The aim of this study is to investigate the factors which affect pit mining. Block dimensions, including bench width and height, and equipment size, are some of the factors which directly affect the quantity of mineable reserve and the final pit limit. Therefore, this paper addressed these factors as a part of mine planning and design of a small coal deposit in Lao PDR through the changes of block dimensions and the use of increasingly larger equipment. Minesight@ 3D software was used to simulate the ore body and delineate the 3D block model. The work has identified equipment size and evaluated their costs due to the increasing block dimension to estimate an economic block value. The spread of results from this study illustrated the varying of mineable reserves and other relevant pit geometry for each scenario of block dimension. Since the use of larger equipment with less unit cost, a larger block dimension produces more mineable reserves and productions. Also, it generates a broader and deeper pit shell than the small block dimension. The findings of the current study could be used to provide the best option before starting up an operation, which produced higher productivity, more mineable reserve, and less total cost.

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