DEM parameters calibration is the most important step in preparing a DEM model. At the same time, the lack of a universal approach to DEM parameters calibration complicates this process. The paper presents the author’s approach to creating a universal calibration approach based on the physical meaning of the friction coefficients and conducting symmetrical experiments at full scale and in a simulation, as well as the implementation of the approach in the form of a physical test rig. Several experiments were carried out to determine the DEM parameters of six material–boundary pairs. The resulting parameters were adjusted using a refinement experiment. The results confirmed the adequacy of the developed approach, as well as its applicability in various conditions. The limitations of both the approach itself and its specific implementation in the form of a test rig were identified.

Dramatic changes in the global energy market due to COVID-19 pandemic, the OPEC+ agreement, and increasing rates of green energy share in the world community have brought negative effects on the oil sector. In the long term, oil will reduce its importance as an energy resource, but for many years, it will continue to play a significant role in the world of energy. The oil industry has huge potential in terms of technical expertise, management, and financial resources to reduce its greenhouse emissions and ensuring an affordable availability of predictable energy. However, nowadays this sector has lost investing attractiveness. It is an interdisciplinary problem with a solution at the intersection of different stakeholders’ interests. The article is a review one and devoted to the issue of the implementation a public-private partnership (PPP) as a key tool that allows the use of the state and the business’ available resources to achieve the sector’s sustainable development and investment attractiveness. Research and analysis of PPP were based on foreign and domestic literature, using classification and generalization methods, retrospective and critical analysis. This paper contains identified groups of drivers, constraints, and recommendations for further successful PPP implementation in the Russian case.

Given the critically important role of haul trucks in the overall mineral extraction process chain, the suspension system — the component with the highest failure frequency — was selected as the research object. The authors propose a method for quantitatively assessing a group of parameters of a technological transportation route due to challenging mining operating conditions. Using data from two mining enterprises over a three-year period, dependence was established between the reduction in the service life of dump truck suspensions and each of the identified factors in the route parameter groups. The assessment was carried out using data from remote monitoring systems installed on the vehicles. Based on the derived dependence, a criterion for optimizing the overhaul interval of haul truck suspensions was developed, incorporating a set of planning and economic factors. This criterion allows decisions to be made on the advisability of implementing measures aimed at achieving a target reliability level for the suspension system within the framework of the maintenance strategy adopted by mining enterprises, which combines scheduled and emergency repairs of machine components and assemblies. Using the proposed criterion, an optimal ratio between grading equipment and haulage equipment was determined when forming the vehicle fleet. Furthermore, an algorithm for determining a rational overhaul interval for haul truck suspensions was developed based on this criterion. Implementation of the algorithm at the mining enterprises under study has significantly reduced both the duration of unplanned downtime caused by suspension failures and the time required for repair activities.