Literary Review on Optimizing Open Pit Mining under Surpac and Whittle

This study focuses on pit optimization, the search for a single project, the optimal long-term pit deposit of a mining project. The objective is to carry out several technical and economic analyzes taking into account the variations of the prices of the main element of the project 's deposit on the international market, in order to choose a pit which will be technically feasible and which will allow the company, from make the most profit during the whole operation. To achieve this objective, the holes are re-made on the deposit to allow the construction of the mineralized body and the model block; then an estimate of total resources is made. To obtain the optimal pit of the project, a first optimization from the technical point of view is made with the Surpac software, starting from the current costs on the market and while placing itself in the unfavorable conditions, in order to give a scenario as profitable as possible. With Whittle software, a second optimization procedure is conducted economically, taking into account Surpac projects separately. After several technical and economic analyzes, the optimal pit is retained as well as the cost of departure to obtain the best pit of the deposit. Then an analysis of exploitation sequences is carried out in order to orient the production towards the most promising places. And finally the mineral reserves contained within the limits of the optimal long-term pit are determined.