Implementation of Ultimate Pit Limit Algorithms with

Microsoft Excel
D Drew1 and E Baafi2
ABSTRACT

The determination of the ultimate pit limit is of vital importance to all open pit mining endeavours.
The calculation of the ultimate pit limit is essentially a determination of the greatest economic value
of an orebody. There are several commercial programs used by the industry to determine ultimate pit
limits; these include the popular Whittle Four-X. In this paper the program UPL is discussed; UPL is
designed primarily for undergraduate students as a learning tool. The program is designed to be an
adjunct to Microsoft Excel. It has the advantages of its simplicity and low cost, whilst still retaining
the ability to calculate the ultimate pit limit with good accuracy for large-sized geological block
models.
INTRODUCTION
There are several commercially available ultimate pit design
programs on the market. These include Whittle Four-X and
Datamine pit optimiser. These packages are designed to be
all-in-one solutions to solve ultimate pit design and production
scheduling related problems. Some of these packages have an
enormously steep learning curve, especially for undergraduate
students. A Microsoft Excel based ultimate pit limit (UPL)
program has been primarily developed to meet the needs of
undergraduate mining students; UPL makes use of the three main
algorithms commonly used to determine the ultimate pit limit.
UPL manipulates a given geological block model to define an
ultimate pit limit using either the moving cone method (Wright,
1999) or the Korobov algorithm or the popular Lerchs-Grossman
(LG) technique (Lerchs and Grossman, 1965). Students can use
UPL to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of each of the
three algorithms. It was decided to use Microsoft Excel as the
basis of UPL for the following reasons:

ideal data format,

market standard,
powerful file and data I/O, and
visual basic capabilities.

The cells in Excel spreadsheet are excellent analogue to the

blocks in a geological block model, providing X-Y dimensions in
an easily viewable and editable state. The use of individual
worksheets within an Excel workbook provides the necessary
depth to a 3D block model. In addition, the size of Excel sheets
is sufficient for a reasonably large block model to be analysed.

DESIGN OF UPL

assigned a grade usually determined from sample grades. Once

the block grade data have been loaded into the program, the user
can edit each block data and make any changes. Since the
geological model is in the form of selective mining blocks, the
program UPL shows the data in a similar format. Excel cells are
typically in a rectangular aspect ratio that is approximately 2.5:1.
Unless the block sizes are in these same ratios, they will look
incorrect. Thus, a subroutine was developed that could resize the
cells in Excel to the ratio that suits the block sizes.
Output from UPL must readily identify the ultimate pit. UPL
allows the user to view the optimal pit from different views, and
allows the user to view each section in the model independently.
The moving cone algorithm was selected for its speed and
simplicity, and for its readily identifiable errors. The Korobov
algorithm was chosen to demonstrate a corrected form of the
moving cone method, and as an example of an optimal
heuristic algorithm. The LG method is a rigorous algorithm,
which always guarantees an optimal pit.
Because many of mine planning programs which create
geological block models do not output into a format that can be
imported directly to Excel, UPL also contains functions which
can translate raw output data from such programs into a data
format compatible with UPL. UPL also has many options
allowing the translation of many different data types. UPL can
export source or result data, so that other application programs,
such as Surfer can read.
In order to validate UPLs operation, UPL has been tested
against many two-dimensional and three-dimensional pit models,
with up to 180 thousand blocks, and compared with other
pit-generating programs, in order to ensure that its results are
accurate, and that it always generates the ultimate pit, within the
limitations of the model.

The program UPL uses a geological block model to generate an

ultimate pit. In a typical fixed block model the orebody is
divided into mining blocks of equal size. Each of the blocks is

1.

Faculty of Engineering, University of Wollongong, Wollongong

NSW 2522. E-mail: david@hydrowash.com.au

2.

MAusIMM, Faculty of Engineering, University of Wollongong,

Wollongong NSW 2522. E-mail: ebaafi@uow.edu.au

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OPERATION OF UPL
Before UPL can be loaded properly, Excel requests the user to
enable macros; the user must enable macros. Once the program
is loaded UPL displays its initial option window (Figure 1). The
load in data option opens Excel open dialog, which allows the
user to load an input data in any Excel-readable format. The start
new workbook option opens an empty workbook; the close
window option closes the option window. Once UPL is loaded, it

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adds an additional selection function to Excel menu bar as add-in

(Figure 2). It is from this menu that UPLs various functionalities
can be selected and executed.
The main menu in UPL has the following options:

from other data formats, into a format compatible with UPL.

The data translation submenu has two primary options
(Figure 3).

The first three options, Lerchs-Grossman, Moving Cone

and Korobov are the three ultimate pit limit determination
algorithms. Selecting each of these will run that algorithm on
the orebody model which is displayed in the main Excel
window.

Data Translation option runs the transformational

subroutine on the data that is currently loaded in the primary
window. This option enables the user to translate the data

FIG 1 - UPL start option window.

FIG 3 - UPL data translation submenu.

FIG 2 - UPLs main menu as Excel add-in.

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IMPLEMENTATION OF ULTIMATE PIT LIMIT ALGORITHMS WITH MICROSOFT EXCEL

The first option asks the user to select between the economic
value format and the grade value format for the geological
block data. A file with grade value format may be converted into
the economic value format using this option. To further calculate
the block economic value of each block, the economic data tab
in the translation options is used (Figure 4).

FIG 5 - Economic data submenu.

FIG 4 - Economic data submenu.

The primary limitation of the transform algorithm is the input

data. Excel can only handle 65 536 rows in any one spreadsheet.
This implies when a text file in opened, Excel cannot open it if it
contains more than 65 536 rows. Because each rows represents a
block in the block model, this would place the ultimate number
of blocks which can be input at any one time to 65 536.
The next option on the block data tab deals with the format
of a block location. Instead of using i-j-k values to specify the
index of a block, the model may use coordinates based on the
blocks relative x-y-z locations. In the case of x-y-z location of a
block additional information shown in Figure 5 is required:

transform option provides a list of data type options;

resize cells is an option used to display different block sizes
in UPL. Instead of using the Excels standard cell
orientation, resize cells changes the size of the cells;

general option allows the user to select between 2D and 3D

modes, and enter the block size information; and

about option displays the about box shown in Figure 6.

READING DATA
Once the data is in the Excel spreadsheet, one of the most
important functions is to read the data from the spreadsheet into
memory. UPL does not operate in the manner of a normal

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FIG 6 - The about box of UPL.

spreadsheet, applying formulas to the contents of cells. Instead,

the spreadsheets cells are only used to display the input and the
output data. All calculations are performed wholly within
program memory.
In order to read the spreadsheet into memory, UPL must first
determine how big the spreadsheet is. It uses an algorithm to
determine the size of the used area of the spreadsheet, for each
sheet, and also counts the number of sheets. This determines the
size of the memory array. This is vitally important. If the
program uses a fixed size for the memory array, its execution
will be very slow. Once the array size is determined, UPL then
goes to each cell in the spreadsheet, reads its value, and writes
this value to the memory array. This is done for every cell in the
spreadsheet which forms the block model.

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Once this block model is loaded into the memory array, UPL
determines the ultimate pit limit. Performing calculations in
memory is much faster than performing them on a spreadsheet. If
a cell is null, that is, it has no value, UPL assigns this cell a value
(by default, Excel gives this cell a value of zero when reading it).
A cell that contains a null value is given an extremely negative
value, to ensure that it will never be mined. UPL also remembers
the location of these null blocks, so when writing the block
values, it returns the block null values, instead of highly negative
values.

CONE CREATION
The most difficult part of the Korobov and the Moving Cone
algorithms is the creation of the cone for each of the positively
valued blocks. The cone creation process is done level by level.
On each level, the two-step process is employed. Firstly, the
algorithm determines a working area. This is an area of cells
which is a subset of the cross-section of the block model. The
cones blocks can only belong to this area, though not all blocks
in this area belong to the cone. This is done to speed up
calculation.

Block model
area
Working area

Cone cross
section

FIG 7 - Determination of cone, plan view.

FIG 8 - A plan view of the pit cone.

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IMPLEMENTATION OF ULTIMATE PIT LIMIT ALGORITHMS WITH MICROSOFT EXCEL

The working area is determined using the pit slope angle, the
block size and the height of that section above the initial block.
In all calculations, determinations are made from the centre of
mass of all blocks. These results in a step out value, indicating
by how many units the algorithm should step outwards from the
centre block. For a 45 slope, the step-out distance is one. That
is, for each level progressed upwards, the working area steps out
by one unit in all directions. Once this working area is
determined, the algorithm, in its second step, needs to determine
what blocks actually lie within the cone. The projection of a cone
onto a plane results into a circle, so the equation of a circle
x2 + y2 = r2 is used. However, since we are trying to find an area,
all blocks are accepted if they fulfil the inequality x2 + y2 r2.
The x and y values are the distance from the centre of the circle
for each block. The radius of the circle is determined using the
height above the initial block, the block size and the pit slope
angle. Figure 8 shows a plan view of a cone, determined for a pit,
when the block sizes are unequal.

USER MODE
As the program is designed to be easy for students to use, a
variable user mode has been set up. This has two options. The
user may select from either beginner or advanced user modes.
When in beginner mode, UPL provides the user with regular
help boxes, to suggest a course of action to the user, or to make
sure that the user has the correct data for the method chosen.
For instance, if the user goes to the transform options dialog
box, and selects the XYZ data format option, a dialog box
(Figure 9) will pop up and remind the user that the block size and
the working area coordinates must be entered. This helps the user
to remember the next step, and prevent errors caused by
uncertainty or forgetfulness.

PROGRAM OUTPUT
Once the block economic data has been manually input, or
transformed from a grade data file, the ultimate pit limit can then
be determined using one of the algorithms provided (Figure 2).

FIG 9 - A help dialog box.

FIG 10 - A section of an optimal pit.

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FIG 11 - A 3D representation of an optimal pit using Surfer.

All the algorithms of UPL use an identical input format, and

produce an identical output format. Note that the three
algorithms will not necessarily produce the same ultimate pit for
a given economic block model, due to the variations within the
algorithms themselves. All of the blocks which lie within the
ultimate pit limit will be highlighted.
In addition, UPL will provide a summary of the pit, showing
the number of blocks in the block model, the number of blocks
that lie within the ultimate pit, and the value of that ultimate pit.
If desired, this result summary can be exported to a separate file.
If a three-dimensional pit is used in the program, UPL will
output both horizontal and vertical sections of the block model,
each highlighted with the ultimate pit for that section.

Currently, there are two factors for which the user can perform
a sensitivity analysis. The first is metal price. The second is pit
slope angle. For either of the options, the user has to input a high
value, a low value and an incremental value. When a sensitivity
analysis is started, the program will calculate the optimum pit for
the smallest value, then increment up to the largest.
This can be a lengthy process, depending on the amount of
time required to calculate each optimal pit, and the number of
iterations devised by the user. Once all pits have been calculated,
UPL outputs the results to a new spreadsheet. It lists the
iterations value, the pit size, the pits value, the amount of metal
in the pit and the amount of waste that needs to be extracted for
that pit.

EXPORTING DATA

CONCLUSION

Since Excel has a poor three-dimensional graphing capabilities,

the user may wish to export the output values from UPL to an
external graphing program. In order to accommodate this, UPL
has an export function, which will allow the ultimate pit to be
opened by other programs. To do this, UPL creates a new file in
Excel. It then writes the pit data to the new file. It does this by
writing the x-location, the y-location, and the pit depth at that
point. It does this for all surface locations. Once this file is
written, Excel can then save the file in a variety of formats, such
as a comma separated value text file.

UPL has been primarily designed for the use of undergraduate

mining engineering students. The current limitations include:

SENSITIVITY ANALYSIS

UPL was developed by the first author (Drew, 2000) in partial

fulfilment of requirements for an award of BE (Mining) Hons
degree from University of Wollongong.

Sensitivity analysis is used to determine how susceptible certain

pit outputs are to certain inputs. For instance, the sensitivity
analysis can be used to determine how the size of the pit, and the
pits value will change with a change in the price of metal.
In order for a sensitivity analysis to be performed, the block
model must be used as input data, where the block values show
their grade, instead of the usual economic value format. This is
due to the fact that in a sensitivity analysis, the economic value
of the blocks change.

UPL is limited to Excels maximum working area size of 256

columns by 65 536 rows, by over 1000 sheets;

UPL does not have an algorithm which is mathematically

rigorous in three dimensions in its solution of the ultimate
pit; and

UPL does not allow for pit roads, or other scheduling

capabilities. These may be considered in future work, but
should be considered a low priority.

REFERENCES
Drew, D, 2000. Ultimate Pit Limit Design Using Microsoft Excel, BE
Thesis, University of Wollongong, 164 p.
Lerchs, H and Grossman, I F, 1965. Optimum Design of Open-pit Mines,
Trans Can Inst Min Metall, Vol LXVII, pp 17-24.
Wright, E A, 1990. Open Pit Mine Design Models: An Introduction With
FORTRAN/77 Programs (Trans Tech Publications: Germany).

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