Determining The Best Feasible Mining Sequence and Phase Design

Determining the Best Feasible Mining Sequence and Phase Design
Determining the Best Feasible Mining Sequence and

Phase Design
Introduction
One of the important tasks for the long term mine planner is to determine the best feasible
mining sequence. This workshop will present some of the tools that MineSight® 3-D
(MS3D) has to offer to help the engineer accomplish this task.
The workshop will take you through a process from a brief discussion regarding the
Lerchs-Grossmann analysis to reporting the pit phase reserves. Along the way, the
MineSight Open Pit (MSOPIT) procedure in the MineSight Economic Planner (MSEP)
software package will be used to develop an economic pit phase sequence that will later be
used as a guideline for the engineering phase designs. An example of how to evaluate the
economic advantage or disadvantage of the sequence of selected phases is then presented.
Following will be discussions concerning common preparations for engineering phase
designs and an example of the design process using the MS3D Pit Expansion Tool to
create a phase design. The typical process followed to estimate reserves will be discussed.
In the context of this workshop, the terms phase, pushback, layback, or cutback all mean
the same.
Lerchs-Grossmann(LG) Analysis and Engineering Pit Design Comments

The economic planning tool, MSEP, employs the Lerchs-Grossmann (LG) algorithm
that utilizes an economic mine model based on block value, overall slope angle, and
other specific factors. The analysis defines the ultimate physical surface or shell that
encompasses the resource blocks that can be economically extracted. The algorithm
employs a break-even analysis for the last blocks mined at the shell limit. The result from
the LG analysis is not a pit design and does not describe a reserve.
LG defines an optimum economic shell geometry without considering the practicalities of
access, current or future operational needs, or scheduling targets and may not result in the
best feasible solution. The analysis can produce multiple correct solutions within the same
resource depending upon the parameters utilized.
LG shell geometry is used as a ‘guideline’ when creating the engineering designs for the
ultimate pit and for the pit phase designs. An ultimate pit is typically designed first and
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used as a limit boundary for the pit phase sequence designs.
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Mining Engineering designs identify ore reserves based on specific supportable factors such as
Software mining method, wall slope geometry, haulage plans, and operational considerations.
Solutions Typically, the tonnage and grades within both the ultimate LG and the ultimate pit
Since design are reported and compared in order to justify the design is reasonably mining the
economic resource defined by the LG. Mining outside of the LG shell should be minimized
1970
and be consistent with the objectives of the project. Quantifying the amount of material
that is mined outside of the LG and the material inside the LG that is not mined by the
design may be desirable.
If your work product requires accuracy in the strictest context, expect to iteratively run
ultimate LGs and create ultimate pit designs until an acceptable combination of overall
slope, mining method, and ramp placement options create a shell and engineering
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pit design that are spatially, quantitatively, and qualitatively similar and that meet any
tolerances defined by the company or financing organization.
Pit phases are designed within the ultimate LG or pit design to facilitate mine plan scheduling.
Phases within the ultimate LG or ultimate pit design will be mining economic material but
some locations within the ultimate LG are more valuable than other locations. Ideally, the
profit per ton for the first phase in the sequence is the greatest to maximize the Net Present
Value (NPV) and each following phase will be of lesser value per ton. The discussion in the
next section will describe how to achieve a desirable phase/pushback sequence.
Using MSEP to Determine the Best Feasible Mining Sequence

MSEP has a variety of tools to aid the engineer in determining the best feasible mining
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sequence. A traditional approach is to run the pit optimization calculations for a series of
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shells at increasing commodity prices to get a sense of direction from most profitable to least
profitable. It should be noted that sometimes this approach results in big jumps from one
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shell to another one, which makes it difficult to use for design purposes. In some instances, Software
running the shells at smaller increments may shorten the gap, but sometimes the shells Solutions
can be so sensitive to the price change that even with small increments in price the big gap Since
still remains. Therefore, MSEP has specific tools, such as the Multiple Pit option (MULTP), 1970
that give the engineer some control over the geometry of the shells as well as other design
parameters, such as minimum mineable width, minimum number of blocks, maximum
stripping ratio, etc.
Usually, the pit optimization calculations for the inner phases are performed with the
floating cone (FC) technique. However, some people prefer to use the LG technique. Either
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methodology is acceptable as a guideline for phase design. The FC may create a more
confined shell. Sometimes the decision is predicated on deadlines or company/department
policy, machine run time, or complexity of parameters in use. The phase geometry sequence
should typically reflect pit shells of decreasing profit within the ultimate pit geometry.
Careful attention should be given to phase design deviations from the LG/FC phases as
these may result in more or less NPV within the phases.
MSEP can consider various mining conditions at the same time while producing an
ultimate pit limit and the best starting pit location. A series of pushback price shells (i.e.,
PIT02 through PIT09 below) can also be produced to show the direction of phase mining
and offer a series of shells from which an acceptable set of phase geometries can be selected
for phase design.
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MULTP is a design strategy in MSEP that facilitates the generation of scheduling shells
with minable width criteria which follow the best mining direction. MULTP can use shells
generated by other methods to be used as a starting or limiting surface to control the
generation of shells. In the following example, it will be shown how to obtain a series of
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incremental pits with an approximate mining width of 130 meters. Usually, the mining
width for each phase is driven by the limitations imposed by equipment size to allow
adequate access and operating space. As well, the smaller the mining width for the phase
the faster the ore can be mined which results in a higher NPV.
For example, the starting surface obtained from the price sensitivity analysis (PIT02) can be
used as the starting surface in MULTP as shown below. The outer shell is the ultimate pit.
Note: starting pit number is PIT02 in the below MSOPIT window.
Similarly, MULTP offers options to limit the rows/columns/benches used for the pit
optimization calculations as shown in the window and section below. This option will limit
the location of the ore blocks to be evaluated for the generation of the cones. Therefore, the
physical location of the phases to be generated can be further controlled by this restriction.
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Using the previous shell as the starting surface (PIT20) and a limiting surface (PIT04) can
also help control the location and direction of the next shell (PIT21).
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The pictures below show how PIT21 is expanding towards the southwest (best mining
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direction), while its expansion towards the northeast is being limited by an existing surface
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located at a practical physical location (PIT04), resulting in a common face wall on the
northeast area.
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A similar process is followed for the generation of PIT22.
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The same approach was followed for the generation of PIT23.
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It should be noted that the last column is limited to 85 resulting in the PIT23 shown below.
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If this restriction is relaxed, then PIT23 would extend beyond the desired area on the eastern
portion of the pits as shown below.
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The next shell, which corresponds to PIT24, expands from PIT23 towards the final pit limits
on the south portion of the pit. This is accomplished by using PIT23 as the starting surface
and by limiting the rows used to a maximum value of 55. This will cause PIT24 to expand
south to the final pit shell.
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PIT24 is shown below with model blocks indicating the row limiting.
The last increment (PIT25) will extend from PIT24 towards the final pit limits towards the
north. Similar to the previous step, this was accomplished by using PIT24 as the starting
surface. No row restriction was necessary for PIT25 to extend towards the final pit limits.
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An example of the final phase sequencing shells is shown below in plan and section. This Software
phase sequence is more reasonable than the first set of shells created from incremental Solutions
commodity prices. Since
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Evaluating the Pushback Design Parameters with MSEP

Included in MSEP there is a tool called MineSight Valuation Pits (MSVALP), which is used
to evaluate the shells developed by MULTP or other methods. MSVALP computes the
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The example above presented how to obtain a series of incremental pits with an
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approximate mining width of 130 meters. However, determining how sensitive the project is
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to the mining width is a question that MSVALP can help answer. As an example, the phases
Since obtained in the exercise above (PITS 2, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25) will be evaluated with MSVALP.
1970 Then we will use PITS 2, 21, 23, 25 to simulate twice the mining width and compare the
NPV for the two series of shells. See the pictures below.
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PITS 2, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25
PITS 2, 21, 23, 25
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After running MSVALP with the same parameters for the two sets of shells, the following
results were obtained.
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Pits Evaluated Approx. Mining Cum. NPV

Width
Case 1 2, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 130 meters $ 881,650,112
25
Case 2 2, 21, 23, 25 260 meters $ 792,815,872
The table above shows that increasing the pushback size by a factor of 2, decreases the NPV
by 11%. In other words, although we suspected the premise to be true (smaller pushbacks =
higher NPV), with MSVALP we can quantify the impact of mining width on the NPV.
The results for the two cases above can be plotted together with the MSEP charting tool
(MSEPc), which reads the output files from MSVALP and displays the results graphically.
The chart below shows the annual accumulated present value for both cases.
As seen above, MSEPc can chart the results from multiple MSVALP runs. It can also be used
to display any of the detailed information produced for any particular schedule. The chart
below shows a variety of scheduled tonnage and cutoff grade information.
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As previously mentioned in this workshop, MULTP is particularly useful when it is difficult

to obtain regularly spaced phases due to large jumps from a small phase to a big phase
because of the sensitivity in price change. See Pits 2, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34 and 35 below.
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Although it is unlikely that all of these phases would be used for scheduling purposes, it
would be interesting to evaluate the impact of the jump from Pit02 to Pit30 in the early
periods. MSVALP was run to evaluate Pits 2, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34 and 35. The results are
shown below.
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Pits Evaluated Approx. Mining Cum. NPV

Width
Case 1 2, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 130 meters $ 881,650,112
25
Case 3 2, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, varies $ 818,615,552
35
The results show that although the spacing between pits 30, 31, 32, 33, 34 and 35 were very
small (approx 30 meters), the losses incurred from the initial first jump (from pit 2 to 30)
could not be recovered throughout the mine life as the NPV was lower when compared to
the regularly spaced pits at approximately 130 meters.
When doing the phase design, there are other parameters that can be evaluated with
MSVALP such as the impact of ramps and switchbacks on the NPV or the slope on the pit
walls. These examples are outside the scope of this workshop, however, you can see how
running MSVALP for a series of different phases can help determine the project’s sensitivity
to phase design parameters.
What to Consider and Expect During the MSOPIT and Phase Design Process
When estimating overall slope, consider the anticipated number of ramps in the pit walls
and pit slope design parameters such as:
Single or multi-bench mining, variable single- or multi-bench mining
Ramp widths and min/max grade range, single- and two-lane ramp plans
When using MSOPIT to create potential pushback surfaces, use the pushback width option
to approximate pushback widths. Also consider running an additional set of pushback
shells using a different overall slope or different sector slopes to try to account for different
numbers of ramps in pit pushback walls.
Expect to use a combination of both a top-down and bottom-up design processes in the
pit expander tool. Ramp switchbacks are common and intersections of three and four
ramps are not uncommon. Allow for consideration of in-pit construction that occurs when
actively mining.
When the pushback wall being designed should exactly match a wall in another pushback,
consider designing the pushback in air (inside the previous pushback) rather than trying to
manually add or move individual points with the snap function to make a coincident wall
Mintec, Inc. surface. Remember that the pushback design surface will later be merged with the previous
Global pushback topography. Any part of the pushback design that is in air will have no effect on
the resulting pushback surface merged into topography.
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Software Expect to design pushbacks at least twice to achieve the correct geometry, pit exit locations,
Solutions merging of ramps, and ore extraction.
Since Consider cumulating the pushback designs to serve as the ultimate pit design instead of a
1970 separate ultimate pit design.
Expect to change the phasing sequence and regenerate reserve files for MSSP scheduling
at least once. If the mining schedule cannot achieve the target tonnage, grade, value, or
smoothed stripping, expect to redesign or re-sequence some pushbacks.
Remember: It is easy to start over.
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Phase Design Preparation

Before you begin the design, you should obviously know where the relevant facilities and
special operational areas are located that might serve as material destinations or special
areas of interest. These should include both existing and future facilities. Some examples
would be:
Crusher(s), active and permanent ore stockpiles
Leach and waste dumps and engineered fills
Portions of phases or benches that are required to be over- or under-sized due to
operationally driven needs or considerations
Internal access roads and ramps
If the design requires variable and/or complex inner-ramp wall slopes, face slopes, or
berms, assure the relevant information is known and the model loaded with the necessary
data. Know when design walls must stay within, bisect, or can be a reasonable distance
outside the LG shell.
It can be helpful to spend some time in the beginning viewing your data in both 2D and 3D,
with and without volume controls, to get a feel and sense of what the design will need to do.
The viewing objects can include the MSOPIT pushback shells, starting topography, model
grade shells, and grade items. Viewing a dollar value per ton item and/or destination code
can be helpful. As you look at this information, consider any design circumstances relevant
to the project. Below are some design circumstances to think about.
Possibility of a single continuous ramp road to service multiple phases
Ramp extensions or splits from existing pits
Starting location for ramps in pit bottoms and phase exit locations
Potential ramp connections between phases and switchbacks
Location of waste within the pushback shell that may not need to be mined
Protrusions, noses, and LG wall irregularities to be smoothed
Phase Design using MS3D Pit Expansion

MS3D Feature Setups
While data preparations are being made, you may want to set up some MS3D features that
may be helpful during the design.
In the Viewer Properties dialog, attach a plan view grid set to the viewer (View Options
tab) and set the volume control parameters (Clipping tab). Mintec, Inc.
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Configure the cursor for easy visual measurements (Viewer | Cursor Tool).
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Define the parameters to report in the MS3D desktop status bar (File | Project settings |
Since Status Bar) for coordinate, orientation, and distance facts.
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Pit Expansion Tool

The Pit Expansion Tool (Eng Tools | Pit Expansion Tool) is easy to use and has seven
tabs for expander usage and control of design geometry. A few of these tabs are briefly
mentioned below. Further details about the tabs are found in the help doc or can be learned
in a training class.
The Required tab defines the expansion bench height, the number of benches expanded
before a berm is added, wall and face slopes, and berm width. This tab also defines whether
the design expansion is up and out or down and in.
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The Optional tab is used to define any pre-loaded model codes or values, or a table of sector
slope values that the Pit Expansion Tool is to use in lieu of the default wall and face slopes
and berm width entered on the Required tab.
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The Advanced tab contains some helpful options to suit your

personal design preferences such as smoothing convex corners
and synchronizing model views.
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The Parameter Set tab contains saved responses for each tab that once saved, can be used
again. If properly named, these responses can document the parameters used in the Pit
Expansion Tool.
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The Expansion tab is used to control the number of expansion steps, addition and deletion
of base strings, and making edits to any of the pit expander created polygons and polylines.
Example: Beginning the Next Pushback

In this pit expander example, it is assumed two previous unconnected pushbacks have been
designed. The next pushback, phase 3, to be designed will include a ramp extension from
the previous pushback, phase 2. The pushback will be designed in two steps. The first step
will design from the ‘top-down’ from the 2585 elevation, then ‘bottom-up’ from the same
elevation. The pit exit and crusher and dump access roads are to the east. This example is
the 7-phase project shown in the appendix.
Setup the MS3D viewer and complete the required data input on the Required, Optional,
Advanced, and Expansion tabs.
Chose a beginning bench and ramp start location based upon the location of the existing
phase 2 ramp in the southeastern part of the pit on bench 2585.
Digitize a new base string along the 2585 crest line and edit, or copy the 2585 crest line and
edit to serve as a base polygon. The easiest way is to copy the 2585 crest as a base string and
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then edit.
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Edit the base polygon to represent the new phase limit. In this example, no further edits to
the ramp entrance are needed, but the right side of the base polygon will need to be moved
into the air on the inside of the phase 2 pushback.
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On the Roads tab, create a new road. Use the user cam option to digitize both sides of the Since
ramp. Then expand down to the bottom of the phase including two switchbacks. The two 1970
Road tab windows below show the first and final road segment entries.
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The following pictures show the ramp extending down the next two benches below 2585
elevation.
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Since below:
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The next step is to expand a pit up and out from the 2585 elevation. The top-down design
object can continue to be used for the bottom-up design, or a new object can be created. The
original 2585 base polygon will first need to be offset outward to represent the beginning
toe line. Some editing will be necessary at the ramp entrance to match the existing ramp
previously created. This portion of the design above 2585 will not need a ramp and is shown
top of nexr page:
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The completed pit design for this phase is shown below:
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Finishing the Work after the Pit Design

After the pit design work is completed, the reserves within the phase should be checked.
The process is to create a surface of the phase 3 pit design, merge the surface into the
topography of the previous phase 2, create a solid representing the total material mined in
phase 3, generate a partials file, and then calculate reserves. The reserves will be calculated
with the Pitres procedure. This same partials file and the Pitres procedure would
later be used to create the reserve files for MSSP. The following briefly covers the typical
remaining phase design work.
Triangulate Phase Design Toes, Crests and Ramps (Surface | Triangulate Surface)
If the design was not triangulated when exiting pit expander, select all of the design
polylines, except the base strings, and use the Triangulate Surface option under the
Surface menu.
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Merge Phase Surface and Create Solid (Surface | Merge) Global
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Merge the new phase 3 surface with the prior merged phase 2 surface topography and then
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contour the surface to check if it is correct.
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When merging topography surfaces, consistently use the same type of beginning Since
topography surfaces that will be used to calculate reserve and to compare with other results. 1970
Use the option to limit by polygons if necessary.
Use the Surface Intersector Tool (Surface | Intersect Surfaces Tool). Choose the phase 2
merged topography, which is the starting topography, to be the primary surface and choose
the phase 3 pit design surface as the secondary surface. Select the ‘cut surface difference’
operation.
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Then use the Contour Tool (Polyline | Contour Tool) to contour the new merged surface
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If no adjustments are necessary to the pit design, use the Surface Intersector Tool to make
a solid of the phase 3 material to be mined.
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Calculate Phase Reserves [MineSight® Compass™ (MSCompass)] Software
Reserves will be calculated with the MSCompass procedure Pitres. Pitres can use Solutions
partial files created from surface geometries, special gridded surface files views or solids, Since
and it can directly use special gridded surface files. This example creates a partials file from 1970
the above solid (Surface | Generate Partials Tool). You only need to select the solid and
the appropriate model view and provide an output filename and extension.
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In the Pitres procedure, if using special gridded surface file surfaces, enter upper and
lower surface item names and use option 4 type of input. If using the partials file created in
MS3D, enter the file name and extension, and select option 1 type of input.
Be careful when using topography percent. Know when and when not to use it. If the
surfaces you are reporting were created from the gridded surface file item PIT00, use
topography percent in the calculations. If the surfaces being used are based on a typical
topography surface, then do not use topography percent in the calculations.
We recommend selecting the option to treat missing grades as zero so that an entire block
will not be wasted.
Mintec, Inc. Below is the Pitres window that shows both the surface and partials file selection options
Global entered for presentation purposes only. Remember to only use one of the two options.
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Appendix - Examples of Phase Designs
3-Phase Project
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5-Phase Project
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7-Phase Project
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(All Phase LG’s and pit designs EL 2585)
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EL 2585 – EL 2570
EL 2555 - EL 2540
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9-Phase Project
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What is the Lerchs-Grossmann analysis and how is it used?

What is the Lerchs-Grossmann analysis and how is it used?

What factors are considered when designing engineering pit phases?

What factors are considered when designing engineering pit phases?

Determining the Best Feasible Mining Sequence and Phase Design

Determining the Best Feasible Mining Sequence and

Lerchs-Grossmann(LG) Analysis and Engineering Pit Design Comments

Using MSEP to Determine the Best Feasible Mining Sequence

Note: starting pit number is PIT02 in the below MSOPIT window.

A similar process is followed for the generation of PIT22.

The same approach was followed for the generation of PIT23.

Evaluating the Pushback Design Parameters with MSEP

PITS 2, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25

PITS 2, 21, 23, 25

Pits Evaluated Approx. Mining Cum. NPV

As previously mentioned in this workshop, MULTP is particularly useful when it is difficult

Pits Evaluated Approx. Mining Cum. NPV

Phase Design Preparation

Phase Design using MS3D Pit Expansion

Pit Expansion Tool

The Advanced tab contains some helpful options to suit your

Example: Beginning the Next Pushback

The completed pit design for this phase is shown below:

Finishing the Work after the Pit Design

Appendix - Examples of Phase Designs

(All Phase LG’s and pit designs EL 2585)

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