A mathematical model for mineable pushback designs

ABSTRACT

In the design of open pit mines, the region to be mined is partitioned into pushbacks, subregions that allow the mining to be divided into distinct phases. Practical pushbacks are connected, satisfy a minimum width for mining equipment and include a haulage ramp. Current pushback models typically relax some or all of these mineability conditions; consequently, the outputs from those models require significant intervention by mining engineers. We present a formulation to generate maximum value practical pushbacks. A closeness factor is introduced to quantify the design’s mineability. Finally, a case study of a real mine shows that our model can produce pushbacks with more practical designs and better value than traditional approaches.

KEYWORDS:

• OR in natural resources
• mine planning
• practical constraints
• ramps
• open-pit mines

Acknowledgment

The authors want to express our gratitude to anonymous referees on an earlier version of this paper. Their insightful comments led to significant improvements in the scope and content of the results presented. Mr Juan L. Yarmuch is supported by the Gilbert Rigg and the George Lansell scholarships (University of Melbourne], and the National Commission for Science Research and Technology (CONICYT-Chile) through its program Becas Chile, and FONDEF project IT16M10010.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the FONDEF [IT16M10010]; CONICYT [72160405].