Resources Policy xxx (xxxx) xxx–xxx

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Resources Policy
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/resourpol

Review of cut-off grade optimisation from Southern African mines. Student

assignment based observations
Clinton Birch
School of Mining Engineering, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Mines classify their resource as ore or waste in various manners. A common approach is to apply a cut-off grade.
Cut-off grades How this cut-off grade is optimised, has been extensively researched and there are thousands of academic papers
NPV covering this topic in the public domain. The question for this paper is if mines are actually considering these
Optimisation various techniques in practice. The background to this research paper is the MSc (Mineral Resource
Southern Africa
Management) at University of Witwatersrand student assignments where this has been a topic for 2014, 2015,
Lerchs-Grossman algorithm
Lane's algorithm
2016 and 2017. The focus of the students’ research is: “Is it ore or is it waste?”. This question was posed to the
students to research it on their operations where they are employed.
45 Student assignments representing 39 individual mines were reviewed. These include gold, platinum, coal,
diamond, iron ore, manganese, copper and zinc mines. These mines are in South Africa, Namibia, Botswana,
Zimbabwe, Lesotho and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Some commodities and mining methods lend themselves to cut-off grade optimisation. However, it is noted
that many mines focus on determining the cut-off grade just on the basic break-even grade and Lane's algorithm
and do not optimise the cut-off considering other factors like volume or net present value. There is some evi-
dence of optimisation considering the volume/cost relationship to identify the ‘hill of value’. The Whittle
Optimiser as well as the Lerchs-Grossman algorithm is applied for some of the open pit mines reviewed and the
optimisation is focused on the NPV. Few, if any of the latest optimisation approaches, are found applied on the
mines at operational level reviewed by this exercise.

1. Introduction
Mining companies calculate a cut-off grade to determine what
portion of the mineral deposit can be mined economically. Many
companies apply the break-even grade as the cut-off grade. The break-
even grade takes into account the price of the commodity, the expected
mine recovery factor, the unit cost to mine the ore, as well as the fixed
costs for the mine. By using the planned extraction rate, expected re-
covery factor and production costs, the variable to break-even then
becomes the in-situ grade of the material being sold. As long as the
grade is higher than the break-even grade in a particular mining block,
the block will be mined profitably. The estimation of the grades for each
mining block is determined from sampling the mineral deposit and
projecting the values into the area to be evaluated. Various techniques
are used to do this - including nearest neighbour, inverse distance
squared and kriging. To determine if a mining block is classified as ore
or waste, the estimated value is used for this classification.
The most common cut-off grade optimisation techniques consider
the break-even grade and then adapt this to volume (‘hill of value’
(Hall, 2014)), stage of the mine's life (Lane, 1988) or net present value
(NPV) like the Whittle Optimiser (Whittle, 2015).
The two week long Mineral Resource Management Module forms
part of a 50/50 MSc degree in Mining Engineering at the University of
the Witwatersrand. This course is intended to enable the student to
understand the role of a Mineral Resource Manager and develop a
Mineral Resource Management system on their own operations. On
concluding the module, the student should have a better understanding
of how Mineral Resource Management is developing into Mineral Asset
Management. This is due to the changing environment of the mining
industry. The student will then be better positioned to link all the ele-
ments of the mining value chain with the focus on the overall return on
invested capital rather than traditional measures of value.
The background to this research paper is the student assignments
identifying how mines evaluate their mineral resource and classify it
into ore or waste and has been a topic for 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017
classes. The question posed to the students to research on the operations
where they are employed, is as follows:
“Discuss how the delineation of ore and waste is determined on YOUR

E-mail address: clinton.birch@wits.ac.za.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.resourpol.2017.10.004
Received 31 July 2017; Received in revised form 19 September 2017; Accepted 5 October 2017
0301-4207/ © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Please cite this article as: Birch, C., Resources Policy (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.resourpol.2017.10.004
C. Birch
operation, or an operation you are familiar with. What are the para-
meters used for this and how are these determined? Is this optimised and
how does this optimisation occur? In your opinion, is this method ef-
fective and how could it be improved.”
The wording for the 2016 and 2017 classes individual assignment
was altered to include consideration of the Theory of Constraints (TOC)
and if optimisation occurs with the view to improve flow of ore through
the system. This aspect has however not been considered for inclusion
in this review which is focused on delineation or ore and waste, par-
ticularly the application of cut-off grade optimisation. The assignments
have been reviewed to identify current trends and effectiveness of cut-
off grade optimisation on various Southern African mining operation.
The author has used this approach to research previously. The ad-
vantage of using student assignments for gathering information is that
numerous countries and commodities can be compared quickly and
with no real costs to the university (Birch, 2017).
A total of 45 assignments were analysed representing students from
South Africa, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Botswana, Lesotho and the
Democratic Republic of the Congo. The commodities are gold, pla-
tinum, diamonds, coal, copper, iron ore, manganese, zinc and chrome.
Only the assignments which received a passing grade were included in
the assessment.
2. Cut-off grade optimisation
2.1. Commonly applied methods
For decades the idea of optimising the cut-off grade to maximise
financial return has been researched. The advent of computers allowed
far more refined models to be established cutting the time and man-
hours associated with manual calculations. The resource could be di-
vided into smaller blocks representing the smallest mining unit (SMU).
Halls et.al approached the question of determining the optimal ore
reserves and plant size by conducting incremental financial analysis in
1969 (Halls et al., 1969).
Lane, in his book “The Economic Definition of Ore”, describes the
economic principles of how cut-off grades are derived and how cut-off
grades can be optimised at various stages of a mine's life (Lane, 1988).
The algorithm considers three main constraints, which are mining,
concentrating and refining. Economic factors (selling price and unit
costs) and technical factors (the grade distribution and the various ca-
pacities of the mine) are included in the algorithm with the aim of
maximising either the profit or NPV. The NPV is usually considered the
dominant economic criterion because it takes into consideration the
time value of money (TVM) (Lane, 1988).
The basics of the cut-off grade theory are described in Hall's “Cut-off
Grades and Optimising the Strategic Mine Plan” (Hall, 2014). This book
is a comprehensive study of the various techniques currently used in the
mining industry. It includes various measures of value including opti-
mising the discounted cash flow (DCF) and NPV (Hall, 2014).
The operational cut-off grade calculation is essentially very simple.
It determines the grade required for a unit of ore to return a profit. It is
essentially a break-even volume calculation where the volume is known
(usually limited due to shaft capacity, mill capacity or some other
physical constraint), and the unknown is the in-situ grade of the com-
modity. The other parameters required are total fixed cost and unit
variable cost. From these the total unit cost can be obtained (typically
expressed in Rands/tonne). Other factors required for the cut-off grade
calculation is the mine recovery factor (MRF) - which is the mine call
factor (MCF), multiplied by the plant call factor (PCF). The commodity
price in Rands/gram is obtained by the commodity price in US$
(usually quoted in troy ounce for gold and platinum) and the exchange
rate. These are all estimates and subject to variation throughout the
period which the cut-off grade is to be used - and thus add to the fi-
nancial risk to the investors if they change significantly. This can be
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Resources Policy xxx (xxxx) xxx–xxx
expressed as follows:
Total Fixed Cost(R/tonne)
Unit Total Cost($/tonne) = ( )
Volume(tonnes)
+ Unit Variable Cost($/tonne
TFC ⎞
i.e. UTC = ⎛ + UVC
⎝ X ⎠
Unit Revenue ($/g ) = Grade (g /tonne)*Mine Recovery Factor (%)
*Price ($/gram)
i.e. UR = Grade*MRF*Price
Thus
TFC ⎞
Grade*MRF*Price = ⎛ + UVC (since unit revenue
⎝ X ⎠
= unit total cost)
TFC
(( X
) + UVC)
Grade =
(Price*MRF)
A more advanced method for determining the cut-off grade is to use
the block listing for each individual ore body. The block list contains
gold grades in grams/ tonne (g/t) or centimetre grams/tonne (cmgt),
the channel width, stoping width and area of the blocks. From the area,
stoping width and specific gravity, the tonnes can be determined for
each individual block. The ratio of tonnage from stope faces compared
to all the tonnage milled, is determined from a simple ore flow. This ore
flow considers face tonnage, gully dilution and other sources of dilu-
tion, historic discrepancies and how much development waste will be
hoisted and milled with the ore. The ore flow also uses the historic MCF
and PRF to calculate the planned MRF for use in the financial model.
Revenue is derived from the recovered gold, the planned gold price and
the expected exchange rates. The mining costs can be estimated con-
sidering the fixed and variable costs for the mine considering the ex-
pected production rate, and the resultant profit for each block can be
determined (Birch, 2016). Fig. 1 shows the relationship between the
tonnage from the ore resource blocks, the cut-off grade and the average
grade of the blocks above the cut-off grade. The average mining grade is
then determined and this is then the grade which the overall reserve is
mined at.
The costs that are included in the cut-off grade calculation are
subject to much debate and often change through the life of the project.
Whilst a company is still recovering the initial capital costs, a budget
cut-off grade can be used. This will include the costs, as well as an
additional percentage to recover the initial capital costs quickly. In the
final stages of the mine, development costs are minimal and certain
areas can be mined that were previously considered below cut-off grade
(Border, 1991). This is called a marginal cut-off grade (Lane, 1988).
Minnitt looked at how Lane's cut-off grade calculations were being
adapted to Wits-type gold mines in 2004 (Minnitt, 2004) and found that
the application of the net present value (NPV) criterion for determining
and optimising value in mining operations was limited. He considered
NPVs at various points in the value chain (mining, processing and
marketing) to determine a balanced cut-off grade. Both Lane and
Minnitt consider the NPV calculated over the life-of-mine rather than
short-term profitability as the primary measure of value. The cut-off
grade optimised for NPV is higher than that obtained when optimised
for profit. Due to discounting, the NPV optimisation model favours
high-grading mining. These results in shorter life-of-mine and less ex-
traction of the mineral resource (Birch, 2016). The discount rate used
for the calculation of the DCF and resultant NPV are critical to the cut-
off grade calculation. This discount rate is essentially the cost-of-capital
and it is usually calculated by the weighted average cost of capital
(WACC). This considers all the sources of capital required for a project
(equity and debt), the portion of the total each source makes and its
C. Birch
cost. The various sources are then weighted by their proportion and an
average is calculated. According to Smith et al. (2007), real discount
rates of 9–12% for mining projects are appropriate for South African
mining projects. This is equivalent to 14.5–17.6% at a 5% annual in-
flation rate for WACC in nominal terms (Smith et al., 2007). Optimising
on NPV can drive decision making to focus on the short-term gains at
the expense of the longer term and, thus, companies often use the total
undiscounted cash flow (Hall, 2014). By looking at optimising cut-off
grade in three dimensions (cut-off grade, value and production rate)
rather than the traditional two dimensions (cut-off grade and value),
Hall identifies the ‘hill of value’. This gives mine planners an additional
parameter to consider in the determination of the optimal cut-off grade
(Alford and Hall, 2009).
The Lerchs-Grossman algorithm uses a graph-theoretic technique to
optimise the pit shape and limits to maximise profit (Lerchs and
Grossmann, 1965). Whittle has expanded on this concept and brings in
time-value of money (TVM) and focuses on optimising the NPV (Whittle
and Whittle, 2007). The Whittle Optimiser is predominantly applied in
the open-pit environment but Whittle is developing underground mine
optimising. In the underground environment, bottlenecks are present.
These can be in the form shaft or decline volumes, plant volume, de-
velopment meters, haulage limits, ventilation, traffic or working face
congestion (Whittle, 2015). There are numerous examples in the lit-
erature of how this method is applied and it is well understood by
mining engineers around the world (Akisa and Mireku-Gyimah, 2015).
The optimisation of the cut-off grade with the view of optimising the
NPV has been established by A. Bascetin and A. Nieto using Visual Basic
within Excel (Bascetin and Nieto, 2007). It is relatively simple to con-
struct a cut-off grade optimiser model using Excel based mixed integer
linear programing (the Solver) function. This type of model can link the
mine ore flow, resource block listing and cash flow models. The output
to optimise is either the profit or NPV by changing the cut-off grade.
This alters the resultant tonnes above cut-off grade and average mining
grade that are fed into the cash flow model (Birch, 2016).
All of the current approaches to cut-off grade optimisation identify
value as either profit or NPV. Fig. 2 shows the relationship between cut-
off grade and optimisation for maximum profit.
2.2. Recent advancements in cut-off grade optimisation
Musingwini, in the 2016 Southern African Institute of Mining and
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Resources Policy xxx (xxxx) xxx–xxx
Fig. 1. Typical grade-tonnage curve with a cut-off grade of 5 g/t.
The resultant tonnes above 5 g/t are 10.2 million tonnes and the
average mining grade is 8.1 g/t (Birch, 2016).
Metallurgy Presidential Address, reviewed commonly applied optimi-
sation techniques for underground mines. He noted that the needs for
the development integrated stochastic optimisation that can be applied
on a real-time basis (Musingwini, 2016). Other researchers have also
identified shortcomings in the current approach to optimising mine
planning, including in the field of determining the cut-off grade.
There have been numerous academic studies into this field and
application of various innovative methods aimed at increasing value
from mines. Napier looked at the effect of cost and price fluctuations
and how these have an effect of the determination of the optimum cut-
off grades (Napier, 1983). In 1997, Wood looked at how the cut-off
grade impacts on the risks associated with mineral exploitation in the
South African Platinum Industry (Wood, 1997). Lane, et.al have con-
sidered the ‘hill of value’ and applied dynamic financial analysis (DFA)
which aims to consider the risk element of the assumptions made for
considering volume versus cut-off grade decisions (Lane et al., 2010).
These address one of the main short-comings of traditional approaches
to cut-off grade determinations in that the planning estimations of
costs, grades, recoveries and price can be very different to the actual
values when mining takes place.
The development of complex computer modelling has allowed
greater sophistication in determining cut-off grades. Azimi, et.al list
operational control theory, stochastic dynamic programing, non-linear
programing, linear programing, genetic algorithm and other artificial
intelligence methods (Azimi et al., 2011). However, it is questionable if
these approaches have been widely applied on the mining operations
themselves. It is recognised that a single cut-off grade for the entire
mine is very limited and developments in geometallurgy (Turner-Saad,
2011) and area costing have given rise to optimisation of cut-off from
various areas of the mine, as well as from various geological domains.
Future developments in mine planning, which could also be applied to
cut-off grade optimisation, include multi-criteria decision analysis
(Mahase et al., 2016).
3. Student findings
Students from many African countries attend the University of the
Witwatersrand School of Mining Engineering to complete certificate,
undergraduate and post graduate programs. The 50/50 MSc program
entails completing six modules that account for 50% of the credits, and
then a research report, which accounts the other 50% of the credits.
C. Birch
Delegates who wish to gain a specific skill may also complete each
individual module as a short course. The two week Mineral Resource
Management Module (code MINN7050) is typically attended by 30
students of which about 25 would be doing it as part of the MSc pro-
gram. Delegates attending the module as a short course could be
credited for the module if they choose to register for the MSc program
at a later stage. Mining companies employ the majority of the students.
The individual assignment is due four weeks after the completion of the
classes and is limited in length. It counts 30% towards the total mark of
the module (20% for a group assignment completed during the two-
week class period and 50% for the written examination). The students
can select the one that they are most interested in from two separate
individual assignment topics.
For this review, 45 individual assignments from six Southern
African countries are reviewed. These include the following commod-
ities:
• Gold (South Africa, Namibia and Zimbabwe);
• Platinum (South Africa);
• Coal (South Africa);
• Diamonds (South Africa, Botswana and Lesotho);
• Iron Ore (South Africa);
• Manganese (South Africa);
• Copper (South Africa and the Democratic Republic of the Congo
(DRC));
• Uranium (Namibia);
• Chrome (South Africa);
• Zinc (Namibia).
3.1. Gold mines
Four South African Wits-type gold mines have been reviewed. It was
found all of them apply the break-even grade as the cut-off grade. On
one of the mines, there is some consideration of the cost-volume re-
lationship i.e. Hall's ‘hill of value’ (Hall, 2014) with the aim of max-
imising profit rather than NPV. No cut-off grade optimisation was
identified on the other three mines. All the Wits-type mines reviewed
optimise on cmg/t rather than g/t. The cmg/t is a measure of content
and allows comparison of ore bodies with a very wide range of channel
widths, from a few cm to meters in width. The g/t grade for the ore
body is then determined by dividing by the expected stoping width.
4
Resources Policy xxx (xxxx) xxx–xxx
Fig. 2. Typical grade-profit curve. The peak of profit is at a cut-off
grade of 5.3 g/t. The total profit is $7150 and the average mining
grade is 8.2 g/t. There has been no consideration of optimisation
for NPV in this type of cut-off grade determination (Birch, 2016).
Two non-Wits type gold mines were reviewed, one in Namibia and
one in Zimbabwe. For the mine in Zimbabwe, a geological cut-off is
applied. The cut-off grade approach is thus not used and ore is identi-
fied as being within the ‘ore zone’ based on the lithology. The gold
values are highly erratic resulting in very short geostatistical ranges.
For the mine in Namibia, the cut-off grade is based on Lane's algorithm
(Lane, 1988) with the focus on optimising profit.
3.2. Platinum mines
Nine Platinum mines were reviewed. These included mines from
both the Eastern and Western Bushveld Igneous Complex Limbs. Both
Merensky Reef and UG2 are mined on seven of the eight mines, with
one mining just UG2. There is little cut-off grade optimisation observed.
On one of the mines, Lane's algorithm is applied to maximise profit over
the life-of-mine. For the rest, a geological cut-off is applied by which all
the Merensky Reef and UG2 are considered economical to mine.
The grade distribution for the economical commodities (platinum,
palladium, rhodium, gold, copper and nickel) tends to be more evenly
distributed in both the Merensky Reef and UG2. There is the application
of an optimal stoping width on some of the mines where the UG2 is very
thick on one of the mines. The practice of scalping (passing the material
through a grizzly underground and stripping off the coarser material,
which tends to be lower grade) is also noted for the UG2. This low-
grade material is packed underground in the mined out areas and not
transported or processed.
3.3. Coal mines
The determination of economic coal is based on a number of factors,
including calorific value (CV), ash content, sulphur content, stripping
ratio (for open cast mines) and seam thickness. Seven South African
coal mines were reviewed (by eight students) and each one considered
deferent aspects in their optimisation strategy. Fig. 3 shows the loca-
tions of the various coalfields of South Africa.
The two mines from the Waterberg Coalfield applied a geological
cut-off. The coal seam was extracted fully and upgraded by applying the
principles of yield curves (Horsfall, 1980). The two mines from the
Witbank Coalfield were mined with the same strategy. These mines
were opencast mines. Geotechnical criteria were the chief consideration
for two anthracite mines reviewed from the Nongama and Kangwane
C. Birch
coalfields. For the underground mines from the Witbank coalfield,
customer specifications regarding CV and ash were the primary focus.
These two mines were being mined for coal-fired power stations and the
coal was not undergoing further upgrading. The seam thickness was
also a consideration for one of these mines. The underground coal mine
from the Witbank coalfield producing coal for the export market is
upgrading the coal using the yield curve principle (Horsfall, 1980).
3.4. Diamond mines
Seven assignments from three individual diamond mines were re-
viewed. These are in South Africa (block cave), Lesotho and Botswana
(both opencast mines). The block cave mining method allows very little
scope for grade optimisation and the focus is on minimising waste at the
draw points. For the mine in Botswana, a geological cut-off is applied
with all kimberlite being considered ore. There is consideration given to
the grade/volume relationship with the price dictating a dynamic
mining volume strategy. Mining is not selective but stockpiling of
lower-grade material takes place for later processing.
A geological cut-off approach is followed at the mine in Lesotho
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Resources Policy xxx (xxxx) xxx–xxx
Fig. 3. Coalfields of South Africa (South African
Council for Geoscience, 2017).
with the blocks being scheduled to provide an optimum grade dis-
tribution. All kimberlite is however considered economical.
3.5. Iron ore mines
Four assignments from three individual South African mines were
reviewed. On all three mines, the primary cut-off is based on the
geology. One the one mine, the strategy is focused on splitting the plant
feed into higher-grade material that is sent directly to the density media
separation (DMS) circuit, and lower-grade material that passes through
a jip plant for upgrading prior to the DMS circuit. The company also has
an in-house ‘maximiser’ program that enables the optimisation of their
profit based on their blending of their available ore to fit the criteria of
various product streams. The other two mines follow a similar strategy
with the focus being on producing saleable products that fit their cus-
tomers various specifications.
3.6. Manganese mines
Three South African manganese mines were reviewed. The one mine
C. Birch
Table 1
Summary of the cut-off grade optimisation methods identified on the various Southern African mines.
Commodity Geological/Geotechnicalcut- Break-even Grade/volume optimisation (Hill
off grade of Value)
Gold 1 3 1 1
Platinum 8 1
Coal 5 2
Diamonds 2 1
Iron ore 3
Manganese
Copper
Uranium
Chrome 1
Zinc 1
applies the Lane algorithm (Lane, 1988) but considers maximising for
NPV through the various mining phases. Both the other utilise the
Whittle Pit Optimiser (Whittle and Whittle, 2007) with the focus being
on maximising the NPV.
3.7. Copper mines
Five assignments representing one South African (two assignments)
and three individual copper mines from the DRC were reviewed. The
South African mine uses the block cave mining method and the focus is
on draw point control to minimise waste entering the ore stream. The
block cave itself is delineated primary on lithology but the waste is from
sidewall failure from the original open pit mine.
The three mines in the DRC each follow their own cut-off strategy.
The first two mines consider both the value of copper and cobalt and
use pit shape optimiser to maximise financial value based on the Lerchs-
Grossman algorithm (Lerchs and Grossmann, 1965). These models
consider the pit slope angles to optimise the final pit shape to maximise
the NPV. The third mine utilises the Whittle Pit Optimiser to achieve a
similar result (Whittle and Whittle, 2007).
3.8. Uranium mines
Two Namibian uranium mines were reviewed from the assignments.
Both utilise Lane's algorithm and optimise on profit. No further opti-
misation considering the NPV takes place.
3.9. Chrome mine
The South African chrome mine reviewed follows a geological cut-
off approach with all the available resource of the LG6 orebody con-
sidered economical. No further cut-off optimisation takes place.
3.10. Zinc mine
A zinc mine in Namibia was reviewed. The ore zone is based on
identification of massive sulphide, which is all considered economical.
Little further financial optimisation takes place.
4. Conclusions
This study aims to review the cut-off optimisation strategies fol-
lowed by a selection of Southern African mines. 45 Student assignments
completed as part of the MINN7050 Mineral Resource Management
Module of the University of the Witwatersrand School of Mining
Engineering were reviewed. These modules form part of the MSc pro-
gram and are completed by students on their own operations. This
approach of data collection allowed broad access to many different
mines and commodities across six Southern African countries for no
cost. Not all the individual assignments were completed to a high
standard. Only assignments that received a passing grade were
6
Resources Policy xxx (xxxx) xxx–xxx
Lane's algorithm Whittle Pit Lerchs-Grossman
optimiser algorithm
1 2
1 2
2
considered for this review.
It is noted that the basic break-even cut-off grade and Lane's algo-
rithm are widely applied predominantly to maximise profit. The Lerchs-
Grossman algorithm and Whittle Pit Optimiser are also widely utilised.
Some of the mines using these methods optimise for NPV. Some mines
have in-house optimiser programs that have not been discussed in detail
by the students (either lack of understanding of the approach or con-
sidered proprietary by their companies).
The findings are summarised in Table 1:
There is no evidence from the mines reviewed that they are using
the latest optimiser approaches as found in the literature at operational
level. It would appear that these remain the domain of academic re-
search, although they may be included in some of the in-house opti-
miser models used. Most mines optimise primarily with profit being the
main value driver. NPV optimisation is also found on some operations.
No mine considers a multi-criteria approach for optimisation con-
sidering other stakeholders besides the owners (i.e. employees, the
State, local communities). This could become a major consideration to
mines in the future where the social license to mine is becoming a major
factor in the success of mining ventures.
5. Recommendations
The recommendation from this research is that some mines could
add financial value by adopting one of the cut-off grade optimisation
approaches presented in this revue if they are not currently optimising
their cut-off grades. However, it was noted during class discussions with
the MSc students that personal on the mines that are responsible for
determining the cut-off grade strategies are often not aware of the
various recent advancements in this field. The dissemination of these
methods is usually through academic journals. These are often a
daunting read by those whose background does not include a higher
degree, or a significant mathematical component in their qualifications.
The Journal of The Southern African Institute of Mining and
Metallurgy (SAIMM) is widely distributed throughout Southern Africa
on the mining operations, The SAIMM Journal lists only two articles
over the past ten years if a search is conducted for “cut + off + grade
+ optimisation” on the OneMine.org online library. When the search is
includes all the journals available through the OneMine.org library, 26
articles are noted over the same period. Most of these additional jour-
nals are not available to non-subscribers to the OneMine.org library or
the specific journals. It is felt that the distribution of these newer cut-off
grade optimisation methods and approaches need to be made simpler
and easier to adopt for the mine personal.
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