Development of a Match Factor and Comparison of Its Applicability with Ant-Colony Algorithm in a Heterogeneous Transportation Fleet in an Open-Pit Mine

Abstract

In a transportation fleet in open-pit mines, the match factor is defined between loading and dumping vehicles. This factor helps in indicating the number of vehicles that depend on each other. In this study, a new parameter termed the “detailed match factor” is developed to improve the transportation fleet and relationships are deduced to control the production and grade. A transportation fleet model was simulated for a typical iron ore mine and was solved using both the detailed match factor and ant-colony algorithm methods. The detailed match factor helped in increasing the production by 10.6%.