Design optimization of electric mines

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For the last hundred years, diesel-powered trucks have dominated the mining industry. These diesel trucks emit dangerous emissions and high amounts of heat, which necessitate the use of immense ventilation infrastructure to maintain a safe work environment for underground miners. The recent advances in lithium-ion battery technology, including cost reduction and an increase in energy density, have made battery-powered electric mining trucks a plausible alternative to diesel-powered trucks. The main economic benefit of using electric trucks stems from the reduced ventilation needs, though there are additional benefits including reduced fuel costs, reduced greenhouse gas emissions, and improved worker health and safety. Though the benefits of using an electric mining truck in place of a diesel truck are becoming more well-known, larger benefits are projected if the whole mine as a system is considered from the initial design concept. If a new mine is planned to operate with only electric trucks, further economic benefits can be obtained by installing a smaller ventilation system, and thus digging smaller tunnels, and thus removing less waste from the mine. The question is: how can a mine be optimally designed for use with electric trucks? The proposed project will answer this question by creating algorithms which optimize the design of a mine for specific use with electric mining trucks. The algorithms will incorporate validated models of electric and diesel trucks and will perform an optimization in both space and time domains: the physical design of the mine (diameter of tunnels, ventilation system, planned number and sizes of electric trucks) will be optimized in conjunction with the time element (charge scheduling, truck speeds). The resulting algorithms have the potential to significantly improve the way mines of the future are designed, with concrete benefits in terms of economics, health and safety, and environmental protection.