One of the key elements that differentiates mining from most industries is the level of capital intensity. Isibonelo Colliery, an Anglo American Thermal Coal open pit mining company, has raised the question of how capital should be deployed until the end of the mine's life. The model should determine the number of trucks required to meet contractual sales through the end of the mine's life.
The results of this simulation indicated that three haul trucks would need to be procured to ensure that 3,000,000 bank cubic meters of prestrip were removed annually for the coal mine to meet its contract requirements. Coal Seam: A layer of coal or ore that is thick enough to be mined profitably. The Isibonelo Coal Mine (IC) is located east of Secunda, on the northern edge of the Highveld coalfield in Mpumalanga.
Currently, coal mine mining is done through the dragline strip mining method, which is the most viable open-pit mining method; ideally used when the coal seam is relatively close to the surface and a large piece of coal is available for strip mining. IC's day-to-day operations use a variety of equipment and infrastructure, including Marion draglines, deck drills, hydraulic and electric shovels, and barrows, all of which are part of the conventional surface mining process.
Project Background 1.2
Project Aim and Deliverables Chapter 2
Problem Statement 2.1
Project Aim 2.2
Profile of Isibonelo Colliery
Deliverables 2.3
Project Scope2.4
Research and Methodology Chapter 3
Literature Study
Data Collection and Data Analysis
As-Is Simulation Model
To-Be Simulation Model
Economic Analysis Analytical
Recommended Solution
Literature Review Chapter 4
Coal Mining 4.1
History of Coal Mining 4.1.1
Uses of Coal 4.1.2
Simulation 4.2
What is simulation?
Purpose of simulation 4.2.2
Application and Use 4.2.3
Advantages of Simulation 4.2.4
Disadvantages of Simulation 4.2.5
Simulation Packages 4.2.6
Simulation is extremely versatile because it can be used to solve problems in a wide range of fields. Simio uses a simulation-oriented approach to modeling, where models are built by combining objects that represent the physical components of the real-life system. Simio modeling software is particularly adaptable to the mining environment because it uses an object-oriented simulation modeling approach.
Anylogic is one of the only simulation modeling tools that supports all common simulation methodologies such as system dynamics, discrete event and agent based modeling. The unique flexibility of this modeling software enables the user to capture the complexity and heterogeneity of an organization. FlexSim can be used to find the causes of bottlenecks in a given process, thus maximizing the potential of a system and visualizing a system in three dimensions.
The FlexSim modeling software is user-friendly and integrated with Microsoft Excel, meaning that documents from Excel can be imported directly into FlexSim. FlexSim is an object-oriented simulation software package that has built-in objects designed and classified into four classes: task executor class, visual object class, fixed resource class, and node class.
Statistical Methods 4.3
Analytical Hierarchy Process 4.3.1
Numerical indicators indicate the degree to which a factor is more or less important than the factor it is being compared to.
Theory of Constraints 4.4
Product Research 4.5
Hitachi 4.5.1
Haul Trucks 4.5.2
Data Gathering and Analysis Chapter 5
The data required to provide an adequate representation of the availability of the trucks during the 6 week trial period are summarized in Table 4. In order to achieve maximum productivity, IC works for 24 hours every day of the week. This amounts to 1008 hours of time available for the trucks to use during the 6 week trial.
The downtime in hours incurred by both the trucks and the excavator is recorded in Table 5.
Theory of Constraints Analysis Chapter 6
To identify bottlenecks in a system, the entire open band extraction process must be considered. The table below proves that the current bottleneck in the open cast mining process is the truck and shovel car pool, although the crawler line is the slowest activity, because the truck and shovel car pool is used many times in the process due to his versatility and flexibility is the real obstacle. Stripping is one of the slowest activities in an open pit mine, but the truck and shovel assembly is not the slowest resource on a mine site, suggesting that the resource is not being used optimally.
As-Is Simulation Model Chapter 7
Current Process Analysis 7.1
Simio Design and Background 7.2
Each object can be used to: create, process, separate, combine, and transport the entities used to depict the real-world open cast strip mining being modeled. Link: creates a path between two or more fixed objects in a system on which entities can move. Node: can be used to provide entry or exit points on a fixed object and can also be used to define one or more intersection points of links.
Transporter: very similar to an entity, but has a special function that allows it to pick up other entities and transport them to different nodes.
Simulation Design and Parameters 7.3
Run Parameters 7.4
Simulation Design 7.5
In addition, it was decided that a server would be used to model the P&H excavator loading pre-strip onto the trucks. The vehicles will move along a two-way path from the loading area to the unloading area (landfill) which will be modeled using a sink.
Simulation Outputs 7.6
To-Be Simulation Scenarios Chapter 8
Simulation Parameters 8.1.1
Simulation Outputs 8.1.2
The total amount of pre-strip material moved from the loading area to the landfill has increased from 2 493 800 to 2 647 800 BCMs/year, indicating that the amount of pre-strip material moved is directly proportional to the number of trucks in the simulation model.
Simulation Parameters 8.2.1
Simulation Outputs 8.2.2
This therefore highlights the need to increase the size of the tow truck fleet to achieve the required benchmark of 3,000,000 BCM, otherwise it would not be feasible.
Simulation Parameters 8.3.1
Simulation Outputs 8.3.2
Summary of Results 8.4
Pre-Strip Removal
Economic Feasibility Chapter 9
- Procure 1 additional haul truck9.1
- Economic Analysis Initial cost of a new Haul Truck R 35 000 000
- Procure 2 additional haul trucks 9.2
- Economic Analysis Initial cost of purchasing two new Haul Truck R 70 000 000
- Procure 3 additional haul trucks 9.3
- Economic Analysis Initial cost of purchasing three new
- Outsourcing the Haul Trucks 9.4
The simulation results for scenario 1 show that the planned truck fleet utilization is 58.31% and the planned shovel utilization is 62.39%. The total amount of pre-sewage moved is 2 647 900 BCM per year, which is far below the required amount of 3 000 000 BCM per year, and the total coal mine cost is R41 240 355, so scenario 1 is not recommended as the best option as it does not meet the required criterion. The simulation results for scenario 1 show that the planned utilization of the truck fleet is about 62.19% and the planned utilization of the shovel is 65.93%.
The total amount of advance strip moved is 2 820 640 BCMs per year, which is less than the required amount of 3 000 000 BCMs per year and the total cost incurred by the coal mine is R94 729 470, therefore scenario 2 is not not recommended as the best option. due to failure to meet the required standard. The simulation results for scenario 1 show that the scheduled utilization of the fleet of trucks is approximately 64.49% and the scheduled utilization of the excavator 68.33%. Therefore, scenario 3 is recommended as the best option which proved to be ideal to meet the required benchmark of 3,000,000 BCMs per year.
Chemia has an option of outsourcing the transport trucks used in the pre-strip removal process. However, this cost depends on the amount of pre-tape required to be removed and is subject to inflation. This option is unsafe because according to chair safety statistics, contractors have more incidents compared to mine workers.
The contractor's fleet consists of at least 21 equipment to perform the work of three cargo trucks. The contractors use 20 ton trucks while the mine uses 170 ton trucks which means more people in the mine.
Analytical Hierarchy Process Chapter 10
Criteria Development Phase 10.1
Cost 10.1.1
Throughput 10.1.2
Utilisation 10.1.3
Flexibility 10.1.4
Pairwise Comparison 10.2
The only criterion that differs between the combination and the sandpit is flexibility and use. The combined shell can be used to transport coal or sand, so this shell will be used much better compared to the sand shell. Thus, it was concluded that the benefits of implementing the Combination Bowl far outweigh the Sand Bowl.
Conclusion Chapter 11
Appendix A
Time Studies
Appendix B
Sample of the Block Data
Appendix C
BCMs calculation
Appendix D
As-Is Simulation Results
Interactive Detail Report
Appendix E
To-Be Simulation Results
