The document discusses the application of split shell open pit design at De Beers Venetia mine in South Africa. Previously, mine design was based on conventional concentric mining, which has operational downsides like congestion and increased costs from high stripping ratios early in the mine life. The split shell concept was proposed to address this by splitting large mining cuts into two separate pushbacks on opposite sides of an axis, allowing for more flexible operations and deferred stripping costs. Whittle optimization was used to determine suitable split axes and pushback limits. Analysis found the split shell approach improved economics by targeting higher grade areas earlier while deferring waste.
The document discusses the application of split shell open pit design at De Beers Venetia mine in South Africa. Previously, mine design was based on conventional concentric mining, which has operational downsides like congestion and increased costs from high stripping ratios early in the mine life. The split shell concept was proposed to address this by splitting large mining cuts into two separate pushbacks on opposite sides of an axis, allowing for more flexible operations and deferred stripping costs. Whittle optimization was used to determine suitable split axes and pushback limits. Analysis found the split shell approach improved economics by targeting higher grade areas earlier while deferring waste.
The document discusses the application of split shell open pit design at De Beers Venetia mine in South Africa. Previously, mine design was based on conventional concentric mining, which has operational downsides like congestion and increased costs from high stripping ratios early in the mine life. The split shell concept was proposed to address this by splitting large mining cuts into two separate pushbacks on opposite sides of an axis, allowing for more flexible operations and deferred stripping costs. Whittle optimization was used to determine suitable split axes and pushback limits. Analysis found the split shell approach improved economics by targeting higher grade areas earlier while deferring waste.
The document discusses the application of split shell open pit design at De Beers Venetia mine in South Africa. Previously, mine design was based on conventional concentric mining, which has operational downsides like congestion and increased costs from high stripping ratios early in the mine life. The split shell concept was proposed to address this by splitting large mining cuts into two separate pushbacks on opposite sides of an axis, allowing for more flexible operations and deferred stripping costs. Whittle optimization was used to determine suitable split axes and pushback limits. Analysis found the split shell approach improved economics by targeting higher grade areas earlier while deferring waste.
larger as the pit gets deeper. around the orebody. Each mining cut becomes progressively E-mail: mgallagher@debeers.co.za concentric mining principle mines a waste cut or pushback 360 Limited, Private bag X01, Southdale 2135, South Africa. been based on a conventional concentric mining method. The 2. Senior divisional Mining Engineer, De Beers Consolidated Mines Open pit design and planning at Venetia mine has, in the past, E-mail: rmkear@mweb.co.za CONCENTRIC MINING 1. Mining Advisor, PO Box 4512, Edenvale 1610, South Africa. accordingly, as shown in Table 1. run in Whittle by modifying the slope zones in the parameter file mine daily. waste tonnes of the flattening angles, a series of scenarios were Messina, Alldays and Lebowa and is bussed to and from the were, at the time, under review. To assess the potential impact on mine into full production in 1993. The workforce is housed in Figure 3). The slope angles for the various regions in the pit Prestripping and construction commenced in 1990 phasing the determine the final economic shell and push back limits (see community, Alldays, as shown in Figure 1. Whittle Four-D optimisation was performed on the kimberlites to west of the town of Messina and 40 km east of the farming south of the confluence of the Shashe and Limpopo rivers, 80 km WHITTLE FOUR-D OPTIMISATION in the Northern Province of South Africa, approximately 27 km Venetia mine is located on the farm VENETIA 103MS, situated which 4.2 million tonnes is ore sent for processing. Venetia currently mines some 29 million tonnes per annum of INTRODUCTION excess of 300 MPa. strengths of the country rock types varies from 100 MPa to in De Beers Venetia open pit in South Africa. Metaporphic terrane in which it is situated. The intact rock This paper discusses the application of the split shell design at the rock is extremely complex and typical of the Limpopo design. region, which causes planar failure. Deformation of the country iterations are possible thereby closing the gap between optimal and actual NPV of the reserve. With comp u u n te fa r v t o ec u h r n a o b l l o y gy o , r n i u e m nt e a r t o e u d s c m on e c ta e m pts or a p n h d ic layering in the southern receives the least attention, yet it is the area of most influence on the complex jointed host rock, which is further complicated by production scenarios to planning initiatives. Of all, planning usually Gneiss, biotite schist and amphibolites mainly comprise the achieve this, ranging from operational efficiency improvements through synformal structure. improved margins become the focal objective. There are many ways to kimberlites appear to be contained within the centre of a Mining is no different, with falling prices and escalating costs, satellite kimberlites being mined as the open pit expands. The plan, with optimum economics. form the basis of the mine plan, with the remainder of the alternatives to improve their operations. The ultimate goal is to deliver to kimberlites, K001 and K002 being 12.5 ha and 5 ha respectively, but flexible design thereby allowing operational managers to provide To remain at the leading edge, in any business, depends on accurate Figure 2), varying in size from <1 ha to 12.5 ha. The two largest In today s high tech world, syste V m e s n a e r t e ia ge m tti i n n g e b c ig o g n e s r, is f t a s ste o r f , b a ett c e l r u . ster of 14 kimberlite pipes (see ABSTRACT GEOLOGY R M Kear and M S Gallagher 1 2 Mine South Africa Using the Whittle and Gemcom Software Split Shell Open Pit Design Concept Applied at De Beers Venetia 122 Perth, WA, 26 - 28 March 2001 Strategic Mine Planning Conference Maximum production scenario years 22.83 22.84 23.00 22.14 strategies Realistic production scenario years 29.75 29.76 29.97 28.85 Depletion Minimum production scenario years 31.49 31.50 31.71 30.56 Life of mine Strip ratio waste:ore 6.72 5.59 4.59 6.80 Waste tons 000 s tons 680 899 566 927 468 783 669 270 parameters Total kimberlite tons 000 s tons 101 395 101 431 102 106 98 410 Resource Satellite kimberlite tons 000 s tons 16 685 15 958 15 727 13 278 K001/K002 kimberlite tons 000 s tons 84 710 85 473 86 379 85 132 Slope degrees 35 S - 40 N 40 S - 45 N 45 S - 50 N 36 S - 40 N pit design Units Whittle shell Whittle shell Whittle shell Current final Whittle shell slope angle analysis. TABLE 1 value of the reserve could be improved. further investigations were persued to determine whether the FIG 3 - Three-dimensional view of the Venetia Whittle shell. constraints associated with concentric mining and based on this, Mine. It was found that split shells obviate some of the initiated to prove up the applicability of this method at Venetia proposed the split shell concept. Design work and planning was and increase cost. Robin Kear, a mining advisor to the mine, ramp closure from blast spillage, all of which reduce efficiencies mining activities, waste dilution on top of ore and temporary mining of different push backs which results in the congestion of from high stripping ratios earlier in the life of mine, concurrent once critically examined, has operational downsides. These range Concentric mining, although traditional, workable and proven, investigated. of better returns, mine design criteria and philosophies were Cost profiles mirror waste stripping profiles therefore in pursuit increases significantly year on year as the pit depth increases. In order to maintain ore feed to the plant, waste stripping FIG 2 - Plan view of the Venetia kimberlites. R M KEAR and M S GALLAGHER Strategic Mine Planning Conference Perth, WA, 26 - 28 March 2001 123 FIG 4 - Schematic showing the difference between conventional concentric mining and split shell mining. previous stages. costs are acceptable. configuration rules that obey the split axis determined in the of risk is associated with a period of time for which development Conduct multiple pit designs incorporating the ramp life is a risk management must take. The basis for an assessment the shell the first split will be mined. In view of current market conditions, the size of the cut, hence jointing and stability, which may influence on which side of the deposit wealth, inefficiencies from over stripping are masked. Assess the country rock for competence, fault planes, Concentric mining compounds this scenario. Quite often, due to instantaneous stripping ratios and early capital expenditure. plant blending purposes and finally ore release extent. increased risk due to the longevity of that cut, requiring higher cognisance of geometry, grade, rock type characteristics for wider waste cuts than the required minimum resulting in Determine the most suitable split axis of the orebody taking to be conservative when determining push-back distance and take Re-design current mining cut, modifying ramps if necessary. increased stripping. Planners on many large open pit mines tend for the successful split. columns, etc) for longer periods, but there is a price to pay - beyond a point that will allow ramp configurations necessary advantage of establishing roadways and services (pumping the remaining mine life. In some cases, mining has advanced Large waste cuts do have more associated ore and have the mining status. This will establish if a split is possible at all on double that of a split shell. Assess the current design, taking cognisance of the current mining, the capital, infrastructure and time committed is virtually cut. In other words, the costs may be sunk up-front. In concentric described below: required to maintain production for the duration of that particular The process is iterative and generally follows the sequence of that entire cut, as capital expenditure and infrastructure will be cut and hence capital and operating cost. commenced, the mine is to some extent committed to the mining reduced waste tonnage profile due to the split in the mining can bring revenue forward. Once the particular cut has reduced Business Risk Period (BRP); and graded areas while deferring waste which in turn defers cost and split axis. The split shell presents opportunities to target higher since the mining cut is split and is not being mined at once; factors need to be considered when sizing and determining the increased flexibility in both operations and future planning, calculated risk that the management team must take. These equipment in working areas; production rate, ramp geometry, market confidence etc and is a improved operational efficiencies due to less congestion of number of factors such as equipment size, final planned depth, The correct push-back distance or waste cut is determined by a reduced waste spillage on ore access ramps; ramp; PUSH-BACK/WASTE CUT DETERMINATION taking place on the opposite side of the pit to that of the ore unobstructed ore haul route access due to waste mining in Figure 4. also incorporates various operational advantages, such as: a re-schedule of intermediate cuts or push backs and is illustrated life, without putting exposed ore at risk for mining. The concept final pit shell nor does it reduce total tonnes mined - it is merely waste stripping to be deferred from the early part of the waste cut The split shell design does not significantly alter the size of the The direct benefit of the split shell design is that it allows for splits are possible. opposite halves of each design. into the short-term plans. On certain large deposits, multiple along an axis, creating two separate push-backs and joining the shells to determine the bottleneck, which will ultimately feed The concept is based on the principle of splitting a pit shell Select the optimum split designs and sequence these interim method of waste stripping. designs available for splitting. Split Shell mining departs from the conventional concentric joined split shell each time to determine the optimum SPLIT SHELL CONCEPT Split and merge the different designs, evaluating the resultant SPLIT SHELL OPEN PIT DESIGN CONCEPT APPLIED AT DE BEERS VENETIA MINE SOUTH AFRICA 124 Perth, WA, 26 - 28 March 2001 Strategic Mine Planning Conference FIG 5 - Cut two and three concentric designs. Cut two Cut three K001 K001 K002 K002 inefficiencies. The ramp system in the second split, when mined from deferred waste stripping far out weigh any haul cycle shells using the Gemcom mine planning software (see Figure 5). reduce truck cycle times slightly, the economic benefits derived and concentric practical pits were designed from these Whittle points will take the form of switch-backs, and although they will limits or waste cuts. In total, four waste cuts were established, points. During the mining of the first split, these ramp transition conducted on the optimum shell to establish optimal push back the edges of the split axis, and these effectively form transition determining the final economic pit shell. Analysis was further configured in such a way that cross over points are established at Whittle Four-D optimisation was run on Venetia mine, has been decided, as described earlier, the ramps have to be one of the critical factors to determine. Once the correct split axis VENETIA MINE - A CASE STUDY Ramp configuration, for the success of the split shell design, is designs can the optimum design be achieved. considered. adopting an iterative approach and running a series of ramp economics, however practical aspects of this will have to be gradient and direction all need to be evaluated and only by reduce ramp width considerably which would further improve and practicality is the trick. Considerations such as width, up or empty down passage. This does provide the opportunity to choose the optimal ramp design which maximises profitability certain ramps could be designated one way, allowing either full ramp designs and configurations that could be generated, but to Due to the multiple ramp system in the split shell design, Given an optimal pit design from Whittle, there are a range of benefits from improved design such as split shells will be lost. often some of the stages are omitted due to time constraints. factors of safety before any design work is performed, otherwise theoretical pits to practical pits could take several stages, but envelope are being pushed while remaining within acceptable determined by the mining engineer. The evolution from ascertain all design criteria and ensure upper limits of the design and when they should be mined, but how to mine these is million tonnes of waste rock. It is therefore important to Whittle Four-D will determine the blocks which are mineable limit by some 16 metres, which resulted in an additional 20 without deviating too much from the mathematical optimum. that three-metre increase in ramp width, pushed out the final pit engineer has to transform this optimal pit into a practical pit, and tonnes, based on a 400 metre deep pit. The results concluded Having discussed the theory behind optimal pits, the mining conducted to determine the effects of ramp widths on final design a commensurate increase in waste tonnage. An exercise was IMPACT OF RAMPS ON OPTIMAL PITS on the final pit perimeter and any increase in width will result in Haulroad width is a design parameter that has significant affect contribute favourably to operating efficiency and NPV. system, therefore business risk is reduced. semi-permanent roadways and services. All of these factors portion of ramp between crossover points and not the entire ramp improving flexibility while still allowing for the establishment of Loss of a ramp segment on the split shell only isolates that small reducing high instantaneous stripping ratios, BPR s are reduced means use of the entire ramp is lost until repairs can be effected. mining the split shell, waste stripping is deferred thereby split shell design. Losing a segment of a concentric ramp usually split shell without affecting the overall life of the waste cut. By on concentric designs has longer term effects than that o o p n er t a h t e ing life of each waste cut according to the limits of the it, resulting in separate mining cuts. This effectively divides the working areas and reduces the risk of ramp failure. Ramp failure Development of split shells takes one waste cut design, splits required in the splits which increases flexibility for access to the One of the benefits of the split shell is the multiple ramp is prepared to invest capital (Seymour, 1997). business, and represents the period of time over which an owner the split. fundamental parameters which needs to be defined for any were originally designed as one in the whole waste cut prior to The Business Risk Period (BRP) is one of the most down, will merge to form one common ramp system, since they R M KEAR and M S GALLAGHER Strategic Mine Planning Conference Perth, WA, 26 - 28 March 2001 125 FIG 6 - Cut two and three split axis. Cut three Cut two South split K001 K001 K002 K002 North split Split axis increase wear and tear on haultruck transmissions. As can be Adjustments to the bottleneck can have major effects on the areas which could increase waste tonnes and operationally, they bottleneck higher or lower between the two cuts being mined. minimised as they tend to push out the shell perimeters in these north and Cut three south splits - this process actually moves the given to ensure that flat sections on the cross over points are are required by adjusting the working levels between the Cut two larger cuts, cross over or transition points. Attention must be while the opposite split is uneconomical. A series of trade-offs establishment of switchbacks on the current mining cut and on economics are balanced such that one split is not ultra efficient bottom of Cut three south. Ramp modifications usually require trading one split off against the other to ensure that the bottom of Cut two was possible from the north split, and to the stage is to correctly balance the splits. This process involves ramps on the concentric cut designs ensuring that access to the Having determined the split shells and ramp systems, the final configuration is achieved. The first stage was to modify the under-go a series of designs to ensure B th A e L o A p N tim C u I m NG ra T m H p E SPLITS play an important role in the success of a split shell and need to in both Cut two and Cut three. As mentioned previously, ramps split ramp system. concentric designs were necessary to accommodate the split shell haul route will transfer to the southern side utilising the southern while Cut three south is mined. Ramp modifications to the on the south to sustain plant feed, mining of ore, and thus the ore geology section, it was decided that Cut two north would remain merge at the ore working levels. Once sufficient ore is exposed poorer host rock conditions in the south, as described in the starts exposing ore causing Cut two north and Cut three south to Taking cognisance of the above reasons and considering the which the split being mined, in Venetia s case Cut three south, grade and blend? bottleneck has been reached. The bottleneck is the point at - will the split ensure adequate ore release at the required eventually begin to expose ore. When this occurs, it is said the orebody geometry and grade distribution across the orebody develops, the south split advances, gets deeper and will this case Cut three south, as shown in Figure 9. As mining mining back to stable ground?; and while waste is hauled from the pit via the other ramp system, in deteriorated such that the only way to make them safe require using one ramp system, in this case the Cut two north ramp, geotechnical issues - are there any areas of the pit that have independent ramp systems. Ore will be hauled out of the pit existing ramps?; It is clear in the split shell design that there are two current pit status - on which side is it best to modify the eventually re-joined as one, known as the Cut three south split. as: achieved. Figure 8 shows how the two shells were split and mentioned previously, many factors influence this decision such them together ensuring that practical and workable merging was which side the first split would be taken, either north or south. As The next phase was to split the shells along the axis and stitch Having determined the split, the next step was to ascertain on the ramp. orebody as shown in Figure 6. This marginally offset the increased waste tonnage required for constraints. As it was, the final split did run east west across the that the safety berm in the original design could be removed. cognisance of geometric, plant blending, grade and ore release tonnes slightly, although by having an additional ramp meant determine the best practical split axis, all the time taking the south. The insertion of this Cut three ramp did increase waste however iterations were still performed and analysed to the southern side thereby providing access to the K002 pit from with the natural split running along the longitudinal axis, split. Cut three required a completely new ramp to be inserted on The Venetia orebody geometry lends itself to split shell mining inserting switchbacks thereby keeping the ramps north of the cuts. systems for both the K001 and K002 pits required changes by resulting in the concept being applied on the remaining three modifications to the current concentric designs. Cut two ramp Cut one had been mined before split shells were introduced seen in Figure 7 below, Venetia mine required slight SPLIT SHELL OPEN PIT DESIGN CONCEPT APPLIED AT DE BEERS VENETIA MINE SOUTH AFRICA 126 Perth, WA, 26 - 28 March 2001 Strategic Mine Planning Conference in Cut three south design is well into the developed pit - to be very useful in this regard. main pit interchange to the bottom of the pit. Where this occurs yet accurate results. Gemcom mine planning software has proven concern, being that only one ramp system is present from the requires user-friendly mine planning software that provides rapid what-ifs and detailed analysis there was only one point of optimising the splits efficiently, due to the number of iterations, to be turned when looking for what can go wrong. After many north and Cut three south bottleneck is met. Balancing and office, mine management and production crews. Every stone had commencing the Cut three north stripping to ensure the Cut three method, requires buy-in from all stake holders, those being head with the Cut three south split will determine the timing of being such a radical departure from the traditional concentric a major role in the split efficiency. The amount of ore associated Introducing a new concept such as the split shell, particularly therefore the economics of such are extremely sensitive and play associated or R e I a S n K d S waste assigned to a particular split and FIG 8 - Splitting and joining of the shells. Cut three south Cut three south Split Cut two north FIG 7 - Cut two and three ramp re-design to accommodate the split shell design. Cut two Cut three Access K002 to Additional ramp required R M KEAR and M S GALLAGHER Strategic Mine Planning Conference Perth, WA, 26 - 28 March 2001 127 Face shovels -1 -1 -1 -1 -1 Haultrucks -2 -6 -8 -8 -9 Earth moving equipment reduction as a result of reduced tonnes from split shell - progressive Prog variance Tonnes 10 -5.7 -13.2 -20.8 -30.6 -42.5 6 Variance Tonnes 10 -5.7 -7.5 -7.6 -9.8 -11.9 6 Final split shell Tonnes 10 12.9 15.3 19.5 20.0 20.0 6 1998 concentric plan Tonnes 10 18.6 22.8 27.1 29.8 31.9 6 Scenario Unit 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 Summary of split shell results. TABLE 2 revised split shell. Essentially, the waste contained in the peak reduction in waste tonnes has reduced earthmoving requirements 1998 Concentric plan, to 20 million tonnes per annum in the have been deferred to the later years in the life of the mine. This rate has been reduced from 32 million tonnes, as required in the period in the years 1999 to 2005, as shown in the 1998 plan, demonstrate that through an iterative process, the peak mining by approximately eight per cent. Table 2 and Figure 10 five years by some 30 per cent and improved the Cut three NPV FIG 10 - Waste tonnage comparison between the various designs. 25 per cent, reduced the five year earthmoving fleet over the next operating expenditure at Venetia mine in 1999 by approximately The adoption of the split shell concept reduced capital and RESULTS mining method. compared to the risk assessment associated with the concentric split. Risk for the split shell at Venetia was reduced when northern side if required, or alternatively accelerate the northern situation becomes critical, there is room to insert a ramp on the minor changes to design here and there. In addition, if the information will be updated on an ongoing basis allowing for maintains sidewall and ramp integrity and geotechnical bench 13. By that stage, blasting should be of a standard that FIG 9 - Showing dedicated haul routes for ore and waste in the split shell. SPLIT SHELL OPEN PIT DESIGN CONCEPT APPLIED AT DE BEERS VENETIA MINE SOUTH AFRICA 128 Perth, WA, 26 - 28 March 2001 Strategic Mine Planning Conference FIG 11 - Haultruck fleet size comparison. Programming Pty Ltd: Melbourne). Proceeding Optimising with Whittle Perth 1997 (Whittle Seymour, C, 1997. Risk Based Selection of Pit Shells for Scheduling, in Years 1999 2002 2005 2008 REFERENCE 0 giving permission to publish and present this paper. 5 The authors would like to thank the management of De Beers for 10 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 15 Cut three (as currently indicated) to post Cut four. 20 result could possibly delay underground mining from post the improvement of the overall mining economics, and as a 25 Final Split Shell expenditure; and Haultruck Requirements 1998 Concentric Plan of reduced working costs and deferment of capital the immediate savings on the operation s cash flow by means been: Longer-term benefits, tonnes and haultruck reductions, are The main achievements of split-shells at Venetia Mine have required to covert from concentric design to split shell design. optimisation stage, a deeper pit should result. both split shell scenarios as these were the minimum tonnes with the split shell concept therefore if applied in the You will note that the first three years tonnes are the same in application. Theoretically, the economics of the pits improve time, Whittle would require to consider this concept in its 1st split shell Tonnes 10 12.9 15.3 19.5 23.5 25.5 6 possible provided the skills and expertise are available, and in The exercise at Venetia Mine proved that split shell concepts are the split shell. CONCLUSION tonnage profile below is what was achieved on the first pass of Arriving at the optimum design is an iterative process the NPV of the mine. improved the economics. in which revenue is pulled forward and has further improved the have improved the workability of the plan and ultimately shown that the split shell design has allowed for grade profiling has consistent tonnage for longer periods. All of these factors Subsequent planning, focusing on an NPV+ principle has costs and optimised equipment usage by providing a plan that (trucks and shovel) hence capital expenditure, reduced working shown for the life of Cut 3 in Figures 10 and 11. R M KEAR and M S GALLAGHER