Tags:asset management, bench drilling, discrete event simulation (DES), open pit mining and simulation-based optimization
Abstract:
Mineral commodity prices have declined in recent years. This decline forces mining companies to find effective cost management strategies to sustain their operations. Otherwise, many operations will be ceased or suspended. Effective equipment utilization has strong potential to reduce operational costs. Furthermore, unexpected events or failures during the operation may not be properly considered in production scheduling. This affects the subsequent production process and causes operational delays; hence, the operation cost increases. Equipment condition is a key element to reach the desired production rate. This paper focuses on optimization of reliability parameters to improve the performance of the machine associated with its condition and calculation of drill bit consumption accordingly. Multiple input factors, such as operating parameters, operation time and maintenance time, were considered and controlled simultaneously to simulate drilling operation by stochastic modeling technique, using historical data. A case study was carried out using discrete event simulation (DES). Multiple simulations were used to quantify risk. The research outcomes show that the proposed approach can be used as a tool to assist production scheduling and asset management.
Drilling performance management through reliability-based optimization