Production scheduling of an iron deposit under ore grade uncertainty

Abstract

Mineral deposits are associated with a lot of uncertainties like orebody continuity, grade of the ore and its quantity etc. Resource evaluation followed by the generating production schedule for exploitation under grade uncertainty is a challenging task which needs computer based algorithms for its computation. The present paper attempts to evaluate and create production schedule for an iron ore deposit in India using SURPAC mine planning software. The estimated hematite resource is 75 million tonnes (MT)having cut-off grade of 60% iron, 1% silica and 2% alumina. Out of 75 MT resources, the mineable reserve is 50 MT, which accounts for 66% of the total resource. Thereafter five yearly and monthly production schedules are generated for exploitation of the deposit. The annual rate of iron ore production by opencast mining method is estimated as 3.6 MT per annum for 13 years of mine life. For the purpose of scheduling, mining direction is preferred towards north because of its specific location since a significant amount of overburden can be dumped as backfilling. © 2020, Books and Journals Private Ltd. All rights reserved.