Abstract
Scheduling the extraction and the production in an open-pit mine with the goal of maximizing the net present value of the operation has been accomplished to date using various approaches including the use of mixed integer linear programming techniques. Since realistic models could have very large number of variables and constraints, the combinatorial optimization problem of finding an optimal, or at least, good feasible extraction schedule maximizing profit is computationally complex and difficult. It is also challenging to confirm whether various algorithms are addressing the same problem and are based on the same assumptions. The publication of MineLib, a library of test problem instances for open-pit mine production scheduling problems, namely the Constrained Pit Limit Problem (CPIT) and the Precedence Constrained Production Scheduling Problem (PCPSP), has provided new ways to address the scheduling in open-pit mines. In this paper, a full-binary formulation for PCPSP is proposed. The application of a sliding time window heuristic combined with a block preselection procedure to maximize the net present value in open-pit mines is tested on 10 PCPSP instances from MineLib library showing significant improvements over the previously reported results. In addition, the current state of the MineLib library, showing the best-known results for CPIT and PCPSP, is described for completion.
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The authors acknowledge the support of CONICYT Basal Project FB0809—AMTC, Universidad de Chile.
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Jélvez, E., Morales, N., Nancel-Penard, P. (2019). Open-Pit Mine Production Scheduling: Improvements to MineLib Library Problems. In: Widzyk-Capehart, E., Hekmat, A., Singhal, R. (eds) Proceedings of the 27th International Symposium on Mine Planning and Equipment Selection - MPES 2018. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-99220-4_18
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