Constrained Path Optimisation for Underground Mine Layout

The major infrastructure component required to develop an underground mine is a decline, which is a system of tunnels used for access and haulage. In this paper we study the problem of designing a decline of minimum cost where cost is a combination of development and haulage costs over the life of the mine. A key design consideration is that the decline must be navigable to trucks and mining equipment, hence must satisfy a gradient and turning circle constraint. The decline is modelled as a mathematical network that captures the operational constraints and costs of a real mine, and is optimised using geometric techniques for constrained path optimisation. This procedure to find the optimal decline has been automated in a new version of a software tool, Decline Optimisation Tool, DOT. A case study is described comparing this version with the