Joint stochastic optimisation of short and long term mine production planning: method and application in a large operating gold mine

AbstractA new multistage stochastic mine production scheduling approach is developed and tested in a large operating gold mine. The approach takes short scale orebody information in the form of grade control data into account. As simulated orebodies used in stochastic long term mine planning are based on sparse exploration data while grade control data are unavailable at the time of production scheduling, the short scale information is simulated stochastically. Stage 1 of the approach simulates high density future grade control data based on exploration data and grade control in previously mined out parts of a deposit. In stage 2, the technique of conditional simulation by successive residuals enables preexisting simulated orebody models to be updated using the simulated future grade control information. Stage 3 is based on a stochastic programming mine scheduling formulation that handles jointly multiple simulated orebody models from stage 2, and accommodates both maximising net present value (NPV) and m...