GEOVIA Whittle · Strategic mine planning and pit optimisation
The biggest pit is rarely the most valuable one. Whittle finds the one that is.
GEOVIA Whittle evaluates the economic viability of a deposit, then finds the pit limits, pushbacks, cut-off strategy and schedule that maximise net present value over the life of the mine. ACALA licenses Whittle in Indonesia, trains on it, and uses it in its own studies.
Why Whittle
Pit optimisation is the start. The value is in what comes after it.
Whittle first tells you whether a deposit is worth mining and what it would take in capital. Then it finds the long-term plan and schedule that extract the full value over the life of the mine, with cost, price and recovery models, scenario analysis, blending, cut-off and stockpile optimisation working together.
Evaluate viability before spending
Uncover the economic drivers and their sensitivities on a new project or an operating pit, and focus on NPV or on resource recovery, whichever the board asks for.
Turn a shell into a plan
Practical pushbacks and achievable life-of-mine schedules that respect mining and processing constraints, with NPV calculated on the real sequence, not the ideal one.
Optimise everything at once
Simultaneous optimisation of phases, cut-off grades, stockpiles and processing paths delivers a step change in NPV beyond pit optimisation alone.
Roles in the Whittle portfolio
Five optimisers, in the order a strategic plan is built.
Pit Optimizer
The optimal mining strategy from economic, physical, geotechnical and operational constraints.
What it does
- Optimised pit shells with either the Pseudoflow or the Lerchs-Grossmann algorithm.
- High-level economic evaluation of new projects and operating open pits.
- Economic drivers and sensitivities uncovered and understood.
How you work
- Focus on NPV maximisation or on resource recovery.
- Projects managed in an easy-to-use framework.
- Multiple scenarios and elements analysed with advanced reporting and charting.
Pushback Optimizer
Strategic mine plans using the Milawa life-of-mine scheduling approach, focused on NPV or material balance.
What it does
- The best set of practical pushbacks or mining phases.
- Optimal and achievable life-of-mine schedules.
How you work
- Complex mining and processing constraints handled.
- NPV on realistic schedules supporting up to 50 pushbacks.
Blend Optimizer
The blend and the stockpiles optimised at the same time as the schedule, for the NPV of the whole operation.
What it does
- Blend optimisation on Whittle schedules or on an imported schedule.
- Bulk blend scenarios with multiple products, specifications, prices, blending costs and limits.
- Multiple coal specifications and constraints such as minimum BTU, maximum ash and sulphur.
How you work
- Extractive blend with process recovery, prices, selling costs and extraction limits.
- Multiple stockpiles with different cut-offs, time-dependent recoveries, initial size and grade.
Multi-Mine Optimizer and Simultaneous Optimizer
One optimisation over a complex of mines, and one over pit, cut-off, stockpile, processing and capital together.
Multi-Mine Optimizer
- A single optimisation over a whole mining complex, with individual work constraints per mine.
- Unique physical constraints per mine, such as mining width; mining rate varied per scenario.
- All mines or one mine viewed, reported and analysed in one go. Requires Pushback Optimizer.
Simultaneous Optimizer
- Pit phases, cut-off grades, stockpiles, processing paths and capital strategy optimised together.
- The methodology that unlocks value across the whole mine enterprise, beyond traditional sequential optimisation.
Where it is used
From the first drill target to the annual reserve statement.
Exploration
Evaluate deposit potential and target the drilling that changes the answer.
Scoping and feasibility
Economic viability, capital investment and extraction strategy compared across scenarios.
Bankable feasibility
Return, risk and sensitivities analysed the way lenders and boards read them.
Production
Mine plans re-evaluated, cut-off grades optimised and reserve statements updated every year.
See it
Whittle in practice
Three films from GEOVIA.
Why through ACALA
We run Whittle on our own studies, so we can teach it on yours.
Licences, renewals and support from the official GEOVIA reseller for Indonesia; life-of-mine plan training on your block model; and strategic mine planning studies when you would rather hand the work over.
- TrainingLife-of-mine plan and pit optimisation coursesOn your own block model, certified by Dassault Systèmes.
- ServicePlanning and Optimization by ACALAStrategic plans, pit optimisation and cut-off strategy delivered as a study.
- ServiceMining EconomicsTechnical economic models and benchmarks that feed Whittle’s cost and price inputs.
- ProductGEOVIA SurpacThe block model Whittle optimises.
- ProductGEOVIA MineSchedTactical scheduling on the pushbacks Whittle defines.
Reading
Whittle articles by our planners
In the software
Whittle on screen.
Screen from the GEOVIA Whittle brochure.
Pit shell over the block model
Optimised shells from the block model, cost and price scenarios and slope constraints, validated block by block in the 3D viewer.
From the brochure
Where Whittle is used across the life of a project.
Paraphrased from the GEOVIA Whittle brochure: the project phase table, pit optimisation and Simultaneous Optimization.
Exploration and scoping
Understand the potential value of the deposit, target areas for future drilling, and establish economic viability with the options for capital investment and development.
Pre-feasibility and feasibility
Identify the preferred development strategy, capital investment, expected NPV and optimal extraction sequence; calculate sensitivities for a risk-reduction strategy; ascertain the reserve statement.
Bankable feasibility
Analyse expected return on investment, sensitivities and investment risk, and consider multiple scenarios for reducing risk.
Production
Set strategic direction: cut-off grade and optimised cut-off, mining areas and extraction sequence per period, development strategies for new mines and pushbacks; re-evaluate plans as conditions change; annual reserve statements.
Pit optimisation
Nested pit shells from the Lerchs-Grossmann or Pseudoflow algorithm, from the block model, cost and price scenarios, slope angles and other constraints, with a complete audit trail in the project framework.
Simultaneous Optimization
The highest-NPV life-of-mine schedule found by optimising pit phases, cut-off, stockpile strategy, processing paths and capital expenditure together, in one step, for one pit or several.
Questions we get
GEOVIA Whittle FAQ
What is GEOVIA Whittle?
Who uses it?
What makes Whittle different from other pit optimisers?
How does it connect to Surpac and MineSched?
What is a life-of-mine plan?
How do I get a licence or training in Indonesia?
Tips & Tricks
Short how-to notes for Whittle
5 notes from the support team, one task each, with the menu path and the settings shown. They sit next to the courses, so a question that comes up in training has an answer you can send.
Minta penawaran
Harga lisensi GEOVIA Whittle untuk perusahaan Anda.
Isi formulir singkat ini. Tim ACALA, reseller resmi GEOVIA di Indonesia, mengirim penawaran harga dan jadwal demo pada hari kerja berikutnya.
- Lisensi GEOVIA Whittle baru atau perpanjangan: bulanan, tahunan, atau permanen.
- Demo optimasi pit memakai block model perusahaan Anda sendiri.
- Paket training Whittle untuk tim perencanaan tambang.
Reseller resmi GEOVIA · ISO 9001 & 14001 · Kantor Bekasi, +62 21 8066 9600
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Next step
Bring your block model. We will show you where the value peaks.
A working session in Whittle on your own data answers the strategic questions faster than another spreadsheet.