IT played its role in the fantastic rescue last month in Chile (http://www.im-mining.com/2010/10/14/san-jose-rescue-proceedingsuccessfully-first-miners-out/). The collapse in the San José mine occurred on August 5 and on August 11 Maptek received a call from the team that was working on the rescue, asking for help on the drilling control and 3D display to map the drill holes. Maptek immediately sent one of its Mine Engineers, Alvaro Quezada, to the site to help. Following this, Estibaliz Echabarría from the Maptek I-Site team travelled to the site to conduct surveys of the region.

This data was taken into Maptek Vulcan 3D software to create an accurate topographic model and 3D representation of the complex underground workings to understand where the 33 miners were trapped. Alvaro then helped to design the direction and orientation of the drill hole which targeted the tunnel, named the Esperanza (Hope) drill hole.  Maptek Geologist, Sandra Jara, working the shift on August 22, witnessed the first contact with the miners when she heard the men tapping on the drill as it entered the chamber where they were trapped. She immediately telephoned Maptek South American Vice-President Marcelo Arancibia and exclaimed “Marcelo, there is life down there!”

Sandra then helped to design and control the orientation of the next two drill holes that also successfully made contact with the 33 miners. This final drill hole was the one used for the Plan B access shaft that was used to rescue the men.  Maptek said: “This team work, between staff from companies such as BHP Escondida, Codelco, Collahuasi, Geoatacama, Geotec and Maptek, was carried out discreetly and efficiently, with the sole focus on achieving the amazing outcome. Maptek is grateful to Walter Veliz (BHP Escondida), Felipe Mattews (Geoatacama), Nicolas Cruz (BHP Escondida), Oscar Castro (Codelco), and Andre Sougarret (Codelco) for their assistance and guidance.  Maptek is honoured to participate and to be able to use our skills and technology to help with the rescue.”

Turning to more mundane consideration of software, one finds it is not in fact mundane as real time is now for resource planning, according to HighGrade.  Mining information technology (IT) companies are optimistic for continuing high-level investment in technology by mining companies despite a slowdown in some parts of the market over the past 18 months.  Business leaders have told HighGrade growth in emerging markets, and the increasing emphasis on ‘connectivity’ from the pit to the port, are among the key drivers of a potential ‘Golden Age’ for mining IT investment.

One such very recent example is Micromine winning a contract from Cayeli Bakir Isletmeleri, a subsidiary of Inmet Mining, to supply and install its mine production control solution, PITRAM, at Cayeli mine in Turkey. This will “increase operational efficiencies at Cayeli by capturing data in real-time and improving the site’s reporting capabilities,” Micromine says.  The first stage of implementation is expected to be complete by late December 2010.  Micromine’s mine production management and control system, PITRAM, manages and coordinates all functions within a mine site; mine development, production, equipment and maintenance. It tracks and reconciles the delivery and quality of the ore. It provides production and activity reports in real time, allowing key personnel to view and monitor the location and status of all equipment and personnel.

Cayeli Mine Manager, Phil Jay, comments that “After considering various mining solutions, PITRAM was selected due to its proven record of introducing operational improvements and increased efficiencies within underground mine sites. I have used PITRAM at three other operations and am confident that the solution will deliver positive results at Cayeli”.

Micromine UK Manager, James Hogg, comments that “PITRAM users can visualise and manage all mine site operations as they occur. Micromine’s Shift Planner Module will allow Cayeli to implement a production plan within a real-time environment, and use shortinterval control methods to manage daily activities.

“Cayeli’s material movements will be closely tracked using the Grade Control Module which enables real-time management of stockpiles.  The reports available from Grade Control provide valuable Key Performance Indicators which can be used to assess the outcomes from production related Business Process Improvement initiatives. Through PITRAM, Cayeli will be able to identify areas of constraint and where greater efficiencies could occur. Most importantly, management will have increased control over its operation,” Hogg concludes.

In May, Mincom introduced Ellipse 8, which it describes as “the industry’s most modern and complete Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) solution set. Mincom Ellipse 8 provides a fully integrated and mobile-enabled suite of business-critical applications that improves return on assets and workforce productivity, while also addressing the challenges inherent in remote and geographically dispersed operations that distinguish asset-heavy industries from corporate-office environments.

“Mincom Ellipse 8 is the culmination of extensive and detailed input from our customers, as well as three decades of deep industry and domain expertise,” said Greg Clark, CEO of Mincom. “Mincom now delivers the power of its best-in-class EAM and mobile workforce management solutions to assetintensive businesses that have adopted ERP solutions from Oracle or SAP. Equally significant, Ellipse 8 incorporates best practices from PAS 55, the emerging best-practices framework for asset management, and supports businesses around the world as they embrace this approach.”

Because Mincom Ellipse 8 includes mobile workforce management applications for inspections, asset surveying, field-process automation and mobile work planning, customers can use Mincom Ellipse 8 to ensure workers with the right skills will be at the right location, with the right information needed to complete a job.

“No other EAM solution provides a fully integrated mobile workforce management solution based on an enterprise-scalable mobile platform, with both planned and realtime capabilities for scheduling and dispatching workers,” said Clark.

Representing the new enterprise standard for asset-intensive organizations worldwide, Mincom Ellipse 8 is comprised of three fundamental components: Ellipse 8 applications for asset-intensive EAM and ERP; the new Mincom Integration Platform, an enterprise integration platform that delivers out-of-the-box integration to leading ERP solutions and an enterprise-scalable mobile application platform; and Mincom Enterprise Reporting & Analytics, an open and integrated solution delivering advanced analytics and intelligent reporting.

Ellipse 8 also introduces two new paradigms for asset management:

Risk and criticality: The ability to plan, monitor and change asset strategies, and manage assets in terms of both risk and criticality by providing a framework for the structured prioritization of work and maintenance, improving asset availability and ultimately service delivery to customers.

Geospatial perspective: Enables location-based asset management with out-of-thebox GIS such as ESRI, GE Smallworld, Intergraph and MapInfo.

Advanced Work Planning – Ellipse 8 now delivers true workforce optimisation, including management of third-party contractors. Its new work-planning capabilities employ GIS, and both long- and short-term planning and scheduling of work and asset maintenance, to deliver a closed-loop process for work management.

Ellipse 8 offers asset-intensive businesses total asset visibility, including the location and status of an asset, as well as visibility of critical parts associated with that asset, and the optimisation of parts inventory to the asset strategy. In addition, it ensures financial fidelity of an asset, enabling businesses to understand the true cost and capital investment of an asset at any point in its lifecycle.

Commented Ralph Rio, Research Director of enterprise software, ARC Advisory Group, Ellipse 8 “represents a substantial step forward in four key areas: technology, functionality, ease of use, and open architecture. The software is deployed in pure Java on Linux and can be run in a cloud model. And with configuration down to the fields displayed in a particular screen, the software can be customised to match a customer’s workflow and business processes. The open standards enable collaboration with other applications and people across an enterprise – a key theme in ARC’s strategic advice to its clients.”

In 2010 a new and substantial player in the arena emerged in the form of CAE, a listed company headquartered in Canada. CAE is a world leader in providing simulation and modelling technologies and integrated training solutions for the civil aviation industry and defense forces around the globe. With annual revenues exceeding C$1.6 billion, the company employs more than 7,000 people in 20 countries.

 As part of its growth strategy, CAE is making targeted investments of up to C$274 million, with participation of the Quebec government, over seven years in the areas of mining, energy and healthcare. As the first step in this initiative, CAE recently acquired the Datamine Group in order to form a high quality nucleus around which it aims to build a very substantial force in the mining market.  This new force will be branded as CAE Mining.

CAE’s modelling, simulation and training expertise (along with a targeted investment strategy) will be combined with Datamine’s orebody modelling, mine planning and optimisation expertise to offer turnkey solutions to plan, manage, operate and optimise mining operations.

In recent months, CAE Mining has reacted to considerable market demand for data fusion, collaboration hubs and improved governance of technical processes. As a result, the company has a number of MineTrust projects in implementation phase with major  mining houses. They are also in advanced discussions with a number of clients for design of operational control centres, something CAE has substantial experience in through the defense and civil emergency response industries as well as several recent projects in the mining sector.

An investment already bearing fruit in CAE Mining is the establishment of an executive consulting group. This group is focused on bottom line improvements in mining operations and strategic planning. All consultants have Masters and/or PHD qualifications coupled with at least 15 years of industry experience. This group works closely with its clients to identify and implement practical solutions to improve financial performance in mining and processing operations. They also provide a client centric feedback loop for CAE Mining’s technology investment strategy, ensuring the company’s products align with industry requirements into the future.

Latest InSite

In August Gemcom Software International unveiled the latest release of its award-winning InSite^TM mine production management solution. This gives operations the tools and real-time data needed to improve production management from the mine to final product. It allows operations to link production data, costs, and planned versus actual production.  The result should be greater efficiency, lower costs, and the ability to continuously improve performance of all processes, activities, and equipment.

“The mining industry has increased its emphasis to improving bottom-line results by maximising the value of their production assets and by reacting with greater agility to changes in commodity prices and the economy. InSite provides them with the tools and data needed to achieve these goals,” said Allen Vaughn, Executive Vice President of Gemcom’s Enterprise Business Unit. “Every operation is unique, with different deposits, equipment, staff, and mine and plant configurations. We work closely with our clients to understand their mining value chain to deliver a solution that is matched to their needs. Today, InSite is used throughout the world, supporting these diverse commodities.”

Key InSite benefits include:

■ Management of production from the mine, trucking, plant, stockpiling, processing, to final product

■ Identifying production and equipment problems that may otherwise remain hidden

■ Monitoring of equipment performance to eliminate bottlenecks and control costs

■ Improved alignment between planned and actual production

■ A higher degree of confidence in production numbers and compliance of systems through auditing, traceability, and data integrity

■ Providing the catalyst for continuous improvement by empowering Plan-Do-Check-Act decision making.

“Managing day-to-day operations requires tracking mass and grade throughout the operation and comparing this with planned production. It also necessitates equipment and operational issues to be readily identifiable so they can be dealt with quickly,” said Charlie Forrest, Product Manager. “Our InSite solution enables this by providing mining operations with powerful real-time alerts and analysis of all aspects of their operation, including stockpiles, equipment performance, operational systems, and material balance. The result is planned and actual production can be reconciled more effectively and the operation continuously improved.”

Detecting early-stage performance deterioration in systems and processes on a real-time basis is critical to minimising downtime and avoiding failures along the critical path. Equipment failures can lead to significant downtime and delays. InSite provides the data required to anticipate these issues and enable follow up action to keep production on track.

Establishing a clear and accurate view of what is happening at an operation begins with having a high degree of confidence in production data. InSite enables this through real-time integration of operational data and validation of material movements, activities, and surveys. This is further enhanced with a  robust calculation engine that enables mass and grade changes to propagate to material movements and stockpiles, ensuring the most accurate view at all times. With mass and grade data that is fully auditable and traceable, data integrity and system compliance is assured.

Centerra Gold’s Boroo mine, located in Mongolia, employs InSite as a sustainable solution that enables it to better leverage the data produced at the mining operation. “InSite manages our mine production from the pit, trucking, plant, stockpiling and heap leaching, all the way to final product. The ability to manage and analyse our stockpiles and equipment utilisation from crushed t/h to SAG mill utilisation provides timely, consolidated, and audited information to decision makers. InSite has improved our processes, taking them from days to hours,” said Alex Petermann, Chief Mining Engineer, Boroo Gold.

In other InSite news, in June, Gemcom and Sandvik Mining and Construction (SMC) agreed to collaborate to develop a system and interface for monitoring underground mobile mining equipment. The two companies are teaming on an innovative equipment performance and production tracking solution that will further improve consolidation and validation of information from mine operational systems.  “InSite features innovative technology that monitors in near real time equipment, events, and tracks production, which enables timely operational decision making. This industryleading technology, when combined with Sandvik’s sophisticated Optimine^TM capabilities, will allow mining companies to follow up on their production, equipment, and personnel performance metrics in a simple and effective manner. Ultimately, they will be better able to manage and utilise their capital expenditures, and be able to back up business decisions with hard data,” says Rauno Pitkänen, Manager of Projects, Systems and New Offering, SMC.

Most recently the company has released Gemcom MineSched^TM 7.0, the latest version of its next generation scheduling software for surface and underground mines of all types and sizes. MineSched provides mining companies with the capabilities they need to develop economic, easy-to-mine schedules to maximise productivity and profits.  It integrates underground development and production scheduling to enable better overall schedules to be created. It makes this possible through unified workflows for development and production scheduling, providing a consistent and intuitive user experience.

Another key addition in this version, available to surface and underground mines, is combined interactive and automated scheduling, an innovation coupling automated scheduling techniques with the ability to selectively schedule on a period-by-period basis to save significant time in schedule creation.  “With MineSched 7.0, the industry has the most advanced scheduling user experience available today. When we set out to develop this version, our objective was to extend MineSched’s renowned ease of use and sophistication to the development domain so better underground schedules could be created faster,” said Robin Sweeny, Gemcom’s Product Manager for MineSched. “The integration of development and production scheduling in MineSched 7.0 will lead to improved mining efficiencies and reduced costs for a number of reasons, such as the ability to include ore and waste from development headings in the material flow network through the mine operation. Further benefits will be realised through the combination of interactive and automated scheduling, which will result in significant time savings in updating and generating schedules for both underground and surface mines.”

“MineSched gives us the tools we need to create a schedule and then run it using different scenarios to find a near optimal solution. When scheduling underground mines, the software has enabled us to accomplish development and production scheduling faster, while giving us greater ability to run sensitivities on different options. By applying standard financial analysis to the MineSched results it is possible to quickly view each scheduling alternative with associated economic value,” commented Martin Drennan, Principal Engineer, Python Mining Consultants.  MineSched 7.0 benefits include:

■ Unified development and production scheduling results in more efficient, easy to produce, and cost-effective schedules

■ Intuitive five-step workflow guides users through the scheduling process, ensuring consistency of work and enabling new users to be proficient quickly

■ Conveniently manage all development and production scheduling parameters within a single scenario

■ Unique Setup Development user interface with a close interaction between the 3D display and data grids where parameters are entered simplifies the configuration of development headings

■ Ability to rapidly reproduce scenarios across development and production with a single mouse click to efficiently compare scheduling alternatives

■ Combined interactive and automated scheduling saves users significant time by permitting users to resume scheduling from any period without the need to regenerate the schedule from the beginning

■ Schedules can be paused at any point in the scheduling process to see results up to the last full period scheduled

■ Analysis of the schedule across development and production using combined views in MineSched’s unique visual dashboard.

Smart mine, smart management

The Dynamics AX (DAX) Mining, Minerals and Processing (MMP) solution is based on over 15 years of experience in mining. This experience highlighted the cost and limitations of bespoke integration and extensive use of non integrated spreadsheet in key departments, resulting in the silos of information and thinking. Frustrated management and concerned auditors expect improvements, but little choice is available. The integrated MMP modules will help bring together thedistributed parts of the operation in daily decisions that will help maintain throughput and quality.

Axnosis and Solitech launched the integrated suite of DAX MMP. The key features being integrated – i.e., Lims to Ledgers, Asset to Accounts Payable, PLC to P&L, also integrated to Microsoft Excel and pivotally a business process Template (MS4Mine) for operations Blueprints. MMP consisting of the two modules MMP Commercial and MMP Operations. The commercial modules provide integrated management to projects, procurement, stores, assets and plant maintenance. The modules are Stores, Procurement (supplier to stock), Projects (plan to accounts payable) and Plant and Fleet Maintenance (asset to accounts receivable).

In MMP Operations there is the Production Accounting (PAM & LIMS) (LIMS to Ledger) module. The PAM1 module manages the mine value chain from panel to port. From the geology planning system a short term plan is down loaded to PAM for execution.  The PAM2 module integrates to plant SCADA and LIMS to provide an automated model for calculating metallurgical streams, balances and lock-up, costing and stock replenishment.  The PAM3 minerals sales module provides a sales and logistics function; customer contracts with analysis requirements and pricing terms; inventory levels with sample analysis results; as well as weighbridge integration and product allocation and finalisation of invoice-able quantities and values. LIMS provide laboratory instrumentation integration, and is dedicated to the mine laboratory to automate unit tasks performed by analytical staff. The integration into PAM1, 2 and 3 greatly improves crucial assay visibility and retest scenarios.

The other two Operations modules are Occupational Health & Safety (OHS) and Software Integration Module (SIM).  John Wilson, Director, Solitech says competing in the future with low cash cost calls for smarter moves, and for most, a reinvention of how MMP companies manage their core operations through information and know-how.

■ Instrumented: using sensors and “smart” devices to gain greater visibility

■ Integrated: interconnecting the entire value chain

■ Intelligent: advanced analytics, simulation and modelling to manage increasing complexity

■ Innate: visible blueprints and models of processes, roles and structures.

“Well functioning instrumented, integrated and intelligent value chains improve performance. It is a general unstoppable trend in our modern world. The complexity of a smarter value chain hold MMPs back when faced with skills shortages and remote locations.”

MS4Mine (Modelling and Simulation 4 Miners) provides a simple, method for managing the instrumented and integrated organisation.  Optimisation necessitates changes in people roles, technologies and processes. The simultaneous changes of all three require a roadmap shared between all stakeholders. The most critical time of the MMP’s life is at the design and start-up of a new site.  Teething problems occur at these stages and frequently delay the start of full production and lead to isolated silos developing.  MS4Mine provides an integrated platform for operational support for life of mine.  Transform data to insight for decision makers, through intranet self taught to knowhow.  Sensor to board room systems become manageable and maintainable for and by the miner, ultimately improving cash cost through consistent throughput.

■ Template for predefined standard mining and plant operations.

■ SCADA tools for process control mapping and integration

■ Simulation engine for mine value chain processes

■ P4B core platform

■ Microsoft Technologies: SharePoint, Visio, Excel.

Solitech is the exclusive distributor of P4B to the mining sector. Its says its mission is “to help miners achieve smarter operations across different planning, ERP, SCADA, OPC and other islands of software. The P4B core module is a flexible familiar modelling tool.”

Global Integrated Solutions (GIS) works exclusively with companies in the mining industry around the world to implement business management/ERP systems using the fully integrated PRONTO-Xi platform. GIS says it “delivers immediate benefits and lasting value to clients by leveraging the decades of hands on industry experience many of our employees have from their previous careers in the resource sector. This unmatched international industry experience allows GIS to have an excellent understanding of the challenges clients face and the functionality they require.”

PRONTO-Xi is currently being used by drilling companies, small exploration companies, as well as by junior producers with a single producing mine site to large multi site and multinational Tier 1 mining companies. In addition, it is widely used by various suppliers, contractors and consultants to the industry. In fact, there are over 200 companies in the mining industry alone that have chosen PRONTO-Xi to fulfil their business management needs.  As a fully integrated and fully scalable real time ERP/business management system for mining, PRONTO-Xi from GIS allows users to focus on:

■ Saving money – seamlessly integrate general ledger, accounts payable, fixed assets, project costing, purchasing, inventory, warehouse and planned and preventative maintenance activities, as well as HR and payroll

■ Providing efficient operating procedures – well thought out and developed business processes are mirrored in PRONTO-Xi, allowing personnel to know the necessary steps to get the job done quickly and correctly

■ Increasing transparency – full drill down and drill back capability throughout PRONTO-Xi gives the clarity to see the bigger picture of how the various activities across departments impact the bottom line

■ Saving time – eliminate error prone rekeying and manual data entry tasks allowing the redeployment of staff to more profitable activities

■ Controlling costs – maintain facilities by tracking the movement of assets and plan for both predictive and preventative maintenance activity to optimise cashflow and eliminate unnecessary downtime in operations.

The new Midas 2.0 version from Siemens Industry Solutions provides mine operators with a further improved database driven software solution to boost the efficiency of mining machines that feature Siemens electrical drives. The software includes a data logger, a visualisation tool and a report generator. Compared with the previous version, the database connection has been updated in particular and the user interface given a simpler and more flexible design.  Built on the solid foundation of the .NET platform, the Midas 2.0 solution uses an active SQL Server database to deliver substantial performance increases over the previous release. SQL Server Reporting Services generates predefined reports, as well as custom reports spanning any time period and covering any number of machines. This important new feature significantly increases worker productivity by eliminating the need to retrieve data logs from each truck and each shift then enter the data into the database.  Real-time monitoring, or historical review, is now much easier with the new desktop GUI, featuring enhanced animations and userfriendly controls. Midas 2.0 is also very flexible for international operations. The intuitive user screens are based on industry-standard icons, instead of written English terms, to significantly reduce training for non-English speakers. Midas 2.0 also supports multiple written languages to optimise its use throughout the world.

The Midas solution is fully integrated with the development of the Siemens AC drive system itself to offer great insight into the machine’s operations. This enables the addition of new functionalities with only a limited amount of modification. It offers read/write options whereas other packages have read-only functionality that precludes the addition of new reporting parameters. For example, a user recently requested to include the operators’ identification numbers in reports. This was easily achieved with only minor modifications to the system.

Mine planning

George McCullough, Principle Mining Systems Analyst of Runge, stresses that “the importance of having a well documented and comprehensive mine planning process cannot be over emphasised as it is a rendition of the relationship between the economic and physical aspects of a mining asset. The deliverable of a good mine planning process is a predictable production schedule which protects the asset against uncertainty whilst providing the best opportunity to maximisecash flow in the business. A good mine planning process is repeatable and can scale across all mine assets and projects.

“The main ambitions of mining organisations, like any other businesses, are to be as profitable as possible and to add shareholder value. This requires careful planning and the mine plan is the cornerstone of a mining organisation’s business plan. It can be very challenging to apply the mine planning process effectively across a global mining company. This can lead to inconsistencies among the mine plans which put the overall business plan of the company at risk. This risk is in turn transferred to the net present value of the assets and ultimately shareholder value.  “Adding shareholder value and maximising Net Present Value has always been our company’s raison d’être. We carry this maxim out by helping mining companies create repeatable mine plans with predictable results. Most recently we have intensified this focus in our technology development and developed the Mining Knowledge Platform solution. We now have an expert system that delivers mine schedules by following a business process. We have de emphasised non essential features and functions that can distract engineers in their work and we have streamlined the workflows that people use to derive schedules. In doing so, we have reduced the complexity of the tools and made them more fit for purpose. The key concept behind this platform is to help mining engineers to effectively schedule their mining operations within days instead of months.

“In the past, it took a lot of time and effort to train mining professionals to use planning tools. The tribulations of the problem space together with the complexity of the tools created long implementation times meaning mining organisations made a significant capital investment in solutions that would take months to mature. The Mining Knowledge Platform solution reduces implementation timeframes and to adds value faster.

“The process driven nature of the Mining Knowledge Platform solution also means that mining engineers all across an organisation will follow the same process to create a mining schedule. Gone are the days where mining engineers in the same organisation come up with opposing answers to the same challenge, and gone are also situations where mining engineers are abandoned to their own devices to experiment with a vast array of features to get a meaningful outcome. Now it’s about having simple and effective tools that take the guesswork out of scheduling and add reliability to the results.”

In March Micromine’s Brazilian Partner, BNA Consultoria e Sistemas (BNA) signed an Academic Licence Agreement with the Department of Mining and Petroleum Engineering of University of São Paulo (USP).  Recognised as one of Brazil’s most well respected Universities, USP’s Laboratory of Mine Planning and Optimisation (LAPOL) has a team of lecturers dedicated to teaching modelling and mine planning applications as well as developing graduate research and innovation for the mining industry. It has undertaken this strategic partnership arrangement with Micromine and BNA, endorsing the use of their premier mine design solution, Micromine for teaching and research purposes at USP.

Adoption of Micromine technology should enable LAPOL and USP the potential of joint research programs to be developed in specific areas of interest such as multithread and parallel computing, virtual reality and 3D mine planning.  BNA develops geological engineering applications for the exploration and mineral sector. Its founder and Managing Director, Beck Nader, says “Micromine has the most advanced technology in the world and we look forward to being part of its continuous evolution. Working with LAPOL will be a very rewarding technological experience, for the University, for the Students and Researchers as well as for us.”  Dr. Giorgio de Tomi, Associate Professor at USP, states “Our students will benefit deeply from the advanced functionalities and the userfriendliness of Micromine for their class projects, and USP is very excited with the research potential of this new partnership with BNA and Micromine.”

Earlier that month, Micromine had announced the release of Micromine 2010, the latest version of its geological exploration and mining software. Popular for its user friendly functionalities, it enables geologists and engineers to locate prospective regions, search for mineral indicators, model and visualise ore distribution patterns and design mining operations. Micromine’s suite of exploration and mining software is both advanced and robust, encompassing the entire mining process from greenfields exploration, resource modelling and mine design to mine production control and high-level management reporting.

In September, Canadian 3D software technology company ThreeDify announced the release of a new version of its FlowPit 2.0, a 4D pit limit optimiser that can compute a pit design solution many times faster than competing technologies, the company claims.  Open pits are typically designed with block models, which represent the material inside the pit using millions of blocks of a predefined volume. The computation required to determine the optimum pit boundary and phase pits is typically time consuming.  ThreeDify believes that the latest release of its software represents a genuine performance breakthrough for mine planning engineers. “The advantage of our technology becomes obvious when handling very large block models,” explained ThreeDify CEO Dan Jiang.  “Typically, determining the optimal pit limit and sequencing would take a long time – over 24 hours or even days for large block models.  With FlowPit, we can now arrive at the optimum solution in about one hour on today’s commodity laptops for a block model with 4 million blocks (one hour on a Gateway NV79 laptop) – up to an order of magnitude faster and yet costing one third of the competing technologies.”  This advance in computational speed makes FlowPit an effective tool not just for determining the optimal pit limit, but also for medium and long term planning and sequencing of large open-pit mines where mine planners frequently need quick and reliable answers to “what if?” questions.  Key FlowPit benefits include, says ThreeDify:

■ Robust and scalable – 4D open pit optimiser that offers simplicity, robustness and up-to an order of magnitude speed-up over other competing products

■ Simple and lean – intuitive GUI front-end with re-blocking and graphical post processing capabilities that allow users to graphically navigate through plan and crosssectional views, and strip ratio graphs

■ Flexible – ability to import block model formats created by other generic mining packages

■ Extensible – available as a COM component for integration with third party applications

■ Affordable – guaranteed optimum solution with phase pit sequencing and sensitivity analysis (aka 4D) that costs much less than similar products.

Mincom has been busy this year, including announcing a major upgrade to its suite of software for mine design and modelling.  Featuring new functionality identified through input from leading mining companies around the world, MineScape 5 speeds the development of more accurate plans, thereby improving the predictability and profitability of  operations across the entire mining value chain.  “The long-term performance of an operation is completely dependent on effectivemine modelling and planning,” said John Jessop, Vice President of Global Mining Solutions, Mincom. “MineScape 5 is now the most advanced mine planning and modelling solution in the marketplace. With the introduction of MineScape 5, we leverage 30 years of experience and intellectual property to offer our customers robust new functionality for mine planning, designed to deliver efficiency improvements to the modelling and planning process.” He also noted it was “a core component of our complete enterprise solution set for the mining industry.”

MineScape is the mine planning component of the Mincom Intelligent Mining Solution (IMS) suite, which provides a very comprehensive set of technical mining solutions spanning the entire spectrum of mining processes, from exploration to final product sales.  “As a customer of Mincom MineScape for more than 20 years, we’ve experienced tremendous gains in efficiency and productivity in our mining operations,” said Jason Buenemann, Project Engineer at Kiewit Mining Group (KMG), a North American producer of coal. “The solution has dramatically increased the productivity of our engineers, allowing many to transfer to management roles where their analytical skills better benefit the entire operation and they can now review multiple design concepts in much shorter periods of time. In short, MineScape has become a critical core competency for any engineer working for KMG, bringing efficiencies that are unsurpassed by any other solution.”  Mine planning and scheduling is a multifaceted, labour-intensive process, complicated by a shortage of skilled staff and the need to quickly create and deploy mine plans that most accurately reflect a site’s geology. This process can be even more difficult due to inadequate data sharing across disparate business software systems, which delays or prevents informed decision-making.  MineScape 5 takes a significant step forward to meet the pressing needs of mining operations by moving geology and mine planning functionality onto a technology platform better suited to integrate business processes.

The newest release of MineScape delivers industry-leading tools to improve mineplanning accuracy at the start of a project, speed the ability to update plans in the face of constantly changing field data, and optimize resource coordination to decrease costs associated with idle equipment.  MineScape 5 was developed as a platform to serve as a single source for information gathering across databases, geologic models and mining plans. Not only will users enjoy productivity gains from the modern and efficient user interface, but the most significant improvements are under the covers. Unlike other products, MineScape uses a true clientserver architecture, which enables multiple departments to work on a plan simultaneously, thus shortening the time from planning to deployment. This services-based architecture has been further enhanced in MineScape 5, exposing geological modelling, mine planning and mine scheduling data and functionality to third-party applications and standard business process orchestration technologies, enabling true business process integration and automation.  In addition to its enhanced architecture, MineScape 5 – which includes 15 modules – features:

■ Improved resource modelling and planning, which helps decrease costs associated with idle equipment, resources and transportation

■ A new, high-performance integrated 3D CAD system

■ Streamlined, flexible task-automation functionality that allows users to easily create tasks and build customised workflows.  The capability to build workflows to automate mine planning processes has been a key feature of MineScape for many years, but is now accessible to end users

■ A new, best-in-class plotting engine, Mincom claims.

“Mincom understands that mines are complex and dynamic environments, where significant value can be derived from the modelling and planning stages — but where significant value can also be lost in the operational stages from, for example, equipment failures, logistics problems or unexpected ore variations,” said Jessop. “With MineScape 5, we are in an even better position to help our global customers optimize complex processes and improve business results.”  In July Mincom announced two new agreements; one with Colossus Minerals, a development-stage mining company with an exploratory gold and platinum project in Brazil (http://www.im-mining.com/wpcontent/themes/immining/pdfs/countryfocusbrazil.pdf). The second is with Kazakhmys, a global copper player.

Colossus has licensed the Mincom Ellipse solution for Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) to maximise operational efficiency during the exploratory stage of its flagship Serra Pelada mining project. Colossus has also licensed Mincom LinkOne, a graphical content-delivery solution providing maintenance workers with timely and accurate parts information to help reduce equipment downtime and improve maintenance efficiency.  To quickly achieve return on investment, the company will implement Mincom Ellipse leveraging the on-demand delivery model and other support services provided by Mincom.

Mincom’s managed-services offering can help companies decrease total cost of ownership by speeding time to deployment and reducing IT overhead, and achieve faster time-to-results while minimising risk. Mincom offers customers a fully managed solution over their entire project lifecycle, implemented either onpremise or fully hosted from Mincom’s data centre to support the unique requirements of remote mining operations.  Taking a phased approach to implementation, Colossus will initially deploy Mincom applications for finance, as well as maintenance and materials management.  With Mincom Ellipse, mining companies such  as Colossus can manage the complete asset lifecycle of their capital equipment, maximising productivity and minimising downtime. They can also significantly reduce working capital by optimising inventory levels, thereby improving supplier management and  streamlining procurement processes.

One of the world’s ten-largest copper producers, Kazakhmys has licensed Mincom MineScape to streamline its processes of geological modelling, mine design and production planning. By more efficiently scheduling mining work and production tracking, Mincom MineScape can improve the overall management of Kazakhmys’ mining operation. It will also help speed deployment by enabling the creation of 3D mine models, allowing multiple users to simultaneously update these models in real time.  “A lot of vendors claim to have integrated, end-to-end mining solutions, but only Mincom offers the most comprehensive set of technical mining solutions spanning the entire spectrum of mining processes, from exploration to final product sale,” said Andrey Nadein, Regional Vice President, Russia and CIS. “With 17 of the world’s top 20 mining companies already leveraging Mincom’s solutions to improve the efficiency and productivity of their operations, we’re pleased to extend our deep domain expertise to yet another global industry leader.”

MineSight says it is pioneering short term planning solutions with long term gains. It is constantly enhancing its MineSight software, especially products that improve short term planning. The MineSight Schedule Optimiser, MineSight Haulage, and MineSight Axis mark the culmination of two years Mintec spent developing its short term planning tools. They complement a comprehensive suite of powerful analytical software that empowers mining and geology professionals to manage the entire lifecycle of a mine.

Working together with the popular MineSight Interactive Planner and Planning Database, the latest additions allow short term planners to tackle the challenges of material scheduling and routing.  Mintec recognises that while unpredictable, mine planning must focus on value over volume. It must also be dynamic, versatile and practical. The company aims to deliver on all fronts, taking the guesswork out of short term planning while maximising profit potential.

The software is simple to use and versatile enough to deal with grade blending, stripping, environmental and other requirements. Each tool performs a unique function and tends to be used in sequence to complete a short term plan. But, the programs are flexible enough to work in a different order when short term planners are confronted with changing company protocol or unexpected changes in material destination, haul route, or material/equipment availability.  Using the Interactive Planner and SQL reporting services, cut and blasthole data can be reported and used for planning and evaluation. MineSight Haulage is then used to organise the haul network. Recent enhancements include an equipment repository, Rimpull curves, and interpolated methods of speed calculation.  Based on the haul network, the MineSight Schedule Optimiser plans mining cuts before blast patterns are designed and exported using MineSight 3D and the Blast Pattern Editor. It also now handles data from stratigraphic models, empowering mine planners to handle layered deposits, such as coal, bauxite, and oil sands. Those blast patterns can be checked and imported using MineSight Axis Drill and Blast, which calculates key performance indices for actual blast patterns. The program reports blasthole information and models actual blast pattern KPI data. The ability to quickly view and edit allows mine planners to work more efficiently and save operational costs.

Drill and Blast is one of four specialised modules within Axis, which is already recognised globally for providing mines with business intelligence. Leveraging off the MineSight Interactive Planner, MineSight Axis Grade Control completes execution of the short term plan, optimising and confirming material classification, creating material routing cuts, and reporting cut reserves.  Minesight says “whether taken as a whole or individually, [its] short-term planning software gives planners peace of mind. No longer must they just expect the unexpected:  Now they can prepare for it, manage it, and ultimately, exploit it.”

During the CIM meeting in May, SimMine introduced its newest program, SimMine Short Term Planning Package. This is an extension to SimMine that simulates short term scheduling.  It provides shift schedules for development crews, what section they will work on and with what machines. It also gives the user ability to quickly reschedule/simulate the schedule if something happens that will affect the original schedule. To see how such changes will affect the long-term plan, users can export the changes back to SimMine for simulation of the long-term effects to the mine plan.

One of the mine’s recently visited, and due for an Operations Focus article soon in IM, is the South Deep gold mine near Johannesburg.  Mine design and scheduling there is done in Mine 2-4D and Earthworks Project Scheduler (EPS) software, on a Datamine platform. All designs are based on 3D resource models. Due to the depth of the orebody (mining is between 1,575 and 3,500 m below surface), mining of de-stress horizons has to be scheduled such that sufficient reserves are made available for mass mining. Large mechanised targets are then sequentially scheduled for extraction within the de-stress envelopes. Backfill scheduling is also incorporated in the extraction sequence, both for the de-stress and the massive horizons.  All designs and schedules are completed in consultation with production and all technical personnel, to ensure safe and efficient layouts and plans. Production efficiencies are based on past experience and production models describing activities for the different fleet combinations.

In May Minemax announced new software releases for all three of its scheduling solutions:  Scheduler V5.0 for strategic schedule optimisation, iGantt V3.6.7 for underground production scheduling and Tempo V1.1 for integrated and optimised mine scheduling.  Scheduler V5.0 Beta has been in testing by selected customers and the V5.0 production release is available for maintained customers.  Minemax says this release “provides significantly superior optimisation performance in comparison to the version 4 series, allowing you to evaluate more scenarios in the same time span. There have also been improvements to the block model importer to make it easier to set up your Scheduler model before optimising.”  In the new release of iGantt the import of data from various reserve systems has been updated and is significantly more intuitive. It handles the import of depleted reserves more effectively giving better integration with realtime reserve systems.

Version 1.1 of Tempo includes the following new/improved capabilities:

■ Precedence generation that radiates out from a selected starting position on a bench (e.g. from ramp intersection with bench), giving practical mine schedules

■ Reporting improvements that allow easier inspection of the change in stockpile composition over time

■ Geometry re-blocking capability in the reserves importing function that can produce updated 3D visualisation information as part of the import process.

Gemcom recently updated its Surpac^TM – Advanced Underground Design Module. This is an automated mine design system that maximises the overall economic benefit of ore reserves. It delivers improvements in the planning process by freeing mine planners from time consuming and tedious tasks.  The module forms part of a complete solution for underground mine planning together with Gemcom MineSched scheduling software. The solution, design, scheduling and analysis are seamlessly linked together to provide mine planners with more control over mine development and economic return. The underground mine planning solution can be applied to any underground mine layout. With this module users can easily and quickly make several designs that test different scenarios and can set up and create MineSched development schedules.

For specialist mining methods, Gemcom’s GEMS^TM PCSLC Module has been developed specifically to meet the challenges of estimating sub-level caving projects. Building on the industry-leading success of PCBC^TM for block cave mines, PCSLC offers a powerful set of capabilities for building sub-level caving production scheduling models. It has already been implemented on projects for De Beers, Newcrest, and SRK, and has also been successfully calibrated against REBOP^TM (from Itasca) for two separate projects and replicated ring recoveries published for Ridgeway mine.

Geotechnical support

MineGeo says its software for real time mine geology and geotechnical mapping in 3D gives “the complete picture. Plus is it safe? – with the MineGeo Geotechnical module you find out straight away.”  The ability to display all or selected classes of geology data means that you improve your ability to better understand the geometry that controls your orebody and hence make better decisions to minimise dilution, improve grades and improve the bottom line. When you can view block models, drilling data and digital mapping this enables you to get the complete geological picture.

“Geotechnical data capture with immediate ‘Q prime’ calculations turns a chore into a time efficient and easy task to achieve,” MineGeo says. All menu items are set up by the site geotechnical engineer and Senior Geologist.  Then more junior staff (with a small amount of training) can capture both geology and geotechnical data.  Geotechnical Data Output:

■ Output as CSV (comma delimited) format file as a Pseudo drill hole for input into any database system

■ All input values and selections are output including geologist/engineer names

■ Additional calculations can be done from captured data – e.g. the Jw values can be used for working with SRF(Stress Reduction Factor)

Immediate results mean qualified on the spot decisions can be made on rockbolting, meshing, shotcreting and local mine safety issues.  With MineGeo software you digitally capture your mapping once at source in 3D. It is then available and useable as soon as you get back to the office.

MineGeo says its software “has the CAD facilities lacking in mine planning software and the mining facilities lacking in standard CAD software.” It is an integrated suite of software which includes:

■ Import capabilities from DXF or Surpac string format files

■ Live 3D lithology data capture tools

■ Capture of sample/geotechnical data with Lithology and ‘Q’ parameters for each ‘from-to’ exported as pseudo drill hole data

■ Mining ‘face’ parameters at 3D location

■ Output of parameters used for creating face positions when no survey is available for the surface being mapped

■ Export of lithology geometry (with attributes) as intelligent string files (which import into your mine planning system)

■ Extensive CAD utilities to aid capture and presentation output.

Bulk handling

Intergraph has released its SmartPlant 3D Materials Handling Edition (SP3D MHE) software for the automation of the design and modelling of bulk materials handling systems.  It automates the design of conveyor systems, processing facilities and transfer chutes to enable planners to rapidly and easily create or expand facilities. Specific functionality addressing conveyor layout and detailed chute design is provided in a simple, user-friendly rules-based automation application to help reduce design times and ensure safer, higher quality projects through less rework and reconfigurations.

Two companies, Sinclair, Knight and Merz (SKM) and United Group Ltd (UGL) Resources, provided industry input to Intergraph in the development of SP3D MHE and are committed to using the solution on upcoming projects.  SKM, whose work on El Teniente was reported in detail last month, “is currently in the process of implementing the solution on a mining project in Chile,” Intergraph notes.  Denis Hamel, SKM’s Global Engineering Manager for Mining and Metals said “the technology will significantly improve cost and time efficiencies, creating real value in the design and delivery of projects worldwide.”

“The solution created by Intergraph to meet the requirements developed throughout a proof-of-concept phase is truly cutting edge,”  said Jeff Lawrence, Projects Development and Systems manager at UGL Resources. “We expect this technology to revolutionise the work processes and methods used to design, fabricate, construct and commission materials handling systems. This is the new industry standard approach for bulk materials handling systems.”

Key features of SP3D MHE include:

■ Conveyor belt line layout – a simple, easyto-use workflow enables conveyor belt design and layout in a 3D environment, complete with associated belt line equipment such as idlers, pulleys, gantries, scrapers and conveyor drives

■ Transfer chute design – it allows users to design to the detailing and manufacturing level

■ Significant 3D display performance – designers can perform 3D navigation on even the largest models with response performance as much as 10 times faster than previously available

■ Design reuse – a new ‘Model Data Reuse Wizard’ allows users to copy systems and the objects nested under those systems to a new destination within the same plant model. This is a significant market differentiator that allows the systematic reuse of 3D model data.

SP3D MHE automates much of the design process, allowing changes to be completed faster with detailed fabrication-level deliverables for chute plate design, reducing the need for third-party software. Faster completion of projects directly relates to a reduction of man-hours required to achieve system options and to lower project costs and increase overall revenue. Also enhancing the ability to reduce capital expenditure cost is the opportunity to design and model sections of the system once, save them to a catalogue and re-use the design in future projects.

Equipment monitoring

Strengthening its presence in South Africa’s coal mining industry, Australian leader in dragline mine monitoring solutions, MineWare has secured a major contract in Middelburg valued at A$2 million. MineWare founder and CEO Andrew Jessett said the company’s latest remote dragline monitoring technology- mRoc Desktop – was integral in winning the deal.  He explained the superior system works in partnership with MineWare’s Pegasys monitor to provide the highest level of on and offboard machine monitoring. “By capturing sophisticated data from one or multiple draglines, we are getting people out of the operational area of the mines and allowing them to see exactly what’s happening in real time,” he said.  “As well as the obvious safety benefits, our ability to capture and analyse more comprehensive data is improving clients’ knowledge and understanding of machine and fleet performance. This directly supports the delivery of key operational improvements across individual mine sites and multiple dragline fleets.”

Jessett sold his first Pegasys dragline monitoring system to BHP Billiton after commercialising his own invention without seed money. Five years later, MineWare has secured its position as a leading global provider of sophisticated dragline monitoring technology to open-pit coal mining. He attributes the company’s continued success to its evolutionary approach to improving how the industry measures the performance and productivity of major machinery such as draglines. “Meeting the needs of industry, our focus has extended from the draglines themselves, to the comprehensive off-board monitoring of the machines.”

Vale has chosen to implement Modular Mining Systems’ IntelliMine technology at its Moatize mine site, a new coal mine in Tete Province, Mozambique. The selection marks the 200th Modular customer over 30 years as a mining technology pioneer. The bundled solution includes the DISPATCH mine management system, MineCare maintenance management system, ProVision machine guidance solutions, PowerView^TM reporting software, and MasterLink wireless network.  “We decided to purchase the IntelliMine system for its reliability and its power to meet our mine’s requirements,” said Reinaldo Goncalves, Vale Mine Planning and Geology Manager, “and we’ve been working with the system at other Vale operations with good results.”

For Modular, the partnership marks an important milestone. When Moatize is commissioned later this year, it will become the 12th Vale operation using IntelliMine solutions and the third new mine to adopt Modular technology this year. “Vale has been a longterm customer of Modular, with the first system commissioned at Carajas in 1994,” said Peter Carter, Modular CEO. “It’s an honour to further our relationship with Vale.”   For Vale, the new system will provide haulage optimization, proactive maintenance tools, and increased safety, while boosting production and lowering operating costs.

Four Leaf Solutions, a Canadian technology company based in Sudbury, offers its new MineTracker as a safety solution, delivering, it says “the largest impact the industry has seen in decades.  MineTracker integrates mining hardware/software with a specific focus on safety.”  The product was unveiled in North America at the CIM in Vancouver and Timmins Mining Trade show and is now available on YouTube for the Global Market to review.  “MineTracker makes critical improvements to safety procedures by integrating location data with telemetry and communications” says Bob Dutchman, Senior Project Manager. “The digital capabilities are endless”. The affordable, all-in-one application allows operators to monitor and control location tracking, ventilation, belts, vehicles, gas detection and all fixed or mobile assets, within one easy-touse interface. The software has been built to communicate with leaky feeder, WiFi, and/or fibre systems with connections to multiple manufacturers’ products. IM