Analysis and risk assessment of the supply of copper ore in the belt conveyor system in an underground mine

摘要

Risk management, through the systematic implementation ofpolicies related to analysis, assessment, and action leading to areduction in the amount of risk-related losses, is increasingly usedin manufacturing companies. We are looking for opportunities inorder to improve efficiency and an opportunity of gaining acompetitive advantage in reducing the risk level of having anegative impact on the economic results of enterprises. The articlepresents the concept of reliable analysis and risk assessment for thehorizontal transport system of copper ore. The risk has been definedas the probability of not achieving the objective set for the transportsystem, i.e., not delivering the planned amount of copper ore in agiven time to the mining shaft. Unplanned downtime and beltconveyor failures have been assumed as risk factors. The proposedmethod consists of three stages. The FMEA (Failure Mode andEffects Analysis) method was used in the first stage, which allowedfor the designation of structural elements of the belt conveyor,which are most often damaged. The FMEA method uses operationaldata collected over a period of three years as well as the expertknowledge of maintenance staff. In the second stage, the transportsystem was divided into components (transport lines) for which therisk of failure was determined, allowing the identification oftransport lines most exposed to the risk of failure. The third andfinal stage of the method consisted of determining the reliabilitystructure of the entire transport system by belt conveyors, takinginto account the functions of individual elements (transport lines) inthe system. The total risk calculated for the reliability structuredetermined in this way is the probability of not achieving theobjective set for the transport system.