Simulation: Addressing operational challenges in underground mining
Underground mining, especially in large and long-established mines, becomes increasingly complex as operations grow over time. Mines that have been operating for 5, 10, or even 30 years face logistical challenges, which can make day-to-day management difficult. The logistics of coordinating people, equipment, and work across different locations compound this complexity.
Supervisors and managers in these mines are responsible for allocating resources—typically limited equipment and personnel—at the start of each shift. In simpler environments, this can be managed with paper-based shift plans, spreadsheets or basic scheduling software. However, as mine complexity increases, these tools become inadequate.
The growing complexity of mining operations
In complex mines, the sheer number of variables—where to send workers, how to allocate equipment, and how to prioritise tasks—increases the risk that daily operations will not achieve the desired results. The ultimate goal of any underground mine is to bring ore to the surface, the primary source of revenue. Any inefficiency in planning and resource allocation leads to increased costs without corresponding revenue.
When the wrong instructions are issued in a complex mine, the risk of missing production targets increases, resulting in significant financial losses.
The role of advanced simulation software
This is where advanced simulation tools, like idoba.sim, prove invaluable. Unlike a digital twin, which mirrors real-time operations, our advanced simulation software allows mining operators to project potential future outcomes based on various scenarios and inputs.
With idoba.sim, operators are able to test the effectiveness of their plans, before committing resources. These simulated scenarios help ensure that the right resources are allocated to achieve production goals, reducing the risk of costly mistakes.
Transforming decision-making in mining
Time-to-decision-making is critical in underground mining, which has traditionally been a reactive industry. When unexpected incidents occur, operators must quickly decide how to recover and stay on track. Simulation software like idoba.sim enables mine operators to test potential outcomes rapidly and proactively make faster decisions without the risks associated with real-world trial and error.
Assumption: Will adding another truck to our fleet help us achieve our production targets?
In theory, more trucks should increase productivity, but in an underground mine with limited space, more equipment can create congestion, causing delays and reducing efficiency. idoba.sim enables your team on site to test such scenarios, ensuring that decisions like these are based on data, not assumptions.
The simulation team at idoba, conducted a study Balancing Trade-offs: Using Simulation to Optimise Load & Haul Underground. Using our advanced simulation software idoba.sim, they demonstrated that a simulation-based approach can rapidly reveal inefficiencies, and optimal configurations - all within just a few hours.
Another frequent question mine operators face is how to pair loaders and trucks efficiently, and whether adding a stockpile would improve operations. These decisions are costly to experiment with in the real world, but with simulation, they can be tested digitally. Operators can determine the best locations for stockpiles, how large they should be, and whether they will actually improve productivity—without the financial risk of building unnecessary infrastructure.
Benefits of simulation in mining
One of the most significant benefits of using simulation software like idoba.sim is reducing commercial risks. Mining is a highly capital-intensive industry. Large investments, sometimes in the billions of dollars, are required upfront, and often for years before the first revenue is realised.
“There’s significant uncertainty around whether a mine will generate the expected revenue after such a massive investment. This uncertainty directly affects the confidence that investors and lenders have in a project’s return on investment.” ~ Dave Andrews
Simulation software like idoba.sim enables teams at site to quickly test the likelihood of achieving long-term, multi-period plans, helping reduce this uncertainty.
For instance, if a mining company can simulate production outcomes over several years, it gives decision-makers much greater confidence in their capital investments. By increasing the certainty of successful outcomes, simulation has the potential to revolutionise how investment decisions are made in mining, particularly when bringing new mineral production online.
Simulation tools enable mining companies to:
Predict and optimise resource allocation: Test how various resources like personnel, equipment, and stockpiles interact to improve productivity.
Reduce commercial risk: By modelling long-term plans and outcomes, simulation helps ensure the best possible return on capital investment.
Improve decision-making speed: Simulations allow for rapid scenario testing, helping mine operators make better decisions in real time.
Avoid costly mistakes: Rather than building infrastructure or deploying resources without certainty, mines can use simulations to avoid costly errors that may negatively impact production.
The benefits of idoba.sim for leaders in mining
For mine managers, our simulations software provides a higher degree of certainty in operational and investment decisions. Communicating production targets to the market and investors, leaders need to be confident in their ability to meet those goals. idoba.sim offers a powerful tool to test and optimise complex operational plans before execution, significantly reducing the risk of failure.
Conclusion
As underground mines grow in complexity, traditional planning tools are no longer sufficient to handle the many variables involved in daily operations. Advanced simulation software, like idoba.sim is providing a fast, easy to use tool to test operational plans, optimise mining processes, and reduce the risk of costly mistakes.
Adanced simulation software is transforming decision-making for mining leaders empowering operators to make faster, better-informed decisions. In today’s increasingly complex underground mining environments, simulation tools are no longer just a helpful addition—they are essential for staying competitive and driving success.
David Andrews, Product Manager 20+ years experience
A geology and engineering professional with over 20 years of mining experience, integrating the technical disciplines at underground mine sites to ensure enterprise risk mitigation and enterprise value optimisation are completed at the design stage. As Product Manager for idoba.sim and an avid user of the software, Dave is passionate about strategic thinking, business transformation and finding simplicity on the other side of what can be extremely complex, vertically integrated value chains in the mining industry.