The South African deep-level mining industry is characterised by high operating costs and narrowing profit margins. Compressed air is commonly the largest consumer of energy in these mines, and any inefficiencies reduce profitability. Various methods aiming to optimise the compressed air networks have been implemented without an ideal economic dispatch strategy due to the lack of compressed air storage. In this study, a genetic algorithm was developed to evaluate the financial benefit of converting underground haulage to act as an air receiver (compressed air storage). By converting inactive haulage of 1.17 km in length into a volumetric air receiver, an annual monetary benefit of R2.5 million ($163 200) can be achieved, with a payback period of fewer than eight months. However, implementing the ideal size air receiver would result in an annual monetary benefit of R7.67 million ($500 700).

南非深部采矿业的特点是运营成本高、利润空间窄。压缩空气通常是这些矿山中最大的能源消耗者，任何低效率都会降低盈利能力。由于缺乏压缩空气存储，已经实施了各种旨在优化压缩空气网络的方法，但没有理想的经济调度策略。在这项研究中，开发了一种遗传算法来评估将地下运输转换为空气接收器（压缩空气存储）的经济效益。通过将长度为 1.17 公里的闲置运输转换为容积式空气接收器，每年可实现 250 万兰特（163 200 美元）的货币收益，投资回收期不到 8 个月。然而，