TY - JOUR
T1 - Optimizing the open pit-to-underground mining transition
AU - King, Barry
AU - Goycoolea, Marcos
AU - Newman, A.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2017/2/16
Y1 - 2017/2/16
N2 - A large number of metal deposits are initially extracted via surface methods, but then transition underground without necessarily ceasing to operate above ground. Currently, most mine operators schedule the open pit and underground operations independently and then merge the two, creating a myopic solution. We present a methodology to maximize the NPV for an entire metal deposit by determining the spatial expanse and production quantities of both the open pit and underground mines while adhering to operational production and processing constraints. By taking advantage of a new linear programming solution algorithm and using an ad-hoc branch-and-bound scheme, we solve real-world scenarios of our transition model to near optimality in a few hours, where such scenarios were otherwise completely intractable. The decision of where and when to transition changes the net present value of the mine by hundreds of millions of dollars.
AB - A large number of metal deposits are initially extracted via surface methods, but then transition underground without necessarily ceasing to operate above ground. Currently, most mine operators schedule the open pit and underground operations independently and then merge the two, creating a myopic solution. We present a methodology to maximize the NPV for an entire metal deposit by determining the spatial expanse and production quantities of both the open pit and underground mines while adhering to operational production and processing constraints. By taking advantage of a new linear programming solution algorithm and using an ad-hoc branch-and-bound scheme, we solve real-world scenarios of our transition model to near optimality in a few hours, where such scenarios were otherwise completely intractable. The decision of where and when to transition changes the net present value of the mine by hundreds of millions of dollars.
KW - Integer programming applications: exact and heuristic approaches
KW - Mining/metals industries: optimal extraction sequence
KW - Production scheduling: transition problem
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84992471265&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.ejor.2016.07.021
DO - 10.1016/j.ejor.2016.07.021
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84992471265
SN - 0377-2217
VL - 257
SP - 297
EP - 309
JO - European Journal of Operational Research
JF - European Journal of Operational Research
IS - 1
ER -