Highly anticipated multi-period scheduling is at the heart of MineSight Schedule Optimizer 8.0, just released by Mintec. The company says “Version 8’s unique features give MineSight the edge when it comes to multi-period scheduling.” Mintec President, John Davies said “MSSO Version 8 is a huge release for our customers, who have eagerly anticipated multi-period scheduling. Together with more recent improvements, plus integration with the new MineSight Atlas, MSSO is a formidable product in the hands of mine planners worldwide.” The improvements include the following:

• Support multi-period and period-by-period
• Support global optimisation (entire period window), and sub period windows (for example, you can group the first five periods together, then every two periods together after that)
• Support sliding period window
• Support stockpile FIFO/LIFO/Any reclaim methods in both multi-period and period-by-period
• Support all the constraints that have been supported in period-by-period scheduling.

Mintec recently added a non-fallible scheduling option (available for MSSO-Extended only) to MSSO. If no feasible solution can be obtained, MSSO will automatically relax some constraints in order to get a solution.

Planners can vary their fixed mining cost by mining area, by phase, by bench, by material and by period. MSSO also now includes the ability to vary stockpile reclaim cost by destination, by material and by period. Mill processing costs and selling price can be varied in the same fashion. An improved calculation engine, integrated workflow, better reporting, charting and visualization, and a more user-friendly graphic interface are also part of the recent upgrades.

Together with the release of MineSight Atlas – a complete package for manual scheduling and stockpile blending – and further enhancements to MineSight Haulage, MSSO is now an integrated planning tool for clients needing a standardised approach to scheduling.