Limestone quarry production planning for consistent supply of raw materials to cement plant: A case study from Indian cement industry with a captive quarry

A long term production planning of limestone quarry is presented to supply consistent quantity and quality of limestone to a cement plant. A case study from Indian cement industry is presented where the cement plant has a captive limestone quarry. The objectives of this study are: (a) to investigate how long the limestone quarry can alone supply the desire quality and quantity materials to the cement plant; and (b) to investigated the possibility of extending the quarry life by utilizing some quantity of the limestone from the different source and blending that limestone with the limestone from the quarry to achieve the target quality and quantity of the cement plant. These objectives are achieved by generating the production sequencing of the mining blocks using a sequential branch-and-cut algorithm. The results revealed that up to 15 years, the existing quarry alone can serve the cement plant. If certain quantity of limestone can be brought from the other sources, the life of the study quarry is significantly improved. The life of the quarry increased from 15 years to 85 years. The study also helps to calculate the desire quality of the limestone that will be brought from other sources throughout the life of the quarry