CRUSHER LOCATION AND CONVEYOR NETWORK PLANNING IN MULTIPLE-PLANTS OPEN PIT MINES

摘要

Given the current characteristics and the expected future of open-pit mines, transportation optimization is one main goal of every Greenfield or Brownfield project. This dilemma is more crucial when the mining complex includes multi-pits and multi-plants. There is a high connectivity between facility location and transportation efficiency. In this paper, the primary crusher location and the conveyor network planning in an open-pit mine consisting of a set of multi-pits and multi-plants are investigated. A new Mixed-Integer Linear Programming (MIP) model is developed to solve this relatively complex problem in a multi-period time horizon during the mine life. The model aims to minimize the total net present value of capital and operating costs spent for material transportation. The model considers production plan, trucking, conveying and crushing costs as the main inputs and optimizes the crusher(s)/conveyor(s) capacities, number of crushers, crusher(s) locations, crusher(s) relocations and conveyor(s) network as well as the material allocations. The model is applied to a dummy instance and its capabilities are validated. The results show that the model can reduce the net present value of cost by about 6% and decrease the total annual cost for about $22 million compared to an engineering judgment design. The sensitivity analysis on the parameters indicated that trucking cost has the greatest impact on the problem.