Author(s)

Eugenie Musonda Nyandwe^*, Qinli Zhang, Daolin Wang

School of Resources and Safety Engineering, Central South University, Changsha, China.

Mining activities are risky operations and represent a significant threat to capital investments. These activities, which require many years of evaluating the technical characteristics of the mineral deposit using the most appropriate method, also require an economic, safety, environmental or other evaluation. In this study, a feasibility study of copper production is proposed to determine the optimal production scale based on three production plans. The mining production scale is based on 4.5 million t/a compared to other projects on the change in quantity, investment and engineering cost when the mining production scale is reduced to 3.5 million t/a and increased to 5.5 million t/a. The results reveal that applying 4.5 million t/a to the mining production project appears to be the optimal choice in terms of economic benefits, both after verification of the production scale in terms of annual decline rate and reasonable mine life. The result also shows that the production scale of 4.5 million t/a is technically more feasible.

Feasibility Study, Copper Production, Investment, Cost, Optimal Production, Decline Rate

Nyandwe, E. , Zhang, Q. and Wang, D. (2020) Optimization of Ore Production in Copper Mine. American Journal of Industrial and Business Management, 10, 61-74. doi: 10.4236/ajibm.2020.101005.