An integrated model of an open-pit coal mine: improving energy efficiency decisions

Abstract

This article contributes an original integrated model of an open-pit coal mine for supporting energy-efficient decisions. Mixed integer linear programming is used to formulate a general integrated model of the operational energy consumption of four common open-pit coal mining subsystems: excavation and haulage, stockpiles, processing plants and belt conveyors. Mines are represented as connected instances of the four subsystems, in a flow sheet manner, which are then fitted to data provided by the mine operators. Solving the integrated model ensures the subsystems’ operations are synchronised and whole-of-mine energy efficiency is encouraged. An investigation on a case study of an open-pit coal mine is conducted to validate the proposed methodology. Opportunities are presented for using the model to aid energy-efficient decision-making at various levels of a mine, and future work to improve the approach is described.

Keywords:

• integrated model
• mixed integer linear programming
• energy efficiency
• open-pit coal mining
• decision support

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgement goes to Synengco Pty. Ltd. for sponsoring the research project linked to this paper financially and to Downer EDI Mining for providing in-kind support to the project.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.