Open Pit Optimization - Strategies for Improving Economics of Mining Projects Through Mine Planning

The open pit design and scheduling problem is a large-scale optimization problem that has attracted considerable attention during the last 40 years The development of the "know-how" to improve economics of open pit mining projects through the use of mathematical optimization techniques goes back to early 1960's. Unfortunately, up until recently, many of these "optimizing algorithms" could not be implemented due to the limited capacity of the computer hardware used in many mining operations. During the last 10 years, advancements in the computer hardware technology along with developments in software technology allowed open pit mines to have powerful desktop computers that can solve complex optimization problems on site. Due to applications of optimization techniques developed in the early 1960*s, for example, Chuquicamata Open Pit Mine in Chile re-evaluated their cutoff grade strategy and improved Net Present Value (NPV) of their ' operations by USS800M. Newmont Gold Corporations in Nevada, USA has implemented large scale Linear Programming Model mat was developed in early I980's to schedule their entire mine and mill production in the Carlin District, resulting in significant process costs savings. This presentation will outline open pit optimization techniques that are available today and how they can be used to improve overall economics of projects that are being planned or in production.