Constrained Simulation of a Mine Production System

In this paper, the authors have presented a practical application of computer simulation to the design of a constrained mine production system. The management of a gold mining company wanted to build a rail transportation network to transport ore from a section of the mine to the central shaft. To meet the required processing plant feed, this system had to be capable of transporting a certain daily capacity. Management was further constrained with respect to the available resources for this system. Design of such a system was capital- intensive and irreversible, and thus, management had to ensure that the designed system achieved the targets within the given constraints.

In this study, the authors built a simulation model to emulate the proposed system using SLAM II and FORTRAN 77. Data from a similar project were used to validate this model. The technically feasible options were used in a batch simulation of this problem. Production and economic analyses of simulation results showed that two of the feasible options could be used to build the actual system. Also, implementation of the recommended options could reduce the capital investments by 18%, in the short and medium-terms, and by 16%, in the long-term, of the original estimates made by mining engineers.