OPEN PIT MINE DESIGNER
An open pit mine designer is disclosed. One example includes a metric receiver receives an economic shell metric including ore information and an open pit mine metric. In addition, a user input is provided to receive user modifiable criteria. The open pit mine designer combines the open pit mine metrics, the user modifiable criteria and a waste reduction criteria to develop an open pit mine design, wherein user modifiable information may be used to adjust the open pit mine design during the life of the open pit mine.
1 . A method for designing an open pit mine, said method comprising:
receiving, at a computer system, an economic shell for an open pit mine location, the economic shell comprising the ore to be obtained;
accessing, at the computer system, a geological data and a mine machinery characteristic for the open pit mine location; and
utilizing a minimum amount of waste to be removed metric in correlation with a maximum amount of ore recovered metric in conjunction with the economic shell, the geological data and the mine machinery characteristic information to automatically generate, at the computer system, an open pit mine design.
2 . The method of claim 1 further comprising:
receiving a mine metric modification; and
redesigning the open pit mine design based on said mine metric modification.
3 . The method of claim 1 wherein the geological data is selected from the group consisting of: available land, waste dump locations, ore drop locations and geological information for material around the ore.
4 . The method of claim 1 wherein the mine machinery characteristic information is selected from the group consisting of: truck parameters, truck geometry, a slope restriction, a weight restriction, a turning radius and a width of a haul road for a given vehicle.
5 . The method of claim 1 further comprising:
generating a plurality of individual layers, each individual layer denoting a distinct elevation portion of the open pit mine design; and
combining the plurality of individual layers to form a complete open pit mine design.
6 . The method of claim 5 further comprising:
utilizing the geological data to determine a bench height for a wall of the open pit mine design; and
utilizing the bench height to define the elevation separation distance between the plurality of individual layers.
7 . The method of claim 1 further comprising:
utilizing the mine machine characteristic in conjunction with the geological data to determine slope information comprising: a bench height; a berm width; a slope angle; and a ramp width.
8 . An open pit mine designer comprising:
a metric receiving module to receive an economic shell metric including ore information and an open pit mine metric;
a user input module to receive user modifiable information; and
an open pit mine designer module which automatically combines the open pit mine metrics, the user modifiable criteria and a waste reduction criteria to develop an open pit mine design, wherein user modifiable information may be used to adjust the open pit mine design during the life of the open pit mine.
9 . The open pit mine designer of claim 8 wherein the open pit mine metrics receives metric information further comprises:
an environmental metric; and
an engineering metric.
10 . The open pit mine designer of claim 9 wherein the environmental metric is selected from the group consisting of: available land, waste dump locations, ore drop locations and geological information for material around the ore.
11 . The open pit mine designer of claim 10 wherein the slope information is selected from the group consisting of: bench height, berm width, slope angle, ramp width, stack height, stack slope, step out width, and switchback haul road information.
12 . The open pit mine designer of claim 9 wherein the engineering metric is selected from the group consisting of: truck parameters, truck geometry and vehicle capability characteristics.
13 . The open pit mine designer of claim 12 wherein the vehicle capability characteristics is selected from the group consisting of: a slope restriction, a weight restriction, a turning radius and a width of a haul road for a given vehicle.
14 . The open pit mine designer of claim 8 wherein the economic shell metric is selected from the group consisting of: a type of an ore, a quantity of the ore and a value of the ore.
15 . The open pit mine designer of claim 8 wherein the user modifiable criteria is selected from the group consisting of: a mining timeline, an ore retrieval ranking, and a vehicle availability.
16 . The open pit mine designer of claim 8 wherein the waste reduction criteria is based on a least amount of waste to be removed while obtaining the ore in the economic shell metric.
17 . A method for designing a waste pile, said method comprising:
receiving a waste material amount based on an open pit mine design;
receiving geological data about the waste material and a storage location; and
utilizing the geological data and the storage location in conjunction with the waste amount to automatically develop a waste storage design.
18 . The method of claim 17 further comprising:
receiving a waste material amount modification; and
redesigning the waste storage design based on the waste material amount modification.
19 . The method of claim 17 further comprising:
receiving a waste delivery vehicle characteristic; and
redesigning the waste storage design based on the waste delivery vehicle characteristic.
20 . The method of claim 17 further comprising:
utilizing the waste delivery vehicle characteristic in conjunction with the geological data to determine slope information for the waste storage design comprising: a bench height; a berm width; a slope angle; and a ramp width.
21 . The method of claim 17 further comprising:
generating a plurality of individual layers, each individual layer denoting a distinct elevation portion of the waste storage design;
utilizing the bench height to define the elevation separation distance between the plurality of individual layers; and
combining the plurality of individual layers to form a complete waste storage design.