MOL Report Twelve - 2023/2024
Official repository version: University of Alberta ERA
ERA DOI: 10.7939/84202
Recommended citation DOI: Use the ERA DOI above when citing this report.
Abstract
MOL Report Twelve (2023/2024) compiles 23 papers across five main themes: strategic mine planning and mine design; implementation of in-pit crushing and conveying (IPCC) in open pit mining; environmental impacts and sustainable mining; operational mine planning; and other mining systems topics. The volume highlights research on optimization, simulation, and data-driven decision support for mining systems.
Across the strategic planning papers, contributors developed and compared deterministic, stochastic, and mixed-integer optimization frameworks for ultimate pit limit design, pushback design, long-term scheduling, sublevel caving, and stockpile management, with a focus on improving net present value and decision quality under uncertainty. The IPCC papers examine both long- and short-term planning questions, including haulage cost reduction, crusher placement, stockpiling, system resilience, and comparative performance against traditional truck-shovel systems.
The sustainability papers integrate greenhouse gas emissions, dust, carbon pricing, and life-cycle assessment into mine planning models, showing how environmental objectives can be incorporated with economic goals. The operational planning papers explore fleet dispatching, shovel and truck allocation, artificial intelligence, and discrete-event simulation for improving productivity and responsiveness. The final group addresses flotation plant prediction, blast analysis, and rock excavation modeling.
Together, these papers demonstrate MOL's continued emphasis on mine planning and design, simulation modeling of mining and industrial systems, and optimization, while showcasing contributions from faculty, postdoctoral fellows, graduate students, alumni, and collaborators.
Contributors
- Hooman Askari-Nasab — Professor, Director of MOL
- Eugene Ben-Awuah — Professor, Laurentian University
- Yashar Pourrahimian — Associate Professor, University of Alberta
- Ali Moradi Afrapoli — Assistant Professor, University of Kentucky
- M. Mahdi Badiozamani — PhD, Research Assistant (2018/03)
- Shahrokh Paravarzar — PhD, Post Doctoral Fellow (2022/10)
- Hongshuo Gong — PhD, Post Doctoral Fellow (2024/01)
- Magreth Dotto — PhD Student (2018/01)
- Emmanuel Appianing — PhD Student (2018/05)
- Nasib Al-Habib — PhD Student (2018/09)
- Alireza Kamrani — PhD Student (2018/09)
- Soroush Khazaei — PhD Student (2019/09)
- Pedro P. Vasquez Coronado — PhD Student (2019/09)
- Mojtaba Yeganejou — PhD Student (2020/05)
- Sandra Fahl — PhD Student (2022/09)
- Samaneh Moradi Pirbalouti — PhD Student (2022/09)
- Khaleeq Ahmed — PhD Student (2023/01)
- Mohammad Al-Masri — PhD Student (2024/09)
- Milad Rahnema — MSc Student (2022/05)
- Bahar Amirmoeini — MSc Student (2022/09)
- Yaa Karikari — MSc Student (2023/01)
- Joshua Azorliade — MSc Student (2023/09)
- Eyram Agozie — MSc Student (2023/09)
- Kwaku Konadu Akuffo — MSc Student (2023/09)
- Emmanuel Donea — MSc Student (2023/09)
- Cristina Miranda Bermudez — MSc Student (2024/01)
- Obed Appiah — MEng Student (2023/09)
Rights and use
All rights reserved. All material in this report is, unless otherwise stated, the property of the Mining Optimization Laboratory (MOL).
Reproduction or retransmission of the materials, in whole or in part, in any manner, without the prior written consent of the copyright holder, is a violation of copyright law.
The report may be circulated and disposed at your discretion; however, the following copyright notice must be adhered to.
Copyright © 2024, Mining Optimization Laboratory, University of Alberta.
Suggested citation
Badiozamani, M. M., Pourrahimian, Y., Ben-Awuah, E., Moradi Afrapoli, A., & Askari-Nasab, H. (2024). Mining Optimization Laboratory (MOL) - Report Twelve, 2023/2024. University of Alberta, Mining Optimization Laboratory (MOL). https://doi.org/10.7939/84202