Application of fuzzy linear programming for short-Term planning and quality control in mine complexes

Abstract

Production planning in a mine complex aims to determine the amount of material that should be mined from each site, and can be modelled as a linear programming problem. Deterministic production plans are optimized based on the estimated quantity and quality of the in-situ material. These estimations always have a level of uncertainty and impreciseness due to the insufficiency of exploration data in the planning phase. In this paper, based on the gathered data, the uncertainties of grades, recovery, and mining costs are modelled using bounded fuzzy numbers. Due to the quality variation of the material, mine planning and blending optimizations are in fact uncertainty-based optimization problems. Thus, a fuzzy linear programming model is formulated to optimize short-Term production planning. The results provide a comprehensive set of solutions with a corresponding degree of membership. As an illustration, the model is applied to a limestone mine complex, and a conservative and an optimistic plan are provided.