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Further description of creating a new 3DBM file can be found in Appendix A6.0.
Definition of material code:
MAT = 1 è overburden 1
2 è overburden 2
3 è waste
4 è copper ore (to be processed by copper plant)
5 è cobalt ore (to be processed by cobalt plant)
Statistics distribution by material code is given in Table 2.3.
Ore body spatial distribution is shown in Figure 2.1. The ore body is based on $/tonnes
grade shell at DPT ≥ $0.01/tonnes based on the target economic parameters.
Figure 2.1 Ore body spatial distributions at DPT ≥ $0.01/tonnes with topography.
In Table 3.5, the mining in periods 16, 20, and 21 exceeded the period mining limit of 20
million tonnes. MSVALP applies the mining capacity in a cumulative sense. If the cumulative
total mining is within the cumulative capacity, MSVALP will accept the schedule.
To preserve space, the detailed mining by processes is omitted.
Table 3.6 shows the cumulative mining schedule corresponding mining schedule given
in Table 3.5. The project NPV using the selected pits is $171,623,056.
Annual pit bottom areas within pit 30 and their rankings from the best to the worst.
Seminar
Figure 4.2 shows the location and sequence number as ranked by economics from the
best to the worst. The rectangular boxes indicate the bottom area shown in Table 4.1. After
detecting a pit bottom, MSOPIT can save that pit in a MineSight® EP GSF. This results
in a series of cumulative pit surfaces. In our sample, a total of 17 pit bottom areas were
detected, thus resulting in 17 pit surfaces (pit21 – pit37). A section view of the pit series
obtained via base-bottom approach is shown in Figure 4.3.
Figure 4.3 Section view of base-bottom set pits at 32165 (bottom pit is the final pit).
Note that the pit bottom series of pits did not cover the whole area of the target
economic pit (pit 30). A total of 70 million tonnes and $41 million of profit were left out. It
is necessary to use the final pit 30 with the base-bottom pits for total reserves.
Further, the pit bottoms appeared to be ranked by profit/ore tonnes. The column under
‘/Ton’ is based on profit/total tonnes. This is the reason why the pits do not appear to be
sorted from the best to the worst.
The base-bottom pit series can also serve as slope basis for complex slope pit
optimizations.
Note that under constant cutoff grade of +8.999, the NPV obtained did not consider the
mining capacity while the best case must consider the mining capacity.
Overall the base-bottom pit series did not produce better economics compared to the
economic pit series. But practicality is improved. Because we can add pit surfaces or
restrict pit surfaces, we have options to combine the base-bottom pits with the economic
series of pits.
So far we did not emphasize whether the phases are mineable. Some adjustments
are necessary in selecting the appropriate sized phases, but this is not the focus of this
workshop this year.
5.0 Pit Design Analysis Using MULTP Option
We may have cases where a pit suddenly becomes too large in relation to the previous
pit with the slightest increase in commodity prices. MSOPIT option – MULTP can come to
rescue in this situation.
The idea of MULTP is to design a series of phases in a controlled fashion without
re-computing block values. First $/block values are computed, then the distribution of
positive valued blocks tabulated. The top x% of positive valued blocks are taken as ore
blocks and the blocks with positive values but below the cutoff for the top x% are treated
as if they were waste. A waste mining cost is assigned to the waste blocks in addition to
the negative valued blocks. By varying x% from small to larger values, a series of pits can
be designed.
Further, the number of benches which pit optimization can go down from the current
surface is controlled by a parameter. This prevents the pit from going too far below the
current surface. The minimum number of blocks in the pit is also controlled by a parameter
so that the pit is not too small.
Because blocks classified as waste lose their true value and the pits are designed in a
controlled fashion, the final pit designed in this way may not match the base economic
target pit with the same economic assumptions.
Note that the cumulatives within MULTP final pit (PIT 28) are about the same as the
economic target pit (PIT 30). For current version of program, this may be a coincidence.
Annual MineSight® EP is not designed to automatically produce an optimized answer for open pit
mine planning, rather it is a tool used to quickly evaluate alternatives to determine the best
starting schedule upon which to base detailed designs.
Seminar Because the pit surfaces from pit optimization are stored on a whole block basis without
roads, the engineer must modify the MSOPIT designs stored in the MineSight®EP GSF to
actually be feasible. Among the enhancements required are the addition of roads, removal
of mining areas with a width less than the minimum, and modifying the walls for geo-
technical considerations. There are other tools within MineSight® which can be used for the
needed changes.
The schedule produced by MSVALP is based upon some assumptions that may be
difficult to achieve in operations. Among these assumptions are:
• Stripping can be moved forward in the schedule based upon capacity not geometry.
• Selectivity in the stockpiles is by the mining blocks (decision variable) computed in
MSVALP.
• Mining capacity is based upon tonnage independent of the actual haulage profiles.
• The mining sequence is defined by mining the pushbacks top-down. The next
enhancement for MineSight® EP is to allow mining precedence rules and scheduling
production from multiple pushbacks.
MineSight SP is more suitable for detailed schedule development.
A2.0 LIMITS for MineSight® EP
The programs are designed to handle most open pit projects modeled in MineSight®,
however there are limits.
While MineSight® 3DBM limits are:
Y-direction Rows 1-1000
X-direction Columns 1-1000
Z-direction Levels 1- 400
MineSight EP current limits in Version 1.00 are
®
NX x NY ≤ 360,000
For example 500 rows and 500 columns would be 250,000
NZ 255
Total active blocks 15,000,000 (can be increased by clever packing)
Number of slope rays 50
Complex slope surfaces 4
Complex slope codes 99
Number of Grades 5
Number of Material codes 10
Number of destinations (Ore and Waste) 10
A3.0 MS-EP Component Routines
The new pit optimization programs are described below.
MSPTSP
MSPTSP is used to define complex slope surfaces from an item in the 3DBM and store
the surfaces and codes in the MineSight® EP GSF. The item in the block model must be
related to the pit slope and should have value from 1 to 99. It is assumed that this item
defines the slope for each block. Rather than access each 3DBM to determine the slope at
Annual MSVALP
MSVALP is used to evaluate the pits designed by MSOPIT, select pits for detailed design
of pushbacks, assist in choosing cutoff grades, and compute mining schedules. MSVALP
Seminar can compute reserves and value for pushbacks defined by a series of pits stored in the
MineSight® EP GSF and design a schedule for these pits based upon multiple processes.
MSVALP can also determine the cutoff grades, which will maximize the NPV. The
maximum NPV schedule is created by iteration; first assuming that all economic material
is processed, then comparing the present value of mining a unit material against the future
value of material to determine whether or not the material should be processed when it is
mined or stockpiled. This process is repeated until the schedule NPV cannot be improved.
Stockpile material processing is also analyzed to maximize NPV.
Output from MSVALP: There are multiple report files. The standard report file contains
only summary of the run and additional details is in the files below:
DETAIL file. Contains much more information than the standard report and should
be reviewed by the user. This report file contains the reserves by pit and schedules,
numerous tables for analysis, and tables for Microsoft® Excel as well as the reserves
in a format that can be modified for MineSight® SP.
RESERVE file. Contains a summary of mining units by pushback, bench, and
material code.
SCHEDULE file. Contains the resources in RESERVE and the schedule for mining
and processing them.
SUMMARY file. Contains a simple summary of the schedule for reporting which
can be imported into Excel for graphs etc.
In the 3DBM, process code, pushback number, and scheduled period number may be
stored by MSVALP and then examined in MineSight® 3-D.
MineSight® Compass™ menu item in MineSight® EP group: Simplified production
schedules. Procedure: msep-evaluate.py
MSPSUF
Program MSPSUF is used to perform operations on surfaces in the MineSight® EP GSF file.
The basic options are: SETFL, SET50, ADDPT, LIMIT, ABOVE, BELOW. Each operation
reads two existing surfaces and calculates a third from them and stores the new surface
back in the file. Most operations use the original topography item TOPOG, which is the
actual surface elevation while most of the other surfaces are full benches.
MineSight® Compass™ menu item in MineSight® EP group: Surface Operations.
Procedure: pspsuf.dat
MSLOPE
Program MSLOPE is used to compute the estimated slope at each grid point and store
the result into the MineSight® EP GSF.
MineSight® Compass™ menu item in MineSight® EP group: Compute pit slopes.
Procedure: pslope.dat.
A4.0 MineSight® EP in Six Steps
The major steps for running pit optimization and simplified production scheduling with
MineSight® EP are given as follows:
1) Set up a MineSight® EP GSF file for pit optimization using either the procedure
p60110.dat or MineSight® Compass™ project file creation menu. One needs a
Annual
Seminar
The original items in the 3DBM, which are the basis for pit optimization, are:
TOPO Percent of block under topography, if exists, must match TOPOG.
CU Copper grade in %
CO Cobalt grade in %
PCT Percent of block in the ore body
CLASS Resource classification code (e.g., measured, indicated, and inferred)
MAT Material code based on metallurgical attributes
SLP Slope zone code for complex slope pit optimization
The minimum items required are TOPO, CU/CO, and MAT, respectively block percent
below topography, a grade item for value calculations, and a material code (1,2,3,..).
New items were added for use by MSOPIT
VALPB Gross value per block
VALPT Gross value per ton
EP Destination code based on break-even economics (optional)
CUT Destination code based on break-even economics (optional)
Coning options – one cone per block, floating ray, and one cone per bench
(variable bench height).
Design strategies:
Base – design one pit a time or nested pits within multiple areas
Multp – design a series of nested pits with tight control from current
surface or previous pit and pushback size
Bottoms - pit optimization with pit bottom areas defined.
Resource - summary of resources by destinations and materials
The main information required for MSOPIT is the value calculation. The value
calculation logic is designed to be flexible, yet not overly complex. If the value calculation
Seminar
All the surfaces and items in this dialog refer to those stored in MineSight® EP GSF file
kong13.pit. Starting pit-number = 0 means that the starting pit surface is stored in item
PIT00 in the MineSight® EP GSF file kong13.pit.
Data Limiting Options:
Limiting Surface for Design Variable (0-50):
Store in the B-array the blocks above (including) the defined pit surface, e.g.,
PIT50. 0 means no limiting pit. This option can reduce the number of blocks
stored in the B-array.
Depth:
Store in the B-array the blocks above (including) the defined pit surface +
‘Depth’, e.g., PIT50 + 2 (benches, 10 meters with bench height at 5 meters).
Lowest Code (RCODE) for Surface Limit (0-100):
Defines surface restriction for pit optimization, e.g., river, road, surface facilities.
Design variable value range refers to the range of net value per block to be stored in
B-array. The minimum value, the maximum value, and the precision determine how many
block values will be packed into a computer word for storage purposes.
Limiting Blocks Based on Resource Classification:
Numerical value, e.g., 2, indicating that 1 and 2 will be considered ore (proven
and probable, or measured and indicated). Others will be treated as waste
(possible or inferred).
In Economic Options group, five grade items can be selected for economic revenue (or
penalty) calculations. Material code MAT has values as below:
1=Ob1 – overburden 1
2=Ob2 – overburden 2
3=Waste – waste material
4=Cu_ore – ore material for copper plant (cuplant)
5=Co_ore – ore material for cobalt plant (coplant)
Default material code is waste (3).
During net value calculation, each material type needs to be processed (mill or waste
dump). USE means that the material listed horizontally can go to the destinations listed
vertically. For example, material cu_ore can be sent to destination cuplant.
For each combination of USE, one can define price, recovery, conversion factor for each
grade item, the processing cost and mining cost in $/tonnes, and a specific gravity value
for the material.
Once values are put in, the whole set can be exported to a disk file, which later can
be import into the input dialog for MSVALP (or vice versa) to use identical economic
parameters for value calculations.
The Representative Costs group defines the default (or reasonable) mining cost for ore
and waste. When MULTP option is used in Design Strategy dialog, the blocks with net
values below a cutoff will be classified as waste simply for obtaining nested pits without
recalculating net values per block. These blocks will assume the mining costs defined in
this dialog.
Variable costs by bench are also defined in this dialog.
Discounting parameters by benches are defined by a Bench Mining Rate Factor which
is in format of how many benches one can mine in a year. For example, 0.125 = 1/8 =
mining eight benches per year. An example for the yearly discounting percent is 15(%).
Pit slope scenarios
The old way of ASCII files for complex slopes is converted into MineSight® EP GSF items.
In this dialog, there are two slope surfaces and nine slopes ranging from 33 to 50
degrees. The default for azimuth increment is 30 degrees. The default for Distance
between points determining a slope is block dimension along easting (DX). The default
for Number of points along the rays is 50-project units (meters or feet).
Base pit is used for Floating Ray approach for approximating pit slopes.
Annual
Seminar
In Select Design Choice group, Base is designed for normal pit optimization.
MULTP is designed for generating a series of nested pits successively each is limited
within certain number of benches from its previous pit or surface and number of
blocks in each pit is controlled. Bottoms will use a base pit to locate major pit bottoms
and economically rank them. Resources option is used summarize pit resources by
destination and material type.
Resource Configuration is activated only if Resource is chosen.
For Lerchs-Grossmann pit design method, reblocking factors can be optionally defined
along easting, northing, and by bench.
Complex slope options include: 1) variable bench height (one cone per bench), 2)
Floating Ray, and 3) one cone per ore block.
For LG option, one also has option to summarize the net values between two existing
pit surfaces.
Base design dialog
If bench, column, and row numbers are defined, detailed audit output will be put in the
file workmsopit.tmp for the block and the whole column. How the net value per block is
computed for the column will also be in this file.
Output File Configuration
In this dialog, the resulting pits will be stored in items from PIT21 to PIT40, a total of 20 pits.
The run area is the whole block model.
The starting percent for ore blocks being classified as ore is 0.05 (5%). The maximum
percent for ore blocks being classified as ore is 1.0 (100%), which will approximate the
ultimate pit without control on number of benches going down. The starting percent
should not be 0% because no pit will be designed.
The step size equals: (100-5)/20.
The maximum depth from current pit surface for pit optimization is ten benches (50 meters).
The minimum number of blocks required for each incremental pit is 10,000 in the input.
A8.2 Pit Optimization with MSOPIT – Multi-Run
MULTP is great for filling in the gaps for a big incremental pit. Often a user wants to tie a
pit to a particular economic parameter set. Multi-Run conveniently provides a way for the
user to produce a series of pits with variable economic parameters.
An example for setting up a Multi-Run with msep-design.py is given below:
Bring up the Multi-Run dialog:
Click on MineSight® Compass™ Options tab, in MultiRun Options | Open group,
choose New and click on folder open icon, the Multi-Run dialog will be brought up.
Annual
Seminar
Define the copper price and the cobalt price as variables 1 and 2 (?01 and ?02) for process
cu_ore-cuplant combination:
In this example, for the first run, the starting surface (variable 5) is MineSight® EP GSF
item PIT00, the copper price (variable 1) is $0.90/lb, the cobalt price (variable 2) is $20/lb,
the result pit surface (variable 3) will be stored in MineSight® EP GSF item PIT11, and the
run file and report file extension (variable 4) is c9.
Please note that it is probably a good idea to write down each variable definition as it is
designated (dialog input stage), otherwise, one may forget the designation of each variable.
A9.0 Display MineSight® EP GSF Pits with MineSight® 3-D
Since the pits resulting from pit optimization are stored in MineSight® EP GSF, they can
be viewed in the same way as any other GSF files within MineSight® 3-D. In fact, all the
items in the MineSight® EP GSF can be viewed with MineSight® 3-D.
It is important that the geometry of the pits designed with MSOPIT be examined
visually. In order to do this, a user should first define at least two grid sets; a west to east
grid set and a horizontal grid set.
Select the PCF and MineSight® EP GSF and when the following window pops-up,
Note: a user can uncheck the items that are not wanted
before clicking OK.
Section View of pits stored in MineSight® EP GSF (model view).
Seminar economics are based upon up to five grades and their processing assumptions.
The objective for the cutoff grade optimization is based upon finding the cutoff grade
within each pushback and each bench in each period, which results in the maximum NPV.
This is accomplished starting with the cutoff grades that maximize the total profit and then
computing the NPV for each class of material in a simple top down schedule. The reserves
are divided into mining units based upon pushback, bench, process class, and cutoff off
bin. Then each unit is examined to determine the change in the NPV by not processing
that class (i.e. sending the material to stockpiles or waste dumps). Then the unit that has
the most positive effect on the NPV by not processing it is removed. The calculations are
repeated until there is not significant improvement in the NPV to be made.
The MineSight® Grail procedure for MSVALP is msep-evaluate.py.
As in previous sections, we will present an example for illustration. We will omit the
dialogs in msep-evaluate.py which are the same as those in msep-design.py and
focus on unique dialogs to msep-evaluate.py.
Define Phases to Schedule:
Note that the pits must be sequential and increasing in size, otherwise MSVALP will
terminate with an error message. Use MSPSUF to normalize the pits if required.
For each Material there must be at least one destination and if the destination is an ore
process, there should also be a waste process specified. Note that materials cu_ore and co_
ore are specified to go to either the mill or waste destinations.
For each ore destination the value calculations should be defined based upon from one
to five grade items from the model. For each grade item the Price, Recovery, and Factor
must be specified. The value calculations is:
Value for Grade1 = Grade1 x Price1 x Recovery1 x .01 x Factor1
Seminar
The cutoff grade must be based upon one of the grade items specified in the previous
panel. A maximum of 10 cutoffs are allowed.
Min. NPV change to switch cutoff bin: = if the project NPV difference ≥ $10,000.0, the
schedule material bin will be reclassified, e.g., from ore to waste or vice versa.
Discount percent per period: = annual discounting rate in % (10%).
# passes for NPV Calc: = number of iterations (passes) to stop improving project
NPV (100).
Five sets of production targets can be specified. The periods should be specified
sequentially from 1 to 99. The maximum number of periods allowed is 99.
The destinations are listed horizontally. The Rate variable for each destination indicates
whether or not that destination is used to determine the mining for the period. A check
means that the destination is included in the total ore target for the period. For example, in
the case above, the period mining in defined mining the material required to send 900,000
tons to the cuplant. No target constraints are defined for coplant, waste, and Ob. The Grade
option is used to specify how the capacity is defined, either by tonnes as in this case or by
recovered metal. If a grade is specified, then the capacity is assumed to be units of metal
recovered instead of mining tons.
When stockpiled material is sent to a process there is a loading and hauling cost per ton
specified by Cost to Send.
It may not be reasonable to process material that has a low value so a minimum profit
per tons can be specified.
Output Configuration