MINING SOFTWARE simultaneously and in any combination , the company said .
Coloma concluded : “ Maptek believes that a unified mine planning , scheduling and production environment will allow miners to take advantage of market conditions that maximise value while meeting ESG best practice .”
Monitoring an operation ’ s pulse
Like Coloma , Erik Anderson , Product Manager – Mine Planning , Hexagon , sees optimisation of schedules , use of equipment and a complete plan that aims to reduce unnecessary material movement all contributing to a lower mining footprint .
“ Optimisation of mine plans will help determine the most economical way of extraction ,” he told IM . “ This reduces unnecessary stripping , which helps to minimise both carbon and physical footprints .”
Here , he references a case in New Caledonia where Hexagon ’ s MinePlan software helped a miner responsibly manage waste planning under the added oversight of UNESCO .
In 2008 , UNESCO added the Lagoons of New Caledonia to the World Heritage Site list , meaning mines were subject to rigorous environmental standards and regulations . One example of these standards is in the restriction of disturbance limits , with the disturbance area confined to the ultimate pit limits , meaning all mining activity must stay in this area .
“ This imposes a series of limitations and challenges , including a limitation on the space available for waste dumps ,” Hexagon explained .
Mines , in effect , must manage material efficiently and backfill the pit with previously mined waste material .
“ However , opening the space on the pit floor to accommodate the waste can be tricky ,” the company said . “ In the process of opening the pit floor for backfill , the management and availability of the multiple ore types and materials needs to be considered . This poses a significant challenge in the mine planning process ; the excavation requires a very precise
Providing ‘ infinite capabilities ’
Geovariances , the global provider of geostatistics-based software solutions , puts a significant part of its development efforts into the customisation capabilities of its flagship software product Isatis . neo .
Isatis . neo implements two powerful functionalities in that respect : recording a series of tasks and their parameters – the so-called batch capacity – and Python scripting for completing the data processing and interpretation workflow . This combination gives the software almost infinite capabilities , according to the company , permitting the user to go beyond the geostatistical calculations .
Such capabilities were recently highlighted during its last user meetings , held in January , in two case studies .
The first case study looked at the work completed for a multinational mining and metallurgy company .
This company called on Geovariances ’ expertise to establish a global processing workflow to update the resources of one of its projects : several deposits with similar geometrical , geological and spatial characteristics . A few month ’ s work was required to define , test and validate the routine on one deposit ; with another week used to run the routine on the other deposits and get the expected resource estimates . In addition to the considerable time the company ’ s resource team saved , they also gained insight from the batch file processes that mirrored the expertise of Geovariances ’ consultants .
The second case study was about the work Geovariances completed for Alcoa S . A . The aim of this project was to rebuild the resource estimation workflows the company set up with Isatis , the Isatis . neo precursor , into Isatis . neo and make the update routines even easier for the user . The complex original workflow , developed by Alcoa ’ s resource team , involved ordinary and indicator kriging and geostatistical simulation and resource classification . The batch files were prepared , incorporating Python coding for specific operations not yet available in the software and importing search and variogram parameters from csv files using the Pandas library . Alcoa ended up with a set of standard batch files that could be used for any deposit , but , at the same time , was customised according to its needs .
schedule to remove the different material types to maintain the grade balance at the mill , while minimising re-handling .”
Using MinePlan 3D software , the engineers created the dump designs with a specific amount of volume or tonnage in mind . This allowed the engineers to design waste dumps to be rehandled at a specific time , strategically scheduling the start of the final waste dump areas .
“ This kind of long-range planning tool helps the site verify that they can achieve their mining objectives and provides a schedule for the life of mine ,” the company said .
It factors in more than just the company ’ s licence to operate , though , with the long-term plan allowing site engineers to simulate different mining scenarios when considering commodity prices and inflation by the input of economic information .
“ Using all the tools at their disposal , the engineering group can optimise the schedule and evaluate many of the possibilities the mine may see ,” the company said .
Hexagon ’ s recently launched Power of One solution can help provide such a holistic view , according to Anderson .
Connecting sensors and software , in-field apps and cloudware , the Power of One empowers digital transformation , according to the company .
FEBRUARY 2022 | International Mining