Tributes are flowing for Jeff Whittle, one of the great pioneers of Australia’s mining technology sector, who died at the age of 93.
The co-founder in 1984 of Whittle Programming and author of some of the world’s most widely used mine design and optimisation software programs, Whittle received an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in 2018 for his distinguished service to the IT sector and the mining industry. He received numerous other accolades in a career in mining-related technology spanning more than four decades.
Whittle Programming, started with his wife, Ruth, was eventually sold to Gemcom. Jeff continued to create and invent valuable and value-generating software for mining with Whittle Consulting, a business started by one of his sons, Gerald,
The application of the Lerchs-Grossmann algorithm to mine pit optimisation, which became known as “whittling”, became almost ubiquitous in some mining sectors, such as gold mining.
Greg Lilleyman, a former senior Rio Tinto and Fortescue Metals Group executive, said this week Jeff Whittle was “a giant of our industry”.
“When your surname becomes an adjective to describe a pit optimisation, you know you have made a mark on the industry,” Lilleyman said in a tribute.
“Jeff was a game changer for the whole industry and his legacy will live on.”
Phil Dight, professor of geotechnical engineering at the University of Western Australia, said Whittle was a “humble giant”.
“I was at BHP when Chris Alford, who had moved from BHP to Newmont, challenged Jeff to finally solve the Lerchs-Grossmann algorithm. He found the error and formed the solution. Of course, he had many more programs that he contributed to the mining industry.”
Kyle De Souza, president of the WA School of Mines Alumni, said: “Few have left a legacy as large for the resources sector.”
Veteran mining executive and leader, Bruce McFadzean, said Whittle’s life and career was “an amazing journey by an amazing man”.
And among many other tributes, respected mining industry advisor, Kent Bannister, said Whittle’s programs had helped make many mineral projects viable.
“His work improved the profitability of mineral companies and increased the standard of living of all Australians,” Bannister said.
On receiving his AO award in 2018, Whittle said he was working in England as an experimental physicist when he started programming in 1962.
“When I got my first program right first time, I figured that maybe this was something that I was good at and, over a period of about five years, I did more and more computing and less and less physics.
“I gradually changed from being an experimental physicist to what I now jokingly call a computerist.
“In the early 1980s Ruth and I visited a pit in Utah that was two miles in diameter at the top and half a mile deep. It was awesome to stand at the bottom and look up.
“With such huge costs involved, the mining industry needed a computer program to work out the best shape for an openpit. This is actually a very complicated problem, because it must take into account the shape of the orebody, which can be very irregular, the variation of quality of the orebody, which can also be irregular, the hardness of the rock, etc.
“But, if we could save even a small fraction of the cost of mining by improving the design, that would be millions of dollars.
“While at Newmont, I had learned that a method had been published in the 60s that would find the mathematically best shape for an openpit, but people had had great difficulty programming it.
“By the 80s, I had had about 20 years of programming experience, and I figured I could do it, so I offered to write it for Newmont. However, Newmont didn’t want to spend the money.
“So, Ruth and I decided to develop the program as a private venture.”
Jeff Whittle is survived by Ruth, their six children – Robin, Gerald, Paul, David, Judy and Matthew – and 12 grandchildren.
His funeral will be held this week in Melbourne, Victoria.
