From mine to client: improving the performance, robustness and resilience of mineral supply chain logistics systems

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Minerals such as cobalt, copper, lithium, nickel, and zinc are indispensable for the functioning of our technological society and for the green energy transition, essential to the fight against climate change. Therefore, the efficient flow of mineral-rich materials from mines to refined mineral products in the market is a critical issue not only for mining companies but also for the entire global economy and the world's transition to a lower-carbon future. This multidisciplinary research project will explore how digital-intelligence technologies can be leveraged to develop efficient, robust, and resilient logistics solutions that account for the particularities of the mining sector.We focus on ore transportation, one of the most vital concerns in mining operations, and one that presents many challenges. Typically, ore from the mine goes to processing plants, and the refined products are subsequently shipped to customers using some combination of conveyor, truck, rail, and ship transport. This process is affected by several sources of uncertainty, including but not limited to supply, demand, costs, and equipment availability. We aim to develop decision-making tools for the design and planning of ore transportation logistics that explicitly account for the various uncertainties as well as the interactions among the stakeholders, thereby improving performance, robustness, and resilience and proactively managing potential mineral supply chain disruptions. Those tools will be based on optimization, analytics, and information technology.As we are dealing with a context where there are decision makers at different levels and many sources of uncertainty, our results will have implications for other sectors with similar characteristics such as multimodal freight transportation. Our mining-industry focus will yield results that are directly applicable to Quebec's and Canada's mining industries, which in 2020 accounted for 21% of Canada's total merchandise exports and contributed $9 billion to Quebec's gross domestic product (GDP) and $107 billion to Canada's GDP.