An Integer Programming Mathematical Model for Optimization of Stope Boundaries in Underground Mine Operations

Today, underground mining has a small share of mineral production worldwide. However, underground mining is expected to receive more attention soon due to the extraction of most surface deposits, increasing pit depth, and environmental issues. Stope boundary optimization (SBO), development network, and production scheduling are three main problems in underground mine planning, which are affected by numerous shortcomings and oversimplifications. To overcome one of these shortcomings, a new Integer Linear Programming (ILP) model has been introduced in this article to solve the SBO problem. The new proposed model guarantees an optimal solution and could accelerate problem-solving using an efficient variable reduction technique. Implementing the new proposed model on a hypothetical example and accurate data confirmed its ability to produce robust solutions in a reasonable computation time. We strongly believe that further improvement in the solving process is still possible by using variable reduction, decomposition methods, or relaxation techniques.