Tez özetleri Astronomi ve Uzay Bilimleri Anabilim Dalı

Determination of Optimal Cutoff Grade Strategy in Mining Projects

Strategic Mine Planning including different scenarios can be defined as a very good mine production and mineral processing method that is to determine the economics of a mining project. In these scenarios, taking all the parameters affecting the economics of mining projects into consideration is necessary. Such a planning process is consisted of pit optimizations, staged pit designs, cutoff grade optimizations, detailed production scheduling, equipment selection, capital and operating cost estimates and financial analysis of the stages.
In this thesis, economic parameters affecting the determination cutoff grade that is an important step in mine planning, design process and other parameters such as the influence of grade-tonnage distribution in the deposit, production-processing-ore refinery capacity limits and environmental impacts were investigated. The relationships of these parameters in the determination of cutoff grade were clearly revealed.
Within the scope of this study, the impacts of grade-tonnage distribution of the deposit, ore sales prices and reclamation costs on Net Present Value and cutoff grade were examined for a mining project. At the end of this study, a new algorithm that differs from other algorithms in terms of addition of reclamation cost in the calculation of the cutoff grade was developed in order to obtain results close to the real. A significant contribution was provided in the implementation of more economical production concept which considers environmental factors with this algorithm developed to calculate the cutoff grade that is an important part of the strategic mine planning.