A maximum flow formulation of a multi-period open-pit mining problem

We consider the problem of finding an optimal mining sequence for an open pit during a number of time periods subject to only spatial and temporal precedence constraints. This problem is of interest because such constraints are generic to any open-pit scheduling problem and, in particular, because it arises as a Lagrangean relaxation of an open-pit scheduling problem. We show that this multi-period open-pit mining problem can be solved as a maximum flow problem in a time-expanded mine graph. Further, the minimum cut in this graph will define an optimal sequence of pits. This result extends a well-known result of J.-C. Picard from 1976 for the open-pit mine design problem, that is, the single-period case, to the case of multiple time periods.