Determination of initial box cut area in open-pit mine by using geographic information system

摘要

The determination of initial box cut area is one of the most important stages in open pit design and production planning in order to start production in the shortest term for adaptation to market conditions.Many criteria such as stripping ratio,suitable topography and proximity to the dump area have to be taken into consideration to determine the initial box cut. Geographic information system (GIS) is a set of tools that allows users to create interactive queries,analyze the spatial information,edit data,maps and present the results of all these operations. This paper outlines the determination of an initial box cut of an open pit mine by using geographic information system. In this study a hypothetic area including coal deposits was created and proximity to dump area,high net calorific value of coal,low overburden layer thickness and high total coal thickness were chosen amongst many criteria that are decisive in the determination of initial box cut area. By using ArcGIS 9 software,raster maps of these criteria were created and overlaid depending on the impact values defined by analytic hierarchy process (AHP) in order to determine the initial box cut area.