"ILOG CPLEX is a great tool for making operational and strategic decisions quickly. It produces optimal schedules and lets us perform what-if analysis. It's helping us maximize our net present value by minimizing operational costs."

Peter Stone Senior Research Engineer BHP Billiton

Business
BHP Billiton is the world’s largest diversified mining company, producing metals, petroleum and other natural resources. The company has more than 100 operations in approximately 20 countries. BHP Billiton’s expanding portfolio of projects is driven by a commitment to cost savings and operational efficiencies to provide strong returns and margins.

Goal
Every mine requires analysis of many factors in order to best schedule excavation for the specific site. These factors include everything from mineral mixtures to set-up costs and ultimately determine which mining equipment and other resources should be deployed. To efficiently plan the expansion of one of its largest mines in Australia, BHP Billiton needed a scheduling system that would help the company make better decisions. One key decision is where and when to dig to obtain a desired mixture of mineral content and ore grades that will match projected demand over a year’s time.

Application
BHP Billiton found the answer in a custom mine planning and scheduling system based on ILOG CPLEX. Information is entered for each of the mine’s 700-plus dig sites, or “pods,” and the system is applied at different stages of excavation in order to optimize results.

Results
The system enables BHP Billiton to take a more strategic approach while also producing detailed schedules that tell the miners exactly what to do. Creating plans now takes days rather than months, with schedules being issued in less than a day. The more thorough analysis through ILOG CPLEX is resulting in greater effectiveness and efficiency. For example, the company has seen cost savings of more than $35 million.

Technical
ILOG CPLEX specifically targets linear programming and provides precise results. The application runs on a Microsoft Windows environment.