Chute design is a complex process that takes into account many competing objectives and relies heavily on the intuition of an experienced designer. In this paper, we examine one small part of chute design, which is the choice of curve or profile that the chute follows. Overall, this choice relies on minimising wear in the chute/product and impact on the belt. The optimisation problem is a complex one with nonlinearities in both the governing equation and the objective function. In this paper, we solve the optimisation problem by writing it as an evolutionary system, which is subject to Darwinian natural selection. The evolutionary method is detailed, and optimal loading chute profiles are generated using an evolutionary strategy. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.