A OPEN PIT MINING AÇIK OCAK MADENCİLİĞİ

23 rd
An Approach to Determine the Location of an In Pit Crusher in
Open Pit Mines
M. Rahmanpour, M. Osanloo, N. Adibee
Amirkabir University of Technology (Tehran Polytechnic), Tehran, Iran
ABSTRACT Transportation costs have always been a significant part of capital and
operating costs of large open pit mines. In pit crushing and conveying system is going to be a
significant part of future mining activities. Its cost efficiency and high reliability compared to
conventional truck-shovel system makes it more appealing to be utilized in mining industry.
In this paper suitable location of an in pit crusher is investigated, and it is formulated as a
single hub location problem. In selecting the optimum in pit crusher location, two factors are
considered. First, the overall haulage cost as a function of distance is minimized, and second,
the selected location is chosen such that it is not located inside the mining area, and crusher
site is fixed through a period of at least one year. Application of single hub problem is quite
effective in determining the location of the in pit crusher.
1 INTRODUCTION
Open pit mining is a large operation of
excavation, within which considerable
amount of material should be extracted and
removed out of the mining train. An open pit
mine is consisted of pit or pits (where the ore
and waste rock is extracted), mill, waste
dumps, and stockpile. The material inside
the pit is excavated and loaded to the
haulage system and according to material
type; they transferred to the predefined
location.
In recent years, application of in pit
crushing and conveying systems is of
interest in open pit mines. Apart from
choosing a suitable type of crushing and
conveying system for the mines, the location
of the system should also be optimized to
reduce the mine operating costs. A suitable
location for an in pit crusher should have the
following conditions:
a. In pit crushing unit should be in an
optimum distance from each working
face.
b. It would be better if the location of the
crusher be fixed at least for a period of
one year. This will reduce the number
of times that the crushing unit is
moved. So, the overall cost of crusher
reinstallation will be reduced.
The problem of selecting an optimal
location for in pit crushing system is studied
by a number of authors including Roberstson
(1984), Sturgul (1986), and Konak et. al
(2007). Optimization of a crusher location
and haulage distances are first introduced by
Roberstson (1984). Konak et. al (2007)
discussed the effects of pit geometry and
mine access requirements on optimum
crusher location selection that are mainly
based on the establishment of minimum
haulage distance. They established a trial
and error process and applied their method
in an aggregate mine.
In the present paper the problem of
allocating in pit crushers is described as a
hub-location problem. Before proceeding to
the problem of locating the in pit crusher,
different types of haulage systems in surface
mines is investigated.
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