Zhaohao Wu

Open-pit polymetallic mines commonly encounter challenges such as the asynchrony between mining and processing operations, large fluctuations in ore supply structure, and high haulage volumes, which lead to increased transportation costs and instability in processing plant feed grades. To address these issues, this study, driven by practical production requirements, proposes a two-stage hybrid optimization strategy that combines the global search capability of NSGA-III with the local intensification of particle swarm optimization (PSO), aiming to achieve the coordinated optimization of transportation cost minimization and plant feed grade maximization under constraints imposed by ore supply boundaries and processing plant capacity. To further identify the most suitable solution from the resulting Pareto-optimal set, the VIKOR multi-criteria decision-making method is employed to evaluate and select a blending scheme with optimal balance under the dual objectives of cost and grade. The effectiveness of the proposed approach is validated using a real-world production case, with experimental results showing that the optimized blending scheme achieves a cost reduction of more than 9%, while the gold grades of oxide and sulfide ores are increased to 2.40–3.16 g/t and 2.14–2.17 g/t, respectively, leading to a significant improvement in the overall plant feed grade. Compared with the actual weekly blending plan used in practice, the proposed method enables a comprehensive optimization of transportation cost, feed grade, and ore supply structure within a unified framework.

A vast number of boreholes in underground mining operations are often plagued by deviation issues, which severely impact both production efficiency and safety. The accurate and rapid acquisition of borehole trajectories is fundamental for subsequent deviation control and correction. However, existing inclinometers are limited by their operational efficiency and estimation accuracy, making them inadequate for large-scale measurement demands. To address this, this paper proposes a novel method for the rapid and accurate reconstruction of underground mine borehole trajectories using a robotic system. We employ a custom-designed robot equipped with an Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) and a displacement sensor, which travels stably while collecting real-time attitude and depth information. Algorithmically, a complementary filter is used to fuse data from the gyroscope with that from the accelerometer and magnetometer, overcoming both integration drift and environmental disturbances. A cubic spline interpolation algorithm is then utilized to time-register the low-sampling-rate displacement data with the high-frequency attitude data, creating a time-synchronized sequence of ‘attitude–displacement increment’ pairs. Finally, the 3D borehole trajectory is accurately reconstructed by mapping the attitude quaternions to direction vectors and recursively accumulating the displacement increments. Comparative experiments demonstrate that the proposed method significantly improves efficiency. On a complex trajectory, the maximum and mean errors were reduced to 0.38 m and 0.18 m, respectively. This level of accuracy is far superior to that of the conventional static point-by-point measurement mode and effectively suppresses the accumulation of dynamic errors. This work provides a new solution for routine borehole trajectory surveying in mining operations.

As a critical enabler of trackless mining operations, load-haul-dump (LHD) vehicles rely heavily on efficient and safe path planning to support the industrial deployment of autonomous driving systems. However, existing planning algorithms often suffer from heavy computational demands, limited adaptability to the constrained kinematics of articulated LHDs, and insufficient robustness in complex underground environments. To address these challenges, we propose a Hybrid A* path planning method guided by high-level reference states. The method first integrates the A* algorithm with generalized Voronoi diagrams to rapidly generate a reference state set along tunnel centerlines. This reference serves as a structural guide for downstream search. Then, a region-aware dynamic node expansion strategy and a multi-objective heuristic cost function are introduced to improve planning efficiency and path quality. Comparative evaluations across three representative underground tunnel scenarios demonstrate that the proposed approach outperforms baseline methods in terms of safety, efficiency, and robustness, providing a viable solution for motion planning of LHDs in confined underground spaces.

Intelligent ventilation systems can optimize airflow regulation to enhance mining safety and reduce energy consumption, driving green development in mineral resource extraction. This paper systematically elaborates on the overall architecture, cutting-edge advances, and core technologies of current intelligent mining ventilation. Building upon this foundation, a comprehensive intelligent mine ventilation solution encompassing the entire process of ventilation design, optimization, and operation is constructed based on a five-layer architecture, integrating key technologies such as intelligent sensing, real-time solving, airflow regulation, and remote control, providing an overarching framework for smart mine ventilation development. To address the computational efficiency bottleneck of traditional methods, an improved loop-solving method based on minimal independent closed loops is realized, achieving near real-time analysis of ventilation networks. Furthermore, a multi-level airflow regulation strategy is realized, including the methods of optimization control based on mixed integer linear programming and equipment-driven demand-based regulation, effectively resolving the challenges of calculating nonlinear programming models. Case studies indicate that the intelligent ventilation system significantly enhances mine safety and efficiency, leading to approximately 10–20% energy saving, a 40–60% quicker emergency response, and an average increase of about 20% in the utilization of fresh air at working faces through its remote and real-time control capabilities.

In the underground mine ventilation area, the absence of robust solutions for nonlinear programming models has impeded progress for decades. To overcome the enduring difficulty of solving nonlinear optimization models for mine ventilation optimization, a major technical bottleneck, we first develop an advanced linear optimization technique. This method transforms the nonlinear ventilation optimization and regulation model into a linear control model, avoiding the limitation of difficulty in solving the nonlinear mathematical model. The linear strategy opens up a new solution idea for the nonlinear calculation of the mine ventilation optimization and regulation. Furthermore, this study introduces evaluation metrics for ventilation scheme quality, including minimal energy consumption, fewest adjustment points, and optimal placement of these points, enhancing flexibility in ventilation network optimization. By analyzing the ventilation model control objectives and constraints, we formulated a linear optimization model and developed a multi-objective mixed-integer programming model for ventilation network optimization. This paper constructs and verifies a calculation example model for mine ventilation optimization, assessing its reliability based on airflow distribution calculations.

Traditional orebody modeling methods struggle to efficiently integrate new geological data. Therefore, we propose a novel framework for dynamically updating 3D geological models by directly interpolating geological logging data. The core innovation lies in the innovative interpolation of raw interpreted cross polylines into an implicit scalar field representation without intermediate explicit surface extraction or manual remodeling. To obtain reliable vectorized polylines, we developed image recognition and digitization techniques that are based on the pattern recognition of geological sketches. Moreover, different from existing implicit techniques, we present an improved approach to interpolate complex cross polylines that are dynamically based on the improved principal component analysis. The method allows specifying a priori constraints to adjust the erroneous estimated normal to improve the reliability of the normal estimation results of cross-contour polylines. The a priori information can be combined into the normal estimation algorithm to update the normals of the corresponding adjacent contour polylines in the process of normal estimation at the intersection points and in the process of normal propagation. By leveraging the radial basis functions-based spatial interpolators, the method continuously assimilates incremental geological observations into the interpolation constraints to update the implicit model. Case studies demonstrate a reduction in the modeling cycle time compared to conventional explicit methods while maintaining geologically coherent boundaries. The framework significantly enhances decision agility in resource estimation and mine planning workflows by bridging geological interpretation and dynamic model iteration.

Intelligent mining technology, as the core driving force for the digital transformation of the mining industry, integrates cyber-physical systems, artificial intelligence, and industrial internet technologies to establish a “cloud–edge–end” collaborative system. In this paper, the development trajectory of intelligent mining technology has been systematically reviewed, which has gone through four stages: stand-alone automation, integrated automation and informatization, digital and intelligent initial, and comprehensive intelligence. And the current development status of “cloud–edge–end” technologies has been reviewed: (i) The end layer achieves environmental state monitoring and precise control through a multi-source sensing network and intelligent equipment. (ii) The edge layer leverages 5G and edge computing to accomplish real-time data processing, 3D dynamic modeling, and safety early warning. (iii) The cloud layer realizes digital planning and intelligent decision-making, based on the industrial Internet platform. The three-layer collaboration forms a “perception–analysis–decision–execution” closed loop. Currently, there are still many challenges in the development of the technology, including the lack of a standardization system, the bottleneck of multi-source heterogeneous data fusion, the lack of a cross-process coordination of the equipment, and the shortage of interdisciplinary talents. Accordingly, this paper focuses on future development trends from four aspects, providing systematic solutions for a safe, efficient, and sustainable mining operation. Technological evolution will accelerate the formation of an intelligent ecosystem characterized by “standard-driven, data-empowered, equipment-autonomous, and human–machine collaboration”.

This paper presents a surface modeling method for interpolating orebody models based on a set of cross-contour polylines (geological polylines interpreted from the raw geological sampling data) using the bi-Coons surface interpolation method. The method is particularly applicable to geological data with cross-contour polylines acquired during the geological and exploration processes. The innovation of this paper is that the proposed method can automatically divide the closed loops and automatically combine the sub-meshes. The method solves the problem that it is difficult to divide closed loops from the cross-contour polylines with complex shapes, and it greatly improves the efficiency of modeling based on complex cross-contour polylines. It consists of three stages: (1) Divide closed loops using approximate planes of contour polylines; each loop is viewed as a polygon combined with several polylines, that is the n-sided region. (2) After processing the formed n-sided regions, Coons surface interpolation is improved to complete the modeling of every single loop (3) Combine all sub-meshes to form a complete orebody model. The corresponding algorithm was implemented using the C++ programing language on 3D modeling software. Experimental results show that the proposed orebody modeling method is useful for efficiently recovering complex orebody models from a set of cross-contour polylines.