DETERMINING OPTIMAL TESTING FACILITY LOCATIONS FOR MINING

CONCENTRATIONS IN BENGUET USING NON-CAPACITATED P-K MEDIAN

MODEL

Niña Desiree May G. ALBERTO, Kristine Joy R. BRAVO, Cecille S. GERNA,

Dareen A. RAMOS, Joanna V. ZOMIL-RESURRECCION, Virginia J. SORIANO, Ph.D.

Department of Industrial Engineering and Operations Research

College of Engineering, University of the Philippines
Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines

Abstract : In the mining industry, testing facilities are needed to provide information about the composition of the ores which
is essential in deciding whether a mining site is to be further explored. The availability and use of such testing facilities have a
direct effect on the efficiency of mining operations. This study focuses on determining optimal testing facility locations that
will provide laboratory services and needs of mining concentrations in Benguet.

The study applied a non-capacitated p-k Median Model to the combinatorial problem of searching and identifying the
optimum facility locations of a predetermined number of testing facilities such that the total weighted cost associated with
availing of services from a testing facility to its assigned mining concentration will be at minimum. The weighted cost is
computed to be the distance multiplied to the mining concentration’s relative demand. Demand was assumed to be in
proportion to the mining concentration’s area.

Twenty two mining concentrations in the province of Benguet were determined based on the map provided by the Tenements
Department of the Mining and Geosciences Bureau (MGB-CAR). Potential locations of the testing facilities are to be
situated in the main roads of Benguet, with 20-kilometer interval. Based on this, seven candidate locations were selected for
the testing facilities. To arrive at the solutions, Excel Solver was used solve the formulated non-capacitated p-k median model.
In conclusion, the study presented the optimal assignment of the 22 mining concentrations to each of the two additional testing
facilities and to the existing Baguio Facility.

Key words : Non-capacitated p-k Median Problems, Facility Location, Gold Mining, Extraction and Testing

1 INTRODUCTION The importance of the location of a certain facility is crucial

Naturally, the mountains of the Philippines are abundant of
mineral resources and in particular one major industry that
has evolved in time and has contributed significantly to the
country’s economy is the mining industry. For this reason,
it’s very apt to focus on how small scale and large scale
miners can be supported to more effective mining. As part of
the ERDT project for Better Mines Program, one aspect that
will be addressed is the standardization of the mining
process. In connection, the proponents find the need to
install testing facilities that will cater to the needs of small
and large mining associations whether it is for testing,
license renewal or just a mere hub that will attend to their
various concerns. An essential criterion to achieve this
objective is to have the precise location of the testing
facilities.
to those needing the services that the facility provides. Like
in instances of emergency, persons needing immediate
attention are often rushed to the nearest health facility. In
such case, the distance needed to be traveled to get to that
facility can mean the life of the person needing help.
Furthermore, these distances usually relate directly to costs.
In the mining industry, testing facilities are also needed to
provide the different mining sites information about the ores
that they excavate. The composition of the ore, which is the
information primarily provided by the testing facilities, is
essential in deciding whether a mining site is to be further
explored. The use of such testing facility has a direct effect
on the efficiency of mining operations.
In this study, the location of testing facilities will be
identified such that the sum of distances between these
testing facilities and the mining concentrations while
considering the demand for each mining concentration are
minimized.
1.1 Rationale
The purpose of this study is to find the optimal locations of a
predetermined number of testing facilities to be built in the
province of Benguet that will keep the distances between the
mining concentrations and the testing facilities in proportion
to their demand at a minimum. This is on the idea that by
achieving this, it will benefit mining associations in terms of
minimizing transportation expenses and to have faster
response to their needs thus making them more competitive.
1.2 Objectives
This study aims to generate a solution that gives the best
possible location of the testing facilities that minimizes
weighted total cost from the mining concentration to its
nearest testing facility. Specifically it aims to:
a. Determine the optimal location of two additional
testing facilities out of the 7 possible locations
identified
b. Identify the mining concentration that will be
assigned to each of the final testing facilities
including the existing testing facility in Baguio
c. Compare the benefit of the results of the study having
3 testing facilities to present status and also
1.3 Scope and Limitations
The mining concentrations to be considered are those only
within the province of Benguet. Data available on the
mining concentrations are limited to that provided by the
Tenements Department of the Mining and Geosciences
Bureau (MGB-CAR) which includes only 22 different
mining concentrations. The most detailed map available to
the group includes only the main roads that passes through
Benguet. Potential testing facilities are to be situated in
barangays near the main roads of Benguet.
The study entirely focuses on the location of the two testing
facilities excluding the one existing in Baguio. Cost analysis
is not included due to unavailability of data.
2 PROBLEM DEFINITION
2.1 Problem Statement
Testing facilities provide the mining industries with the
information about the metal composition of the different
kinds of ores that they dig out. Although most of the time
ignored and instead results to manual inspection, assay
testing proves to be a necessary and essential step in the
entire mining process. Assay testing improves efficiency to a
great extent because knowing the composition of the ore is
enough to make the mining association decide whether a site,
if further explored, is profitable. In line with this, it is
important to find the optimal locations of a predetermined
number or testing facilities that will minimize total distance
from each of the mining site concentrations to the candidate
testing facilities and therefore provide ease of access.
2.2 Problem Analysis
For finding the optimal location of the testing facilities, a
non-capacitated p-k median model will be used with p as the
number of final testing facilities that will be identified and k
as the number of existing facilities. In the problem, p will be
3 while the value for k is 1, representing the existing testing
facility in Baguio.
2.3 Assumptions
In the analysis of the problem, the following assumptions
were drawn,
 Final Distances have been measured from the map
available with the elevation neglected. The distance
from a mining concentration to a testing facility will
be determined by using the following simple formula,
Final Distance= DSR + DRF
DSR Shortest distance from the center of the
Mining Concentration to the main Road
DRF Distance from the point of the road nearest to
mining concentration to the location of the
testing facility2
2
the formula works on the assumption that
travel will be faster when on the road. For this
reason, DRF is measured as the shortest
distance to the road.
 Demand for each mining concentration will be
assumed to be in proportion of its area on the map.
 Weighted Total Cost is computed by multiplying the
absolute distance by a demand multiplier. The
demand multiplier is a proportion of demand of a
mining concentration relative to other mining
concentrations. The demand multipliers can be found
in Table B.1 of Appendix B.
 Testing Facilities are non-capacitated which means
they can accommodate any size of demand from
mining concentrations.
 Mining concentrations are only limited to transact
to testing facilities in Benguet thus, no route outside
Benguet is considered.
 Location of the Potential Testing Center
o As suggested by the authorities of MGB-CAR,
potential testing facilities can be anywhere along
the main roads of Benguet. The proponents
identified potential locations of testing centers in
such a way that adjacent testing centers are no more
than 20 kilometers apart with having Barangays as
final locations. The method eventually resulted in
identifying 7 additional potential testing facilities.
3 REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
There are three transportation models used in assigning
facility locations. These are the Set Covering, Maximal
Covering, and the P-median Model [1]. These models
assume that demand nodes and candidate facilities are finite
number of discrete points. For this study, the P-median
model is used.
P-median Model (PMP)
The PMP finds the optimal location of a fixed number of P
facilities such that all demand nodes d are served with a
minimum cost. This cost is the weighted total distance from
the demand node to the nearest facility [1]. The PMP in
general has candidate facilities that have infinite capacities
and is termed as Non-capacitated P-Median Problem [3]. If
there are already k facilities existing in the system, the
problem is termed as PkMP. PMP is much related to the
nature of allocating public facilities. This is due to the fact
that public sectors are more focused on social cost
minimization, universality of service, efficiency, and equity
of the decision. Daskin provided the traditional formulation
for a p-median problem [4]:
The following are the inputs needed in this model:
hi = demand at node I to candidate facility j
dij = distance from demand node i to candidate facility j
P = no. of facilities to locate
Zi = 1 if demand node i is covered; 0 otherwise
Yij = 1 if demand at node i is assigned to candidate facility j;
0 otherwise
This can be formulated as:
J I
Minimiz j=1 i=1 hi dij Yij
J
Subject to j=1 Yij = 1 i = 1,2,…,I (1)
Yij – Xj ≤ 0 i = 1,2,…,I j = 1,2,…,J (2)
J
j=1 Xj = P (3)
Xj Є {0,1} j = 1,2,…,J (4)
Yij Є {0,1} i = 1,2,…,I j = 1,2,…,J (5)
The objective of this formula is to minimize the weighted
total distance. From constraints (1) and (2), each demand
node can only be assigned to exactly one and open facility.
Constraint (3) states that P candidate facilities are to be
located. Constraints (4) and (5) are the standard integrality
constraints. Constraint (5) can be relaxed to a simple non-
negativity constraint since it is related to assigning each
demand node to the nearest candidate facility. For PkMP
problems, Xj = 1 is added as a constraint if the k facilities
are already existing on these candidate facility location.
The p-median problem is NP-hard, with extremely large data
sets thus requiring heuristic solutions. Several algorithms
have already been proposed in solving P-median problems.
Some of these are the Branch and Bound Approach (Carlier
and Pinson), Tabu Exchange Algorithm (Barnes and
Chambers), the Lagrangean Relaxation Algorithm, and the
Genetic Algorithm (Yamada and Nakano) [5]. Serra and
Marianov [6] used the p-median model in locating fire
stations in Barcelona. In this problem, demand areas were
reduced using data aggregation. Data aggregation results to
three types of errors. In the aggregation process, the distance
is modified because it only considers the centroid of the
demand node to the potential facility site. This leads to
Source A error due to over or under estimation of location
information. When a facility is located in a given aggregated
demand node, the corresponding distance in that node is
equal to zero which is not true for some areas for
disaggregated areas. This results to Source B error which
results to lower measured total weighted distance compared
to the true distance. Source C errors results when part of an
aggregated area is not assigned to its closest facility.
Harvey et al. [7] used the p-median approach to determine
the number and optimal locations of intermediate level
facilities in a central place hierarchy. Narula et al. [8] also
developed a nested hierarchical health care facility location
model that located on the system a fixed number of facilities.
The proportion of patients treated at each level was also
considered. The objective of the model was to minimize the
patient’s total travel. Heuristic solutions for this problem
were given.
4 METHODOLOGY
Mines and Geosciences Bureau- Cordillera Autonomous
Region (MGB-CAR) provided a map of the whole province
of Benguet that shows the locations of mining areas
throughout the province. (See appendix A). Interviews with
the authorities of MGB-CAR were done to further gather
information about how mining operations take place. They
also provided the proponents the idea where to possibly
construct the proposed number of testing sites in the
province.
The Benguet Tenement Map showing the mining area
concentrations is in Appendix A. The proponents then
identified, through visual inspection of the map, the 22
mining area concentrations and the seven candidate testing
facilities locations. The center and area of each
concentration were determined. Center points serve as the
locations of corresponding mining area concentrations while
the area will serve as the estimate for the demand. The
distances between every concentration to all the seven
candidate locations together with the existing testing facility
in Baguio were measured. These data are necessary to locate
where to install the proposed number of additional testing
facilities.
The proponents then identified that this can be modeled as a
p-k -median problem. This was then solved using Excel
Solver with the objective of minimizing total weighted cost
travelled by the miners to the testing facility nearest to them.
The final output is the optimal locations of the additional 2
testing facilities to be installed.
5 SYSTEM DOCUMENTATION
Benguet mining is heavily concentrated in the town of
Itogon. Out of the 22 mining concentrations identified, seven
of which are located in Itogon. Others are in the towns of
Tuba, Tublay, Sablan, Atok, Kibungan, Bakun, Buguias, and
Mankayan. These 22 mining concentrations represent the 22
nodes for the problem. (See Appendix A)
Given that there is an existing testing facility in Baguio, the
proponents then determined the potential locations of the
additional testing facilities to be installed. It is the idea of the
MGB-CAR engineer that it is best to install a testing facility
that is along the main roads of Benguet. This gives ease of
transportation to the miners. Possible locations of the testing
centers are designated in such a way that adjacent testing
centers are no more than 20 kilometers apart. Seven
candidate testing facility locations were identified. The
nodes for the testingfacilities have the notation: nodes 23, 24,
25, … 30; node 28 being the Baguio testing facility. The
next figure shows nodes for facility centers and the distances
between adjacent testing facilities
Figure 1. Distances (in km) between adjacent locations of
candidate testing facilities.
All in all, there are 30 nodes to the problem: the 22 mining
concentrations plus the locations of the seven possible
testing facilities plus the existing testing facility in Baguio.
The distances from each of the mining concentration (nodes
1-22) to each of the candidate testing facility location (nodes
23-30) can be found in Table B.2 of Appendix B.
6 MODEL FORMULATION
For a non-capacitated p-k median model with p=3 and k=1,
the formulation is shown below.
The following are the inputs needed in the model:
hi = demand multiplier for node at i,
dij = distance from mining concentration node i to candidate
facility j
P = final number of testing facilities.
Yij = 1 if mining concentration node i is assigned to testing
facility j; 0 otherwise
Xj =1 if testing facilty is to be installed; o otherwise
i=1,2,…22
j=23,24,…,30
This can be formulated as:
j=30 i=22
Minimize j=22 i=1 hi dij Yij
j=30
Subject to j=22 Yij = 1 i = 1,2,…,22 (1)
Yij – Xj ≤ 0 i = 1,2,…,22
j = 22,23,…,30 (2)
j=30
j=22 Xj = 3 (3)
Xj Є {0,1} j = 1,2,…,J (4)
Yij Є {0,1} i = 1,2,…,I
j = 1,2,…,J (5)
X28=1 (6)
The objective of this formula is to minimize the weighted
total distance. From constraints (1) and (2), each mining
concentration node can only be assigned to exactly one and
open testing facility. Constraint (3) states that 3 testing
facilities are to be located. Constraints (4) and (5) are the
standard integrality constraints. Constraint (5) can be relaxed
to a simple non-negativity constraint since it is related to
assigning each demand node to the nearest candidate facility.
Constraint (6), sets the Baguio node to be always included.
The coefficients, hidij, used in the model can be found on
Table B.3 of Appendix B.
7 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
As discussed, we limit the final number of testing facilities
to three,including the existing mining center in Baguio. By
solving the non-capacitated p-k median problem using the
Excel Solver, the model suggests that final mining centers,
excluding Baguio should be located at node 23 and node 24.
Based on the findings, total weighted cost of 9,446.48 is the
minimum sum of weighted costs between each mining
concentration node to their respective testing facilities.
Basically, the map has been divided to three sub-networks
having node 23 as the uppermost testing facility, node 24 in
the middle and the preset testing facility node 28 (Baguio) at
the lower most portion. In summary, mining sites 1-3 are
assigned to testing site 23, nodes 4-10 to node 24 and nodes
11-22 to node 28. Among these sub-networks, node 23 has
the least number of mining concentration nodes (3 nodes)
while node 28 both has 12 mining concentration nodes
connected to it. These data indicate that there should be
more resources that should be allocated for testing facility
node 24 since it has the highest weighted cost.
The model also resulted to a maximum weighted cost of
1172.5 form mining concentration node 9 connected to node
24. An average weighted cost of 429.39 was computed from
the findings. (See Table 4 of Appendix B.)
In comparison to the present status, where node 28 (Baguio
City) is the only testing facility, a decrease of 66.19% (see
eq.1) in average weighted cost will result by installing 2
more facilities.
% decrease in Average Weighted Cost
429.39−1269 .89
= × 100 = 66.19% (Eq.1)
1269 .89
8 CONCLUSION
Based on the findings, it was found out, that testing facilities
23 and 24 should be installed along with the existing Baguio
testing facility. Mining sites 1-3 should be assigned to
testing facility 23, sites 4-10 to facility 24 and sites 11-22 to
the Baguio facility. In comparison with the existing status
where Baguio City is the only testing facility, a reduction of
average weighted cost of 66.19% if two more facilities were
installed. Further analysis is recommended to weigh the
benefits mentioned cost of installing the 2 testing facilities.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The group would like to express our sincerest gratitude to
the ERDT: Better Mine Project F for allowing us to be a part
of the team, giving us the chance to gather data and APPENDIX B
information necessary for us to apply the tools we have
learned in the course. Table B.1 Demand Mulitplier.
Node Number Area of Weights Based
The group would like to thank Dr. Virginia J. Soriano for Concentration on Area
allowing us to be part of the research which gave us the 1 93.75 60
experience of doing fieldwork and applying what we tools 2 62.50 40
we have as industrial engineers. 3 18.75 12
4 93.75 60
And lastly, the group would like to thank our professor, 5 14.0625 9
Ma’am Joanna V. Zomil-Resurreccion, for introducing us to 6 140.625 90
the ERDT: Better Mine Project, for teaching us the methods 7 21.875 14
and tools necessary to perform analysis, enabling us to 8 48.875 31.28
complete this project. 9 54.6875 35
10 9.375 6
APPENDIX A
11 13.5 8.64
12 19.125 12.24
13 28.125 18
14 14.0625 9
15 20.625 13.2
16 50.625 32.4
17 57.00 36.48
18 25.00 16
19 1.5625* 1
20 14.0625 9
21 52.875 33.84
22 3.125 2
 Table B.2. Distances of potential testing facility locations to mining concentrations.

To (Potential Mining Centers)

From 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
1
(Mining 15 32 48 62 71 84 93 108
2 17.5 34.5 50.5 64.5 73.5 86.5 95.5 110.5
sites)
3 15 32 48 62 71 84 93 108
4 27 20 36 50 59 72 81 96
5 24 17 33 47.5 56.5 69.5 78.5 93.5
6 20 15 31 45 54 67 76 91
7 20 11.25 27.25 41.25 50.25 63.25 72.25 87.25
8 20 10 26 40 49 62 71 86
9 50.5 33.5 17.5 15 24 37 46 61
10 45.5 28.5 12.5 8.75 17.75 30.75 39.75 54.75
11 81 64 48 34 25 20 29 44
12 52 35 19 5 3.75 16.75 25.75 40.75
13 74 57 41 27 18 5 14 29
14 75.25 58.25 42.25 28.25 19.25 6.25 15.25 30.25
15 76.5 59.5 43.5 29.5 20.5 7.5 16.5 31.5
16 84 67 51 37 28 15 24 39
17 81.5 64.5 48.5 34.5 25.5 12.5 6.25 12.25
18 85.5 68.5 52.5 38.5 29.5 16.5 7.5 10
19 88 71 55 41 32 19 10 12.5
20 96.75 79.75 63.75 49.75 40.75 27.75 18.75 12.5
21 98 81 65 51 42 29 20 5
22 104.25 87.25 71.25 57.25 48.25 35.25 26.25 11.25

Table B.3. hidij Coefficients.

Demand Node Candidate Facility

(Mining Sites) 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
1 900 1920 2880 3720 4260 5040 5580 6480
2 700 1380 2020 2580 2940 3460 3820 4420
3 180 384 576 744 852 1008 1116 1296
4 1620 1200 2160 3000 3540 4320 4860 5760
5 216 153 297 427.5 508.5 625.5 706.5 841.5
6 1800 1350 2790 4050 4860 6030 6840 8190
7 280 157.5 381.5 577.5 703.5 885.5 1011.5 1221.5
8 625.6 312.8 813.28 1251.2 1532.72 1939.36 2220.88 2690.08
9 1767.5 1172.5 612.5 525 840 1295 1610 2135
10 273 171 75 52.5 106.5 184.5 238.5 328.5
11 699.84 552.96 414.72 293.76 216 172.8 250.56 380.16
12 636.48 428.4 232.56 61.2 45.9 205.02 315.18 498.78
13 1332 1026 738 486 324 90 252 522
14 677.25 524.25 380.25 254.25 173.25 56.25 137.25 272.25
15 1009.8 785.4 574.2 389.4 270.6 99 217.8 415.8
16 2721.6 2170.8 1652.4 1198.8 907.2 486 777.6 1263.6
17 2973.12 2352.96 1769.28 1258.56 930.24 456 228 446.88
18 1368 1096 840 616 472 264 120 160
19 88 71 55 41 32 19 10 12.5
20 870.75 717.75 573.75 447.75 366.75 249.75 168.75 112.5
21 3316.32 2741.04 2199.6 1725.84 1421.28 981.36 676.8 169.2
22 208.5 174.5 142.5 114.5 96.5 70.5 52.5 22.5
 Table B.4. Weighted cost of Each Mining Concentration Node to their Final Testing Facility.

Demand Node Candidate Facility

(Mining Sites) 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
1 900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2 700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
3 180 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
4 0 1200 0 0 0 0 0 0
5 0 153 0 0 0 0 0 0
6 0 1350 0 0 0 0 0 0
7 0 157.5 0 0 0 0 0 0
8 0 312.8 0 0 0 0 0 0
9 0 1172.5 0 0 0 0 0 0
10 0 171 0 0 0 0 0 0
11 0 0 0 0 0 172.8 0 0
12 0 0 0 0 0 205.02 0 0
13 0 0 0 0 0 90 0 0
14 0 0 0 0 0 56.25 0 0
15 0 0 0 0 0 99 0 0
16 0 0 0 0 0 486 0 0
17 0 0 0 0 0 456 0 0
18 0 0 0 0 0 264 0 0
19 0 0 0 0 0 19 0 0
20 0 0 0 0 0 249.75 0 0
21 0 0 0 0 0 981.36 0 0
22 0 0 0 0 0 70.5 0 0
Weighted Cost 1,780 4,516.8 3,149.68
Total Weighted Cost 9,446.48
Average Weighted Cost 429.39

Table B.5. Weighted Cost of Mining Concentration Nodes to Testing Facility Node 28 (Baguio City)

Baguio Testing 12 205.02

Demand Node Facility
(Mining Sites) 13 90
28
14 56.25
1 5040
15 99
2 3460
16 486
3 1008
17 456
4 4320
18 264
5 625.5
19 19
6 6030
20 249.75
7 885.5
21 981.36
8 1939.36
22 70.5
9 1295
Weighted Cost 2,7937.54
10 184.5 Average Weighted
11 172.8 1,269.89
Cost
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