Tucson-based Mintec officially launched its Version 4.0 of its MineSight Schedule Optimizer (MSSO) mine scheduling software package on October 26. The statement said that chief among the enhancements is MSSO’s seamless integration with MineSight Haulage, plus its upgrade to 64-bit technology. Using Canvas for flowsheet design and “an attractive, new graphic user interface” (GUI), Version 4.0 now takes advantage of haulage data prepared by MSHaulage. MSSO imports destinations (lift, subzone, tonne/volume capacities, filling sequence) directly and automatically from MineSight Planning Database, plus equipment set and parameters (truck, shovel and delay time), cycle time, cycle distance, cycle path and fuel consumption.

The company stated: “By simply dragging and dropping, Canvas allows you to graphically and intuitively define mining areas, destinations, and material routing. Thanks to the improved GUI, most of the panels are dockable, allowing you to open them side by side. MSSO now generates schedules that satisfy quality, quantity, and blending requirements, as well as satisfying truck and shovel hour constraints. Because of their relationship, material routing scheduling and equipment scheduling are conducted simultaneously.” Version 4.0 calculates truck hours based on the cycle time from each cut to each possible destination. It calculates shovel hours based on the load time and the number of trips for sending materials in each cut to each destination. Total truck and shovel operating costs are calculated and incorporated into cash flow calculations to satisfy net present value objectives.

During schedule calculation, truck and shovel hours, plus haulage costs, are calculated on the fly. “The integration of MSSO and MSHaulage provides a quantum leap forward in the capability of MSSO to produce realistic mining schedules,” said John Davies, President of Mintec, adding: “These improvements, and a host of other goodies in MSSO Version 4.0, mean short- and medium-term planners now have all the data they need in an attractive, highly responsive format. The 64-bit version of MSSO solves very high-end scheduling problems. If you ever ran out of memory in earlier versions of MSSO, you may want to try the 64-bit version.”