Surface Mine System Simulation and Safety Risk Management

Modern surface mines, either mono-system or multi-systems, need a large fleet of equipment consisting of excavators, loaders, haulers and auxiliary machines. Presently, the complexity of the system, the interference between sub-systems and the lag in management skills has been a bottle neck for improving productivity of the system. Based on the fact that the traditional tools for safety analysis have been insufficient to evaluate systematically and dynamically the safety risks, this paper tries to create a virtual reality tool consisting of human, machine and mines, using Pro/E and the 3D MAX software in order to evaluate visually the operations of typical mining equipment, such as the bucket wheel excavator (BWE), the shovel, the truck and the dragline. Within this virtual world, the behavior of the system, such as interaction, interference and potential risk can be replayed and reviewed visually. The objective of the study is to identify the critical safety issues of the system and to provide a convenient and powerful tool for safety training and safety management.