By Hooman Askari-Nasab, Mohammad Tabesh, and Shiv Upadhyay
A mine and extraction simulation operational planning tool with Excel input/output interface and automated reporting has been developed, validated and used as part of the short-range planning of a large-scale oil sands open pit operation in Canada. The simulation tool takes the mine production schedule as an input and imitates the truck-shovel haulage-systems and its interaction with the extraction plant including crushers and downstream assets. The simulation tool accurately reported the major system’s KPIs at 95% level of statistical confidence within 3% accuracy of the historical dispatch data for the project. Major KPIs reported by the automated output reporting system are: ore and waste production, queue time, spot time, load time, dipper tonnage, haul time, dump time, truck speeds, backup time, loading cycle time, head grade, time and number of trucks in queue, and truck-andshovel operational KPIs. The simulation tool gives the planner capability to assess the impact of changing operational scenarios such as stockpiling, different sizes of mixed-fleet trucks, and introduction of new haul-roads into to the mine plan. Normalized results of the project will be presented.