Pre-feasibility Assessment Based on Engineering Design of a Limestone Open Pit Mine

In this study, a pre-feasibility assessment was performed on a mine that intended to develop a new ore body adjacent to an existing mining area under development. For this purpose, a final pit was designed using a grade block model of the ore body, and a production schedule for 11 million tons per year was established. In this study, mining costs were evaluated using an engineering-based production evaluation rather than a constant unit cost multiplied by production. When the unit operating cost evaluated in 2020 was compared to the cost investigated after the evaluation point, the error between the two costs was observed to be low, particularly given the entity that actually mines ore. The mining a new mining area was deemed economically viable, with the ore price being the most significant factor.