SMITH, M.L., SHEPPARD, I., and KARUNATILLAKE, G. Using MIP for strategic life-of-mine planning of the leadlzinc stream at Mount Isa Mines. Application of Computers and Operations Research in the Minerals Industries, South African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, 2003. Using MIP for strategic life-of-mine planning of the lead/zinc stream at Mount Isa Mines M.L. SMITH*, I. SHEPPARDt, and G. KARUNATILLAKEt *UQIJKMRC, Brisbane, QLD, Australia tMt. [sa Business Unit, Mount [sa Mines Limited, QLD, Australia Lead-zinc production at MIM, Mount Isa includes three mines, a lead concentrator, zinc filter plant and lead refinery. Lead production is vertically integrated with lead-silver bullion shipped from Australia to London for refining. Zinc is sold as a concentrate. All three mines have reached varying states of maturity mining a multitude of orebodies having significant variation in grades and metallurgical recovery for three metals. Based on current levels of measured resources, the remaining project life is at least ten years. The objective is to schedule production over the life of all three mines so as to maximize the present value of the complex. Additional scheduling complexity arises out of the implementation of long-term schedules, capital expansion projects for both mining and processing, the presence of substantial inferred reserves and interactions with MIM copper production. A large-scale, time-dynamic, life-of-complex Mixed Integer Program (MIP) production schedule was formulated to optimize leadlzinc cash flow based on a detailed life of project production scheduling study. The requirements for such a study are detailed herein. The operational feasibility of the MIP solution is compared against a non-optimal approach to strategic life-of-mine scheduling. The strategic planning emphasis placed on the MIP is compared to the implementation of a life-of-mine schedules at Mount Isa using spreadsheets and other popular commercial mine schedulers. Introduction contained within the top 600 metres of a 1 km thick Mount Isa Mine is in its 80th year of operation since the Urquhart Shales (Figure 2). The regional dip of the discovery of the carbonate lead and silver bearing gossan by Urquhart Shales in the lead mine is 65 to 70 degrees to the 2 John Campbell Miles. It is still one of the largest west with a consistent north-south strike . The ore underground mining operations in Australia. Mount Isa mineralization is mainly galena and sphalerite with Mines produced 3.5 million tonnes of silver-lead-zinc ore associated pyrite and pyrrhotite in 1 mm to one metre thick (at 128 g/t Ag, 5.3% Pb and 7.8% Zn) and 5.8 million sulphide beds. Wherever these beds are grouped together in tonnes of copper ore ( at 3.6 % Cu) in the last financial year sufficient density and grade they constitute an orebody3. ending 30th June 2002. The individual orebodies range between 100 m to 900 m Mount Isa is located in north-west Queensland about 900 in strike length, from 3 to 45 m in width and can exceed kilometres west of the Townsville. Hilton and George 800 m down dip. Separation between orebodies ranges from Fisher orebodies of the George Fisher Mine are located 22 4 to 80 m and all lie in a sequence up to 600 m thick. In and 24 kilometres respectively north of Mount Isa (Figure plan they have an echelon arrangement with hangingwall 1). The Mount Isa Business Unit operates the Isa Copper orebodies extending further to the north in general. (X41), Enterprise, Isa Lead and George Fisher Mines. Most of wide, high-grade orebodies in the lead mine were extracted over the past eight decades but substantial mining Geology reserve is still available. The inclusive mineral resource of the Isa lead orebodies was 18.9 million tonnes at 152 g/t The Mount Isa, Hilton and George Fisher silver-lead-zinc Ag, 6.3% Pb and 7.2% Zn and the total mining reserve was orebodies are stratiform Proterozoic silver-lead-zinc 7.2 million tonnes at 129 g/t Ag, 5.4% Pb and 6.7% Zn on deposits which occur in a dolomitic shale and siltstone 30 June 2001. sequence called the Urquhart Shale. The orebodies at Hilton and George Fisher are similar to the Mount Isa silver-Iead­ zinc orebodies but display much more structural Hilton ore bodies complexity. Faulting associated deformation has affected The zones of economic mineralization of the Hilton deposit the orebodies on all scales causing truncations, fault have been subdivided into seven orebodies, numbered 1 to windows, thickening and thinningl. 7, starting at the hangingwall and moving east to the footwall (Figure 3). The Barkley shear zone, a bedding [sa lead ore bodies parallel fault that marks the end of the ore-bearing Urquhart The Isa silver-le ad-zinc deposit is composed of over 28 shale unit to the east and the hangingwall fault zone separate minable orebodies. These stratiform orebodies are truncates the orebodies to the west4. The inclusive mineral USING MIP FOR STRATEGIC LIFE-OF-MINE PLANNING OF THE LEAD/ZINC STREAM 465 ~I ~I Hilton Orebodies P49 --......TT~;~-;~-lf~d5~;::-iC;;;ZTIGShaft I Breakaway Shale QUEENSLAND Brisbane t.---------__ ",...--\rr- Figure 1. Location of Mount Isa and George Fisher Mines U rquhart Shales m .. .. .. w o 1000m E Figure 3. Typical east-west cross-section of IIilton orebodies with access infrastructure 9/L 15/L B Orebody 19/L 3500 Orebody BASEMENT o 50 100 I / ·· .. I"-/-·,t(:· .. I+··· .. ·· .. ·.. ·I ...\ ...... ·.... ·................ ·+· .. 15c Level (Metres) Typical section looking north TYPICAL CROSS-SECTION NORTHERN MINING AREA Copper Ore D Silica-Dolomite Figure 4. Typical east-west cross-section of George Fisher orebodies Zinc-Lead-Silver-Ore Stoped area of the deposit is truncated at depth by a hangingwaII fault in a similar manner to Hilton. The George Fisher deposit is also bounded by the Gidyea Creek Fault to the south and Figure 2. Typical east-west cross-section of Mount Isa Mines the Spring Creek Fault to the north4. Even though eleven George Fisher orebodies have been named 1, 2 and 'A' through 'I' moving from hangingwall to resource of the Hilton orebodies was 37 million tonnes at footwaII, only A, B, C, D, G and H orebodies satisfy the 140 g/t Ag, 6.2% Pb and 8.9% Zn and the total mining current reserve cut-off Cliteria (Figure 4; Typical east-west reserve was 12.8 million tonnes at 130 g/t Ag, 5.9% Pb and cross-section of George Fisher orebodies). D is the 8.7% Zn on 30 June 2001. dominant orebody in the George Fisher deposit and it contains 46% of the tonnage and 49% of the value of the George Fisher orebodies George Fisher mining reserve. C orebody follows next with The George Fisher orebody extends over a stIike length of 27% of the tonnage and 30% of the value. 1.2 kilometres to a known depth of approximately I The inclusive mineral resource of the George Fisher kilometre. The hangingwall (west) economic mineralization orebodies was 99 million tonnes at 82 g/t Ag, 4.1 % Pb and 466 APCOM2003 9.2% Zn and the total mining reserve was 22.4 million backfilling. Additional production constraints specified tonnes at 111 g/t Ag, 4.9% Pb and 9.3% Zn (30 June 2001). production targets for metal. At that time, Trout was unable Figures 3 and 5 show the main infrastructure associated to solve the MIP to optimality due to the large number of with the Hilton and George Fisher orebodies in the George binary variables, but in a comparison the non-optimal Fisher Mine. Branch and Bound (B&B) solution outperformed MIM's manual scheduling solution by 123%. Almgren15 used MIP Current practice as an aid in scheduling development and production at the Effective production scheduling is only possible if geology, Kiruna Mine, a large sublevel caving iron mine in Sweden. mining and processing are integrated: the deposit model Almgren also ran into difficulties solving the large-scale must capture geologic uncertainty and the scheduling MIP due to the time-dynamic (solving across all periods algOlithm must account for this uncertainty while meeting simultaneously) nature of his initial formulation but complex mining and blending constraints and providing as determined that a sequence of single period optimizations close to an optimal mill feed as possible. The specification probably yielded as good a result due to uncertainty in for an optimal mill feed depends on recovery for each ore production, development and geology. Like Almgren, type. However, in addition to the generalized feed Chandra16 used a Goal Programming (GP) MIP formulation properties provided earlier, various additional site-specific to schedule drawpoint production in block caving panel to factors may be considereds-8. minimize the deviation of production targets. Draw control Mathematical Programming methods, especially Integer and production scheduling applications have continued Programming, can be used to schedule production in this impOltance in underground mass mining. manner: variables represent the tons mined from various faces in each period, constraints ensure that any solution Data requirements for VG scheduling conforms to operational limitations imposed by mining, and an objective function drives the solution towards a Regardless of the final scheduling methodology used, the production schedule that produces the least deviation in input to the schedule and scheduling requirements will feed to the mill. In sUliace mining, there have been only a remain the same: ore reserve analysis, costing, economics few applications of MIP-based production scheduling9- 11 . including cutoffs, metallurgical recovery, mining rates and Goal Programming (GP) and MIP were applied to the short­ various constraints on capacity and sequencing.