Economic evaluation of materials handling systems in a deep open pit mine

Kesegofetse Bumo-Motswaiso, Raymond S. Suglo

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Materials handling constitutes a large portion of the costs of mining operations. Therefore, the system chosen must be cost-effective yet meet the production demands of the mine. In this paper, unit haulage costs, economic risk and sensitivity analyses were conducted to determine the optimal way of handling materials in a deep open pit mine between the traditional truck-shovel haulage system (TSHS) and in-pit crushing and conveying (IPCC) haulage system. The results show that the IPCC haulage system has lower unit costs than the TSHS. The NPV of IPCC system is US$ 15.09 × 109 while that of the TSHS is US$ 14.64 × 109; the DPP of the TSHS and IPCC systems are 2.94 months and 2.13 months, respectively, while the IRR of the TSHS and IPCC systems are 147% and 185% respectively. As the NPVs of both systems are positive, with very short DPPs and high IRRs, the systems are considered to be economically viable. However, the IPCC is considered more economically viable than the TSHS. The NPV of IPCC is less sensitive to variations in the input variables compared to TSHS.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)37-48
Number of pages12
JournalInternational Journal of Mining and Mineral Engineering
Volume13
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2022

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Geotechnical Engineering and Engineering Geology
  • Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

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