2

Open pit mine planning and design: Fundamentals

As has been the case since the early Phoenician traders, the minerals used by modern man
come from deposits scattered around the globe. The price received is more and more being set
by world wide supply and demand. Thus, the price component in the equation is largely
determined by others. Where the mining engineer can and does enter is in doing something
about the unit costs. Although the development of new technology at your propety is one
answer, new technology easily and quickly spreads around the world and soon all
operations have the 'new' technology. Hence to remain proitable over the long term, the
mining engineer must continually examine and assess smarter and better site speciic ways for
reducing costs at the operation. This is done through a better understanding of the
deposit itself and the tools/techniques employed or employable in the extraction process.
Cost containment/reduction through eficient, safe and environmentally responsive mining
practices is serious business today and will be even more important in the future with
increasing mining depths and ever more stringent regulations. A failure to keep up is reflected
quite simply by the profit equation as
Profits < 0

(1.5)

This, needless o say, is unfavorable for all concerned (the employees, the company, and the
country or nation). For the mining engineer (student or practicing) reading this book, the
personal meaning of ore is
Ore = Proits = Jobs

(1.6)

The use of the mathematical equivalence symbol simply says that 'ore' is equivalent to 'prof its'
which is equivalent to jobs'. Hence one important meaning of 'ore' to us in the minerals business
is jobs. Probably this simple practical deinition is more easily remembered than those offered
earlier. The remainder of the book is intended to provide the engineer with tools to perform
even better in an increasingly competitive world.
1 1 .2 Some important deinitions
The exploration, development, and production stages of a mineral deposit (Banield &
Havard, 1975) are deined as:
Exploration: The search for a mineral deposit
(prospecting) and the subsequent
investigation of any deposit found until an orebody, if such exists, has been established.
Development: Work done on a mineral deposit, after exploration has disclosed ore in
suficient quantity and quality to justify extraction, in order to make the ore available for
mining.
Production: The mining of ores, and as required, the subsequent processing into products
ready for marketing.
f ;,
It is essential that the various terms used to describe the nature, size and tenor of the
deposit be very carefully selected and then used within the limits of well recognized and
accepted definitions.
Over the years a number of attempts have been made to provide a set of universally
accepted definitions for the most important terms. These definitions have evolved somewhat as
the technology used to investigate and evaluate orebodies has changed. On February 24, 1991,
the report, 'A Guide for Reporting Exploration Information, Resources and Reserves' prepared
by Working Party No. 79 - 'Ore Reserves Deinition' of the Society of Mining, Metallurgy and
Exploration (SME), was delivered to the SME Board of Directors (SME,