Multi-objective Optimization for an Open Pit Mining Project Evaluation
摘要
Mining has always been considered a capital-intensive venture as it involves huge capital investment. The determination of Net Present Value (NPV) is the key of investment decision in a large open pit mining project. The complete idea of project evaluation is not revealed to the mine planners and stakeholders after the NPV determination. Along with the NPV maximization, stakeholders and mine planners may have other considerations like capital cost minimization, maximum resource utilization, life of mine maximization etc. In open pit mine planning, NPV maximization and maximization of life of the mine are considered two conflicting objectives. The NPV of a mine is increased gradually when the production is started completing the gestation period. After a certain period, NPV is decreased with increasing the life of mine due to the depletion of minable reserve. The mine planners always try to achieve maximum NPV using minimum capital investment. A higher life of the mine is demanded by the mine managers as it increases service life of the employees. Moreover, a large amount of capital is invested to provide salaries of the employees throughout the life of the mine. Therefore, the goal of maximizing the mine’s lifespan conflicts with the objective of minimizing the total capital cost. In this study, a constrained multi-objective optimization model has been developed for the evaluation of a mining project in India. Three different objectives maximization of NPV, maximization of life of the mine, and minimization of total cost of the mine have been optimized using the optimization model. The production rate and the processing rate are used as the decision variables whereas, the mining and the processing capacity are used as constraints in this model. Result shows 2D Pareto optimal fronts which illustrates the optimal solutions of each pair of conflicting objectives. A 3D Pareto optimal surface illustrates all three objective solutions together in a 3D plane. Pareto optimal solutions are compared with the result of conventional NPV method of project evaluation. It has been observed that though the conventional NPV method provides better project value for a particular value of mine life, multi-objective optimization model gives number of alternative solutions for project evaluation. The proposed multi-objective optimization model will be helpful to the mine planners and investors for any kind of mining project evaluation.