A new heuristic non-linear approach for modeling the variable slope angles in open pit mine planning algorithms

Abstract

In this paper a new non-linear heuristic approach has been developed to model the variable slope angles in the open pit optimization algorithms that is based on a simple inverse distance formulation. In the primary approaches, a fixed value of slope angle is considered and it is usually based on special block configurations such as 1:5, 1:9 and 1:5:9 patterns that suffer from creating the higher or lower angles than desired. The cone template based methods that were employed later, considered the variable slope angles and improved the solution quality a little but also suffer from modeling just in non-cardinal directions. Implementation of the proposed approach on a hypothetical block model showed its capability in generating accurate and smooth pit shapes using any number of regions with different mechanical behaviors.

Keywords

• open pit mine
• production planning
• variable slope angles
• inverse angle formulation