Mine planning problems often appear after the first optimisation is complete. A pit shell can look attractive until haulage, processing capacity or stockpile behaviour are added. A pushback can meet the mining target but create a blending issue downstream. A life-of-mine schedule can maximise value in theory, while capital timing, waste movement and destination rules make it difficult to defend.
The problem is not a lack of calculations. It is that too many decisions are made in sequence, with each team discovering the next constraint after the previous step has already been accepted.
A stronger strategic optimisation workflow brings those constraints into the plan earlier. Open pit planners need to evaluate pit limits, generate pushbacks, test sensitivities and build life-of-mine schedules while considering mining rates, processing capacities, grade targets, stockpiles and destination rules. Studio NPVS+ supports this workflow by helping teams move from a resource model to practical open pit optimisation outcomes in one environment.
Its Maroma technology incorporates the Bienstock-Zuckerberg algorithm within a mixed integer programming framework. In practical terms, this helps planners address large open pit scheduling problems where multiple constraints need to be considered at the same time. The value is not only in the calculation. It is in creating a schedule that reflects the operating conditions that will shape the plan once it reaches review.
Strategic scheduling also needs to look beyond the pit. Multiple pits, plants, stockpiles, haul routes and capital options can create more trade-offs than planners can assess manually. Minemax Scheduler uses MILP-based optimisation to model mine schedules with processing, trucking, waste dumps, cut-off and cut-over grades, material destinations, blending, stockpiling, delayed recovery and capital expenditure decisions in one planning framework.
Together, Studio NPVS+ and Minemax Scheduler support a connected strategic optimisation workflow. Studio NPVS+ focuses on open pit strategic optimisation, from pit optimisation and pushback generation to life-of-mine scheduling. Minemax Scheduler supports the wider strategic schedule, including blending, stockpiles, haulage, processing and capital decisions.
When strategic optimisation connects pit optimisation, pushback generation, life-of-mine scheduling, blending, stockpiles, haulage, processing and capital decisions, the plan becomes easier to explain and easier to test. More importantly, it gives planners a clearer way to protect value before assumptions become commitments.
