In open-pit mines, mineral is reached by digging material from the ground and then either processing or depositing it on stockpiles for later processing while waste material is deposited on dumps. To define which part of the mine should be extracted at each period of the lifetime of the mine, the terrain is modeled as a three-dimensional array of regular blocks and the planning horizon is discretized into time periods. For each block, estimations on the ore content, density, and other relevant attributes are constructed by using geostatistical methods [1].The set of all blocks and their attributes form the so-called block model. Hence for each block, it is possible to specify: an extraction period, and a destination for processing, defining a block scheduling. The final value of a mine is, therefore, determined by the set of attributes and the block scheduling. The feasibility of a block scheduling for the open-pit method depends on accessibility and extraction constraints.
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