Determination of open pit diamond mine limits with regard to stripping time difference

Abstract

The analysis of methods to account for stripping time difference at the stage of determination of limits in deep open pit mining reveals advantages and shortcomings of the methods and provides a principled approach to determination of a discount ultimate strip ratio for the most representative geological and geotechnical conditions of diamond-bearing ore bodies in the form of single pipes. Discounting of marginal strip ratios is based on adding the common formula with an average mean discount coefficient represented by a correlation of mining rate decrease, stripping zone height and highwall slope angle. It is shown that target variation of the factors included in the discount marginal strip ratio allows considerable influence on depth and efficiency of open pit mining.