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International Journal of Surface

Mining, Reclamation and
Environment
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Long Term Production Scheduling

Optimisation for a Surface Mining
Operation: An Application of
MineMax Scheduling Software
Emmanuel K. Chanda & Jacob Ricciardone
Published online: 09 Aug 2010.

To cite this article: Emmanuel K. Chanda & Jacob Ricciardone (2002) Long Term
Production Scheduling Optimisation for a Surface Mining Operation: An Application of
MineMax Scheduling Software, International Journal of Surface Mining, Reclamation and
Environment, 16:2, 144-158
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1076/ijsm.16.2.144.3400

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International Journal of Surface Mining,

Reclamation and Environment
2002, Vol. 16, No. 2, pp. 144158

1389-5265/02/1602-144$16.00
# Swets & Zeitlinger

Long Term Production Scheduling Optimisation for

a Surface Mining Operation: An Application of
MineMaxTM Scheduling Software
EMMANUEL K. CHANDA and JACOB RICCIARDONE

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ABSTRACT
Since long term production scheduling deals with movement of ore and waste during the life of a mine, it
has a signicant effect on the cash ow of a mining operation. Therefore, mine planners often seek to
optimise the production schedule with respect to a given criterion. The most commonly used criterion in
long term scheduling optimisation is to maximise net present value (NPV). The process involves sequencing
of ore blocks or parcels to be mined in each period over the life of the mine subject to precedence and other
physical constraints imposed by the mining system. The complexity of mine production scheduling in
practice entails a computer solution using mathematical programming as the optimisation technique. Linear
and mixed integer programming techniques have been used to optimise long term production schedules but
most of the computer programs based on these make overly simplifying assumptions and lack the exibility
to handle practical considerations of mine scheduling. MineMaxTM scheduling software is applied to long
term scheduling for a multielement surface mining operation. MineMax uses mixed integer programming
with the branch and bound algorithm as solution strategy. The system allows the planner to generate a mine
production schedule in the same manner as manual scheduling, but making use of the interactivity in
planning data input, in-built optimisation algorithm and the speed of the personal computer. This study
involves investigation into the effects of reblocking and grade intervals on the mining schedule, specically,
the material movement, milling grade and the cash ow over the life of the mine.

Keywords. mine scheduling, optimisation, MineMaxTM, NPV.

INTRODUCTION

Mine scheduling is the process of dening the sequence of mining blocks and
simulating their removal (or mining) whilst accumulating results in each time period
to meet a predetermined target. Mine scheduling often includes consideration of
grade, tonnage and impurities in each period and it is these elements that make the
scheduling problem more complex than the mining of ore to the required amount. The
Curtin University of Technology, WA School of Mines, Locked bag 22, Kalgoorlie 6433, Australia. E-mail:
chandae@wasm.curtin.edu.au

AN APPLICATION OF MINEMAX TM SCHEDULING SOFTWARE

145

development of a practical mining schedule is an iterative process in that the pit

outline with the highest NPV cannot be determined unless the values of the blocks in
the model are known. The values of the blocks cannot be calculated until the extraction sequence is known but the extraction sequence cannot be prepared until the
ultimate pit outline is known [1]. Input data for open pit mine scheduling include the
following [2]:



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A block model or mining database, which represents the economic boundaries of

the orebody.
A target amount of material to be mined per period, including grade and tonnage of
ore and waste.
A denition of time period for the mine plan (days, weeks, months or years).

In order for the mill to operate at its best efciency, the run-of-mine ore should be as
constant in composition as practically possible. The variability in ore grade requires
blending of ore from various sources to meet mill requirements. Some deposits have
more than one element of economic interest, and may contain impurities that have to
be minimised in the run-of-mine ore. Most open pit mines operate stockpiles as part of
the blending strategy to ensure constant mill feed grade. For some mining operations
ore is produced from several pits to provide feed for the mill. These elements are
considered during production scheduling and as their number and signicance grows,
the process becomes increasingly complex. Taking into account all these factors, the
mine production schedule should indicate tonnes to be mined and from what areas in
order to meet production targets for each period. Thus, a mine schedule allows the
allocation of resources to achieve a company's strategic targets. From the production
schedule the cost of mine operations can be estimated for a given period and this
becomes the basis for the nancial budget of the mining operation.
The availability of fast computers and scheduling software such as MineMaxTM
allows mine planners to analyse several schedules and selecting one that meets the
stated criteria. In this study, MineMaxTM is used to generate several long term
schedules based on various combinations of reblocking, stockpiles, grade intervals,
number of pits and production constraints. The results provide valuable information
on the critical factors that impact on the cash ow of the mine.
2

OPEN PIT MINE SCHEDULING OPTIMISATION

As well as exploring different prices and costs, it is important to explore different

mining sequences and schedules. A mining `sequence' refers to the order in which
different parts of the pit are mined. A mining `schedule', which tells us when things
occur, can be constructed by applying the production constraints to the mining
sequence. As well as determining when different parts of the pit are mined, a schedule

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EMMANUEL K. CHANDA AND JACOB RICCIARDONE

determines when the cash ows associated with mining are produced. Optimisation of
a mine schedule over a period is a must if one is to realise maximum prots from the
mining operation.

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2.1

Linear Programming Models of the Mine Scheduling Problem

Optimisation techniques use a mathematical model to represent the mining operation

and will nd a schedule that will be optimal given the constraints placed on the mine
model. The mine schedule can be optimised with respect to a number of factors. These
can include maximising the NVP, minimising of mining costs or minimising the
variance of the grade.
Linear programming (LP) is the most widely used technique in open pit mine
scheduling optimisation. There are several ways of formulating the LP model to
optimise a mine production schedule as reported by Chanda and Dagdelen [3], Sevin
et al. [4], Thomas [1], Wang [5], Winkler and Grifn [6] and Smith [7, 8]. To develop
a mining schedule by linear programming requires the representation of factors
affecting the mine's production into a mathematical model. This model's size and
complexity will depend on the mine site. To develop a mathematical model three
questions must be addressed:




What does the model seek to determine? What are the variables (unknowns) of the
problem?
What constraints must be imposed on a variable to satisfy the limitations of the
modelled system?
What is the objective (goal) that needs to be achieved to determine the optimum
(best) solution from among the feasible values and variables?

Mine scheduling can easily be visualised as an economic problem whereby the

planner seeks to maximise the prots taking into account the physical constraints
imposed by the mining system.
2.2

Practical Mining Considerations in LP Based Scheduling

The sequencing constraints ensure that a block of material is uncovered by mining in

the same or previous period. The reserve constraints make sure that blocks cannot be
counted twice or removed more than once [9]. Although the mathematical representation of the scheduling problem may be stated simply, the quantity of information can
dramatically increase the difculty of solving the problem. The LP model used by
Newmont Mining Company illustrates the complexity of the linear programming
formulation [10]. Typically, a production schedule has more than one objective but the
classical LP formulation allows for only one objective function. Winkler and Grifn
[6] discuss a multiobjective LP model based on Goal Programming. Another aspect of
linear programming is that it only optimises one period at a time and the outcomes are

AN APPLICATION OF MINEMAX TM SCHEDULING SOFTWARE

147

joined to produce an entire mine life schedule. Thus, the schedule is simulated (not
optimised) from one period to the next. This simulation attempts to optimise the entire
schedule, by trial and error, so that the result may be near optimal. The advantage of
this heuristic LP and simulation approach is that it gives practical schedules that can
be used by the mine planner as a guide [11].

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MINEMAXTM MINE SCHEDULING SOFTWARE

MineMaxTM is a mine-scheduling tool, developed by Combinatorics Pty. Ltd., which

utilises mixed integer linear programming to optimise the schedule [12, 13]. The
software uses a tailored branch and bound algorithm to solve the MILP problem and
runs on a Personal Computer. It utilises a graphical user interface environment to
provide information to the mine planner.
3.1

Data Requirements

The software requires a block model to be imported into MineMax. This requires a
space delineated le format used in general mining packages. The block model
contains 11 xed elds and a variable number of user-dened elds. These userdened elds depend on the number of products and attributes for the mine site being
considered.
3.2

Mine Model Set-up

To develop a mine model, the mine planner must dene decision variables that he/she
wants to control or monitor. Running the Mine Conguration Wizard one denes
products (which are processes or materials such as ore tonnes) and attributes (which
describe characteristics associated with the product). For instance the product Ore
may have 3 attributes to describe characteristics such as Grade, Constraints and
Specic Gravity. Once these are entered into the schedular they can be used to set
constraints and targets within MineMax.
3.3

Stockpile Options

MineMax allows the mine planner to dene stockpiles based on the attributes dened
in the mine model with no restrictions on the number of stockpiles that can be dened.
The only constraint is that material cannot be sent to two different stockpiles, i.e., the
stockpile ranges cannot overlap. MineMax sends material to the stockpile if it is
surplus to the requirements of the schedule in the particular period. If the stockpile is
to be reclaimed then the average grade of material sent to the stockpile is used as the
value of the ore.

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3.4

EMMANUEL K. CHANDA AND JACOB RICCIARDONE

Financial Information

The Financials Window in MineMax allows the user to set the prices for the commodities recovered by mining and subsequent processing. MineMax assumes this to be
based on one of the attributes (since attributes are used to describe the grade) and
allows prices and metal recoveries to be entered into the mine model. Costs can also
be entered in this window and are assumed to be constant for all blocks in the model.
If a cost varies with the level of an attribute present, when a contaminant is present, for
instance, the cost can be described as an attribute, imported with the block model and
described as having a negative price associated with the attribute.

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3.5

Optimisation Strategy

The Optimisation Window provides the planning engineer with several different
options in the way that MineMax will formulate the optimising equation. The Optimisation Strategy option allows MineMax to either operate on a global or forward
optimisation strategy. This means that MineMax will either try and optimise the
schedule over the entire selected range in the one operation or try to optimise with
respect to the constraints set for each period. The forward option is closer to
traditional linear programming where an optimal solution is found in each period
considered. Although it is a desirable to try to optimise the life of mine schedule the
size and complexity of the problem will inuence the calculation time. As a result the
global optimisation may only be used when the optimisation run times are very fast
otherwise the time required performing the operation becomes too long.
Once the mine model has been dened in MineMax a schedule can be generated in
one pass since the schedule is saved when an optimal solution is found for each
period. MineMax then moves on to solve the next schedule. The progress of the
schedule can be viewed using the chart view under the summary tab.
4

AN EXAMPLE OF LONG RANGE PRODUCTION

SCHEDULING OPTIMIZATION

MineMax Software is used to generate long term mine schedules for a multielement
multiple-pit mining operation located in Australia. Background information is
provided below:


The geology consists of at lying lithology with three separate rock types that
overlay each other. The Metal One grade is predominantly associated with the two
rock types that exist lower in the lithological prole. As such, waste stripping must
occur to expose ore. The depth of this overburden varies between pits.
The mining method consists of hydraulic backhoe excavators loading into off
highway trucks. The trucks transport material to one of three destinations: (1) the

AN APPLICATION OF MINEMAX TM SCHEDULING SOFTWARE

149

ROM (Run of Mine) stockpile for immediate processing; (2) a stockpile that is
dened by the Metal One grade (these stockpiles are created for each pit); and (3)
the ore type or the waste dump.

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4.1

Base Case Mine Model

The original data used in the MineMax Schedular are based on the blocks contained
within the ultimate pit denition. The block models are run through a TLK script
editor to convert them into an acceptable format for importing into MineMax. The
base case schedule has 55 pit block models that are imported into MineMax. The
elds imported include the nine compulsory elds required by MineMax with the
number of products and attributes being dened by the user. In this optimisation six
product elds were specied which included, Ore, Contained Metal One (CM1),
Contained Metal Two (CM2), Project Area One (P1) (comprises of 55 pits), Project
Area (P2) (pits in this project area are not used in the study) and Waste. The Ore
product has 6 attributes dened; these include the grades of the recoverable metals,
Metal One (m1) and Metal Two (m2), contaminant materials (ct1, ct2 and ct3) and an
estimated processing cost ( pcost1) that is based on the level of contaminant elements
present. This is imported from other orebody models and is not calculated by the
MineMax schedular. The option of a grade reblock is used when importing block
model les into MineMax. This grade reblock is based on the Metal One attribute with
ve grade bins being used in the base case mine model. This function allows blocks
with similar attributes to be grouped together hence, reducing the number of blocks
considered in the model.
4.2

Time Periods

A standard time period of a year was used in the analysis with an assumed mine life of
fteen years. The mine life is standardised between all schedules to allow faster
generation of each schedule. A linear program does not recognise different lengths of
time as it only recognises different periods. It is the parameters entered into the
constraint equations that dene the actual amount of time to be scheduled.
4.3

Production Data

Targets for each product (Ore, M1, M2, P1, P2 and Waste) are set up for each run.
MineMax also allows a tolerance to be set to relax the constraints on the product. An
example of a relaxed production constraint would be a Waste target of 5 million
tonnes with a tolerance of 5 million tonnes. This describes a situation that allows from
0 to 10 million tonnes of waste to be mined in one period. Obviously such freeranging constraints may be not practical, since limitations such as earthmoving
contracts or drilling contracts may require a certain amount of material to be mined
per period.

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EMMANUEL K. CHANDA AND JACOB RICCIARDONE

Table 1. Base case product targets and tolerances.

Product

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Ore
Contained Metal One (CM1)
Contained Metal Two (CM2)
Project Area One (P1)
Project Area Two (P1)
Waste

Target (tonnes)
4,000,000
60,000
5000
4,000,000
0
10,000,000

Tolerance (tonnes)
0
60,000
5000
4,000,4000
0
10,000,000

In the Base Case the ore production target is set at 4 million tonnes per period
and the tolerance set to zero. This maintained a constant supply of 4 million tonnes
through the mill from the pit and / or stockpiles. The product targets and the tolerances
used in this study are shown in Table 1.
4.4

Mining Precedence

The precedents in MineMax relate to the mining methodology applied to the deposit.
In all optimisations carried out it is assumed that all the pits (55 in total) are mined
bench by bench with no pit sequence preferences or working slope angles or maximum vertical development dened.
4.5

Revenues and Costs

The MineMax nancial model assumes the attributes dened for the products of
the mine dictate the revenue generated by the operation. The processing and
rening of Metal One and Metal Two generate the revenue. In both cases the
current commodity prices are used to estimate the revenue. This is kept constant
through the 15 time periods (or years) although there is a facility to alter the
revenues per time period to take into account trends in commodity prices. MineMax assumes the pcost1 attribute as possibly producing revenue. To reverse this
the `pcost1' revenue is dened as a negative entry. This allows the cost to vary
according to the contaminant content of the ore rather than being a xed cost as
assumed by MineMax.
The costs dened by MineMax include Ore Mining, Waste Mining, Stockpiling,
Reclaiming from Stockpile and Ore Processing. Of these all except Ore Processing
have been dened as constant for all pits mined. However, this approach does not
account for the geographical position of the since the mining costs will vary
depending on the haul prole and haul length experienced. This has variable has been
assumed to be negligible since in this operation the mining costs have little effect on
the value of the project.

AN APPLICATION OF MINEMAX TM SCHEDULING SOFTWARE

4.6

151

Reblocking Block Models

When importing block models into MineMax the models are reblocked according to
an attribute value carried by each block. Reblocking collects all the blocks carried in
the original model according to the range intervals dened by the user. Consequently
the value of this block then becomes the average of all the blocks that exist within this
range. If the reblocking is completed on a smaller interval the planner can select
higher value blocks earlier in the schedule because the lower value blocks that are
included in the larger value intervals do not dilute the high value blocks. The use of a
smaller grade interval when reblocking should result in the availability of higher
grade blocks earlier in the schedule having a positive effect on the net present value.

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4.7

Stockpile Cutoffs

The stockpiling of ore allows mining operations to blend ore and control the mill head
grade. The creation of stockpiles dened on grade can also assist in maximising the
grade during the early years of a mining operation because the high-grade ore can be
processed in preference to lower grade ore. The fewer number of stockpiles used tends
to average the grade between the high and low-grade values. This has much the same
effect as reblocking on a large grade interval. The number of stockpiles dened by
grade can inuence the cash ow of an operation. If high-grade stockpiles are dened
then these stockpiles can be introduced earlier thereby increasing the value of the
stockpile.
4.8

Schedule Generation

Table 2 is a summary of the four variations from the base case used to evaluate the
effect of stockpile strategies on grade and hence, cash ow for the project.
The stockpiles are dened using the same values. The three standard stockpiles are
dened as Low, Medium and High Grade stockpiles. The variation to four stockpiles is
achieved by splitting the Medium Grade stockpile into Low Medium and High Medium denitions. The actual grades used are not reported as to maintain condentiality.
Table 2. Summary of schedule variations considered in the analysis.
Schedule Number

Number of grade
Intervals dened

1-A (Base Case)

1-B
2-A
2-B
3

5
5
6
6
4

Number of stockpiles
dened
3 (Low,
4 (Low,
3 (Low,
4 (Low,
3 (Low,

Medium, High)
Low Medium, High Medium, High)
Medium, High)
Low Medium, High medium, High)
Medium, High)

152
4.9

EMMANUEL K. CHANDA AND JACOB RICCIARDONE

Reblocking and Stockpile Grades

The grade ranges that are used to dene the reblocking and stockpile classication are
the same as discussed above. It is recognised that the number of grade intervals in the
reblock is the limiting factor in creating the maximum number of stockpiles. This is
reasonable since the value of creating multiple stockpiles (based only on a grade
variable) within the same grade block is doubtful.
5

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5.1

ANALYSIS OF REBLOCKING AND STOCKPILE

SCHEDULING RESULTS

Total Movement

Figure 1 shows the movement of material to the ROM pad, stockpiles and waste dump
from the pit. The same equipment eet is used to reclaim stockpiles as is used for
mining. As a result rehandling needs to be included as a production activity. The
corresponding removal of waste from 2003 to 2010 should be fairly constant between
all the schedule variations.

Fig. 1. Total movement (ore + waste) for various schedule scenarios.

AN APPLICATION OF MINEMAX TM SCHEDULING SOFTWARE

153

A large amount of waste removal is expected in all schedules to remove the

overburden materials at the start of mining operations. The waste stripping falls away
sharply in the next two periods because enough ore has been exposed to meet the
schedule requirements. Also the large number of pits made available for scheduling in
the rst period is a factor in the high amount of waste stripping that is required. The
waste stripping increases to a constant level, as the schedule opens new pits to meet
the ore production requirements.

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5.2

Metal One Grades

Metal One mill grade is maximised manually while MineMax attempts to nd the
maximum net value for each period. Figure 2 indicates slow decrease in the Metal
One grade over time as the high grade is processed rst. Schedule 2-A and Schedule
2-B both have grades 6.5% higher than the base case. The schedules that have four
dened stockpiles (Schedule 1-B and Schedule 2-B) have grades 5% higher as the
stockpiles start to be reclaimed during year 2010. This starts to decline rapidly over
the next four periods with the grades at the end of 2014 being 3% lower than the base
case schedule. The extra stockpiles allow Schedules 1-B and 2-B to process the higher
grade ore earlier gaining the advantage of a lower discount rate. Schedules 1-A, 2-A
and 3 run higher grades during the nal three periods but have a higher discount rate

Fig. 2. Metal One-Grade Percentage Variation from the Base Case.

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154

EMMANUEL K. CHANDA AND JACOB RICCIARDONE

applied to the cash ow generated. All the schedules have the same mill feed grade in
2011. This may reect the average grade of the Medium grade stockpile.
Lines of best t are modelled on the variation of the grades from the base case
schedule as shown in Figure 2. Schedules 1-B and 2-B tend to high grade the operation when compared to the base case, conrming the observations made from the raw
grade data.
The line of best t from Schedule 1-B also has a negative gradient while the line of
best t for Schedule 2-A is identical to the base case schedule. This seems to indicate
that the extra stockpile denition had a greater effect on the mill grade than the
reblocking. However, the positive gradient of the Schedule 3 line of best t indicates
that the reblocking and the stockpiling may be dependent variables because the
stockpile denitions between the base case and Schedule 3 are identical but the
reblocking is of lower denition. This result may suggest that reblocking intervals and
the stockpiling classications need to be matched together in order to optimise the
value of the project with respect to these two factors.
5.3

High Grade Stockpile Movement

The grade range used to dene the high-grade stockpile was identical in all schedule
options. The lower m1 grade was set at the same grade while the upper m1 grade was
left unbounded. The purpose of the stockpile was to hold surplus high-grade material
if the production for one year exceeded 4 million tonnes per annum. As a result,

Fig. 3. Recovery from high-grade stockpiles in early years.

AN APPLICATION OF MINEMAX TM SCHEDULING SOFTWARE

155

movement to and from the high-grade stockpile is minimal in all the schedule options.
The effect that these stockpiles have on the overall value of the project is negligible
due to the small tonnages recovered and the short time before the stockpile is recovered. Figure 3 shows the recovery of the high-grade stockpiles. It can be seen that
all the schedule options use the high-grade stockpiles within the rst 4 years of the
operation..

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5.4

Project Financial Analysis

The discounted cash ows for all schedules decrease over time. This is due to the
falling mill feed grade over time and the increasing effect of discount rate. Comparing
the results of schedule options with those of the base case highlights the effect of
reblocking and stockpiling on the discounted cash ow. The aim of both the reblock
and the stockpiling analysis is to schedule more of the high grade material closer to
the start of the project to generate cash ows that are not effected by higher discount
rates in later time periods.
An analysis of all the scheduling options shows that the scheduling options that
differentiate between a larger number of grade classications tend to have small
positive changes in the NPV of the project. Although reversing this process (that is
moving to larger grade intervals when reblocking) may have a greater detrimental
effect. When compared to the base case (Fig. 4) the line of best-t shows that

Fig. 4. Variation of the net present value for various schedules.

156

EMMANUEL K. CHANDA AND JACOB RICCIARDONE

Schedule 3 is consistently 2% lower than the base case NPV. In contrast Schedule 2-B
is consistently higher than the base case NPV.

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5.5

Interpretation of Scheduling Results

The analysis of the schedules using different reblocking intervals and different
stockpiling classications suggest that increasing these intervals improves the value
of the project. The use of the reblocking function has little effect unless it is
complemented with appropriate stockpile classications. For example, reblocking
enables the mine planner to nd high-grade blocks that are not diluted by being
grouped with lower grade blocks. This is advantageous if the blocks are sent directly
to the ROM Pad. If the blocks are sent to a stockpile, they are blended with other
material, the grade of which is determined by the stockpile classication. Once blended
into the stockpile MineMax cannot differentiate between high or low grades as it only
monitors the average grade of the stockpile. The advantage gained by reblocking on a
smaller interval is therefore lost. However, if the stockpiles are classied into intervals
similar to that of the reblocking this effect may be reduced. Therefore by matching the
reblocking interval to the stockpile interval the high-grade ore is sent to a stockpile of
similar grade, so that dilution is reduced and the ore can be processed earlier in the
project life. This is best illustrated by the effect on the grades of reblocking only
(Schedule 2-A) compared to the improvement gained by adding an extra stockpile to the
schedule (Schedule 2-B). A similar effect can be seen comparing Schedule 1-A to
Schedule 3 (Fig. 4). This shows that decreasing the grade intervals of the stockpiles to
include more than one reblocked grade bin in a stockpile classication reduces the effect
of the reblocking process. To achieve the best results from reblocking the stockpile
classications need to be matched to the reblocked intervals otherwise the effect of
reblocking is lost and the value of the stockpiles is not optimised.
The grade intervals used for this analysis are those used on site. The base case uses
current site practice and the subsequent schedule options are derivatives of the base
case. This being the case, the reblocking intervals and stockpile classications may be
close to optimum and therefore small changes from the practices on site may only
yield incremental changes to the value of project. To test this hypothesis the reblocking intervals and stockpiling classications should be varied to extreme values. This
should conrm that the current site practice is close to optimal given practical
considerations.
5.6

Practical Considerations

The stockpiles used on site are currently classied according to geology and grade. As
a result, the total number of stockpiles on site is equal to the number of geological
classications (N#Geo) multiplied by the number of grade classications (N#Grade).
Introducing one more grade classication results in N#Geo number of stockpiles being

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157

created. This problem is amplied with the large number of pits being mined during
the life of the mine because each pit has its own set of stockpiles.
The major limitation in the implementation of greater number of stockpiles is the
added difculty in ensuring the integrity of the stockpiled material. Adding more
stockpiles increases the complexity of the ore delineation. This has a ow on effect to
all mining departments. The higher the complexity of the stockpiling system the
greater the sensitivity of material on the stockpile to misdirection and the greater the
effort to maintain information on the quality and quantity of ore in each stockpile
(which results in increased sampling and surveying of stockpiles).
The addition of more stockpiles to a mining operation requires access to more land
to develop stockpiles and depending on the mine location this may not be possible. Even if land is available, the added cost of stockpile construction and management may limit the advantage gained from the added value that extra stockpiling
allows.
The stockpile feature in MineMax automatically blends the stockpile ore and,
when reclaiming from a stockpile, assumes the average grade of the stockpile. MineMax does not have the ability to selectively pick blocks once placed on a stockpile.
Unfortunately the more stockpiles that are created the more difcult the task of
producing a consistent blend of ore becomes.
6

CONCLUSIONS

Mine schedule optimisation is an integral part of the iterative mine planning process.
Advances in computer technology allows linear programming, specically mixed
integer linear programming, to be used to describe more complex and larger mine
scheduling problems. MineMax scheduling software used in this case study allows the
mine planner to generate a schedule in a manner that takes practical requirements into
consideration.
This case study involves the investigation of the effects of reblocking and stockpile
intervals on the mining schedule, specically the material movement, milling grade
(Metal One), stockpile recovery and the discounted cash ow. The following conclusions are derived:





The smaller the interval specied when dening the reblocking and stockpile
characteristics, the greater the positive effect on the mill grade scheduled and
hence, the greater the positive effect on the value of the project.
The reblocking interval should be matched to the stockpile cutoff grade to make use
of the added denition provided by the smaller reblocking interval.
The value added by increasing the number of stockpiles must be weighted
against the added complexity and difculty of maintaining the added number of
stockpiles.

158

EMMANUEL K. CHANDA AND JACOB RICCIARDONE

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Combinatorics Pty Limited is thanked for providing MineMaxTM used in this study.
This paper is based on a thesis written by Jacob Ricciardone for the degree of
Bachelor of Engineering in Mining Engineering at the Western Australian School of
Mines, Curtin University of Technology. The authors gratefully acknowledge the
contribution of and support of thesis supervisor, Professor Peter Lilly, and the mining
company that sponsored this work.

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