Slope geometry optimization considering groundwater drawdown scenarios at an open-pit phosphate mine, southeastern Brazil

Abstract

The design of open-pit mines should balance safety and economy. However, safe geotechnical conditions generally involve redesigning the geometry of slopes and groundwater drawdown, significantly increasing the costs of mining operations. The use of numerical models to simulate groundwater drawdown and slope stability can be an alternative to assess cost–benefit trade-offs for decision-making. This study documents a mining plan using groundwater drawdown scenarios that illustrate how geotechnical, economic, and environmental indicators can be combined to obtain optimum slope geometry for open-pit mining. The optimization approach analyzed different scenarios of groundwater drawdown for the final pit of a phosphate mine to improve the pit slopes stability. The groundwater simulation scenarios included the combination of deep horizontal drains and pumping wells. Stability analyses using the limit equilibrium method were used to obtain the bench, inter-ramp, and overall factors of safety of different representative sections. The factors of safety obtained, the drawdown costs and the water table elevation of each section were selected as indicators for obtaining the optimal drawdown scenario using a multi-objective tool. The groundwater control system obtained with 11 horizontal drains and 1 pumping well was considered the most adequate from the geotechnical and economic perspectives. Slope geometry optimization obtained with this drawdown scenario led to adequate inter-ramp and overall safety factors for the final pit design, reducing the barren-to-ore ratio to 0.38, much less than the present ratio (≈ 3). The results are important for optimizing the slope geometry of open-pit mines and can be replicated in other regions.