Mine planning and design

Wood provides comprehensive mine and infrastructure planning and design for open-pit and underground mines to help you identify the best option for project development and make the most effective use of your capital.

Our worldwide team provides exceptional services for open-pit and underground mine planning, mining method and fleet selection, development and production scheduling, material handling, mine infrastructure design, backfilling, geotechnical engineering and cost estimating. We also offer a full range of expertise for environmental assessment, mitigation and monitoring, as well as mine closure, remediation and reclamation.

We have decades of experience on five continents and in environments ranging from the tropics to the arctic, and at high elevation. In the last decade, we have provided mine consulting services for projects ranging from less than 1,000 to more than 300,000 tonnes per day from concept to closure. Our mining studies are viewed as credible support documents for acquisition and project financing purposes.

We employ the latest technologies of mining methods and equipment fleets, and have been the leader in shaft construction methods that employ ground freezing. We simulate ore and waste flow to identify bottlenecks in production, and to optimise development and production. The benefits of new technology such as automation and battery-powered equipment are included in tradeoff studies.

Today’s industry faces razor-thin margins, fierce competition and cyclical markets. We use advanced simulation tools to develop a system-wide approach to modeling operations, enabling them to:

• Identify bottlenecks
• Optimise designs
• Quantify production rates and capacities
• Conduct virtual assessments of alternatives
• Allocate resources
• Train operators
• Reduce risk
• Save money
• Provide decision support.

We provide:

• Open-pit and underground mine planning and infrastructure design
• Cut-off grade and phasing strategies to increase project value
• Block cave and stoping methods expertise
• Fleet selections and operations optimisation
• Blasting and fragmentation studies
• Geomechanics, ground support and pit slope stability
• Dewatering, filtered tailings and waste rock facilities
• Capital and operating cost estimates

Our mining experts understand the complex interactions among mining methods, development and production schedules, and project financial performance. We apply innovative solutions to maximise the value of our customers' mines.