Stopes can be simply defined as an underground opening from which ore has been excavated.Selection of the best combination of available stope boundary will directly affect the profitability of the operation.While a fe...Stopes can be simply defined as an underground opening from which ore has been excavated.Selection of the best combination of available stope boundary will directly affect the profitability of the operation.While a few attempts has been initiated to generate the optimum stope boundary for underground mining, they fail to guarantee a true optimality in three-dimension block models.This paper proposed a new methodology which can find optimum stope layout for a given resource model in three-dimensions.The paper initially critically reviewed important stope boundary optimisation studies thus far, then proposed a new methodology in order to find the best stope layout for a given deposit.Subsequently it applied the proposed methodology into a block model to test its ability of producing optimum results and demonstrated its applicability in a number of different scenarios.In the last section, further analysis on strategies to find the optimum stope boundaries were demonstrated.The results prove that the proposed algorithm can find optimum stope boundaries and layouts in three-dimension for different stope sizes and stope selections trategies.展开更多
Underground mines require complex construction activities including the shaft, levels, raises, winzes and ore passes. In an underground mine based on stoping method, orebody part(s) maximizing profit should be determi...Underground mines require complex construction activities including the shaft, levels, raises, winzes and ore passes. In an underground mine based on stoping method, orebody part(s) maximizing profit should be determined. This process is called stope layout optimization (SLO) and implemented under site-specific geotechnical, operational and economic constraints. For practical purpose, the design obtained by SLO shows consecutive stopes in one path, which assists in defining the mining direction of these stopes. However, this direction may not accommodate the spatial distribution of the ore grade: if the orebody orientation and mining direction differ, the value of the mining operation may decrease. This paper proposes an approach whereby paths in the SLO are defined as decision variables to avoid the cost of mining in the wrong direction. Furthermore, in the genetic-based formulation, which accounts for orebody uncertainty, a robust cluster average design process is proposed to improve SLO’s performance regarding metal content. A case study in narrow gold vein deposit shows that the profit of an underground mining operation could be underestimated by 25%-48% if the algorithm ignores stope layout orientation.展开更多
文摘Stopes can be simply defined as an underground opening from which ore has been excavated.Selection of the best combination of available stope boundary will directly affect the profitability of the operation.While a few attempts has been initiated to generate the optimum stope boundary for underground mining, they fail to guarantee a true optimality in three-dimension block models.This paper proposed a new methodology which can find optimum stope layout for a given resource model in three-dimensions.The paper initially critically reviewed important stope boundary optimisation studies thus far, then proposed a new methodology in order to find the best stope layout for a given deposit.Subsequently it applied the proposed methodology into a block model to test its ability of producing optimum results and demonstrated its applicability in a number of different scenarios.In the last section, further analysis on strategies to find the optimum stope boundaries were demonstrated.The results prove that the proposed algorithm can find optimum stope boundaries and layouts in three-dimension for different stope sizes and stope selections trategies.
基金Project(488262-15)supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
文摘Underground mines require complex construction activities including the shaft, levels, raises, winzes and ore passes. In an underground mine based on stoping method, orebody part(s) maximizing profit should be determined. This process is called stope layout optimization (SLO) and implemented under site-specific geotechnical, operational and economic constraints. For practical purpose, the design obtained by SLO shows consecutive stopes in one path, which assists in defining the mining direction of these stopes. However, this direction may not accommodate the spatial distribution of the ore grade: if the orebody orientation and mining direction differ, the value of the mining operation may decrease. This paper proposes an approach whereby paths in the SLO are defined as decision variables to avoid the cost of mining in the wrong direction. Furthermore, in the genetic-based formulation, which accounts for orebody uncertainty, a robust cluster average design process is proposed to improve SLO’s performance regarding metal content. A case study in narrow gold vein deposit shows that the profit of an underground mining operation could be underestimated by 25%-48% if the algorithm ignores stope layout orientation.
