THE COPPERBELT UNIVERSITY

SCHOOL OF MINES AND MINERAL SCIENCES

DEPARTMENT OF MINING ENGINEERING

PROJECT TITLE:

EVALUATION OF MODULAR FLEET MANAGEMENT

SYSTEMS AT KANSANSHI MINE, ZAMBIA.

AUTHOR: CHIPAMPE KALUMBA IAN

COMPUTER NUMBER: 13058423

This thesis has been submitted to the School of Mines and Mineral Sciences in partial fulfilment
of the requirements for the award of the degree of Bachelor of Engineering in Mining
Engineering of the Copperbelt University.

SUPERVISOR: PROFESSOR P.R.K CHILESHE

AUGUST 2018
DECLARATION
I, CHIPAMPE KALUMBA IAN, hereby declare that this work is my own and that other people
have been accordingly acknowledged and that the work is not a duplication of any work
researched by other people at this University and/or indeed any other institution, but entirely
mine.

AUTHOR: Date:

CHIPAMPE KALUMBA IAN …………………………

PROJECT SUPERVISOR: Date:

PROF. P. R. K. CHILESHE …………………………...

HEAD OF DEPARTMENT: Date:

DR. S. CHINYANTA …….………………….

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DEDICATION
This thesis is dedicated to Jehovah almighty for all things work for good to them that love the
Lord and are called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28).

To my beloved Mother Barbara Chipampe and my Father Alan Chipampe who have been the
best parents ever, it has not been easy to see me through school, but their encouragement and
confidence they had in me, made me work even harder. Am yet to achieve more things in life
to make you proud.

To my little sister Joyce Chipampe who through your support have made me reach this far in
life and I will forever be grateful.

To my beloved friends Bessy, Lubasi, Chomba, Gift, Patrick, Francis, Joseph, Baxter, Osia,
Ella, Yobe, Amos, Sonny and all my classmates with whom I have had the joy of interacting
with, the five years at CBU would have been meaningless without you guys.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I sincerely thank the following individuals and organizations for their valuable help and
support in making this project a success:
The mine manager at Kansanshi Mine plc, Clayton Reeves and the Chief Mining Engineer
George Nzoma for granting me the internship and the opportunity to undertake this research
project.

My industrial based project supervisor Givers Chanda for the Guidance and encouragement
throughout the development of this research as well as the needed help.

Kelvin Chitambo, Twaambo Simwambana, Pythius Muyupi and the entire Kansanshi Mining
Department I cannot thank you enough for the support, guidance and information that was
rendered to me during my data collection at the mine.

Sanjay Parabhakaran, Watson Nyirenda and Simon Lindsay, your constructive criticism did
indeed broaden my understanding and reasoning pertaining this project.

Modular Mining Technician Department, Dispatch control room and the FQMO’s Planning
Department for the encouragement, tolerance, willingness to help and all the information
provided concerning the project research.

I would like to acknowledge my project supervisor Professor P.R.K Chileshe for his time and
effort as well as the positive criticism rendered towards the completion of this project.

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ABSTRACT
Kansanshi Mine is one of the largest copper mines in Africa, and on the world scale, it is the
eighth largest. The mine produces on average 340,000 tonnes of copper and over 3401.94
kilograms of gold per year. To achieve this, the mine operates a large fleet consisting of over
80 dump trucks and more than 22 shovels that are used for its daily load and haul production
operation. This operation is monitored, controlled and reported by Modular Mining’s
DISPATCH system along with other communication support technical systems.

One of the challenges faced by Kansanshi is mine growth- the mine embarked on an expansion
program to increase production capacity by 60%, the expansion of the general topography
requires the mine to have an increase in the number of trucks and excavators and other support
equipment and hence a demand for an effective and reliable modular fleet management system.
Other challenges are ageing of both the Modular dispatch system and Kansanshi’s fleet.

The main objective was to determine the state of the effectiveness of the modular fleet
management system at Kansanshi Mine. To accomplish the objectives data which was
qualitative and quantitative was collected from both primary and secondary sources including
field observation and participation in truck dispatching operations, interviews, and a review of
mine reports and relevant literature (global, regional and national/local).

Analysis of data showed that fleet availability and utilisation were 78.6% and 85.7%
respectively and on average the total time lost due to Modular failure was about 12hrs 49mins
per month.

Results of the study show that Kansanshi Mine benefits from the use of current Fleet
Mananagement System.

It is therefore recommended that management should reconsider the configurations of the

DISPATCH system, Installation of new on-board hardware to reduce frequent failure of
hardware in the field and the mine should conduct performance analysis focused on detailed
mining operational practices as well as operator performance in relation to the use of the fleet
management system.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
DECLARATION....................................................................................................................... i
DEDICATION..........................................................................................................................ii
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ..................................................................................................... iii
ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................. iv
TABLE OF CONTENTS ........................................................................................................ v
LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................................. viii
LIST OF TABLES .................................................................................................................. ix
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ................................................................................................. x
CHAPTER ONE: BACKGROUND ....................................................................................... 1
1.0 INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................... 1
1.1 LOCATION OF STUDY SITE................................................................................... 1
1.2 PROBLEM STATEMENT ......................................................................................... 2
1.2.1 CHALLENGES AND THREATS ....................................................................... 2
1.2.2 OPPORTUNITIES ............................................................................................... 3
1.3 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY ............................................................................ 3
1.4 SCOPE ........................................................................................................................ 3
1.5 LIMITATIONS ........................................................................................................... 3
1.6 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY ................................................................................ 4
1.6.1 Main Objective ................................................................................................... 4
1.6.2 Specific Objectives ............................................................................................. 4
1.7 ORGANISATION OF THESIS .................................................................................. 4
CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW ....................................................................... 5
2.0 LITERATURE SURVEY ............................................................................................... 5
2.1 FLEET MANAGEMENT ........................................................................................... 5
2.2 DISPATCH SYSTEM ................................................................................................ 7
2.2.1 FLEET MANAGEMENT SYSTEM PROVIDERS ............................................ 8
2.2.2 COMPONENTS OF DISPATCH ........................................................................ 8
2.2.3 DISPATCH HARDWARE .................................................................................. 9
2.2.4 DISPATCH SOFTWARE ................................................................................. 10
2.2.5 GPS BEACON SET UP..................................................................................... 13
2.3 KANSANSHI’S FLEET MANAGEMENT SYSTEM ......................................... 15
2.3.1 Background of Operations ................................................................................. 15
2.3.2 Fleet.................................................................................................................... 16
2.3.3 System Strategies ............................................................................................. 17

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 2.4 DISPATCH OPTIMISATION .................................................................................. 19
2.5 SUMMARY OF LITERATURE REVIEW .............................................................. 20
CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY .................................................... 21
3.0 METHODOLOGY DESCRIPTION ......................................................................... 21
3.1 FIELD RESEARCH .................................................................................................. 21
3.2 PERFORMANCE EFFICIENCY DETERMINATION ........................................... 21
3.2.1 Operational limitations of the system ................................................................ 22
3.2.2 Availability ........................................................................................................ 22
3.2.3 Downtimes ......................................................................................................... 22
3.3 GENERAL DESK STUDY ...................................................................................... 22
CHAPTER FOUR: DATA COLLECTED .......................................................................... 24
4.0 PRESENTATION OF DATA COLLECTED .............................................................. 24
4.1 SYSTEM TECHNICAL INFORMATION .............................................................. 24
4.2 MODULAR OPERATION AND COMMUNICATION DISCREPANCIES ......... 24
4.3 EQUIPMENT AVAILABILITY AND UTILISATION........................................... 25
4.4 DOWN TIMES DUE TO MODULAR FAILURE ................................................... 26
4.5 NETWORK AVAILABILITY ................................................................................. 26
CHAPTER FIVE: DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION ................................. 27
5.0 ASSESSING THE STATE OF THE CURRENT FLEET MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
27
5.1 REAL-TIME PRODUCTION REPORTING ........................................................... 27
5.2 ORE BLENDING ..................................................................................................... 27
5.3 AUXILIARY EQUIPMENT MANAGEMENT ....................................................... 28
5.4 EFFECTIVENESS OF NETWORK ......................................................................... 28
5.5 SYSTEM INTEGRITY ............................................................................................. 28
5.6 DOWNTIMES .......................................................................................................... 30
5.7 AVAILABILTY VS UTILISATION........................................................................ 31
5.8 STRENGTH, WEAKNESS, OPPORTUNITY AND THREAT (SWOT)
ANALYSIS ON THE CURRENT MODULAR FLEET MANAGEMENT ....................... 33
CHAPTER SIX: DISCUSSION............................................................................................ 35
6.0 DISCUSSION .............................................................................................................. 35
CHAPTER SEVEN: CONCLUSION .................................................................................. 37
CHAPTER EIGHT: RECOMMENDATION ..................................................................... 38
REFERENCES ....................................................................................................................... 39
APPENDICES ........................................................................................................................ 41

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Appendix A1: KANSANSHI OPEN PIT............................................................................. 41
Appendix A2: KANSANSHI MINE LAYOUT .................................................................. 42
Appendix A3: KANSANSHI TECHNOLOGICAL EXPANSION..................................... 43
Appendix A4: SUMMARY OF KANSANSHI MINE TECHNICAL SYSTEMS AS AT
2016 ...................................................................................................................................... 43
Appendix A5: KANSANSHI’S DISPATCH SYSTEM VERSION VS LATEST VERSION
.............................................................................................................................................. 44

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LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: Location of Kansanshi Mine, Zambia (www.google.com) ........................................ 1
Figure 2: Operational fleet monitoring and management (Gu et al, 2008) ................................ 6
Figure 3 Typical graphic console and mobile hub (Chipampe, 2017) ....................................... 9
Figure 4 DISPATCH control room computer hardware (Lindsay, 2016). .............................. 10
Figure 5 Overview of the Modular Dispatch system (Olson,2011) ......................................... 11
Figure 6 DISPATCH flow chart (Chapman,2012) .................................................................. 12
Figure 7:Showing the outline of the methodology .................................................................. 23
Figure 8 Modular faults vs others ............................................................................................ 29
Figure 9 Modular faults Categories ......................................................................................... 30
Figure 10 Downtime due to Modular failure ........................................................................... 31
Figure 11 Truck availability vs utilisation ............................................................................... 32
Figure 12 Kansanshi Open Pit ................................................................................................. 41
Figure 13: Kansanshi Mine layout ........................................................................................... 42
Figure 14 Kansanshi technological expansion ......................................................................... 43
Figure 15 Summary of Kansanshi Mine technical systems as at 2016 .................................... 43
Figure 16 Kansanshi’s dispatch system version vs latest version............................................ 44

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LIST OF TABLES
Table 1 Kansanshi fleet production truck and shovel details as of July, 2017. ....................... 16
Table 2 Burn rate and tank capacities for trucks...................................................................... 19
Table 3 Burn hours for drills.................................................................................................... 19
Table 4 Kansanshi system software information ..................................................................... 24
Table 5 Hardware statistics as at July 2017 ............................................................................. 24
Table 6 Modular operational discrepancies ............................................................................. 25
Table 7 Track availability and utilisation from January-July 2017 ......................................... 25
Table 8 Overall shovel availability and utilisation .................................................................. 26
Table 9 Down times due to Modular failure from January-July 2017 ..................................... 26
Table 10 Network availability ................................................................................................. 26
Table 11 Kansanshi copper production from 2005-2012 ........................................................ 32
Table 12 SWOT Analysis on Kansanshi’s fleet management system ..................................... 33

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
BCM Bank cubic meters
BP Best path
CGC Computer Graphic console
DP Dynamic path
FCS Field computer system
FMS Fleet management system
FQM First Quantum Minerals
FQMO First Quantum Minerals Operations
GPRS General packet radio service
GPS Global position system
KPI Key Performance Indicators
LP Linear programing
MMS Modular mining system
MS Millisecond
NW North west
ROM Run ore mine
SWOT Strength weakness opportunity threats
TP Truck productivity
$ United States Dollar

x
 CHAPTER ONE: BACKGROUND
1.0 INTRODUCTION
The chapter gives an insight of the project background regarding the location where the study
was carried out, problem statement, objectives, the significance and the scope of the study.

1.1 LOCATION OF STUDY SITE

Kansanshi Copper-Gold Mine is located in Solwezi, about 180 km northwest of the Copper-
belt town of Chingola. mining is by conventional open pit method, producing copper as the
primary mineral, with secondary minerals such as gold and nickel. Figure 1 gives the location
of Kansanshi Mine on the Zambian map.

Figure 1: Location of Kansanshi Mine, Zambia (www.google.com)

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1.2 PROBLEM STATEMENT
An economic open-pit mining operation depends upon adequate communication, efficiency
and safety. The use of global positioning and wireless technology enable uninterrupted online
planning and real time monitoring of geological and production activities throughout the
mining operations. It is therefore critical to have an authentic and always available
communication system to protect the crews and equipment in challenging terrain and harsh
weather condition. To accomplish this, modern-day mining operations are supported by
communication software applications that are accessed through a network. Therefore, when
such data networks shut down or become unavailable, safety and productivity are
compromised. As mines continuously grow in size and scale so do fleet size. A highly advanced
and up-to-date FMS is required to manage and monitor large fleets. Any improvement in fleet
management will ultimately lead to increased productivity and revenues, while lowering fuel
and maintenance cost.

Kansanshi Mine is one of the largest copper mines in Africa, and on the world scale, it is the
eighth largest. The mine moves on average a total of 150 000 BCMs per day and produces
about 650 tonnes of copper a day. To achieve this, the mine operates a large fleet consisting of
over 80 dump trucks and more than 22 shovels that are used for its daily load and haul
production operation. This unit of operation is monitored, controlled and reported by Modular
Mining’s DISPATCH system along with other communication support technical systems such
as two-way radio system, Caterpillar Mine Star (mainly used for machine health monitoring)
and the Rajant mesh network which is used to create a secure wireless network that spans the
entire open pit mine. This presents the mine with unique challenges and threats to its continued
growth as well as opportunities that can be exploited to its advantage. These challenges, threats
and opportunities are categorized as follows.

1.2.1 CHALLENGES AND THREATS

Mine Growth – Consistently changing topography

Kansanshi Mine embarked on a mine expansion program that was directed at increasing its
production capacity by 60%. This was to be done by joining the existing two pits (Main Pit and
NW Pit). With that in mind continuous growth of the general topography it was required of the
mine to have an increase in the number of trucks and excavators (and other support equipment
such as dozers, graders and water trucks) and hence a demand for an effective and reliable
modular fleet management system.

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Ageing of the Dispatch software and hardware

The mine procured the Modular Dispatch system in the year 2007 at the cost of $1, 668,773.00
with a fleet consisting of 58 trucks at the time the system was being acquired, today the mine
employs the use of over 80 trucks. About 45% of the fleet still employ the use of typical
Graphic Computer screens unlike the latest PTX-C which was launched in the year 2016.

Ageing Fleet – Failing connections

A good fleet management system works best without failing connections, Kansanshi Mine is
faced with challenges of ageing fleet and inconsistent network connection, the disadvantage of
ageing fleet is the poor integration with new systems and loss of data from old on-board
hardware.

1.2.2 OPPORTUNITIES
The greatest opportunity presented with Kansanshi Mine in comparison with other mines is the
high technology it employs coupled with high production which can also be a benchmark in
developing standard mining operation practices in Zambia as a country.

In view of these challenges, threats and opportunities presented with Kansanshi Mine, it was
clear that continued reliance on such conditions increasingly posed operational risk. It was
therefore important to evaluate the Modular Fleet Management Systems for Kansanshi
especially as the mine production increased. This research emerged to address this issue.

1.3 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The importance of this study was to help management make a sound judgement on the status
and operative effectiveness of the Modular DISPATCH Fleet Management System.

1.4 SCOPE
The research deals with the Fleet Management System at Kansanshi Mine. The study was
carried out on the Modular DISPATCH system of the mine. It discussed the technical and
communication systems used by Kansanshi in relation to production operations.

1.5 LIMITATIONS
Limitation to this research project include:

 Obtaining of figures for cost on system updates, utilities, components and hardware
was not possible despite repeated efforts.

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  Time constraints to tackle complete evaluation of the system and all associated
operational problems in relation to fleet management.

1.6 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

1.6.1 Main Objective

 To determine the state and effectiveness of Modular fleet management System at
Kansanshi Mine plc.

1.6.2 Specific Objectives

• To review and analyse the modular DISPATCH system, its integration with other
technical systems and its applications in mine operations at Kansanshi in terms of; (i)
Real time production reporting, (ii) Ore blending, (iii) Crew line up, (iv) Ancillary
equipment management and (v) Effectiveness of modular network

• To Compare Kansanshi’s Fleet Management System with world mining

communication best practices.

• To Suggest or recommend ways of improving current physical infrastructure and/or

software.

1.7 ORGANISATION OF THESIS

Chapter 1 Backround, covers the introduction to the study and describes the location, problem
statement, challenges and threats as well as the scope and limitations.

Chapter 2 Literature Review, covers fleet management, dispatch system and Kansanshi’s FMS
with focus on the overview of the application of FMS on production operations at the mine.

Chapter 3 Research Methodogy, outlines the methodology of the data collected.

Chapter 4 Data collected, discusses the data collected and its respective sources.

Chapter 5 Analysis and Interpretation, provides analysis and interpretation to the data collected.

Chapter 6 Discussion, results arising from the analysis and interpretation are discussed by
comparing with existing literature and objectives of the study.

Chapters 7 Conclusion

Chapter 8 Recommendation.

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 CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.0 LITERATURE SURVEY

The current chapter discusses the theoretical concepts of the study as well as a presentation of
an overview of what other authors have written on FMS. Although this study was an evaluation
of the Modular fleet management system, this section primarily focuses on DISPATCH system
and its background and some of the technical systems for communication used at Kansanshi
Mine. Specifically, this section analyses such literature and reviews the some of the historical
information as well as the current knowledge on:

• Fleet management;

• Dispatch system; and

• Kansanshi Fleet Management System.

2.1 FLEET MANAGEMENT

Improved fleet management was developed by Dantzig and Ramser (1959). They centred on
optimising the routes of gasoline delivery vans between a high volume terminal and a large
number of service stations. This area of research has been employed widely to a variety of
relevant industries, such as delivery services, emergency services, and mining (especially open
pit mining). The practical application of fleet management optimisation in the mines
commenced in the 1970s. Around that time, particular open pit mines such as the Mt. Wright
iron ore mine in Quebec (Beaudoin, 1977) and the Palabora copper mine in South Africa
(Tonking, 1977) developed into large scale operations that brought in usage of heavy trucks.
To remain competitive in the mining industry, there was need to advance from conventional
radio and visual dispatching methods. The adequacy and efficiency of this type of fleet
management brought up questions in the early stages of the computer age. Hence, the mines in
subject Turned into testing grounds for a few of the first computer-aided simple optimisation
exercises in the industry, applying computer programming languages such as FORTRAN
(White, 1982). A small company based out of Tucson called Arizona or MMS Ltd was at the
forefront of the research. They are credited with the deployment of the first world’s computer
based mine management system at the Tyrone Mine in 1982 and to-date are still the leading
providers of one of the best Fleet Management Systems. By 1993, MMS was manufacturing,
installing and supporting its computer-based DISPATCH system at mines worldwide.
Presently, there are numerous outstanding vendors competing in the fleet management market,

5
such as Caterpillar, Leica Geosystems/Jigsaw, MMS and Wenco. A lot of these vendors
provide full ‘suites’ of mine management software, reaching into the realms of ore blending,
mine planning, reliability, collision avoidance and many more.

The aim of fleet management systems is to maximise productivity by applying a variety of

strategies, based upon a combination of heuristic and algorithmic approaches, Heuristics are
methods based on experience for problem-solving. For small mining operations a purely
heuristic approach is much adequate, but less dependable for complex, large-scale mining
operations such as Kansanshi Mine. Such mines involve algorithmic support to make the best
of the vast amounts of highly-dynamic data for optimisation.

The system that controls, manages and implements strategies as above is in general referred
to as a fleet management system. FMS helps to automate the management of trucks and
shovels, which allow production supervisors to increase the productivity of the haulage process
by maximising the utilisation of the equipment, thus lowering operation costs. To provide the
FMS with mobile data, a computer in every vehicle is mounted. All Fleet Management Systems
are based on tracking and monitoring of the position and status of trucks, this is based on GPS
and in some circumstances a GPRS platform. Reference made to the figure 2 describes this
process. When the information about the location, speed and course of the truck is determined
by the system, it transmits such information to a software application.

System
Contains
Software

Figure 2: Operational fleet monitoring and management (Gu et al, 2008)

In large open pit mines, it is required to use large fleets of haul trucks to transport ore and waste
from the pit to various damping sites; in order to manage and track the allocation of these
complex and costly machines, the majority of today's open pit mines apply the use of FMS -

6
which comprises of both software and hardware components. Generally, analysis on successive
data queried from historical databases (compiled by the FMS) is the basic means of measuring
and assessing the reliability, maintenance effectiveness, and production efficiency of mining
haul trucks.

Caterpillar Global Mining defines fleet management by looking more closely at the three basic
components: equipment assignment and optimisation, production monitoring, and position and
material monitoring. (Moore, 2016).

Open pit mining operations normally rely on data from a FMS in order to compute KPI. The
KPI commonly include mechanical availability, physical availability, utilisation, production
utilisation, effective utilisation, and capital effectiveness and these are used for maintenance
planning and production reporting purposes (Hsu, 2015).

Fleet management systems by manual dispatching many times results into uneven cycle times
and over-trucking or under-trucking of loading units, which negatively impacts on productivity
of mine surface operations. Effective fleet management through improved cycle times,
optimized truck assignment, increased availability and utilisation and quick access to
information proved to help Kansanshi Mine maintain productivity despite the growth and
expansion of the pit increasing distances from pit to various dump locations (Kabamba, 2012).

Fleet Management Systems through computerised truck dispatching is one technological

advance that had enhanced the efficiency of the mining operation at Palabora. This considered
the economic incentives, basic operation and general system benefits of Palabora's
computerised truck dispatching system (Batchelor, 1987).

2.2 DISPATCH SYSTEM

The DISPATCH system is a large-scale mine management system that uses the advanced
computer, data communications and GPS technology to provide automatic, optimised haul
truck assignments in open pit mines. DISPATCH optimises the mine operation based on real-
time data. This optimisation helps mines increase productivity and reduce operating costs. It
manages a diversity of mine processes in the operation which are: haul truck dispatching, crew
rotation, and optimizing the designation of equipment. The system uses accumulated data to
predict and suggest actions to optimize productivity. Computerised truck dispatching systems
were developed in the late 1970s and have become the common mode of operation at many
large open pit mines. As each mine is unique, the system needs to be customised to each
operation.

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Dispatch systems can be classified into three major categories as:

I. Manual dispatching system

Manual dispatching system is the standard practice of truck assignment which dates
to as early as the 1960s and involves mostly the use of two-way radio
communication system. The dispatcher has to rely on his personal judgment and
professional experience in a particular pit. It is recommended for small mines
having, say up to 10 operating trucks.
II. Semi-automated dispatching system
A computer is programmed to assist the dispatcher in the decision making process
for assigning the trucks. The system is called semi-automated since the computer
does not have direct contact with the equipment and the dispatcher.
III. Full automated dispatching system

The basic problem with both manual and semi-automated dispatching systems is the
limited ability of human dispatcher to store and transfer large amount of information
over a long time span in a very short processing time. This was the main reason for the
development of full automatic dispatching systems and they are the most emphasised
in current literature. These allow the computer to make the necessary decision for
dispatching trucks without any intervention by human dispatcher.

2.2.1 FLEET MANAGEMENT SYSTEM PROVIDERS

The leading providers for fleet management both hardware and software in today’s world are
Modular Mining Systems, Wenco International Mining Systems Limited, and Leica
Geosystems. Modular Mining Systems mainly offers the DISPATCH system which is
customisable for both open pit and underground mines. Leica Geosystems offer a package
called Leica Jigsaw Fleet Management System (Leica, 2014) and Wenco International Mining
Systems Limited offers Wencomine fleet management system.

2.2.2 COMPONENTS OF DISPATCH

DISPATCH requires numerous and varied components to provide reliable and optimal
dispatching shift after shift. Of these components, the main ones are:

 Field Computer Systems;

 a data radio link;
 a central computer in the DISPATCH Information Centre;

8
  computer software; and
 GPS technology.

2.2.3 DISPATCH HARDWARE

Consists of the location beacons, FCSs and a central computer in the DISPATCH Information
Centre. A detailed description of the system hardware is beyond the scope of this paper but a
brief description is discussed below.

2.2.3.1 Location beacons

Beacons serve different purposes and may be defined to DISPATCH in a number of ways.
Each beacon has a unique identification code and can be defined as either a call point, crusher
reassignment, shovel reassignment, auto arrive or trolley line beacon.

2.2.3.2 Field computer systems

Field computer systems consist of a Graphics Console and Hub which are mounted in all trucks,
shovels, auxiliary equipment (optional), and crushers to enable equipment operators to
communicate with DISPATCH system and vice versa.

Graphic
console

Mobile Hub

Figure 3 Typical graphic console and mobile hub (Chipampe, 2017)

2.2.3.3 Communications hardware
Communication is achieved with the use of a two-way radio system. Two repeaters are located
at the lookout close to the edge of the pit in order to ensure good radio coverage.

2.2.3.4 Central computer hardware

These are hardware installed in the DISPATCH control rooms from where all mine processes
and truck assignments are monitored and controlled.

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Figure 4 DISPATCH control room computer hardware (Lindsay, 2016).
2.2.4 DISPATCH SOFTWARE
The DISPATCH system functions as an integrated data collector, a massive database and a
high speed, real time problem solver. The system uses three computer models to solve mine
operational problems such as:

• Auxiliary equipment tracking;

• Automatic fuel assignments;
• Equipment vital signs monitoring;
• Maintenance tracking;
• Material blending; and
• Extensive reporting capabilities (production reporting).

The DISPATCH system stores collected information primarily in three databases: the pit, shift
and the summary databases.

The pit database contains real-time, continuous data. It is a picture of the mine at any given
moment. The DISPATCH system uses this database to solve real –time operational problems.
This database is constantly being revised as DISPATCH receives and updates data.

The shift database collects every event that occurred and generates information during a time-
stamped shift. Examples of the data contained in the shift database are records of all status
changes, dump records, load records, operator log-in and log-out records, fuel records and so
on.

10
The summary database is a compilation of certain critical data in a shift database. Summary
database is used for essential production reporting as it is easier to use and manage than using
whole shift database. The summary database is compiled sometime after the end of the most
recent shift database.

Figure 5 Overview of the Modular Dispatch system (Olson, 2011)

The three computer models are: Best Path model, Linear Programming model and the Dynamic
Programming model. Figure 6 shows a flow chart describing the inputs and outputs for each
module and how they interact.

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Figure 6 DISPATCH flow chart (Chapman, 2012)
2.2.4.1 BEST PATH (BP)
The DISPATCH system uses the BP model to determine the shortest path between two
locations or points in the mine. It calculates the shortest path by distance and not time from
each point in the mine to every other point in the mine. Best Path takes into account road
gradients, road and routes closures. The BP will recalculate when any roads or locations are
changed The DISPATCH system also sends the results of the best path calculation in the linear
programming model. Appendix A2 and A3 shows the layout of Kansanshi Mine.

2.2.4.2 LINEAR PROGRAMMING (LP)

The LP model is the abstract control for maximizing truck productivity in the mine, it makes
the decision. The LP views shovel/dump circuits as flow rates. The LP model resembles the
work of conveyor belts or pipe lines connecting the loading and dumping points and that the
material is continuously and evenly moving between them.

LP looks at all available loading and dumping locations when creating its solution and dumps
not being used should be on standby or down so that these are taken out of the equation.

LP provides a solution in terms of haulage paths and flow rates, it determines which digger
gets the bigger share of limited resources.

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LP allocates haulage resources to excavating activities based on truck-dependant loading rates.
It maximizes truck productivity taking into account the following factors:

 Number of diggers;
 Dumping capacities; and
 Amount of trucks.

2.2.4.3 DYNAMIC PROGRAMMING (DP)

The DP model tries to achieve the flow rates outlined in the LP model with real-time truck
assignments. As the DISPATCH system receives truck assignment requests from the field, the
DP generates the actual truck assignment. DP builds “future” scenarios when generating
assignments, checks to see if the truck needs to be assigned in for fuel. Multiple DP assignments
are made when diggers go down or on standby. In cases where you want to Bar or Lock trucks
to a particular digger, it is the DP that enforces such decisions. LP makes the plan; DP tries to
enforce the plan.

The DP works out the neediest digger list as follows:

 Rank each digger by need;

 Need is determined by the largest gap between the goal and actual truck flow to the
digger; and
 Goal defined by multiplying LP cycle time by flow rate.

The DP model when carrying out assignments looks at every LP truck in the pit and when
trucks past their last assignments beacon they are allocated to the digger. All other trucks are
ordered in the list based on their expected assigned request time. The truck requesting an
assignment is placed at the top of the list.

2.2.5 GPS BEACON SET UP

The correct flow of information in the Dispatch System is greatly influenced by how the system
has been set up i.e. the repeater and beacons.

The layout and settings of the various GPS beacons around the mine can have an impact on
how the system allocates trucks and assists in identifying the location of machinery in the “last
location” in the Dispatch utility. Beacons can be configured in various ways to determine a
mobile unit’s response when it encounters a beacon. The main beacon types are loading unit
beacons and dump beacons.

13
There are four main Beacon types namely:

 Way point: triggers when a unit passes into its radius;

 Way point depart: triggers when a unit passes into a radius and again when it leaves;
 End point: triggers if unit within its radius speed drops below the set speed, usually 10
km/h; and
 End point Depart: triggers when a unit within its radius reduces speed below 10km/h
and on departing the beacon.

2.2.5.1 Way point beacons

Dispatch uses way point beacons to track trucks at road call points. Dispatch notes when truck
enters the beacon’s circle of influence. This allows the system to update truck locations and
travel times and to dynamically reassign trucks en route to destinations. Way point beacons
also allow monitoring of truck locations during the shift, using pit graphics utility.

2.2.5.2 Way point departure beacons

A way point depart beacon is the same as a way point beacon, except it also allows Dispatch
to track when a truck departs the beacon’s circle of influence.

2.2.5.3 End point beacon

Dispatch uses end point beacon to monitor the arrival of trucks at destinations, such as shovels,
dumping points, shops and fuelling bays. Dispatch notes when a truck enters the beacon’s circle
of influence and then slows down, allowing the auto-arrival of trucks.

2.2.5.4 End point departure beacons

End point departure beacons are the same as the End point beacons, except they also allow
Dispatch to track when a truck departs a location.

2.2.5.5 Loading unit beacons

Each loading unit has a GPS radius which can be set up in the shovel utility in the graphic
screen. This will automatically “arrive” the truck when it enters the radius. The most effective
beacon for loading units is the end point beacon, with a radius of approximately 100 metres.

If the loading unit kick out is not functional, then the beacon can be set as an End Point
Departure Beacon in order to assign the truck when it breaks the beacon.

The GPS radius should be set to allow for coverage of any queuing trucks, but if two digging
units are close together, their GPS beacon radius should not overlap. With a small beacon

14
radius, spot times may be distorted because the truck would be almost stopped and reversing
into the digging unit before the system registers its arrival. If End point departure beacon is
used, the depart component of the beacon will automatically assign the truck when it leaves the
beacon, if not already kicked out by the digger operator. This may cause the loading unit
operator to become complacent with kick-outs, thus affecting accurate load times.

2.2.5.6 Dump Beacons

Dump beacons should be set-up as end point beacons. This allows accurate dump spot times to
be recorded regardless of tipping location on the dump and they may also be set as end point
departure beacons if the dump switches on trucks are not functional. This will generate an
assignment for the truck on breaking the beacon.

2.2.5.7 Call points

Call points should be set as way points to update the system with a unit’s location. Call points
can also be:

 Reassignment beacons, which means the system re-evaluates the truck’s assignment as
it passes through the call point and may change it according to its requirements.
 Reassignment call points should not be set at intersections as the system assumes it may
reassign the truck. As there is a short time delay in getting the new assignment out to
the truck, it may have already passed the turning point.
 Non-reassignment call point should be placed at intersections to:
o Update travel times and locations in the Dispatch utility
o Assist in maintaining a functional road network in the graphics.

2.3 KANSANSHI’S FLEET MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

In 2007, the mine acquired the modular Dispatch software for use in controlling its mining
operations, this replaced the manual system of operation, with the aim of optimising
production. Kansanshi Mine runs many advanced mining applications (appendix A4) which
require a stable network that can handle all the unique characteristics of each application.

2.3.1 Background of Operations

The first method of truck dispatching was based on manual allocation, a system which had
certain inherent inefficiencies. The principal problems were that shovels rarely required an
exact number of trucks to satisfy their loading requirements and that shovel digging rates,
crusher breakdown, fuel assignments, shovel delays and breakdowns could not be compensated

15
for on time. This is because the allocations were based on the supervisor’s experience and
judgement. Trucks were locked to one digging unit in the manual dispatching system. The
major disadvantages of this system was that real time information was not provided and that
resulted into delayed or wrong production decision, uneven cycle times, lack of speed control
on trucks. Communication was also restricted to a certain point within the haul cycle and it was
not possible to determine the exact location and state of each haul truck.

2.3.2 Fleet
The Kansanshi mining fleet comprises diesel powered production drills, various sized
hydraulic shovels/excavators and a variety of haul truck makes and capacities. The mining of
Ore is carried out by the Company’s own equipment fleet operating under the entity of FQMO.
Trucks and shovels are mainly responsible for primary ore production. Shovels mine
fragmented rock, ore or waste, and then loads it into haul trucks which transport the material
to various destinations. The fleet at Kansanshi used in production consist of about 12 shovels
of different size, and 84 trucks as summarized in Table 1. Light-duty equipment supports the
continuous mining activity of heavy-duty equipment through activities like personnel and tool
movement, in-pit maintenance and surveying work.

Table 1 Kansanshi fleet production truck and shovel details as of July, 2017.

# of units Manufacturer Model Capacity

Shovels
2,1 Hitachi Ex 2500, Ex 870 15cubic meters,12 cubic
metres
3,5,2 Liebherr 9250,9350,984C
Trucks
40 Hitachi EA 3500 II 170 tonnes
6,6 Komatsu HD755, HD 1500 150 tonnes
6,10,6 Caterpillar CAT 777D, CAT 777C, 100 tonnes, 150 tonnes, 100
CAT 777F tonnes

There are groups of personnel who form key links in the smooth and effective operation of the
Kansanshi’s Dispatch system. These groups can comprise haul truck and shovel operators,
grade controllers, spotters, dispatchers and mine production engineering.

16
Haul truck and Shovel operators

The basic actions required of the truck driver are to inform DISPATCH when the truck arrives
at a shovel, when it is being loaded, when a dump assignment is required, to confirm arrival at
the dump and to request an assignment back to a shovel. Other input required is that relating to
the state of the haul truck, being such as experienced, downs or delays the quantity of fuel put
in the truck. Communication with the driver is via digital display on the operator interface
panel.

The shovel operator has basically the same facilities as the truck driver, except that he is
required to indicate to DISPATCH information pertaining composites being loaded, and when
the loading of a truck has been completed.

Dispatchers

The nerve centre of the entire operation is the open pit main view point. Here there are four
computer terminals in use, each of which serves a different function in assisting the Dispatch
operator to control the mining operation.

Mine Production Shift Engineers

Mine production shift engineering personnel are responsible for the upkeep of the DISPATCH
system, particularly with respect to the primary pit configuration data such as haul routes,
composite data and production equipment information. As with computer operating systems,
DISPATCH has many configurable system parameters which affect the efficiency with which
it operates. It is the responsibility of mine engineering personnel to ensure that these parameters
are set to optimise the efficiency of the dispatching operation at all times.

Grade Controllers

These are responsible for physical tracking of the material which is being mined. This is done
through the help of ore polygons that are surveyed on to the pit floor to guide the mining process
and feed in to production tracking and reconciliation. These ore polygons are also published to
the dispatch system and are used for ore tracking purposes.

2.3.3 System Strategies

Several aspects of the system originally brought to Kansanshi required some customization
particularly for strategies pertaining among others to crusher system, grade control process
crew line up, truck fuel service management and Ancillary equipment management.

17
Crusher System

The variable nature of the ore delivered to the four primary crushers operated by the mine
results in rapid variations in crusher feed rates and failure to meet consistent crushing targets
and effective ore blending at digging locations is usually encountered. The feeding rate is
controlled through the provision of robots that give the status of the crusher and also the crusher
supervisor directs arriving trucks to the appropriate bin or dumping bay. Kansanshi Mine does
not operate in high precision hence it employs the use of a physical grade controller to assist
both the shift production engineer and the dispatchers to feed information about what grade is
being mined. However, the crushers system and the modular dispatch systems are not
integrated. It manages the flow of traffic at the crusher.

Ancillary Equipment Management

All ancillary equipment does not have modular installed on them, however this equipment is
monitored by the dispatchers through two-way radio system and location is traced using a geo-
tab.

Crew Line Up

The Dispatch system is set for automatic or manual assignment of personnel to equipment
before the start of a shift, and ensure that each equipment unit has been allocated a suitably
qualified operator. Gather information from various records (Roster, equipment qualifications,
end of shift) before assignments are made. However, it is not quite so for the Mine. The
Dispatch is not run in full automation hence the employment of a gate controller who assigns
operators to equipment manually.

Fuel Service Management

Fuelling targets are manually set for all trucks in the Fleet, this is because the modular
DISPATCH system does not assign trucks automatically for re-fuelling. An alternative has
been implemented were burn hours of trucks are manually calculated so as to optimally assign
the trucks for re-fuel. Tables 2 and 3 represents some of the burn rates and tank capacities that
are used to create a fuel dashboard which guides in fuel assignments for trucks, shovels and all
auxiliary equipment. it takes about two third of a day for a truck to be refuelled, therefore it is
vital to optimally assign trucks at the right time during production so as to reduce on the
operation cost and not to affect crew line up.

18
Table 2 Burn rate and tank capacities for trucks

Machine Class Tank Capacity Burn Rates

785C 1893 97
HD785 1125 62
EH3500 2950 118
777F 1137 48
777D 1137 48
HD1500 2120 100
DK45 1137 130
DK25 757 127
DPI1500 690 30
T50 500 32
CAT785 1893 97
CAT777D 1137 48
DK25K 757 127
DK45KS 1137 130
D25KS 757 127

Table 3 Burn hours for drills

Drills Hours
Panteras 11
Furukawa 11
Atlas
Copco 11
DK45 13
DK25 9

2.4 DISPATCH OPTIMISATION

Surface mining operations requires that efficiency is not compromised. To achieve this, trucks
do not have to wait for loading units, loading units must also not wait for drilling and blasting
and available equipment required for production must not wait for an operator. The dispatch

19
systems help to optimises operations in order to effectively operate surface mining and achieve
production.

The following are some of the systems operational limitations at Kansanshi Mine.

1. Old software system and field hardware;

2. Inefficient calculation of trolley system utilization;
3. Inefficient shift change;
4. Inefficient handover between mining and maintenance department;
5. Unscheduled downtime;
6. No real time payload monitoring; and
7. Poor Machine health monitoring and no automatic fuel assignments of trucks.

2.5 SUMMARY OF LITERATURE REVIEW

Fleet management systems aims to maximise productivity through application of various
strategies, based upon a combination of heuristic and algorithmic approaches. The system that
controls, manages and implements these strategies in general is referred to as a Fleet
Management System. Fleet Management System helps to automate the management of trucks
and shovels, which allow production supervisors to increase the productivity of the haulage
process by maximising the utilisation of the equipment, thus lowering operation costs. The
leading providers for fleet management both hardware and software in today’s world are
Modular Mining Systems, Wenco International Mining Systems Limited, and Leica
Geosystems

The DISPATCH system is a large-scale mine management system that uses the latest in
computer technology, data communications, and GPS technology to provide automatic,
optimized haul truck assignments in open pit mines. Dispatch systems can be classified into
three major categories, manual dispatch system, semi-automated dispatch system and fully
automated dispatch system. It stores collected information primarily in three Databases: the pit,
shift and the summary databases.

Kansanshi Mine runs many advanced mining applications which require a stable network that
can handle all the unique characteristics of each application. In 2007, the mine acquired the
modular Dispatch software for use in controlling its mining operations.

20
 CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.0 METHODOLOGY DESCRIPTION
The chapter describes the methods that were used in carrying out this research in order to meet
the stated objectives of the study. This involved, among other things three primary components:
field research, performance efficiency determination and General desk study. In order to ensure
the success of the project, a comprehensive and systematic data collection was conducted,
which involved dividing the data collected into two categories:

a) Primary sources
• Field Research; and
• Interviews.
b) Secondary sources
• Reports; and
• General desk study.

3.1 FIELD RESEARCH

Field Research was the main source of all the primary data collected. During the field research,
interviews were conducted with various personnel on site to assess the understanding of the
dispatch software. Observations were made on Loading and hauling practices and the cycle of
operations and dispatching procedures. This was done in order to get full understanding on how
the Modular fleet management operates and how dispatchers, operators and stake holders
interact with the system and then single out discrepancies in the operations. This mostly
involved qualitative data and was obtained through observation. The Departments that were
visited include;

a) Dispatch control room;

b) Modular technician department;
c) FQMO’s planning department;
d) ROM pad; and
e) Kansanshi Mining Department (planning and Geotechnical).

3.2 PERFORMANCE EFFICIENCY DETERMINATION

This data was obtained from data compilation forms, reports from various departments and
took into account the operation limitation of the system, availability of both software and

21
hardware components of the system in the field, downtimes due to modular failure and network
availability.

3.2.1 Operational limitations of the system

This was determined by a close analysis on the mining operation monitoring of fleet during
production at the mine in relation to the intended purpose of the DISPACTH software tool.

3.2.2 Availability
Overall availabilities for both software and hardware components were determined from their
breakdown times and schedule maintenance intervals. GPS of the system and network
availability was also stated.

3.2.3 Downtimes
Work delays associated with communication of fleet were considered as a limitation on
production monitoring. Methods of combating such were also sought.

3.3 GENERAL DESK STUDY

The literature review is also known as desk study. This was conducted to do a complete review
and assessment of necessary documentation and literature pertaining to the project. This
involved a review of secondary data such as past and present technical systems used for
communication, availability of GPS and field hardware, and situational analysis at Kansanshi
Mine. Other vendors of fleet management systems and how the DISPATCH system works.

22
 Primary data Secondary data

Methodology
Desk study
Tools and Equipment
Company files
Field research Reports
Interviews Journals
Site Camera Books
Observations Laptop/PC Modular downtimes
MS Excel Literature review
spreadsheet Internet

Figure 7:Showing the outline of the methodology

23
 CHAPTER FOUR: DATA COLLECTED
4.0 PRESENTATION OF DATA COLLECTED
This chapter presents the various data that were collected in order to realize the objectives that
were set for the study. It outlines the purpose of such data, its source(s) as well as a description
of the techniques that were used to collect such data.

4.1 SYSTEM TECHNICAL INFORMATION

This was the first data to be sourced, it was obtained through the Dispatch control room and
modular technical department. This information was important to determine system operational
characteristics both hardware and software.

Table 4 Kansanshi system software information

Parameter Specification
Software Version 5.5.4

Operation system Red hat Linux

Date of installation May 2007

Table 5 Hardware statistics as at July 2017

Parameter Unit#
CGC screen & Mobile hubs 45

PTX-B 55

4.2 MODULAR OPERATION AND COMMUNICATION DISCREPANCIES

This information presents some of the discrepancies that were observed during a field
observation done in the pit. The information was used to analyse and determine the integrity
of the modular DISPATCH system.

24
Table 6 Modular operational discrepancies

Date Time Truck Shovel Comment

20/06/17 - - - Radio communication cut off

21/06/17 08:15 - No operator on shovel.
- - - EX57 Tramming in the wrong direction.
- 09:13 RD 126 Operator can’t send message
25/06/17 11:45 RD 68 - Digger can’t kick truck out of loading
- - RD 128 - Operator can’t be assigned on modular
26/06/17 09:13 RD 66 - Truck was missing
1/08/17 - RD 74 - Modular bolts off, modular not working
08/08/17 08:17 RD 127 Modular not responding
- - RD 97 - Temporarily no network
10/08/17 13:48 RD 56 - Modular not working
17:07 RD 52 - No assignment of truck through modular
09:20 Dozer 76 Radio not working

4.3 EQUIPMENT AVAILABILITY AND UTILISATION

This information was obtained from the FQMO mine planning department, it was used to state
the overall availability of all trucks and shovels and it helped asses the state of Kansanshi’s
fleet in terms of production operation.

Table 7 Track availability and utilisation from January-July 2017

Equipment %Availability % Utilisation

Fleet Cat 777F 81.7 85.4
Fleet cat 785 81.4 75.3
Fleet komatsu HD1500 70.8 74
Fleet Hitachi HD3500 78.5 73
Fleet komatsu HD785 75.7 83.4

25
Table 8 Overall shovel availability and utilisation

% Availability % Utilisation
Shovel 85.7 51.6

4.4 DOWN TIMES DUE TO MODULAR FAILURE

Table 9 shows the downtimes on trucks due to modular failure. This information was obtained
from the FQMO’s planning department and was used to analyse the effects of losing time in
communication on production operations.

Table 9 Down times due to Modular failure from January-July 2017

Month Hours
January 16:20:41
February 9:00:14
March 8:57:15
April 14:20:30
may 6:47:08
June 15:08:37
July 19:14:47

4.5 NETWORK AVAILABILITY

Table 10 shows the network wide availability used by the Dispatch system. This information
was obtained from the Modular Technical Department and was used to determine the
compatibility of effective fleet management and network usage.

Table 10 Network availability

Month % Availability
January 88.47
February 94.18
March 94.84
April 92.21
may 87.42
June 83.58
July 81.48

26
CHAPTER FIVE: DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION
This chapter describes how the data collected was processed and analysed. Under this section,
most of the analysis was done using Microsoft excel. However, it should be noted that analysis
from interviews was not done because conclusive data could not be acquired.

5.0 ASSESSING THE STATE OF THE CURRENT FLEET MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

Kansanshi’s fleet fulfils about 78.6% and 85.7% of the operational availability of trucks and
shovels respectively. It also fulfils about 74.9% and 51.6% of the utilisation for both trucks and
shovels respectively. Kansanshi’s Modular fleet management system has a well-defined
strategy to support the assignment’s needs for its trucks. The mine’s Dispatch system
algorithms are not fully automated and dynamic; hence Fleet objectives are defined ad-hoc in
each shift as per required production targets. Kansanshi Mine uses low precision type of mining
according to a situational analysis done at the mine. The fleet management system still uses
about 45 mobile hubs and CGC screens on almost all the Komatsu trucks and about 55 PTX-B
spread across the other types of fleet.

From a survey about 10% of the of the total fleet does not have modular installed on them, this
causes a lag in the overall monitoring and trucking process, an example can be seen from table
6. were a truck got lost during production hours.

5.1 REAL-TIME PRODUCTION REPORTING

The Dispatch operating system is Linux based see appendix A5, with this in view the
production reports cannot be exported directly to pdf format or Microsoft based documents and
scheduled for automatic delivery. Mining production engineers and other stake holders cannot
consistently track production operation progress. Modular faults are entered manually by the
dispatchers and data from all auxiliary equipment are reported manually after each shift.

5.2 ORE BLENDING

The Crushers and Dispatch system at Kansanshi Mine are not integrated therefore Ore blending
is not fully controlled in conjunction with dispatch algorithms. An observation made was that
Kansanshi’s material tracking and grade control system is mostly dependent on a high degree
of human supervision and monitoring. Example is that mostly DISPATCH does not
automatically reassign trucks when crusher bin is full. This leads to wrong exception reports
and incorrect data from trucks. This makes material tracking and blending unreliable and
onerous to manage. It also causes a lag in reporting and induces a hidden cost. The Mine poses

27
to Benefit on such an arrangement because of its low precision type of mining and scarcity of
high loss in grade at crushers and at stockpiles.

5.3 AUXILIARY EQUIPMENT MANAGEMENT

Kansanshi has approximately 8 loaders, 29 drills, 21 dozers 18 water trucks, and about 26
service trucks for its auxiliary operations. All ancillary equipment is managed using two-way
radio system, they have no modular installed on them, there is inefficient tracking of the status
of these equipment, poor remote assignment of operators to trucks, and when the two-way radio
shuts down, like from table 6 on Dozer 76, it may sometimes result in missing of trucks and
contributes to lost time, there is a low reliability in using two-way radio because radio network
is mostly congested and information from such equipment is not in most cases received in real
time.

5.4 EFFECTIVENESS OF NETWORK

Kansanshi uses the Rajant mesh network over which data is transferred, on average the
availability of this network is about 90.2% (information based on table 10). However, this
network is not fully utilized by the Fleet Management System, this has been observed with
some trucks that experience network problems in some parts of the pit. Refer to table 6.

Some of the Main pit falls of the mesh network are:

 Ineffective design which results in blind spots;

 Inadequate coverage;
 Broken connections;
 Low reliability; and
 Poor connections at dumping sites.

5.5 SYSTEM INTEGRITY

The following presents some of the faults associated with modular both software and hardware
related.

Figure 8 presents the percentage of modular faults in relation to the entire faults on
communication that have been encountered between June 2016 and June 2017.

28
Figure 8 Modular faults vs others

Figure 8 above demonstrates that 17% of all communication faults are modular related, this
results in the inefficient tracking, monitoring and assignments of tracks in the field.

Figure 9 shows in details the categories of faults on modular. From the figure we can see that
the CGC screen faults are more than the PTX-B faults, this shows that old on-board hardware
tends to reduce the efficiency of operation of the dispatch system. 39% of the faults on
configuration, software and screen is mostly because of the age of the system.

Modular GPS fault was 15%, the effect of this can be related to table 6 of the discrepancies
observed on the system.

About 66% of the faults encountered were hardware, this can be used to assess the availability
of on-board hardware of the dispatch system in used in production operations.

29
Figure 9 Modular faults Categories

5.6 DOWNTIMES
Using the Table 9 of values on the down time due to Modular failure, a bar chart was plotted
to represent the data graphically. This bar chat shows the frequency of down times as a result
of the modular faults.

Calculations shows that on average the total time lost due to Modular failure was about 12 hrs
49 mins per month. This questions the integrity of the system in-line with its intended purpose
and it poses a threat on safety of both personnel and machinery. Down in communication may
also lead to loss of data.

30
 Communication downtime due to Modular failure
(january-july)2017
0:00:00
19:14:47
19:12:00 16:20:41 15:08:37
14:20:30
HOURS

14:24:00
9:00:14 8:57:15
9:36:00 6:47:08
4:48:00
0:00:00
1
MONTHS

jan feb mar apr may jun jul

Figure 10 Downtime due to Modular failure

5.7 AVAILABILTY VS UTILISATION

Before production at a mine commences, all necessary parameters are considered. This include
technical, social, economic, environmental and political factors. One aspect considered within
the technology is the issue of effective utilisation of available equipment with relation to
increase in productivity.

The availability of all trucks was compared against their utilisation as shown in the figure
below. The result showed that with the use of modular dispatch, the trucks which were most
utilised were the ones that where most available, the komatsu trucks.

31
 TRUCK utilization & availability
january-june 2017
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Fleet Cat 777F Total Fleet cat 785 Total Fleet komatsu Fleet Hitachi Fleet komatsu
HD1500Total HD3500Total HD785 Total

Availability Utilization

Figure 11 Truck availability vs utilisation

The exponential increase in copper production at Kansanshi mine from 2007-2008 is an

indicator of efficiency in the operations which have been boosted by the modular Dispatch
system. Up until now the copper production at the mine has been ever increasing. This can be
evident as shown in Table 11.

Table 11 Kansanshi copper production from 2005-2012

Year Copper production (tonnes)

2005 69,579
2006 126,794
2007 163,824
2008 215,315
2009 244,315
2010 231,124
2011 230,295
2012 261,351

32
5.8 STRENGTH, WEAKNESS, OPPORTUNITY AND THREAT (SWOT) ANALYSIS
ON THE CURRENT MODULAR FLEET MANAGEMENT
Table 12 identifies the areas of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats for Kansanshi’s
modular fleet management system.

Table 12 SWOT Analysis on Kansanshi’s fleet management system

STRENGTH WEAKNESS

 Fleet number and size is sufficient  Poor production monitoring

enough to meet any production  Ageing of fleet and system equipment
operation  Outdated DISPATCH system Software.
 The Dispatch system is one of the most  The current structure, content and
trusted fleet management system quality of the data gathering reports
software makes it challenging to report in real
 High standard mesh network for its data time.
flow  Systems does not run in dynamic mode
 Current fuel service management  Poor ore blending control by dispatch
effective system
 High network and fleet availability  Inefficient shift change leads to less
 Unit Cost of operation is monitored in production in the first and last hour of
real time every shift
 Standard machine health monitoring  No store and forward capability by
system hardware of information when fleet is
 High availability of data network and passing through a blind spot.
quick response time. Refer to appendix  Ancillary equipment depends entirely
4. on two-way radio system.
 Increasing production  Frequent failure in hardware
component due to hash terrain, weather
conditions in pit and Human error
 Kansanshi is Still using mobile hubs
and computer graphic console screens
(CGC) on 45% of the fleet
 Load factor or payload monitoring

33
  Second-hand data from proprietary
system

OPPORTUNITIES THREATS

 The fact that the current evaluation of  Theft of batteries in access points
the Modular fleet management system reduces network coverage.
has been initiated demonstrates  Quality of grade may be compromised
recognition within the company of the because of non-integration between
need to improve the management and fleet management software and
operation of the system crushers. Inefficient payload
 Being one of the largest copper monitoring from the pit will influence
producers in Zambia, Kansanshi mine quality of grade.
plc could take the opportunity to lead by  It would be costly to run a system that
example on fleet management practices is old and merge it with latest
for other mining industries and could technological equipment and systems.
also be a way of attracting investors.
 Developing standard mining operation
practices.
 The more automated a system is the less
the chances for operator error.

34
CHAPTER SIX: DISCUSSION

6.0 DISCUSSION
Existing literature shows that fleet management helps to automate the management of trucks
and shovels which allow production supervisors to increase the productivity of the haulage
process by maximising the availability and utilisation of equipment. Advancement in latest
computer and software is key to achieve maximum production through the use of a Dispatch
system. Kansanshi Mine is well posed to apply both semi-automated and fully automated
dispatching. The operational characteristics of the mine shows that the fleet number and size is
sufficient to meet any production operation. The mine installed its fleet management software
in 2007 and the last update of the system was made in 2013. Due to proprietary nature of the
system most equipment is unable to integrate and fully harmonise mining operation.

In line with the main objective the state and effectiveness of modular fleet management system
was analysed by carefully looking at how the production operations are conducted at the mine
and observing how personnel interacts with the system.

Most data in system should be available via web-interface, including reports, on-line
monitoring and administration tools. With Kansanshi only the dispatch manager should use the
special software to manage the fleet in real time with built-in web tools and this led to the
modification of the core code of system which has made the software package difficult to
update.

For production reporting each on-board computer collects data from sensors, stores it and
instantly sends data to the server using the wireless system in real time. If there is no MESH
coverage collected data is stored in the on-board computer and transmitted to the server
immediately when the MESH connections re-established. Informational integrity is questioned
because Modular dispatch at Kansanshi does not have store and forward capabilities when
connection is temporally lost.

The general requirements for a Mine Fleet Management System are;

 Real time management

 Automatic dispatching (with option of control by dispatcher)
 Automatic data collection
 Automatic data export

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 Automatic data import\export
 Ore Blending and quality management
 Web-interface for most of the functions
 Real time reporting and statistic counting
 High precision navigation systems
 Automatic e-mail and SMS messaging
 One system for all the mining equipment (including railways, auxiliary vehicles)
 Mobile applications for engineer on-site

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CHAPTER SEVEN: CONCLUSION
MAIN OBJECTIVE
To determine the state and effectiveness of Modular fleet management System at Kansanshi
Mine plc.

Effectiveness of the system was determined by reviewing the production rate of the mine which
is ever increasing. Analysis on the system’s integrity shows that Kansanshi Mine benefits from
the use of the current Modular fleet management system.

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES
To review and analyse the modular DISPATCH system, its integration with other technical
systems and its applications in mine operations at Kansanshi in terms of; (i) Real time
production reporting, (ii) Ore blending, (iii) Crew line up, (iv) Ancillary equipment
management and (v) Effectiveness of modular network

As illustrated in Chapters 2 and 5 for review on the system and analysis respectively, it was
discovered that real production reporting is dependent on both data from on-board hardware
and manual entry by the Dispatcher owing to the fact that the system is not run in dynamic
mode. Other systems run independently of the dispatch system. Ore blending and crew line is
entirely dependent on human supervision. All ancillary equipment does not have modular
installed on them. Modular network is highly available but lucks utilization by the fleet.

To Compare Kansanshi’s Fleet Management System with world mining communication best
practices.

From the literature reviewed, it was discovered that the mine has one of the most trusted fleet
management system software which is employed by some of the largest and productive mines
in the world.

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 CHAPTER EIGHT: RECOMMENDATION

COMPANY RECOMMENDATION
The following are some of solutions to the study based on the data analysis and research
findings.

 Management should reconsider the configurations of the DISPATCH system.

 Installation of new on-board hardware to reduce frequent failure of hardware in the
field.
 To do an Optimization analysis on both the Network and Dispatch systems.
 Perform a Review and cost benefit analysis on installation of new and latest system
utilities and components of dispatch system.
 Modular system should be installed drilling machines to help monitor drilling and
blasting operations which may impose a huge bearing on loading and crusher
performance.
 Ancillary equipment should be considered for modular instalment to help in easy
tracking.
 Workshops should be conducted to help train both administrators and operators of the
dispatch system to help effective implementation and understanding of the system.
 The mine should conduct Performance Analysis focused on detailed mining operational
practices as well as operator performance.
 Hardware technology should be designed to be “plug n play” regardless of software and
application architecture.

ACADEMIC RECOMMENDATIONS
To anyone wishing to pursue this project later on for academic reasons, further research must
be conducted on the following:

 If possible, gather more information on the effect of a poor dispatching system on the
conventional mining cycle of drilling, blasting, loading and hauling.
 Conduct research on the importance of fleet management and the advancement in
mining technology.

38
REFERENCES
1. Batchelor, D. (1987). The implementation of a computerised truck dispatch system at
Palabora. Proceedings of the Twentieth International Symposium on the Application of
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2. Beaudoin, R. (1977). Automated truck dispatchin-mount wright operations. CIM first

open-pit operators conference , p. 12.

3. Chapman, A. (2012). A Field Study on Haul Time Variability in Open Pit Mines,
Master's Thesis, Department of Mining, Queen's University.

4. Chipampe, I. (2017). Evaluation of Modular fleet managent project presenation.

5. Dantizig, G.B.R. (1959). The truck Dispatching Problems. In Managment Science. pp.
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6. Darling, P. (2011). SME Mining Engineering Handbook, Society for Mining,

Metallurgical and Exploration, Colorado, United States

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14. Olson, J. (2011). Computerized mine production system, patent number: S8190173 B2,
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15. Parabhakaran, S (FQM). (2017). Overview of Kansanshi's Fleet management system

[Personal communication] (July 2017).

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 APPENDICES
Appendix A1: KANSANSHI OPEN PIT

Figure 12 Kansanshi Open Pit

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Appendix A2: KANSANSHI MINE LAYOUT

Figure 13: Kansanshi Mine layout

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Appendix A3: KANSANSHI TECHNOLOGICAL EXPANSION

Figure 14 Kansanshi technological expansion

Appendix A4: SUMMARY OF KANSANSHI MINE TECHNICAL SYSTEMS AS AT 2016

Figure 15 Summary of Kansanshi Mine technical systems as at 2016

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Appendix A5: KANSANSHI’S DISPATCH SYSTEM VERSION VS LATEST VERSION

Figure 16 Kansanshi’s dispatch system version vs latest version

44