Reliability analysis of production schedule in multi-element deposits under grade-tonnage uncertainty with multi-destinations for the run of mine material

Abstract

Abstract Blending contributes to create an opportunity to achieve the target feed material and helps optimize the run of mine (ROM) material. In addition, it allows mixing different materials and achieving a wide range of quality. Then, multiple destinations can be considered for ROM. The present study seeks to develop a Mixed Integer Programming (MIP) model for the production scheduling of an iron ore mine. Based on this model, different destinations are considered for mine products with different specifications. To this aim, ten scenarios were considered with a number of different destinations. The results indicated that the maximum NPV in the multiple product scenarios is about 15% more than that of the single product scenarios. Further, 30 realizations were used to evaluate the effect of grade and tonnage uncertainty. The reliability of the production plan was approximately 61.07% and 62.81% in the first and second period of exploitation, respectively.