When exploration and mining companies need to evaluate the financial viability and the optimal mine strategy for a deposit, they turn to the industry-leading strategic mine planning solution – GEOVIA Whittle.
Companies depend on Whittle to help them determine their investment strategy and to deliver robust mine plans that maximize profitability by taking into account real mining constraints. Whittle delivers trusted results and is used in scoping, feasibility, life-of-mine scheduling, and the ongoing re-evaluation of mine plans throughout the production phase.
Because pit optimization alone is not enough to unlock the full economic potential of your operation, Whittle provides mine optimization, which enables significant increases in project value over and above pit optimization.
With its 64-bit platform, Whittle handles large data sets designed to optimize and run big models. To aid with these ever-increasing larger datasets, in addition to Lerchs-Grossmann, Whittle also includes the Pseudoflow algorithm which is renowned for the speed in which it generates pit shells, even for these large datasets.
Explore the available five roles from Whittle which are developed based on the needs of companies who are working on the optimization & planning process
Pit Optimizer (JPT)
Find the optimal mining strategy utilizing a combination of economic, physical, geotechnical and operational constraints.
- Choose either Pseudoflow or Lerchs-Grossman (LG) algorithm to generate optimized pit shells
- Utilize unparalleled toolkit for high level economic evaluation of new projects and operating open pit mines
- Uncover and understand economic drivers and associated sensitivities
- Focus on NPV maximization or resource recovery
- Manage projects with an easy-to-use framework
- Analyze multiple scenarios and elements with advanced reporting and charting
Pushback Optimizer (JPB)
Create Strategic Mine Plans linking in Milawa’s Life of Mine Scheduling approach focused on NPV or material balance.
- Determine best set of practical pushbacks or mining phases
- Develop optimal and achievable life of mine schedules
- Handle complex mining and processing constraints
- Calculate NPV based on realistic schedules supporting up to 50 pushbacks
Multi Mine Optimizer (JMM)
Perform a single optimization over a complex collection of mines all while maintaining individual work constraints for each mine. Producing a more realistic overall schedule from the different areas all within the one optimization framework.
- Run a single optimization over a whole mining complex
- Apply individual work constraints for each mine within a complex
- Define unique physical constraints for each mine, such as mining width
- Modify mining rate per mine in different scenarios
- View, report and analyze all or individual mines in one go
Blend Optimizer (JBD)
Optimize blend considering the schedule and existing stockpiles to ensure these are optimized at the same time, driven by the overall objective of maximizing the Net Present Value (NPV) of the whole operation.
- Blend optimization based on Whittle schedules or imported schedule
- Bulk blend scenario analysis considering multiple products with different specifications, prices, blending costs and blending limits
- Handle multiple coal specifications and constraints such as minimum BTU, max ash and sulphur
- Perform extractive blend factoring in blending costs and constraints, such as process recovery, prices and selling costs while limits are applied to the extractive process
- Handle multiple stockpiles, different cut-offs, time dependant recoveries, initial size and grade while utilizing Whittles scheduling engine to determine the optimal blend strategy
Simultaneous Optimizer (JSI)
Simultaneously optimize schedules, cut-offs, stockpiles and blend for the life of the operation. Find better outcomes compared to traditional methods resulting in higher Net Present Value (NPV) for the operation.
- Increase NPV beyond multiple sequential optimization mechanisms
- Simultaneously optimize the optimization mechanisms for cut-off, blending, stockpiling and sequencing to create the ultimate mine schedule
- Make individual optimization mechanisms more accessible in a single step
- Analyze and report using both standard Whittle outputs and advanced spreadsheet reporting
- Handle 30 processing paths as well as capital or CAPEX optimization
