COURSE TITLE: Optimizing the strategic mine plan: unlocking intrinsic value
Duration: 5 days
Location: Busua Beach Resort, Ghana
Date: August 5 – 9, 2019
Limit: 20 seats
Software: GEOVIA Whittle, Excel Solver
Course Fee: 2,700 USD (exclusive of taxes)
- Includes accommodation and all meals
- 15% Discount if registered before April 30th, 2019; OR
- 5% Discount if registered before May 31st, 2019; OR
- 15% Discount for multi-person registration (>2) before May 31st, 2019; OR
- 10% Discount for WAIMM members if registered before May 31st, 2019.
COURSE OUTLINE
Principal and fundamental concepts in open-pit limit optimization
- Strategic mine planning and economic performance
- Mining revenues and costs
- Open-pit limit optimization
- Practical pushback design with minimum mining width
Principal and fundamental concepts in strategic mine planning optimization
- Life-of-mine production planning/scheduling
- Mine-life estimation
- Cut-off grade optimization and Lane’s theory
- Stockpiling strategy
- Directional mining control
- Simultaneous optimization of mining value chain
- Multi-mine multi-process production scheduling
- Mine-to-mill production planning
- Blending and non-linear recovery in processing streams
- Mine planning considerations for contract mining
- Characterization of mineralized mine waste as future resource
An introduction to mathematical programming for integrated mine planning and waste management
- Principal concepts of linear programming
- Application of MILP/MILGP for integrated production and waste disposal scheduling
- Strategic mining options optimization: open pit mining, underground mining or both
- Open pit/underground mining transition optimization
Risk-based mine planning
- Mine production risk management and integrated optimization
- Stochastic pit limit optimization and pushback design
- Stochastic mine planning optimization methods
- An approach to mine planning with grade, tonnage and metal uncertainty
Computer Labs: Geovia Whittle, Excel Solver
- Case Studies: Oil sands, gold, iron ore deposits
- Participants are required to bring laptops; software will be provided.
- Twelve (12) detailed step-by-step computer application labs.
INSTRUCTOR
Eugene Ben-Awuah is an Associate Professor of Mining Engineering at the Bharti School of Engineering, Laurentian University, Sudbury, Canada. He is also the IAMGOLD Research Fellow in Open Pit Mining. He holds a MSc from the University of Mines and Technology and a PhD from the University of Alberta in Mining Engineering. Eugene is a registered professional mining engineer and has extensive operational, consulting and research experience from Ghana, Canada and Australia in mine design and optimization, and mine production management. He teaches and conducts research in strategic mining options optimization, integrated mine planning and waste management optimization, simulation optimization of intelligent and autonomous mining systems, and applications of discrete fracture network. He is the Principal Mining Consultant for OptiSim Mining Solutions on mine optimization and simulation. He is a member of Mining Optimization Laboratory (MOL), the West African Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (WAIMM) and the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM).