Abstract
The transition from surface mining to underground is a critical issue for metal mines. The commonly cited procedure cored by ultimate-pit-limit (UPL) methodology is restricted to maximize the profit from both surface and underground mining, due to the absence of the integration of the profit from either of them. Under the target for such maximization, this study proposes a new optimization approach, which directly relates the design of open-pit limit and underground stopes, by equalizing the marginal profit from either surface or underground mining. The variation of the crown pillar size is involved in this approach. The proposed approach is applied to the Dagushan iron mine, and results show the total profit increased from 3.79 billion CNYs (original design by conventional UPL methodology) to 4.17 billion CNYs (optimal design by the proposed approach), by 9.91%. Moreover, the marginal profit from surface and underground mining, as well as total profit, of all possible designs of surface-to-underground mining transition in Dagushan iron mine is calculated to validate the proposed approach. When the marginal profits satisfy the criterion of the proposed approach, the maximum value of the total profit appears, and this demonstrates the proposed approach is robust to maximize the total profit in surface-to-underground mining transition. This work contributes to existing literature studies primarily from practical aspect, by providing a unified approach to optimize the transition from surface to underground mining.
Highlights
Mining industry contributes billions of dollars to global economics annually
Erefore, under the target to maximize the profit from both surface and underground mining, this study proposes a novel approach to optimize the surface-to-underground mining transition, which is extended from the conventional ultimate pit limit (UPL) methodology by equalizing the marginal profit from either surface mining or underground mining. e variation of the crown pillar in different depth is involved in this model to develop total profit
In the mainstream procedure cored by conventional UPL methodology, it is intractable to maximize the total benefit from both surface and underground mining because the design for open-pit limit and underground stopes is separated. e primary contribution of this study is to provide a unified approach for metal mines to obtain the maximum total profit in surface-to-underground mining transition because it directly relates the design for open-pit limit and underground stopes by equalizing the marginal profit from either surface or underground mining
Summary
Received 27 September 2021; Accepted 29 November 2021; Published 13 January 2022. e transition from surface mining to underground is a critical issue for metal mines. e commonly cited procedure cored by ultimate-pit-limit (UPL) methodology is restricted to maximize the profit from both surface and underground mining, due to the absence of the integration of the profit from either of them. E commonly cited procedure cored by ultimate-pit-limit (UPL) methodology is restricted to maximize the profit from both surface and underground mining, due to the absence of the integration of the profit from either of them. Under the target for such maximization, this study proposes a new optimization approach, which directly relates the design of open-pit limit and underground stopes, by equalizing the marginal profit from either surface or underground mining. E proposed approach is applied to the Dagushan iron mine, and results show the total profit increased from 3.79 billion CNYs (original design by conventional UPL methodology) to 4.17 billion CNYs (optimal design by the proposed approach), by 9.91%. The marginal profit from surface and underground mining, as well as total profit, of all possible designs of surface-to-underground mining transition in Dagushan iron mine is calculated to validate the proposed approach. When the marginal profits satisfy the criterion of the proposed approach, the maximum value of the total profit appears, and this demonstrates the proposed approach is robust to maximize the total profit in surface-to-underground mining transition. is work contributes to existing literature studies primarily from practical aspect, by providing a unified approach to optimize the transition from surface to underground mining
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