models of Rockburst: Precursor Information for Rock Failure

Load/unload response ratio predicting of rockburst; Three-dimensional reconstruction of fissured rock; Nonlinear dynamics evolution pattern of rock cracks; Bayesian model for predicting rockburs