Appraising production targets through agent-based Petri net simulation of material handling systems in open pit mines

In a mining operation, significant differences between production targets in the planning stage and actual production quantities are a common issue. These differences can be related to heterogeneity of quality of ore within orebody, availability, and reliability of mining equipment, design-related problems of mining activities, and external factors. One way to understand the feasibility of targeted production rates is to simulate the activities. In this paper, an agent-based Petri net simulation model is proposed to check whether production targets are feasible, and the extent to control head grade in mineral processing. The model evaluates different realizations under the uncertain operation environment. Moreover, the fuel consumption of haul trucks is tracked in the proposed model. A case study was carried out to evaluate the proposed approach in an open pit mine. The research outcomes showed that this approach could assist in capacity installation, mineral processing design, and fuel tracking in mining operations.