Comparison of the various dispatching strategies for truck-shovel productivity optimization in open pit mines

Abstract

To improve the efficiency of truck-shovel transportation systems and to decrease the relevant operational cost, an appropriate truck dispatching strategy have to be utilized. In this paper, a modified Li model is used to cover heterogeneous fleet size. An extra goal of “minimizing the truck operating cost" was appended to the objective function of the modified Temeng model. The Sungun copper mine transportation system was considered as a case study to evaluate the performance of three dispatching models: extended Li model, Temeng model, and developed Temeng model. In the different routes of mine transportation network, using these models the truck flow rates and the number of truck trips were determined. In order to implement these models, the CPLEX software was utilized. The results indicated that extended Li model, Temeng model, and developed Temeng model improves the total production above 38%, 25%, and 25% in comparison with the current mine production plan, respectively. Each of three dispatching models satisfies various operational constraints such as ore grade quality and stripping ratio.