Review of recent developments in short-term mine planning and IPCC with a research agenda

Abstract

ABSTRACT In-Pit Crushing and Conveying (IPCC) has gained momentum in recent years to replace trucks partially or fully in large open pit mines because of the shovel-truck system's increasing fuel and labour costs and conveyor systems' low operating costs and less greenhouse gas emissions. This article reviews the most recent literature since 2010 on short-term planning, based on different formulation and solution approaches, and IPCC, based on primary objectives such as optimum crusher location, economic/environmental comparison etc., to find the research gaps and future research opportunities in short-term planning with IPCC. The review reveals that hardly any short-term planning model can generate mine extraction sequences with IPCC integration. Therefore, a short-term planning methodology considering the IPCC system would be a pioneering step in the mine planning literature. Hence, the authors propose a theoretical short-term planning framework with IPCC as a future research direction.