An application of discrete mathematics in the design of an open pit mine

The determination of the “optimum pit limit” of a mine is considered to be a fundamental problem in mine planning as it provides information which is essential in the evaluation of the economic potential of a mineral deposit, and in the formulation of long-, intermediate-, and short-range mine plans. A number of mathematical techniques have been proposed to solve this problem, some of the more elaborate ones posing considerable computational problems. In this paper we discuss the development and implementation of a graph-theoretic technique originally proposed by Lerchs and Grossman. Our implementation strategy involves the use of a dynamic programming technique to “bound” the optimum.