Abstract: In optimizing production scheduling of openpit mine， the effect of overlap among cones on its average grade was usually ignored， in oder to deal with this shortcoming， an improved cone elimination algorithm was proposed. In the process of cone elimination， the spatial search logic was redefined， the average grade of cones influenced by the lowest grade cone and rearranged cones in the cone array were recalculated. A dynamic sequence model was established by taking the geological optimum pushbacks generated by new algorithm as state variable， all feasible paths were evaluated， and the path whose NPV is the biggest was taken as the optimal exploitation scheme. The application example showed that under the same conditions of technology and economy， the improved algorithm is superior to the initial algorithm in the production stability and NPV， where the NPV increases by 105%.

Key words: openpit mine, production scheduling, optimization, cone elimination, dynamic planning