ABSTRACT
Open-pit mine planners have long relied on optimization models for estimating pushbacks without ramps at the block level. Subsequently, they generate an operational design which includes ramps that are required to access the different parts of the mine. This design depends on the time available and the experience of the planner.
In this paper, we present a procedure that (i) uses mathematical optimization to find a modified pushback, which contains the ramp location at the block level, minimizing the impact on the value of the original pushback, and (ii) produces a designed pushback integrating the operational ramp design at the actual pit profile from the modified pushback.
We apply this procedure on several block models and compare to the original pushback, the modified pushback, and the designed pushback. The results show that the designed pushback are consistently close to the original pushback in terms of value and tonnage.
