HOF Citations 2016 Surface Mining - Ken Lane | Page 2

SURFACE
MINING

designed to genuinely help the industry make
more from the precious resources that we
normally only have one opportunity to process.

The following were Kenneth Lane’s papers,
contributing to the development of Mining
Economics and Optimal Mine Planning:

Internally, Rio Tinto’s OGRE software was
written to use Lane’s single sequence cutoff
grade optimisation principles. Once Lane’s book
was published, it also inspired other software
including Whittle’s Opti-cut (1996) and Strategy
Optimisation System’s Free-cut (2000). Lane’s
Dynamic Programming technique was shown
extremely capable in ensuring that an optimal
cutoff grade is chosen at any given point in time
while also drastically simplifying the complex
process of cutoff grade calculations.

Lane, K. F., 1964. Choosing the Optimum Cut-off Grade,
Q. COL. Sch. Mines Vol. 59, No.4, pp 811-829
Lane, K. F., 1979. Commercial aspects of choosing cut-off
grades, 16th Application of Computers and Operations
Research in the Mining Industry Symposium Ch 27,
pp280-285
Lane, K. F., 1983. Optimum grades for resource
exploitation, Paper presented at the RTZ meeting:
Data Processing Conference, Bristol RTZ meeting data
processing conference
Lane, K. F. Hamilton, D. J., and Parker, J. B., 1984. Cutoff
grades for two minerals, 18th Application of Computers and
Operations Research in the Mining Industry Symposium,
London pp. 485-491 (The Institution of mining and
Metallurgy; London)
Lane, K. F., 1988. The Economic definition of ore: cut-off
grades in theory and practice, (Mining Journal Books
Limited)
Lane, K. F., 1989. Implementing cut-off grades, Paper
presented at RTZ meeting: Computerised Mine Design,
Bristol, RTZ meeting computerises mine design.
Paper 12, (unpublished)

Lane worked with Dr Brett King in 1996 to
build upon his cutoff grade foundations to
create a multi-dimensional, multi-policy and
multi-sequence cutoff grade optimisation
algorithm. The Rio Tinto software prototype
COSMOS (1997) and then the commercially
available COMET Optimal Scheduler used today
was built upon Lane’s optimisation framework.
This extended theory is used by most of the
largest mining companies and mines around
the world including Rio Tinto, Anglo American,
Codelco, Teck and many others.

Lane, K. F., 2014. The economic definition of ore: Cut-off
grades in theory in practice, COMET Strategy, Brisbane,
Australia (www.cometstrategy.com)

Due to demand from the industry and exactly
50 years from when Lane’s seminal paper
was published (Oct 1964 – Oct 2014), Lane’s
1988 book was reprinted again in Oct 2014 by
COMET Strategy. This book remains in
regular demand is still referenced as the
inspiration and foundation for optimisation in
the mining industry.
Despite the recognition and popularity that
was achieved by Ken Lane, perhaps his
most endearing quality is the humility that he
approaches his challenges and his willingness
to listen to others and pass on his experiences.
“Ken ‘CutoffGrade’ Lane is a true gentleman
and a great contributor to the mining industry
whom I am blessed to have known and worked
with,” said Dr Brett King, COMET Strategy, who
made the nomination.

2 of 2