Vale, a Brazilian multinational corporation engaged in metals and mining, wanted to maximize the productivity of its open-pit coal mines in Moatize, Mozambique. To test different scenarios without disrupting the operations, the company opted for simulation modeling and contracted with Genoa, a decision support company specializing in optimization and simulation.
One of the largest resource companies in the world, with over $80 billion in sales, decided to enter a new market. It was planning to build a new potash mine and export 90% of production. They wanted to design a reliable supply chain, with high-speed replenishment, and the ability to recover, or even benefit, from disasters, both natural and man-made. Amalgama and Goldratt were contracted to design the potash mining operations and a full supply chain for outbound logistics.
Mid-term and operational planning in mining is an area where simulation has become a de-facto standard. Simulation copes well with the planning of mining operations: with its hundreds of interacting machines, overlapping maintenance activities, complex layouts of mine fields, and limited capacity of bunkers and conveyors.That is why the world’s leading mining companies frequently ask for integrated simulation-based tools, with user-friendly interfaces, to support their mid-term and day-to-day operations planning. This was the way the world’s 2nd largest nickel producer followed.
SPb-Giproshaht is a consulting company that operates internationally and carries out design, procurement, and construction projects for the mining industry. Their flagship project in this domain is a haulage system optimization project for the mining company Medvezhy Ruchey, one of the largest miners of copper-nickel sulfide ores. Medvezhy Ruchey partnered with SPb-Giproshaht to develop mining haulage simulation models of an ore deposit that could be used for haulage system routing and mining processes optimization.
Managers and engineers responsible for mining operations regularly face many difficult tasks. They have to make decisions and commitments while working in a complex mining system, where no component is isolated. With the help of Amalgama and one of the Big Four consulting firms, the largest European potash producer simulated the mining process using AnyLogic. A big potash mine is 8 x 8 km in size. 900 thousand tons are mined per month on three underground levels. The mine has 21 km of conveyor belts taking the ore through the system to the skip hoist.
Any underground works, be it in construction or mining, are distinguished by limited operating resources and space, as well as close interconnections between processes. As a result, specialists inevitably face uncertainties when developing schedules. To create a new project scheduling technique, a team of engineers opted to use simulation modeling software.