The mining industry is considered a vital engine of the Chilean economy, representing 53% ofexports, 6 % of tax revenues, 10 % of GDP, 8.7 % of national employment and 18 % of investment inthe country by 2018. Despite these results, it is important to note that the mining sector is in a state ofconstant decline, with an unstoppable drop in the price of ore over the last three years. On the otherhand, approximately 50 % of the total operating cost is due to transportation operations. This is dueto the fact that current maintenance plans are focused solely on truck performance, without takinginto account vehicle-road interaction. To solve this problem, this article proposes as an alternative totraditional maintenance plans the use of an inertial type system that allows the precise analysis of theresponse of heavy vehicles according to their interaction with the road, with the aim of detectingdefects in the road that compromise the productivity of the operation and the health of the vehicle.The solution was calibrated and validated on the mining roads of the Spence Mine, in the Antofagastaregion, using a mining truck to record its dynamic response during mining operations. These resultsshowed that, after the corresponding treatment of the information obtained, it is possible toaccurately detect defects in the road, on the basis of which precise action plans can be made to correctinefficiencies in the productivity and costs of the performance of the ore transport system in open-pitmining.
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