A Comprehensive Technical and Economic Analysis of Rubber-Tyred Transport Implementation in Longwall Mining: A Case Study on the V.D. Yalevsky Coal Mine

This article presents a concept for modernizing the transport system of high-performance coal mines through the transition from traditional monorail to rubber-tyred transport (RTT). The study was conducted based on materials from the V.D. Yalevsky Mine of JSC “SUEK-Kuzbass” with daily longwall output up to 60,000 tons and production capacity up to 10 million tons per year. Analysis of the existing transport system efficiency revealed low equipment utilization rates (52–70%) and significant time losses during shift changeovers (up to 4.3 h/day in development workings). Technical solutions for phased RTT implementation were developed, including six roadway surface scenarios and a fleet composition of 60 specialized equipment units. The research methodology is based on time study observations using the automated “Granch” system, analysis of equipment utilization coefficients, and economic–mathematical modeling using NPV, MIRR, and payback period. The transition to rubber-tyred transport provides a five-fold increase in travel speed (from 4.5 to 25 km/h), reduction in shift changeover time to zero, increase in operating time by 20% in development and 4.5% in extraction, and a reduction in longwall move duration from 173–209 to 88 days. Additional coal production amounts to 6.5 million tons. Economic justification shows NPV of USD 64.2 million with MIRR of 2.4% and a payback period of 4.5 years.