MATCH FACTOR DETERMINATION OF EXCAVATOR-TRUCK COMBINATION IN SURFACE MINING: CASE STUDY OF MERIT PILA COALFIELD, SARAWAK

Abstract

Effective fleet management in surface mining is crucial to optimize the cost of surface mining. A complete method to determine the match factor for heterogeneous excavator-truck combination at Merit Pila Coalfield, Sarawak will be presented in this paper. This application is a fast and easy way to quantify the effectiveness of the fleet in mining. The match factor of 1.09 was obtained and proven by observation with the queuing length of one truck at one of the excavators. This result is crucial for the mining engineers to quantify and evaluate the existing performance and plan for more effective excavator-truck combination and scheduling in the near future.