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Insights from our peer-reviewed journal | Compiled by Megan Skrip - 20 October 2026
Doing more with less: A new fleet optimization framework reveals how reassigning existing trucks and loaders boosted open-pit production by 41% without buying more equipment
Lead author Mehrnaz Mohtasham at an open-pit mine site. Courtesy of Mehrnaz Mohtasham
An open-pit mine’s haulage fleet can be its most expensive capital investment; so when operational bottlenecks result in substantial loader downtime and productivity shortfalls, the most obvious solution—acquiring more haul trucks—may be cost-prohibitive. This paper’s new decision-support framework demonstrates how mines can minimize their capital expenditures by changing existing fleet assignments in order to decrease capacity mismatches between haul trucks and loaders, resulting in improved productivity.
Combining mathematical optimization with simulation of real-world mine conditions, the researchers modelled loader-truck interactions across 11 mining faces at the Sungun open-pit copper mine in Iran, comparing equipment performance before and after tested interventions. They found that removing two low-performing loaders and strategically redistributing those loaders’ assigned haul trucks among the remaining mining faces improved overall production at the mine by 41 per cent.
Combining mathematical optimization with simulation of real-world mine conditions, the researchers modelled loader-truck interactions across 11 mining faces at the Sungun open-pit copper mine in Iran, comparing equipment performance before and after tested interventions. They found that removing two low-performing loaders and strategically redistributing those loaders’ assigned haul trucks among the remaining mining faces improved overall production at the mine by 41 per cent.
“The key message of our research is that improving mine productivity is not always about adding more equipment,” said lead author Mehrnaz Mohtasham, assistant professor of mining engineering at the University of Mohaghegh Ardabili in Iran. “By making smarter decisions about how existing trucks and loaders are assigned, mining operations can increase production, reduce inefficiencies and make better use of available resources, even as conditions change.”
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