Optimization of Short-Term Underground Mine Planning Using Constraint Programming

• Main Authors: Aalian, Younes, Pesant, Gilles, Gamache, Michel
• Other Authors: Younes Aalian and Gilles Pesant and Michel Gamache
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik 2023
• Subjects: Mine planning; Constraint Programming; Short-term planning; Underground mine; Scheduling; Nunavut; Canada
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.4230/LIPIcs.CP.2023.6; https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-190430; https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.CP.2023.6

Short-term underground mine planning problems are often difficult to solve due to the large number of activities and diverse machine types to be scheduled, as well as multiple operational constraints. This paper presents a Constraint Programming (CP) model to optimize short-term scheduling for the Meliadine underground gold mine in Nunavut, Canada, taking into consideration operational constraints and the daily development and production targets of the mine plan. To evaluate the efficacy of the developed CP short-term planning model, we compare schedules generated by the CP model with the ones created manually by the mine planner for two real data sets. Results demonstrate that the CP model outperforms the manual approach by generating more efficient schedules with lower makespans.