Operations modeling and analysis of open pit copper mining using GPS tracking data

Open pit copper mining plants usually comprise two major components, the open pit mining operation and the copper ore enrichment plant. An open pit copper mine is an excavation or graze made into the surface of the ground for the purpose of extracting ore. A series of data obtained by a transportation control system with GPS (Global Positioning System) technology is utilized to perform the simulation. Operations in the mine are based on a mining plan and must be optimized because the transportation costs are expensive. In this paper, procedures are proposed to obtain an optimized number of trucks and to estimate the maximum mining capacity at an open copper pit. Then, the creation of a truck dispatching control table for meeting the maximum mining capacity is demonstrated by performing a simulation.