Advanced equipment scheduling, multi-lift scheduling, user-defined constraints and precedence rules, analysis reports and revamped dialogs are all part of MineSight Schedule Optimiser 7, just released by Mintec. Already a widely used software solution for mine planners worldwide, MSSO now offers “major new features and functionalities in both engines and interfaces.” Using MSSO’s multi-equipment set scheduling, planners can now vary equipment by material, and vary equipment by mining area, by phase, and by level.
Shovel dig rates and truck payloads can be varied by material, by mining area, by phase, by level, and by period. Shovel and truck availability (%), efficiency (%) and operating cost can be varied by period. Planners can create equipment sets by pairing shovel fleet with truck fleet and define the wait time, spot time, load time and dump for each equipment set. Different equipment sets can be used for moving materials out of pits, and out of stockpiles (such as reclaim). Using MSSO’s multi-lift scheduling, planners can now perform detailed haulage cost scheduling and evaluations. A dump or stockpile can have hundreds of lifts that are kilometres long. MSSO will fill the dump or stockpile lift by lift by honouring the lift tonnage and volume capacities, and the lift filling sequence. The in-lift cycle time (truck travel time from destination entry point to each dump point of each lift) will be taken into account when calculating the haulage cost. MSSO also provides planners with the option to ignore the in-lift scheduling. System templates and user-defined templates have been added to ARC (Advanced Reporting and Charting) analysis reports, which also feature equipment usage templates and the multi-lift filling report template.
Version 7 features user-defined precedence, true calendar (operating days and hours per period) scheduling, and improved advanced constraints, material mapping, and process flow configuration. “Planners can expect greater processing speed and performance”, according to Mintec, with both 32-bit and 64-bit operating systems, thanks to MSSO now incorporating the latest single-user runtime engine. “MineSight Schedule Optimiser is a truly integrated planning tool,” says Glenn Wylde, Mintec Vice President – Technical. “Together with MineSight Haulage and the soon-to-be released MineSight Atlas, that’s what makes MSSO so appealing to clients looking for a standardised scheduling approach – from long-term planning to short-term planning.” The release of MSSO 7 builds on the momentum created by this month’s earlier release of MineSight Implicit Modeler and the MineSight Reserve Engine.