Volume 30, Issue 2, May 2017, Pages 269–279
Patrick Mukonki May1 and Augustin Muhota Kawinda2
1 Mining Engineering Department, University of Lubumbashi, Faculty of Engineering, University of Lubumbashi, Lubumbashi, Haut-Katanga province, RD Congo
2 Mining Engineering Department, University of Lubumbashi, Faculty of Engineering, University of Lubumbashi, Lubumbashi, Haut-Katanga province, RD Congo
Original language: English
Copyright © 2017 ISSR Journals. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
The Mashamba East open pit mine is a copper-cobalt operation located in the Democratic Republic of Congo, in the mineral-rich Katanga Province 10 km southeast of Kolwezi town. Previously owned by Gecamines (a state-owned mining company), Mashamba East pit was recently separated from the neighbouring Mashamba West deposit, which now belongs to a Chinese company (Sicomines). The challenges in the mine optimization and the pushback approach will be to take into account the presence of a waste dump on the south of the deposit, the small distance between the pit and the property limits to the east and west of the deposit, and finally, the presence of a tailings storage facility to the north of the pit,. Running the input data through Datamine NPV Scheduler showed that it is possible to design operational pushbacks to produce a well-balanced schedule and mining sequence. Mashamba East pit is located in a confined area, and this paper outlines the approach taken to achieve a viable mining sequence, taking into account the abovementioned restrictions. NPV Scheduler software will be used to optimize and determine pushbacks, while Minesight software will be used to design the ultimate pit and the operational pushbacks.
Author Keywords: mine optimization, ultimate pit, long term open pit mine planning, Lersch-Grossman algorithm.
Patrick Mukonki May1 and Augustin Muhota Kawinda2
1 Mining Engineering Department, University of Lubumbashi, Faculty of Engineering, University of Lubumbashi, Lubumbashi, Haut-Katanga province, RD Congo
2 Mining Engineering Department, University of Lubumbashi, Faculty of Engineering, University of Lubumbashi, Lubumbashi, Haut-Katanga province, RD Congo
Original language: English
Copyright © 2017 ISSR Journals. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Abstract
The Mashamba East open pit mine is a copper-cobalt operation located in the Democratic Republic of Congo, in the mineral-rich Katanga Province 10 km southeast of Kolwezi town. Previously owned by Gecamines (a state-owned mining company), Mashamba East pit was recently separated from the neighbouring Mashamba West deposit, which now belongs to a Chinese company (Sicomines). The challenges in the mine optimization and the pushback approach will be to take into account the presence of a waste dump on the south of the deposit, the small distance between the pit and the property limits to the east and west of the deposit, and finally, the presence of a tailings storage facility to the north of the pit,. Running the input data through Datamine NPV Scheduler showed that it is possible to design operational pushbacks to produce a well-balanced schedule and mining sequence. Mashamba East pit is located in a confined area, and this paper outlines the approach taken to achieve a viable mining sequence, taking into account the abovementioned restrictions. NPV Scheduler software will be used to optimize and determine pushbacks, while Minesight software will be used to design the ultimate pit and the operational pushbacks.
Author Keywords: mine optimization, ultimate pit, long term open pit mine planning, Lersch-Grossman algorithm.
How to Cite this Article
Patrick Mukonki May and Augustin Muhota Kawinda, “Strategic mine planning approach for determination of operational pushbacks using Datamine NPV Scheduler: case study of the Mashamba East open pit mine, Democratic Republic of Congo,” International Journal of Innovation and Scientific Research, vol. 30, no. 2, pp. 269–279, May 2017.
