Blast schedule planning and shiftwise production scheduling of an opencast iron ore mine

In this paper we present a computer integrated system for short-range mine production planning that uses: (i) a linear programming model for the choice of blocks to be blasted; (ii) a stochastic programming model for the selection of the blasted areas to be excavated and in deciding the quantity of ores and wastes to be mined from each of the selected blocks. The model also gives the shiftwise allocation of dumpers to support the excavation plan. The above two models use improved estimates for the ore body characteristics utilizing: the blast hole data in addition to the usual bore hole statistics to improve the prediction accuracy of the block level ore body characteristics. The software is developed in C-language and has four modules for ore body characteristics prediction, blast scheduling, shiftwise production planning and report generation. The results include shiftwise block level blasting and excavation plans for each bench, benchwise shovel-dumper allocation plan. The developed software has been applied to planning the production of a captive iron ore mine of Steel Authority of India Ltd.