ABSTRACT
A computer model has been developed to simulate the operation of the continuous surface miner (CSM) with trucks in open pit mines. Use of network modelling embedded in discrete and continuous procedures provides sufficient flexibility and simplicity to evaluate the system’s performance. The performance measure, production rate, may be combined with equipment cost values to estimate the system’s performance. Stochastic simulation is used to reflect the random variation in duration of CSM and truck activities. Data was collected from an operating mine through time studies and analysis of production records. The deviations of sample cumulative frequencies of the cycle components from their theoretical values (chosen distribution) when tested by the stabilized probability plot method, showed Weibull distributions. This distribution was fitted to the various time elements of the truck and CSM work cycle. Validation against production data from the operating mine showed that the model satisfactorily described the system performance.
