Sequencing Mining

Operations with MineSight

2007 Dr. B. C. Paul
{Note The Name MineSight and the Program described are
property of Mintec Inc Tucson, Arizona}
Maximizing Returns

NPV is usually increased by bringing more

early earnings and delaying expenses
Sequencing pits for high grade ore with lower
stripping ratios tends to do this
We Need A Method of Finding the Best Grade
Ore to Mine First
How to Make That Happen
We try to Fake Out the Lerch Grossman
Routine
Lerch Grossman will Find the Juiciest set of ore
blocks that keeps producing more value
Obviously this must mean that it either finds the
maximum metal pit or the most lucrative ore
Because not all ore is equally easy to process it is
possible that a set other than maximum metal will be
selected
We Need to Get Lerch Grossman to Pick the
Best of the Best
To Do This We Perform What I Call A
Price Fake
We tell the computer we have a dismal
market and then ask it to find the ultimate
pit
Under unfavorable economics only the better
grade ore will get included in the fake ultimate
pit
Lerch Grossman however has picked us the set
of blocks that yields maximum value per ton
which is just what we wanted.
We Will Gradually Raise Our Fake Price
As We Do Multiple Runs
Each Run will start with the previous pit in
place
Each Run will have the real final pit
surface as a limiting surface
The result will be a series of nested pits
that go from the best ore to ore of
progressively lower grade
We have just tricked Lerch Grossman into
telling us how to optimize our NPV by
sequencing our mining
The Pit Slope Problem
The stripping ratio and thus the economics
of an open pit mine are sensitive to the
slope angle
Several things control our slope angle
Rock Strength and Fracture Patterns
Having an overall pit slope daylight a major fracture
zone around the toe could cause the whole side of
the pit to slide in (yes it has happened)
We use stereo nets for fractures and calculate our
maximum over-all slope (this is a Rock Mechanics
course special)
The Pit Slope Issue

Rock Strength Considerations

Mines actually have benches and then slopes
with crests and toes
The crest to toe slope is of course steeper than the
over-all
Rock strength usually dictates how steep
An occasional slide of material on a local slope is far
more acceptable than a side of the pit burying the entire
operation.
The Role of Bench Width
Benches Must be Wide Enough to
Act as a stop for rocks
Provide Space for needed haul roads
Provide Enough Room for equipment needed to
mine the ore to maneuver and collect material
Largest Space Will be For Running
Equipment to Mine
As one reaches the edge of the minable
reserve the need to maintain space to push
back further is not there
The Multi-Slope Issue

The Final Pit Slope Will Thus Usually Be

Geological and check bench limited
The Working Pit Slope is Usually not as
Steep as the final pit slope
Well need to handle working slopes as we plan
our mine sequence
And of course you'll have to figure what your
working slope will be.
Approaches to Getting Staged Pits
We know MSOPIT can find the ultimate pit by
L.G. or floating code
Floating cone is faster and easier to understand
But it has problems with multiple pit bottoms
LG overcomes these problems
One Way to Get Staged pits is to run the L.G.
ultimate pit routine with fake metal prices to get it
to target richest ore first
Price Fake Method
Run MSOPIT using the Base Option (just like for
Ultimate pit but then insert fake prices)
Limitations of the Price Fake Method

Getting Pits to Stage for so many tons

each period is hard
Size of the pit jumps erratically and can even
have large gaps where no pit is defined
Pits may not make practical push backs or
sink a practical number of benches
MSOPIT Options
You can use L.G. to define pits on both
sides of a gap
Can try running floating cones with constraining
pit surfaces and fake prices
Can get around some undefined pit gaps
MSOPIT has a Multipit Option
The routine ranks blocks by value
Subject to some selection rules it will give you
the best 10%, 20%, 30% etc.
Simulates stage pits
What Multi-Pit Does

Because it will pick the top X% of blocks it

will produce sequences with regular ore
tonnages
The selection rules allow you to limit push
back sizes or number of new benches
sunk in a time period
Is a heuristic routine and pits may not
always nest perfectly inside one another
Our First Example Learch Grossman
Price Fake Method
We Will create a really low fake Cu and Mo price
(keeping the ratio between Cu and Mo price
constant)
We will use MSOPIT with a Lerch Grossman routine to
find the richest pit that still makes it even with bad fake
prices
We will tell MSOPIT that it must develop this pit at a
feasible working not final pit slope
We will use the ultimate pit which we designed at a final
slope as a constraint and tell MSOPIT that it must stop
at the final pit surface wall.
MSOPIT Search Option #1

Start MSOPIT.
 We Will Consider Only Screens for
MSOPIT unique to our use

My first cut will start with no

Pit but will limit things to
The area of the ultimate pit.

(Note that Pit 1 is the

Ultimate pit generated in
An earlier step).
 We Manipulate Our Product Price to Try
to Guide the Program to Pick smaller pits
with the maximum pay metal

I varied copper and

Moly in proportion to
Each other setting copper
At 50 cents in concentrate
Instead of $1.05.

(only the highest grade

Material will be able to
Pay off so it should dig
Up the richest ore first)
 Processing and Mining Costs are Held
Constant well Metal price is artificially
deflated

Leach copper was

Set at 60 cents

We should understand
That because our prices
Are fake our block values
Will be wrong. The function
Of this procedure is just
To pick off the richest
pits

This is the Leach Ore Screen

I Neednt worry about Waste Since
Recovery is zero.
 Im Going to Need a More Limiting
Working Slope

Note that while I allow

57 degrees for my
Final slope I am only
Allowing 42 degrees for
Active working areas.
Again Select the Base Option
 Specify the Pit to Store the Output In and
Any Limiting Pit Surface

I am going to put my first pit

In Pit 2

I am going to limit the pit

To be within Pit 1 (ie it cannot
Go out of the ultimate pit)
Order the Program to Run the Procedure
Turning On and Looking We See A Small
Initial Pit
We Can Also Milk Some Data Out of the
Output Report on the Run

It appears to have taken

About 102,000 blocks

102,000*6000*1.308*1.9=
About 1.5 billion tons

It tells us about ore and waste

Blocks but we dont pay any
Attention to that because the
Price is messed up so the
Processing decisions are
Jibberish.
 We Now Make A Second Run With a Little
Higher Prices (Resulting in a bigger pit)

This time we start our

Run with Pit #2
(our initial pit) already
Present.
 I Will Beef Up My Cu and Moly Prices

In my case I improved
Cu to 60 cents in
Concentrate and to
Keep moly in proportion
I went to 2.29

I will of course do similar things to my leach material screen.

I Will Again Use a Base Strategy and
Lerch Grossman
My Result Will Go In Pit 3 with Pit 1 (My
Ultimate Pit) Still Being a Limiting Surface
 As You Can See I Moved Up Another
Increment In Pit Size

Ok I did a few things to get this display In fact the report indicates we mined an
I turned off Pit 2, turned on Pit 3 and then Additional 1.4 billion tons of material
On Pit 3s cut-offs option I went to properties
And picked blue as a global color
 Now Ill Bump Up My Prices and Run
Again
Set Cu at
0.7 and Mo
At 2.67

Instruct it to send the result to pit 4

Ill start with Pit 3
And use Pit 1 as a limiting surface
 Turning On Pit #4 We Prepare to Do My
Color Trick

Select the Gray Area

(it will turn blue)

Then hit properties

Click on Global Color
Pick a Cool Color and then OK Your Way
Out of Things
There Is My Pretty Color Effect

The report assures me I have an additional 1.2 billion tons of material

We Run It Again With the Prices Set at
$0.8 Cu and $3.05 Mo

Note that
Some areas are
Now reaching to
The final pit slope

The report tells

Me I took another
1.1 billion tons
 I Bet You Knew I Was Going to Do it
Again with $0.90 Cu and $3.43 Mo

815 Million
Ton taken
Out in this
phase
Well Do One More Step to The Ultimate
Pit with Cu at $1.00 Cu and $3.81 Mo

An Additional 685 million tons was taken

And So We Can See Our Pit Advance
Starting With the Richest Ore First
Until the Pit Is Complete
 We Can Get Resource Reports On Our
Sequence

Well start at Pit 0

(ie the undisturbed
Surface)
Well Set the Panes to Read the Actual
Projected Metal Prices

Note I have Cu set

At $1.05 and Mo
At $4.00
(or what ever you
Projected as the most
Likely price)

Now when I tell the computer to check the resource in a pit it will give it the true value and processing
Assignments.
Well Set It to Calculate Resources for Pit
2

Then Well Launch the Run

Well Get A Report on What It Did with the
Material It Cut From Pit 2

Mill Ore Is 1.273 billion tons at 0.69 Cu and 0.082 Mo

Leach Ore is 8.2 million tons at 0.27 Cu
Waste is 8.7 million tons
We Can Put Our Figures in a Spread
Sheet
Next Well Do It For Pit 3

Do Resources for Pit 3

Start with Pit 2
And So On Through the Ore Body
What We Know

Resources
About 900 Million tons Millable ore
About 200 Million tons to Leach
It is Also Possible to Get MSOPT to
Calculate Resources Between Pits
Directly

Instead of defining the starting surface

To be the ground surface define it
To be the previous pit

In this case I am defining it to be my

First small pit stored in Pit 2
(my undisturbed surface is Pit 0)
(my ultimate pit is in Pit 1)
(my pits from Pit 2 to Pit 7 get progressively
Larger)
Calculate the Resources for the Next Pit
Using the Design Strategy Screen

Note I put it into resource

Calculation mode

I ask it to do the reserves for

My second smallest pit
(remember pit 2 is my
Smallest and pit 3 is next)
I Order a Run
I Get a Report of Results

This phase will send 163.5 million

Tons of ore to the concentrator
And 22 million tons to leaching

It will take me about 5 to 5.5 years at around 32 million tons/year

We Did Lerch Grossman Price Fake
Manually to Get A Sequence
We have looked at running base cases with fake
prices We have also seen the resource option
Bring Up MineSight Compass
With the economic planner
Menu.
The Multipit Option
Pick the Options Tab
Note that Multi-Run is
An option

Select New for a

New Multi-Run

Now tell it to open the

File to start the
Dialog.