Mining software group Mintec says that gridded surface files used to store elevation data for surfaces or other types of 2D gridded data are integral to an improved version of its MineSight Economic Planner. Version 3 of MineSight Economic Planner has been enhanced to store 200 pits in a single GSF file. An option has also been added to design up to 100 sequential pits using a price factor. Phase design options have been enhanced by adding the capability to design a starter pit of a specified size automatically. The AUTOP option for phase design has also been enhanced by adding options limiting not only the pushback width, but also the direction and face angle.

MineSight Economic Planner’s scheduling capability has also been improved. For a series of pits, schedules can be computed not only for the series of pits, but also for each pit individually mining top down. Schedules can be computed for each pit using all the smaller pits as pushbacks for both the base case, which assumes processing of all economic material, and the best case, which determines a cutoff grade strategy to maximise net present value (NPV). Charts and reports can be generated by periods for each schedule, and schedule summaries can be charted and compared by pits; while the interface features new options to import and export cost and slope parameters to ASCII files. A 64-bit, multithreaded version on MineSight Economic Planner is also available, which increases the speed of calculations and the amount of data processed.

MineSight Economic Planner is used by mining engineers tasked with designing mining sequences and generating life-of-mine schedules, including rapid evaluation of alternative plans to maximise NPV and is the initial MineSight tool applied to new open pit projects during the pre-feasibility and conceptual planning stages. It creates a practical and operational phase design. Geometric results from MineSight Economic Planner are used by the MineSight 3D Pit Expansion tool to design pits with ramps and berms.

Mintec, as part of its marketing program has also released a new MineSight product video that features MineSight Atlas, Implicit Modeler and Performance Manager, combining software footage and client testimonials. Mintec’s software experts also preview the products. “Atlas seems to me like a necessity,” says Abel Puerta’s Hochschild Mining in a testimonial for MineSight’s complete package for manual scheduling and stockpile blending. “I think it’s something that’s going to have a lot of potential,” says Norwest Corp’s Scott Braithwaite of MineSight Implicit Modeler, which rapidly builds models and grade shells directly from drillholes. “Mintec is putting a lot of stock into the development of these packages that benefit us in the work we do on a daily basis,” said Minera Cerro Verde’s Willy Mesa of the new products.