Open Pit Planning and Design

The Standard Approach for Open Pit

2007 revised 2010 Dr. B. C. Paul
Note This presentation includes screenshots from the MineSight computer program
developed by Mintec. The views and procedures identified in this presentation are
considered by the author to be common knowledge to those in the trade and many of the
ideas expressed here can be found in numerous books and journals.

The Ajo Open Pit in Arizona

They mined around the

barren core

Lacks Clear Steps and Has A Lot of

Interaction Computers Almost a
Necessity

In general need to know you

have a large ore reserve
close enough to the surface
to be open pit mined
Generally comes from
geologic data
Open pit designs normally
represent ore reserves and
geology as a block model

Slice and dice the ore reserve

up into small blocks that sit
end to end and on top of each
other
10s of Millions of blocks
common

The Program We Will Use

MineSight is a suite of mining tuned computer
programs

Heart is a 3D CAD graphics program called MineSight

Has a wide array of mining calculations programs that
link production planning to the graphics functions in the
3D CAD program

MineSight development started with first computer

routines in the 1970s and list has grown since
Collection includes everything from old fortran routines to
modern python program language routines

MineSights Visually Linked

Calculation Routines
MineSight Compass
A windows like user interface built over a bunch
of old Dos, Fortran and Unix Programs
Collection of over 400 routines
Have the feel of old mainframe batch programs
Thats because they are old mainframe routines and
subroutines with a modern windows like graphical
interface to feed them

Looks new but has you do some things to set up

runs that are like old mainframe batch routines

New Kids on the Block

Built a Suite of New Programs that run in Python visual
language
Economic Planner

State of the Art Open Pit Metal Mining Optimization and

integrated together

Activities Planner
Microsoft Projects Gant Charts set up for Mining

Data Analyst
Ore Reserves Statistics and Geostatistics

Interactive Planner
Link between databases and 3D graphics for planning

Strategic Planner
Other procedures constantly being prepared

Editorial Commentary
Lack of Consistency

A 40 year collection and operating systems have run in fundamentally

different ways over the years
Made to look windows like but cant always hide the architecture
underneath

Has bugs in it

Most bugs are triggered by assuming people will input in a certain way
and you dont
Mining has lots of local terms in it so wording can encourage you to do
unexpected things
Most bugs are operator error triggered but it is rather unforgiving
Very computer and graphically intensive
Pushes hardware and designs to the limit and a lot of hardware and system
components misbehave when they are at their limit

Its wonderful to have so much integrated power and routines all in one
semi-coherent package

Lets Start this Puppy Up!

If Used Often MineSight has an icon that says

MS3D (ie MineSight 3 D)

Can Also Do A Menu Fishing

Start
#3- Find MineSight
And Highlight it until
A side menu pops out

#4- Click on the

MS3D icon
(note you do have
Icons for some of
The other routines
I mentioned).

#1 -Click Start

#2- Pick All Programs

Look for the Desktop Icon for MS3D

and Click on It
Ok I Dont Have One Cause I Dont Start
That way but some people do.

Programs Splash Screen

Mines or designs
Are kept as
Projects
It can default
Start where the
Program lives
Or be sent to
Where you store
A project
If you have a
Project or design
Already you can
Have it loaded
And ready to go.

Operating the Starting Prompt

If you pull down the
Menu it will show
You were up to the
Last 10 projects
Worked on were
Stored.
You can also
Trigger a Windows
Explorer style
Pick using a
Browse function.
The strange looking
X symbol is
MineSights
Delete command.
It has typical Windows Options for Oking or Canceling

MineSight Opens (sometimes it

will prompt you to do something first)
Looks a little like
An Autocad for
Windows
It has a 3D display
Area similar to
Autocad.
Data Manager is
A two tiered
Windows
Exploring
Down below it
Has a message
And info window

Two Tiered Windows Exploring

Has two Levels
Top Level Shows You
The Folders

Bottom Level Shows

You the Files in a folder
(as a 3D geometry program
Has a variety of different
File types that support
The program logic no
You probably wont understand them on sight).

The X Box

You can close the

Whole program

The little red

X box closes
Things.

You can close

The Windows
Explorer like
Data Manager

You can close a 3D

Visualization
window

Driving Options
Uses the familiar
Drop down menus
Of a windows
Program
(some options do
Appear on more than
One drop down)
Also has a huge
Collection of icons
(They are short-cuts
To the most
Popular functions.
You also will only
Learn what these
Funny symbols stand
For by experience)

General Quirks and Observations

MineSight does not have an escape key function

You right click to finish a function which gets you out of it (but might also
finish a goof)

MineSight has a more enforced save structure

Some drawing functions will not let you move on until you save you last
group of edits
It is not consistent in when this happens but if the program stops taking
orders a right click to finish what ever it thinks your doing and then a save is
a good guess.

MineSight has limited Undo functionality

You can save the last set of edits and then go back and undo it.
It does not keep a step by step undo list that lets you go back and undo
the last 20 things one at a time
Undo function often requires you to save before it becomes available
If you really goof it keeps back-up copies of everything and you can go
in and fetch a back up copy of what you screwed up.

Some Rigidity in Menu and Icon

Structure
Microsoft Office allows you to pick groups of
icons, call them toolbars and dock your
favorites in a certain position
Vulcan has created some tool bar dockability
MineSight has not

MineSight does allow you to right click

and pull up an on the spot menu of recently
used and custom chosen functions

So Why Should I Learn

MineSight
CAD like mine design packages are rapidly
becoming an industry standard knowing one
increases your marketability
There is enough similarity in packages that
knowing one will allow you to learn any other with
greater ease (in case your employer didnt make
the same choice for basic package as we did or
if your employer changes his/her mind later).
We are using it in this class and you dont want to
even think about life without it.

Using the Data Manager

Upper Level
Determines which
Files are open

Lower Level
Controls individual
objects

To Open An Object

Highlight the object

And then right click
With your mouse
To bring up a
menu

Check the Menu for the Open (or

Close) option

Most Likely You Will Start With Some

Surface Information
(In Our Case It Will Already be Pre-Entered)

Our MineSight operator read in or digitized surface topography and then had the
Computer create a surface that fit the data

You Can Play with the Surface View

Push and hold the left and right keys

On your mouse as you move it to
Rotate your object in 3D (so you can
Look at it from different directions).

You Can Move Your Surface Up and

Down (Pan Around)

Hold the right click button and the

Center button down (often the center
Button is a roller) and move the mouse
Around.

You Can Zoom In and Zoom Out

Hold the left click button and the

Center button down (often the center
Button is a roller) and move the
mouse around.

Now We Have A Tool Lets Consider

that Block Model

Start by specifying block dimensions

Look at drill and sampling data for how continuous
the mineralization is
Use computer routines to estimate the ore grade of the
blocks using samples
One of the most popular is Kriging (also polygonal and
IDS)
Not going to study how interpolation is done in this class. (Youll
be given a block model to work with)
In the field your geologists may way give you your Block Model

Your Assignment #5
Copy a Prepared Starter File
Start MineSight
Bring up the Surface and Rotate and
Maneuver
Bring up your block model and examine it.

Are other do this tasks

Determine the Minable Ore Reserve

Assume economics for material removal
Look at geology for how steep the pit slopes can
stand without sliding in
Have the computer analyze the largest set of
blocks that can be removed without taking stuff
that looses money

This set measures the size of the pit that can ultimately
be mined (called the Ultimate Pit)

Too complex to visualize

Done with either a Floating Cone Miner or LearchGrossman computer routine (Easily Available in
MineSight)

Computer Views of Pits

Sequencing
Start with an Unmined Surface and end up
with an ultimate pit
Need to figure out how to get there
One easy approach is to just mine from the top
down in layers
But that is often not the way it is done

The Time Value of Money

A Review for those with Engineering Econ
Some new thoughts for others
Would you rather get $100 now or $100 five
years from now
Most would pick now

One reason if you put money in CD at 3%

interest in 5 years you would have $116
Youd only need $86 now to earn to $100 in five
years so how can $100 not delivered for five years be
worth more than $86?

Handling the Time Value of Money

Money can be multiplied by a discount factor to
adjust to how much right now money it is equal to.
Mining commonly looks for investments to earn
15%

If you get $100 now its $100

If you get $100 in 1 year its like $87
If you get $100 in 5 years its like $50
If you get $100 in 10 years its like $25
You see the pattern the longer the money takes to get
here the less it is worth

What Does the Time Value of Money

Do to Mine Plans?
$100,000,000

3
4

10

11 12

13

$100,000,000
Just adding up money gives $600,000,000 Total
But not all the money got here at the same time if we apply discount factors and
Then add we get $1,670,000 almost even money (at 15% interest)
(A Total After Multiplying by Discount Factors is called a Net Present Value
The more a project is worth the hotter the item!)

Same Money But Some is Moved

Forward in Time
$150,000,000

$50,000,000
0

3
4

10

11 12

13

$100,000,000
Same money but I collect more money sooner and less later
NPV is now $57,100,000 instead of $1,670,000
Get more of your money faster = Better NPV!

Put-Off Expenses
$150,000,000
$0
0

$50,000,000

3
4

10

11 12

13

$100,000,000
Same Money Again but now the NPV is $197,374,000
Getting money early and putting off expenses makes project values improve
A WHOLE LOT!

How Can I Make That Happen in the

Field
Suppose I mine my best and most valuable ore
first?
Suppose I delay spending money stripping waste
material
If I mine from the top down I will usually mine mostly
waste at first
And wait a long time to get down to the best ore

What I would like to do for a sequence is to ask

the computer to find me the best ore with the least
stripping first
I will get the computer to identify a series of nested pits
that have the most value and use that as my draft
sequence

Developing a Practical Layout

With a series of nested pit shells as a guide design a set of
pits that follows the guides but has benches, and roads
required for practical mining.
MineSight is a 3D Cad program so I can draw in my roads and
benches

Look at Further boosting earnings by running artificially

high Cut-Off grades at first and sizing mine production
Can be done with VALP in MineSight

Size up your equipment fleets and haulage times

MineSights haulage program is still weak (we will use FPC)

Develop detailed long term schedules of what will be mined

from where
MineSight Strategic Planner can do this
In for major refinement in March or April

Collectively these steps are called long term mine planning