There was no commercially available optimization software, so Whittle offered to write a program for Newmont, based on the Lerchs-Grossmann algorithm. When Newmont refused to finance what they considered such a risky project, he decided to write it himself.
In 1983, Jeff took time off from his contract work to write the first commercially available implementation of the Lerchs-Grossmann algorithm, which was practical to use on the computers of the day. It improved the efficiency of the algorithm by devising an inverse block dependency model, which greatly reduced the storage requirements of the entire data structure. This allowed the structure needed for actual mines to fit in memory, which was often less than 1 Mb, even for mainframes.
This was “Three-D”, which Whittle and his wife Ruth licensed to mining companies as Fortran source code.
In 1984, they founded Whittle Programming. Over the next 16 years, he developed a number of mining optimization software packages. His wife successfully advertised and sold them to mining companies and consulting firms around the world. In 2000, they sold the business to Gemcom in Canada. This Whittle suite of programs remains the industry standard tool to this day.
Around the same time, he began working on software to optimize the planning of multi-pit mines. His continued development of this software resulted in the Prober series of optimization tools used by Whittle Consulting today.
For nearly 40 years, Whittle has excelled in developing computer software that has revolutionized mine design, strategic mine planning, and most specifically, the ability to optimize the efficiency and net present value of the most complex mining projects. coined the term “Enterprise Optimization”, which is now commonplace in the language of the mining industry.
Having made his final contribution to Prober 2022, Whittle was happy to have the ongoing development of his proprietary Whittle Consulting software safe in the hands of the talented team at Whittle Consulting.
Whittle initially trained as an experimental physicist at the University of Manchester in the UK, where he obtained an honors degree in physics. He, his wife and their young family emigrated from England to Australia in 1961. He was a pioneer of the computer age and began programming computers in 1962 while working at the Defense Standard Laboratories in Melbourne. He and his wife became naturalized Australians in 1977.
Whittle’s legacy runs deep. In the late 1960s, in his work on year 11 and 12 examination data processing, certificate printing and university place selection at the Monash Computer Centre, Whittle developed a standardized scoring system for the Higher School Certificate (HSC) which made all subjects equally difficult. The current VCE scoring system is an evolution of the system he developed.
In 2018, Whittle was appointed an Officer in the General Department of the Order of Australia (AO) in recognition of his distinguished service to the information technology sector and the mining industry.
Whittle was a proud husband, loving father and grandfather. He is survived by Ruth, their six children – Robin, Gerald, Paul, David, Judy and Matthew – and 12 grandchildren.
The funeral is on February 16. Tributes can be sent to by clicking here.