Evaluation of underground mining equipment systems using discrete-event simulation with animation.

摘要

This thesis discusses the application of simulation for studying automated underground mining operations at INCO Limited, Ontario Division, Copper Cliff, Ontario, Canada. The simulation modelling environment, WITNESS by the Lanner Group, is used to model the current development mining operations as a benchmark and conceptual mining systems for automated or tele-remote mining. The benchmark model is verified and validated and the proposed cyclic and semi-continuous mining systems are developed and verified. A series of simulation experiments have been constructed to investigate the performance of the proposed models in terms of advance footage, tramming distance and shift scheduling.;The results indicate that two proposed mining concepts, the Automated Current System and the Modular Full Face Drill/Blast System with an LHD Bucket Module achieved the highest advance footage with respect to the other systems. Also, the introduction of a shift schedule for tele-remote mining (elimination of travel time to and from the workplace), increased the total advance footage approximately 20% over a simulated 30 day period.