Methods and applications of digital monitoring for mine haul road assessment

Transportation of rock mass is the main cost factor in open-pit mining, covering both the maintenance of mine haul roads and the operation of dump trucks. The high importance of optimizing the operation of mine transport is confirmed by the leading share of its costs in the total cost of mineral extraction. A relevant area of optimization is the development and implementation of digital technologies for processing data on the state of mine haul roads. The solution to these issues should be based on the results of research and development work on collecting and processing information on the operational and technical condition of dump trucks and mine roads. This study simultaneously tests three different modern digital monitoring methods, such as: unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV); vital information management system (VIMS) and GNSS-based data acquisition system (Racelogic VBOX), which allow experimental measurements of mine dump truck operating parameters both within the framework of special single experiments and in term of long-term monitoring measurements. The article presents data from experimental measurements to establish the condition of two sections of mine haul roads at the Vostochny open pit mine, Ekibastuz coal deposit. The study assessed the impact of mine road defects on the operating parameters of 130-ton dump trucks of the CAT 785 from Caterpillar, including recording the range of loads on the metal structures of dump trucks during their movement from road defects that exceed the regulated values of the manufacturers. Recommendations are presented to improve the efficiency of operation of mine haul roads.