Introductory Review – Computer Applications In Mining

Computer techniques now have been applied to the solution of a wide variety of scientific and engineering problems in the mining industry, but generally not in great depth in any one area. In mining, the area covered in greatest depth and with the greatest success has probably been mine planning and to a lesser degree production scheduling. A rather comprehensive review of the literature related to mine planning and production scheduling indicates that contributions in these areas have been geographically, as well as organizationally, widespread. Of twenty-six papers reviewed, eleven were from industry, eight from educational institutions, four from computer vendors, two from the Bureau of Mines, and one from a private consultant. The conclusions that can be derived from the literature are: First, the-state-of-the art has advanced to the point that computing ore reserves and developing mining plans with the aid of the computer is now a routine practice; second, the application of the computer to mine planning problems has markedly improved our ability to estimate ore reserves, more accurately define pit limits, and determine an optimum mining sequence. MINE PLANNING The papers in this section deal essentially with the problem of determining the final pit limits of an orebody and the ore reserves associated with a given pit limit. The problem is probably best described by Soderberg25 and more recently by Reibell. 23. There are two techniques currently being applied to this problem by several mining companies: 1) the multiple-cone technique and 2) the Lerch-Grossman algorithm. The multiple-cone technique is the older of the two techniques and has the advantage of being more flexible, allowing an engineer to easily vary pit slopes in different sectors of the design. The technique can also be used to define intermediate pit contours. The Lerch-Grossman algorithm is appealing in that the final solution is given in the form of a true mathematical optimum. The technique is limited, however, in that the size of the blocks in the orebody model are a function of the desired