Abstract
This paper adopts risk-based concepts developed in open pit mining to the underground stoping environment and shows examples using data from Kidd Creek Mine, Ontario, Canada. Risk is quantified in terms of the uncertainty a conventional stope design has in expected: contained ore tones, grade and economic potential. In addition, a new probabilistic mathematical formulation optimizing the size, location and number of stopes in the presence of grade uncertainty is outlined and applied, to demonstrate the advantages of a user-defined level of acceptable risk.
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Translated from Fiziko-Tekhnicheskie Problemy Razrabotki Poleznykh Iskopaemykh, No. 2, pp. 63–74, March–April, 2009.
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Dimitrakopoulos, R., Grieco, N. Stope design and geological uncertainty: Quantification of risk in conventional designs and a probabilistic alternative. J Min Sci 45, 152–163 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10913-009-0020-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10913-009-0020-y