Mining Practices and their Effect on Mobile Equipment Costs

S Poke1 and R Lethlean2

ABSTRACT
The mining industry in its drive to optimise equipment use and minimise cost simply to remain profitable in an uncertain commodity market needs to develop a greater understanding of equipment capabilities and cost. The factors influencing mobile equipment fleet cost and performance commence at the time of mine planning and continue to exert an influence over the life of the mine. These factors must be understood at the early stages of any operations planning process as they continue to impact both positively and negatively on fleet performance and operating cost throughout the life of the mine. The key factors examined in this paper include: grades; rolling resistance; fragmentation and truck loading.

development of training materials. The development of some training aids have taken into account multimedia and interactive technology. These technologies have been incorporated to provide ongoing support packages with advanced enhancements. Suppliers and manufacturers are inclined to offer training schedules that can be incorporated into site training schedules. Training programs may be run on or off site for operators and maintenance personnel and the training requirements for any equipment/fleet to be selected should be considered in the supply contract.

MINE PLANNING INTRODUCTION

This paper identifies some of the factors that influence the operation of trucks and loaders in a mine haulage fleet. Mine operators must be aware of the impact these factors can have on mine performance and cost. Substantial room for expansion of such factors exists and on-going investigation would continue to identify and define such effects on the mining cycle. Consideration of these effects during the project planning and mining phase will assist with ongoing control throughout the life of the project. Factors to take into account in this process include (but are not limited to) haulage design-width, grade, profile, drainage, passing? Road/Haulage maintenance what road base will be employed, what support equipment will be required, what cost basis will apply? Rolling resistance what is the target considering the grade selected and haulage maintenance process to be applied? Productivity what tonnages will be moved? over what time period? and what are the limiting factors to this? Fuel consumption what fuel cost/consumption limitations apply? How does this impact on equipment size selection and ventilation demand? Fragmentation and stope design has the proposed equipment been considered in this process, how will the access design effect extraction and loading/hauling efficiencies? The issues noted are not covered in explicit detail however the effects of some factors are discussed and their level of awareness will be raised. Early discussions (In the planning stage) with equipment suppliers/manufacturers can aid the process of matching mine design with equipment capabilities. Following the sometimes lengthy and costly process of bringing exploration tenements to life as a mine, the impact some of the decisions have during the project evaluation and mine planning stages can be significant, more so in later years of the project. Such decisions can ultimately impact on the mines ability to remain profitable and should be made with the best available information at the time. With prior knowledge, mine operators can design out inefficiencies and allow for associated up-front cost contingencies. It is a very costly process to instigate programs after the fact, especially in new operations that are challenged with start up and commissioning schedules. Consideration during early planning can assist with identifying the specific needs of each project and this approach can create the awareness required to source information necessary to address imposts. The planning and mine design process are rightly the responsibility of geological and mining faculties. However, applicable expertise to assist in the process can be accessed and should be included. This can be in the form of a reverse engineering approach to the challenges and should include a site severity analysis before any severity arrives. Operational severity usually arrives in the form of cost beyond budget expectations. A severity analysis and its possible impact can be assessed by visiting operations already employing systems being considered for any project. A severity analysis is definable as a bench marking exercise. After having made, a large capital investment and being faced with operational imposts that should be addressed in the planning stage, returning to the board room for more capital when the grader was left out of the fleet, or trying to manage the operating budget where no contingency was made for the road maintenance program can be a very frustrating, not to mention a embarrassing, situation

TRAINING
Training is key to the development process in formulating a efficient and motivated team. Training must be incorporated in the planning and costing phase of mine development. There should be no exception as the training process can facilitate development of a close association between mining and maintenance departments. Training of operators and maintenance personnel has the ability to enhance the costs focus toward any equipment fleet. In an effort to aid this function, substantial resources have been applied by equipment manufacturers and suppliers toward the
1. Marketing Manager, Caterpillar Elphinstone Pty Ltd, 2-8 Hopkinson Street, Burnie Tas 7320.

HAULAGES, GRADES AND ROAD MAINTENANCE

Haul road grades and surface conditions directly impact on haulage costs. (Figure 1) In the past there have been moves toward steeper haulage grades from the normally accepted 10 12 per cent grade to 15 per cent grades. This approach can reduce initial mine construction costs and may have some positive production effects however, it can add significantly to haulage equipment operating and maintenance costs. A reduction in equipment component life is expected as a result of increased grades, higher load factors and increased fuel burn rates. This scenario will not only effect the haulage cycle on grade, additional costs will apply to the return cycle due to increased brake and retarder activity and front tyre loading.

2. Product Development Manager, Caterpillar Elphinstone Pty Ltd, 2-8 Hopkinson Street, Burnie Tas 7320.

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equipment speed. The effect of poorly maintained haulages is reflected in generic charts to follow. Rolling Resistance (RR) is a measure of the force that must be overcome to roll or pull a wheel over the ground. Ground conditions and load affect it the deeper a wheel sinks into the ground, the higher the rolling resistance. Internal friction and tyre flexing also contribute to rolling resistance. Experience has shown that minimum resistance is approximately two per cent (1.5 per cent for radial tyres or dual tired trucks) of the gross machine weight (on tyres). Resistance due to tyre penetration is approximately 0.6 per cent of the gross machine weight for each centimeter of tyre penetration (1.5 per cent for each inch of tyre penetration). Thus rolling resistance can be calculated using these relationships in the following manner: RR = 2 per cent of GMW + 0.6 per cent of GMW per centimeter tyre penetration
FIG 1 - Haul road grades and surface conditions directly impact on haulage costs.

RR = 2 per cent of GMW + 1.5 per cent of GMW per inch tyre penetration It is not necessary for the tyres to actually penetrate the road surface for rolling resistance to increase above the minimum. If the road surface flexes under load, the effect is nearly the same the tyre is always running uphill. Only on very hard, smooth surfaces with a well compacted base will rolling resistance approach the minimum (Figure 3).

Downhill effects will further increase with loaded return cycles, where hauling backfill, road base or other materials is necessary. The design, grade and size of main haulages should be given due consideration with the associated costs to maintain these haulages factored in. Unfortunately some operations may consider road maintenance as a spare time exercise, a process in the mining cycle which does not add directly to tonnes hauled. Some may argue this is a correct assumption however what will become clearly evident is the impact on production costs, productivity and equipment maintenance when subscribing to this methodology. A well planned and managed road maintenance program must be included in each project as the overall cost per hour or cost per tonne of the program will be minimal in comparison to what can be saved in haulage fleet costs. The definition of poor road maintenance can be likened to the similarity of driving the family sedan around the local motor cross track. It will be a slow rough journey and if a continual practice can result in costly, unscheduled, mechanical failures or over an extended period of time may result in an accident and personal injury.

ROLLING RESISTANCE
The impact of rolling resistance on hauler performance (Figure 2) will increase or decrease mine production. This is attributed to higher load factors due to poor under foot conditions reducing
FIG 3 - Rolling resistance vs tonne/hour performance.

FIG 2 - Rolling resistance vs performance (effect on tonnage and fuel consumption).

When actual penetration takes place, some variation in rolling resistance can be noted with various tyre inflation pressures and tread patterns. It should be noted that the introduction of support equipment such as a grader for road maintenance, will have a significant impact on rolling resistance and the total cost per tonne. The extent of haulage condition effects (Figure 4) reflects the variation through effective road maintenance. While road maintenance cost may have limited impact on fleet costs in the first year of a new operation, some effect on reduced tyre costs, fuel burn rates and increased productivity will be evident if measured. Major components such as suspension, hitches, frames, etc will not initially attract substantial costs in the early stages of operation, even on poorly formed or maintained roads however, this approach if left unchecked will see an inevitable rise in costs sometime thereafter. The world of computers now provides the ability to accurately simulate the effect of haul road conditions on machine production and fuel consumption. As an example to demonstrate this, the following situation was analysed.

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Underground Operators Conference

MINING PRACTICES AND THEIR EFFECT ON MOBILE EQUIPMENT COSTS

FIG 4 - Optimum haulage distance variation with support equipment.

FIG 5 - Fragmentation impact on total cost/tonne.

The simulation of a 40 tonne truck tracking along a 1200 m cycle on roadways of four per cent and six per cent rolling resistance was conducted. The results of the simulation reflects the unit on the haul with a lower rolling resistance provides a production advantage in tonne per hour at a lower unit cost. Extrapolating the data and setting a production target of one million tonnes and calculating this tonnage to be moved with two trucks (and one loader) (Table 1) over the same haul route at the differing rolling resistance factors of four per cent and six per cent defines the simulated results shown. (A grader was added into the equation for System A to achieve the four per cent rolling resistance). TABLE 1 Fleet cost analysis.
System A* Roll resistance (average) Shift Hours (p.a) Mechanical avail (%) Operator efficiency (%) Production target Number of loads Number of trucks Number of support vehicles (graders) Fleet production tonnes/hour Owning and operating cost/hour (fleet) Cost/tonne 4% 4000 90.2 75 1 000 000 1 2 1 433 280 0.50 System B 6% 4000 81.0 75 1 000 000 1 2 0 371 230 0.56

* System A = Fleet with grader System B = No grader

Fragmentation is a key production driver however the full impact of its effects may not be well understood from an equipment cost perspective. Stope design in addition to focusing on reduced drilling patterns, and explosive consumption should consider the factors effecting equipment cost and production. While stope design may be limited to geological structure it should include analysis of draw point design for consideration of, grade and entry orientation, hauler loading position and the ongoing maintenance approach to such factors. Examples exist where reductions in explosive consumption have been made (immediately measurable) but at an increase in maintenance costs to equipment. Poor fragmentation may not only be an impost on equipment costs but also on the longevity of the equipment. The following scenario expands on the issue of fragmentation effects. Equipment components are generally designed to meet preestablished design criteria set down by the manufacturer, this criteria may include load factors, load cycles, stresses and torsion moments. Design factors are limited to known dynamics and therefore designed accordingly within pre-established load limits. When equipment is continually applied (or mis-applied) outside these design limits the yield point may be met and/or exceeded, ultimately resulting in component failure. While it could be considered that points of overload in many applications are few, one overload beyond component elastic deformation followed by lighter loading will not repair the damage, ie overloading of 110 per cent cannot be reversed by an equivalent period of underload at 90 per cent. Oversized material introduced into the mining cycle due to poor fragmentation can expose equipment components to loads beyond design limits and has a negative effect to overall mine productivity.

FRAGMENTATION
The cost of good or poor fragmentation (Figure 5) can be measured albeit not normally tracked as a cost impact on underground mining equipment. Fragmentation will continue to occupy the thoughts of miners, equipment and explosive suppliers alike and these thoughts in some areas of the mining industry have progressed toward project initiatives and working arrangements to measure the direct effect of fragmentation on equipment performance and productivity. While these initiatives may presently be orientated toward surface applications there is a place for similar initiatives in underground mining.

Load control
The ability to control and ensure optimum load factors are achieved can greatly impact on productivity, operating cost and equipment longevity. The consequence of inconsistent payload can impact on two key areas of the loading and hauling fleet, they are underload or overload and both can have considerable effect on the bottom line. While the underload factor will normally attract the greatest focus by the mine operator who may consider this scenario as

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under utilisation of the equipment, equating directly to lost production, the same can be said about the effect of long-term overloading. Overloading will result in lost production due to unscheduled and premature mechanical failure. To address the possibility of under load occurring with a new operation, defining the accuracy of material Specific Gravity (SG) is a key factor. The SG factor can be used by the manufacturer/supplier to accurately and optimally size bucket and body capacities. The process for existing mines can be determined by carrying out a production study analysis at the work site, determining exact load factors for equipment. With respect to the control of machine overload it is important to have accurate figures for the variation in materials (Figure 6) to be handled and to track load data for optimum hauler efficiencies. The operation of equipment over an extended period in overload mode will be reflected in higher operating costs per hour/per tonne.

FIG 7 - Target load range for optimum hauler efficiency.

Mine operators who have discovered the merits of payload monitoring in their day to day activities have moved forward and can now analyse planned vs actual outcomes.

CONCLUSION
The factors identified in this paper should not be left unattended and conclusions can be made that the control of trucks and loaders in the haulage process of a mine requires focused management and a continued approach to the monitoring of equipment applications and utilisation. Ongoing attention to this part of the mining operation due to the intense level of capital investment will ensure assets are gainfully employed and fine tuning through a well managed approach will facilitate better returns. With the assistance of computer simulations fleet performance projections can be directly compared with the actual figures achieved. As a result areas identified where optimum production is not achieved can be addressed.

FIG 6 - Overload effects with material density change.

With todays technological advancements in payload monitoring/load weighing systems, load control can be closely managed however, a disciplined approach must be implemented with respect to collection, collation, formatting, reporting and actioning the available data (Figure 7). Underground miners can utilize payload monitoring as a step toward the drive by industry to move toward real time management. Load control through currently available systems can immediately provide a very functional method of moving toward a real time process. Payload monitoring systems also have the ability to provide more than just equipment load information, they can provide cycle time data, productive time versus idle (non-productive) time. Payload monitoring can be used to monitor actual production tonnes versus calculated tonnages where the use of factors may not necessarily be representative of actual production. Most hauling and loading tools can be equipped with payload monitoring systems during factory build up or alternatively systems are available for installation during the predelivery process and can be retrofitted in the field.

REFERENCES
Caterpillar Performance Handbook (PHB) edition 28 (1997). Caterpillar Fleet Production Cost (FPC) computer simulation software program Version 2.04 (1997). Use of Motor Graders, Tractor Wheel Scrapers and Track Type Tractors in Quarrying Applications Peter J Brewster, Caterpillar of Australia Ltd. Effects of a Mine Profile on the performance of Off Highway Trucks Caterpillar of Australia Ltd. Matching Trucks and Loading tools for aggregate operations D F McBeth, Caterpillar Inc (1989).

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