In the strategic planning space, the goal of a mine planner is to determine the best layout of an underground mine to maximise economic resource extraction, as well as determine the best mining sequence to maximise net present value (NPV). Both of these objectives also involve adherence to a number of constraints, such as equipment parameters, geotechnical limits and processing constraints. To successfully generate a strategic mine plan, numerous options must be identified and analysed to ensure that the best approach is selected. This involves many hours of engineering work and review. With the advances in computational processing power and new, advanced algorithms, many more scenarios can be run to evaluate options, which results in a more robust plan, and potential risks to the plan can be identified earlier. Deswik’s powerful set of tools, including stope optimization, automated development design and both optimised and heuristic scheduling mean that it is now faster and easier to produce high quality results to evaluate the economics of a deposit, where to focus mine production plans and further investigation of options for expansion. This presentation will show the strategic underground mine planning workflow using Deswik tools, and the value that can be gained from using optimisation and automation in the strategic mine planning process.