Stratified Deposit Production Schedule Optimisation Considering In-Pit Dumping and Haul Road Selection

Abstract

In mining operations, selecting a schedule for waste mining and hauling to dump locations including in-pit dumps and ore to plants and stockpiles, through a network of roads, poses a huge combinatorial problem. A mathematical model has been proposed to simultaneously optimise pit and waste dump mining including in-pit dumping, with the selection of shortest haulage from possible haul-road networks. Solution methodologies have been developed using exact and meta-heuristic methods and applied on several cases.