CONTINUOUS TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM MODELLING IN ONE OF UNDERGROUND MINES FOR THE PURPOSE OF ORE FLOW SIMULATION.

In Polish underground copper ore mines belt conveyors are the most common transport facilities. In KGHM Polish Copper SA there are over 100 km of belt conveyors. To increase reliability of the transportation system there are built numerous ore bunkers ensuring continuity of the excavation during 5 working days of the week and on weekends, during which ore bunkers feed processing plants. In addition, some conveyors were built as reverse ones what in cases of emergency can provide alternative routes to supply ore to hoisting shafts. The modelling of ore flow in transportation system is complicated by the fact that conveyors operate continuously when loaders and trucks loading ore from mining faces on conveyors and vertical transport by skips operate cyclically. The real solutions resulting from meeting needs to achieve certain output with real capabilities provided by current machinery is difficult to model and optimize it theoretically in a such complicated transportation system. Therefore, a good simulation models can be used for that. Simulation analysis can be conducted in order to analyze reliability of transportation system due to emergency downtimes creates huge losses in production as well as in order to lower unit transportation costs due to yearly transportation needs are great (over 34 million tonnes of ore) and costs are high. Analysis of mass flow through transportation system allows to try finding hidden reserves to increase production without additional investments. Another aspect of the simulation research, which lately has got growing interest in mining worldwide is monitoring of ore quality changes along the transportation routes from mining faces to processing and metallurgy plants. Without the knowledge of ore lithological composition and useful mineral content on conveyor belts with enough time advance there will be no possibility to adjust beneficiation processes according to it. Possibility to trace and then to control mixing of ore from hundreds of mining faces in transportation system is necessary to adjust mining advances in order to attain optimal feed in processing plant and stabilize it for the time necessary to improve yield through adjusting controlled parameters and optimization of the whole technological line from ore identification and extraction through transportation to processing and metallurgical plants. Without good tools for modeling and simulation of transportation processes in such complex systems as exists in KGHM's mines and capability to trace quantity and quality of the ore loaded and transported it will not be possible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]