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International Journal of Surface Mining, Reclamation
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Discrete event simulation of mining systems: Current
practice in Australia
a b
Arun J. Basu & Ernest Y. Baafi
a
Mining Engineering, WASM, Curtin University of Technology, Kalgoorlie, Australia
b
The Department of Civil, Mining and Environmental Engineering, University of Wollongong,
Wollongong, Australia
Published online: 27 Apr 2007.
To cite this article: Arun J. Basu & Ernest Y. Baafi (1999): Discrete event simulation of mining systems: Current practice in
Australia, International Journal of Surface Mining, Reclamation and Environment, 13:2, 79-84
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International Journal ofSurfaceMining.Reclamation and Environment 13 (1999):79-84 79
Discrete event simulation of mining systems: Current practice in
Australia
Arun J, Basu
Mining Engineering, WASM, Curtin University ofTechnology, Kalgoorlie, Australia
Ernest Y. Baafi
The Department ofCivil, Mining and Environmental Engineering, University ofWollongong, Wollongong, Australia
ABSTRACT: Australia is a country rich with mineral resources and is home of a large number of mineral
ventures in hard rock and soft rock areas. Eastern states have a concentration of coal mines and Western
Australia have a number of gold, nickel, and iron ore mines. Use of simulation (discrete event) in modelling
the mining systems is commonly used during mine design phases to evaluate various operational scenarios.
System modelling has been limited to large companies with a good size of technical services staff. Routine
evaluation of haulage systems is done in house using computer packages such as TALPAC. A review of
some of the work that has been done in Australia is presented.
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I INTRODUCTION of equipment, sizing of storage, and evaluation of
operating procedures. The mining environment for
Sturgul (1995) provided a very good historical the applications have been include both in surface
perspective and discussion on maturing of and underground mining operations and did cover a
simulation use in mining engineering. In his paper range of hardrock and coal mining projects.
entitled "Simulation and Animation, Come of Age An early project by SMS which was docu-
in Mining", Sturgul (1995), listed Garry Baunach of mented by Baunach, Brown, and Jones (1989) was
Simulation Modelling Services and. Rod Hoare of an ore handling modeled for Mt. Newman Mining
Fluor Daniel, Australia, Ltd as the major players in Co. Pty Ltd (a wholly owned subsidiary of BHP
providing simulation support for the Australian Co. Limited). Using SIMAN/CINEMA modeling
mineral industry. Some of their work as well as system a computer simulation was developed for
others, especially those in the tertiary institutions ore handling operations in Port Hedland, Western
and Australian software vendors, are presented in Australia. The computer simulation model covered
this paper. all aspects of iron ore handling from the dumping
of trains through to the loading of ships. The ob-
jective was for evaluating the impact of changes to
2. CURRENT PRACTICE throughput and to the mix of ore and products
types on ore handling operations and storage op-
tions. The coding of the model was performed us-
2.1 Services provided by Consultants
ing the SIMAN simulation language and animated
ARENA is one of the discrete modeling systems output was generated by CINEMA. For detailed
commonly used in the Australian mining industry. coverage of this work, the reader may refer to the
ARENA is marketed and supported by Simulation paper by Baunach, Brown, and Jones (1989); read-
Modeling Services (SMS) Pty Ltd. The company ers may look up the reference list if interested,
was founded in 1986 and currently employs by three Simulation Modelling Services Pty Ltd is cur-
well experience technical staff with Gary Baunach rently working on underground ore handling at
as the Managing Director. The company is based in Northparkes E26 Mine in Australia (Gray, 1999).
Newcastle, in the State of New South Wales. SMS The work is a follow up work on a simulation
provides simulation modeling services to companies model developed earlier (Dawson and Gray,
in Australia, New Zealand, Africa, China and the 1996). Title of the work is "Use of Simulation
USA and have been involved in a larger number of Modelling to Optimise the Underground Ore Han-
mining projects (Gray, 1999). Most of the dling at Northparkes E26 Mine". At Northparkes'
simulation work undertaken by SMS mostly involve E26 Mine block caving mining method is used for
materials handling applications, including selection the extraction of 30 million tonnes of copper-gold
© 1999A.A. Balkerna,P.O. Box 1675,3000 BR Rotterdam,Netherlands
80
ore over a seven year period with full mine pro- regularly on AREN. In Australia, information on
duction commencing from 1997. The E26N mine ARENA can be obtained from their website listed
will become the second largest underground met- in the acknowledgment section.
alliferous mine in the country. The other major player in providing discrete
The orebody is a large low grade deposit mak- event simulation modelling services to the mining
ing efficient handling of broken material essential industry is Fluor Daniel's group headed by Mr.
to the viability of the mine. The design of the ore Rod Hoare, based in Perth, Western Australia.
handling facilities has been based on an overall Following information is based on a meeting be-
"system" approach to ensure the required efficien- tween Mr. Hoare and the author (Hoare, 1999).
cies will be achieved. The use of simulation tech- The Fluor Daniels Simulation group was estab-
niques to determine mobile and fixed plant ca- lished in 1987. Since then, it has grown into a
pacities required to achieve planned production team of eight highly skilled simulation consultants.
rates has been integral to the planning of the major The applications involved projects in Australia and
new mine. By using simulation models of the overseas. Mr. Hoare mentioned about the "Total
E26N materials handling system mine staff were Solution" approach to any simulation project, and
able to design a system capable of efficiently the main effort is applied to understand the infor-
meeting production requirements. The simulation mation flow among the subsystems of a system to
models allowed both the complex interaction be- be modelled. A recent paper titled, "A Total Inte-
tween system components, and the inherent vari- grated System Approach to Achieving Sustainable
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ability in a mining operation to be considered. The Production Gains and Increased Profitability", by
model was developed using ARENA software, Hoare (1998) emphasised this concept in applica-
which provides a complete simulation modeling tion of simulation models in this area. Interfaces,
and animation environment using visual tools. such as mine/plant interface, rail/port interface
Figure 1 provides an example of using ARENA were addressed in the paper.
animation feature to visualise the model. The application areas covered surface and as
Simulation Modelling Services Pty Ltd is also well as underground mining projects in both coal
distributor of ARENA software in Australia and and hard rock areas. Similar to the work done by
offers introduction and advanced workshops Simulation Modelling Systems Pty Ltd, Fluor
,!:} AN-~"d - 11~26nlifll_ due - Run M ode I
~. file &dit ~iew 1001. 8rrange .Qbject Bun ~indow !:Ielp
TIm. 17:49: 121
Day 11 //
o
o
o
Figure I. Screen Capture showing visulisation of the simulation model (Gray, 1999).
81
Daniel group's work was also mainly in the area of Queensland. Here also rail/port interface modelling
material handling and rail haulage. Other applica- was of prime importance. The model was developed
tions did include, capacity expansion study of to examine an operation that involved 60-70 ships
various facilities, surge simulation studies of stor- per year, two wharf cranes, a conveyor system to
age areas. One work was aptly named "De- link with rail, the rail transport and the surge
bottlenecking Simulation Study". Figures 2 and 3 stockpile. Similar to Fluor Daniel Group's ''Total
provide examples of activities by the simulation Systems" approach, Interdynarnics also preaches
group of Fluor Daniel. Figure 2 shows the exam- ''Whole Systems Thinking". The author does not
ple of solving rail and port interface for shipping have much experience in using the PLANIMATE
iron ore from North Western Australia. simulation modelling software, but the information
Figure 3 shows an example of capacity expan- available on the website claims that the software
sion work using simulation model, which helped helps in modelling dynamic behaviour of a system
in informed decision making for the client. or systems in a visual way with the help of
Other than the two major simulation consulting animation. In fact, this is the trend in all major
services group addressed above, there is one more simulation modelling software. Interested readers
software developer and consultant who provides may download the demonstration models using the
simulation modelling services for the mining PLANIMATE software from their website as listed.
industry. The software is PLANIMATE and the The various stages of the Feasibility Study un-
developer/consultant group is Interdynamics Pty dertaken by Robe River Iron Associates to develop
Downloaded by [Mount Royal University] at 09:10 04 May 2013
Ltd, based in South Australia (Roberts, 1999). The the West Angelas Iron Ore Deposits (Smith, 1999)
author had a telephone conversation with the have utilised a variety of simulation software
Managing Director of Interdynarnics Pty Ltd. and packages to quantify the development's require-
received approval (Bridges, 1999) to use the ments and the associated engineering parameters.
information available in their website listed in the These have included:
acknowledgment section of this paper. - ARENA to optimise the size of bins over
Similar to the other two group's work application screens, crushers and train load-out facility,
area is also mainly in the modelling of haulage and - TRAPER to confirm train schedules and oper-
transport facilities, including nickel ore handling in ating costs,
\
\
"-.., _J
Figure 2. An example of a computer simulation model for solving Rail/Port interface problem (Hoare, 1999).
Downloaded by [Mount Royal University] at 09:10 04 May 2013
Figure 3. An example of capacity expansion modelling [Hcarr, 1999).
- CPSSW to provide pameters for efficient loader data (physical and perfonnmce and costing
operations in the port stockpile and shiploading data for thee loading unit),tnrck data and haul route.
interface. m i s has nxjuired a detailed analysis of TALPAC was designed, developed and supported
the existing shipping to Cape Lambert to enable by Runge Mining (Australia). Runge Mining has
aptimisation of Pa& Waleott to occur, aad developed several TALPAC training courses to suit
-- PLANMATE to provide an avew iew of the specific needs,
3. CONCLUSIONS 4.1 Contact details for the expert groups
Simulation modelling of mining engineering The following list provides contact information for
' system, from excavation to final shipment by rail or the above mentioned simulation modelling
ship is a very effective tool to learn about the consulting groups and software providers:
system, find out problems or bottle-necks in the
system, and finally to provide solutions for the Geoff Gray
problems. However, the process requires Simulations Modelling Services Pty Ltd.
considerable experience and knowledge in computer 4 Wolfe Street, Newcastle, NSW 2300
modelling of the "proper" problem. A nice and Phone: +61 (02) 4926 1500
interesting animated simulation model may provide Fax: +6 1 (02) 4926 23 19
completely wrong information if the model is not a Emaill: gig@ simulatn.com.au
valid one. Hoare (1999) aptly suggested that the Website: http://www.simulatn.com.au
"good models are more than screen deep".
It also has been observed, the services provided Rodney Hoare
by the consulting groups are limited to large mining Fluor Daniel, Australia Ltd
companies who can afford the cost such services. 1 Mill Street, Perth, WA 6000
Small operations are still skeptical about the cost Phone: +61 (08) 9278 7105
benefit ratio of such an endeavor. Fax: +61 (08) 9278 7570
Downloaded by [Mount Royal University] at 09:10 04 May 2013
Current advances in visualization using virtual Email: [email protected]
reality (Schofield, 1998) and availability of rela-
tively inexpensive computer hardware provides the Bob Bridges
opportunity of building realistic 3D animation of a Interdynamics Pty Ltd.
mine system simulation, which in turn would help Burns Road, Inglewood, SA 5 133
in mine planning and design. Mine systems Phone: +61 (08) 8389 2294
simulation is not an isolated area of work or study. Fax: +61 (08) 8389 2294
It is a tool to do an efficient design even at the stage Email: bbridges@ interdyne.com.au
of feasibility study. The book by Kelton, Sadowski Website: http://www.interdyne.com.au
and Sadowski (1998) provides a comprehensive Runge Mining (Australia) Pty. Ltd.
treatment of simulation in general and the ARENA GPO Box 2774
simulation software in particular. The book comes Brisbane, Qld 4001
with a CD containing the Academic Version of Australia
ARENA, with all the modeling and analysis Phone: (617) 3221 1883
capabilities of the complete commercial version but Fax: (617) 3229 3756
limits the model size. Sturgul (1999) has recently Email: runge@ runge.com. au
authored a text in the area of mine design using Website: http://www.runge.corn/talpac
simulation and animation with GPSSH and PROOF
software, which would encourage the practicing
engineers and consultants for more utilization of this REFERENCES
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