Stocked blocks
Highlights
Stocked blocks represent a common operational challenge in open-pit mining, often leading to bottlenecks in production schedules and suboptimal resource allocation. Understanding how to handle them strategically can make a significant difference in the feasibility and value of a mine plan.
- Allows engineers to explicitly control when and how stocked blocks are reintroduced, improving material flow and reducing idle processing capacity.
- Supports strategic decision-making by treating stocked material as part of the optimization process, not as an afterthought — enabling higher NPV outcomes.
- MiningMath’s approach minimizes manual adjustments and enables full scenario comparison by integrating stocked blocks within the same optimization run.
There are two common ways that mining software packages deal with stockpiles:
Reclaiming blocks according to an average grade for the entire stockpile.
Reclaiming blocks selectively in any required sequence such as FIFO (first in, first out), LIFO (last in, first out), etc.
Both options are approximations and have their advantages and disadvantages.
Currently, MiningMath reclaims blocks selectively from stockpiles according to the highest Economic Values. Read more about Reclamation Policy.
The user can analyze MiningMath’s output in the files MinedBlocks or AllBlocks and report the periods in which a block has been mined and when it has been processed.
Video 1: How to trace stocked blocks.
