Open pit mine production planning in Sungun copper mine with an attempt to reduce environmental impact

Mining is regarded as one of the most polluting sources of environment due to the production of toxic acid wastewater. Considering the environmental impacts of mining in the stage of mine production planning development can potentially reduce the harmful effects of this industry on the environment. In this research, attentions have been paid to the planning of production in Sungun Copper mine looking at parameters and environmental impacts. For this propose, field studies were conducted and chemical analysis, as well as exploratory and mapping data for planning of environmental production have been carried out, and various sections of ore have been evaluated with a view of the production of waste water. After modeling the mineral deposit and providing a block model, toxic elements content was determined for each block using the Kriging method, and the weight and effect of the blocks were determined using the entropy method. The block model in contrast to conventional production planning methods that include only grade of minerals, considers the wastewater production capacity of each block and its degree of pollution. Finally, by designing a production planning based on the environmental impacts of the toxic elements prevailing in Sungun copper mine eight operational phases were designed for this deposit. In this planning, blocks in the first pitt with a mean pollution level of 1141 and those in the final pit with an average of 52 have been found to represent the highest and lowest potential, respectively, producing harmful wastewater into the environment.