TY - JOUR
T1 - Linear models for stockpiling in open-pit mine production scheduling problems
AU - Moreno, Eduardo
AU - Rezakhah, Mojtaba
AU - Newman, Alexandra
AU - Ferreira, Felipe
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2017/7/1
Y1 - 2017/7/1
N2 - The open pit mine production scheduling (OPMPS) problem seeks to determine when, if ever, to extract each notional, three-dimensional block of ore and/or waste in a deposit and what to do with each, e.g., send it to a particular processing plant or to the waste dump. This scheduling model maximizes net present value subject to spatial precedence constraints, and resource capacities. Certain mines use stockpiles for blending different grades of extracted material, storing excess until processing capacity is available, or keeping low-grade ore for possible future processing. Common models assume that material in these stockpiles, or “buckets,” is theoretically immediately mixed and becomes homogeneous. We consider stockpiles as part of our open pit mine scheduling strategy, propose multiple models to solve the OPMPS problem, and compare the solution quality and tractability of these linear-integer and nonlinear-integer models. Numerical experiments show that our proposed models are tractable, and correspond to instances which can be solved in a few seconds up to a few minutes in contrast to previous nonlinear models that fail to solve.
AB - The open pit mine production scheduling (OPMPS) problem seeks to determine when, if ever, to extract each notional, three-dimensional block of ore and/or waste in a deposit and what to do with each, e.g., send it to a particular processing plant or to the waste dump. This scheduling model maximizes net present value subject to spatial precedence constraints, and resource capacities. Certain mines use stockpiles for blending different grades of extracted material, storing excess until processing capacity is available, or keeping low-grade ore for possible future processing. Common models assume that material in these stockpiles, or “buckets,” is theoretically immediately mixed and becomes homogeneous. We consider stockpiles as part of our open pit mine scheduling strategy, propose multiple models to solve the OPMPS problem, and compare the solution quality and tractability of these linear-integer and nonlinear-integer models. Numerical experiments show that our proposed models are tractable, and correspond to instances which can be solved in a few seconds up to a few minutes in contrast to previous nonlinear models that fail to solve.
KW - Linear and integer programming
KW - Mine planning
KW - OR in natural resources
KW - Open pit mining
KW - Stockpiling
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85008499979&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.ejor.2016.12.014
DO - 10.1016/j.ejor.2016.12.014
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85008499979
SN - 0377-2217
VL - 260
SP - 212
EP - 221
JO - European Journal of Operational Research
JF - European Journal of Operational Research
IS - 1
ER -