Tag Archives: Geobank

Micromine introduces cloud-based AI capabilities to software suite

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Micromine has revealed its 2024 release, saying the update comes with new features and enhancements across the company’s entire product suite, further underscoring its mission to deliver state-of-the-art technology to reshape the industry.

Kiril Alampieski, Micromine’s Chief Strategy and Product Officer, said: “Addressing the ever-evolving needs and requirements of our clients is the driving force behind our relentless focus on innovation to ensure the industry can achieve more by integrating technology within the client operational workflows and reducing data errors and productivity bottlenecks.”

Powered by the company’s cloud-native data sharing and collaboration tool, Micromine Nexus, the 2024 release introduced two significant features: Micromine Origin Copilot and Micromine Geobank Panorama, enhancing the company’s exploration solutions.

Alampieski said: “The ground-breaking feature, Micromine Origin Copilot, is poised to revolutionise geological and resource modelling. The cloud-based AI companion can process data categorised or quantified and employs advanced machine-learning techniques to craft thorough and robust models autonomously.

“Micromine Origin Copilot plays the role of a skilled ally, offering a supplementary perspective to support and authenticate conventional resource estimation methods, thereby empowering geologists with greater confidence and peace of mind in their models. This AI journey begins with grade modelling and will be implemented to other features throughout Micromine Origin and the wider Micromine ecosystem.”

Micromine Geobank’s Panorama feature also benefits from AI and cloud-computing assistance, able to automate the labour-intensive task of creating a seamless down-hole image from drill core imagery, the company says.

The company’s three mine planning solutions received updates for the 2024 release.

Micromine Alastri, the company says, expands on its industry-leading battery-electric haulage modelling capabilities. The functionality allows mine planners to analyse, validate and implement robust decarbonisation strategies that describe what the mine of the future looks like in practice.

Micromine Spry evolved with a broader set of tools and industry-leading visualisation to tackle the demands of modern coal and soft-rock mine planning head-on. The updates are designed to provide a better understanding of mine data and more straightforward methods to communicate results.

Micromine Beyond improves strategic scheduling with new pit optimisation and materials management capabilities. The new functionality builds more confidence and certainty when developing life-of-mine plans.

Alampieski said: “Micromine’s mine planning and scheduling tools are engineered to meet the needs of mine planners at each planning horizon and primary mining method. The 2024 release is future-focused, delivering precise and dependable outcomes for today’s mine planners.”

Lastly, Micromine’s mine production, control and fleet management solution, Micromine Pitram, adds significant improvements, making it easier to track shift progress and gain valuable insights, as well as reducing time spent on data extraction and manipulation.

MICROMINE to reveal mining software latest at Diggers & Dealers

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MICROMINE is set to reveal a host of new features to its flagship products at this year’s Diggers & Dealers Mining Forum, in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, as the mining software leader lifts the lid on its latest software innovations.

“This year, we are excited to be providing on-site demonstrations of our upcoming release of Micromine 2021,” Adam Brew, MICROMINE Australia Manager, said. “Our principal Micromine consultant will provide an early pre-release insight to the new features which have been added to our core product, as well as a new user interface, designed to enrich the daily experience for users and improve how they drive outcomes from the software.”

MICROMINE will also be showcasing the updates made to its flagship mine production and fleet tracking solution, Pitram, with an interactive presentation on its booth, it said. Pitram 5, the latest release coming at the end of this year, positions itself at the “core of your mine’s ecosystem”, delivering more value from its machine-learning capabilities, materials management, shift planning and data validation, the company said.

A technical team will be demonstrating the company’s software solutions, which also includes Geobank, and answering questions at the event, taking place on October 12-14.

“As a WA-founded company, it is great to unveil our latest achievements on home turf,” David Bartlett, Principal Micromine Consultant, said. “Visitors won’t be disappointed as we’ll be showcasing our latest releases. We’ve got a surprise up our sleeves too – with a sneak peek of something new coming later this year but you have to visit the stand for an invitation to find out more.

“We’ve been exhibiting at Diggers & Dealers for over a decade and it’s a great opportunity for the industry to see first-hand the next generation tools being developed using advanced technology to optimise their operations and profitability.”

MICROMINE now has offices in 18 of the world’s mining capitals, and its software is being used by miners and explorers on 2,000 sites in 90 countries around the world, according to the company.

“While COVID-19 has meant a lot of changes to the global mining and exploration industry, the industry is steaming ahead in Western Australia and we are excited to be part of this showcase for Australian innovation and achievement,” Chris Higgins, Pitram Strategy Manager, said. “It’s a great opportunity for all the key players in the industry to come together to network, share their news and insights and experience the latest products and innovations, including the latest technologies coming from MICROMINE.”

MICROMINE will be demonstrating the latest version of its 3D modelling and mine design solution – Micromine 2021 – with new and improved tools for modelling, estimation, design, optimisation and scheduling, it said.

Also being showcased is Geobank 2020 – revealing how enhancements to the popular geological data management software are adding value to geologists and mining engineers by making data management simpler and more efficient.

Whitehaven Coal looks to MICROMINE’s Geobank software to find more coal

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MICROMINE’s geological data management system, Geobank, has extended its presence in Australia’s coal mining sector by securing a contract with Whitehaven Coal, according to the mining software solutions provider.

One of Australia’s largest independent coal producers, Whitehaven Coal, has implemented Geobank across all of its projects in New South Wales and Queensland, MICROMINE said. The company produced 16 Mt of coal in 2018, contributing to record Australian coal export results.

Geobank is a geological data management software solution that provides a flexible and efficient environment for capturing, validating and managing data, according to MICROMINE.

MICROMINE Senior Geobank Data Management Specialist, Ibo Mango, said Geobank provided an important tool for coal miners to hone, manage and direct their exploration and production processes.

“Geobank helps companies of all sizes to better record, access, review, integrate and utilise their essential geological data,” Mango said. “Problems with inaccurate data are often invisible. Loss of data, poor accessibility or quality control issues can cost millions of dollars and cause inaccurate decision making, especially in a high-yield sector like coal.”

As a strong player in the Australia coal mining industry, and with a major expansion project underway, Whitehaven Coal procured Geobank to provide a robust, flexible data management solution, MICROMINE says. Geobank has adapted to suit Whitehaven’s specific work flow requirements, including data collection, validation and depth adjustment, browsing and advanced reporting needs.

“Geobank’s fully customisable solution provided Whitehaven with extended functionality designed specifically for their exploration and mining needs. Geobank provides specialised utilities for displaying and managing drillhole data,” Mango said.

Geobank also integrates the Australian CoalLog Standard, which was introduced in 2012. Before CoalLog, around 30 different data formats and over 100 different data code translation tables were used in the capture of geological and geotechnical data, which led to major inefficiencies in the collection, transfer, and analysis of coal borehole data.

Members of MICROMINE’s Geobank team played a role in the development of CoalLog and ensured its integration into Geobank’s suite of products.

MICROMINE’s Whitehouse to explore machine learning in exploration at APCOM 2019

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MICROMINE says machine learning has the potential to transform mineral exploration, and the company’s Ian Whitehouse intends to discuss just how at the upcoming APCOM 2019 conference, in Poland.

More than 500 delegates from across the globe are expected to travel to Wroclaw, in June, to discover the latest developments in the application of technology in the mineral industry at the 39th Application of Computers and Operations Research in the Mineral Industry (APCOM) conference.

Whitehouse, MICROMINE’s Geobank Product Strategy Manager, will be a keynote speaker at the symposium, which has the theme “Mining Goes Digital”.

Whitehouse said the application of machine learning to the process of collecting and analysing geological data in mineral exploration has the “potential to transform the way explorers operate”. He will delve into just how during his “Transforming Exploration Data Through Machine Learning” presentation on June 6.

“By adding machine learning to the process of collecting and analysing geological data, we vastly reduce the time a geologist spends doing administration work, enabling more time to concentrate on the quality and analysis of the data collected,” he said.

“This type of offering creates opportunity to lower exploration costs and increase the amount of data that can be collected, which are key drivers of the mining industry and will contribute to more exploration projects being approved.”

The traditional process of plan – drill – observe – measure – analyse, can be inefficient, and the application of technology and machine learning can address common issues such as inconsistent data collection and categorisation, Whitehouse said.

“In the exploration industry it is very common to find that one geologist has classified a rock and the next has classified it as something different. This has huge complications when trying to model the data. However, machine-learning algorithms can be used to fix these inconsistencies and errors in the databases prior to the resource geologist working with the data.”

Machine learning can be tapped by the resources industry to streamline geological processes, such as cleansing and validating data prior to starting the modelling process, according to MICROMINE.

Whitehouse said high quality DSLR cameras can provide a tool for exploration companies to collect high-quality imagery of core and chip trays, with machine-learning algorithms able to recognise features in the images.

“It is feasible for this data to be automatically collected and stored in a database,” he said.

To illustrate the power of machine learning, MICROMINE has built an algorithm to determine and map the spatial extents of core imagery in a core tray photo. The application of this technology will result in the reduction of man-hours required to manually review and analyse core tray photography, the company said.

MICROMINE is incorporating machine learning into its solutions, with the results of the research project leading to the functionality being incorporated into the Geobank data management solution, enabling core tray images to be transferred into the database and displayed in Geobank drill-hole trace along with other downhole data, the company said.

MICROMINE’s presentation is part of APCOM’s technical program, which is presented within six streams: Geostatistics and Resource Estimation; Mine Planning; Scheduling and Dispatch; Mine Operation in Digital Transformation; Emerging Technologies and Robotics in Mining; and Synergies from Other Industries.

Whitehouse will be joined by around 100 international presenters from science and industry at the three-day APCOM conference (June 4-6).

You can read more about the event here.

International Mining is a media partner for APCOM 2019.

Micromine, Geobank and Pitram to come under PDAC 2019 spotlight

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MICROMINE says attendees at the upcoming Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada Convention (PDAC) in Toronto, Ontario, will be able to witness software demonstrations for Micromine 2018 and Geobank 2018, while also hearing about its artificial intelligence and machine learning initiatives for Pitram 2019.

All three solutions have been developed on the back of extensive consultation with MICROMINE’s key clients from across the globe, the company said.

The mining software provider has exhibited at PDAC for eight years and says it has experienced, first-hand, the growth, stature and influence of the conference over the years.

Amelie St-Onge, Regional Manager MICROMINE Canada, said: “Many exciting things happened for the company since last year’s conference, and we are proud and excited to share these news as well as information on our upcoming releases with our clients and with the mining community.”

Specialists attending the conference from March 3-6 include Technical Product Manager for Micromine, Frank Bilki; Regional Manager for Canada, Amelie St-Onge; Technical Pre-Sales for Pitram, Chris Hunt; Training & Support Consultant for Micromine, Liam Murphy; Technical & Support Consultant for Micromine/Geobank, Caleb Birchard; Business Development Manager, Jeremy Pestun; Business Development Manager, Joel Jeangrand, and; Regional Marketing Coordinator, Maryam Abbaszadeh.

Geobank is a data management solution that helps mining and exploration companies maintain the quality, integrity and usability of their essential data, according to MICROMINE. Geobank 2018 includes a range of features and enhancements including a new and improved user interface, Global Substitution Parameters and increased functionality when designing or editing Graphic Reports.

Micromine, the company’s 3D modelling and mine design solution, is due a new release in the December quarter of 2019. This is set to include a range of new features and enhancements that increase the overall usability and performance of the software, according to MICROMINE.

MICROMINE said: “While the initial look and feel of Micromine 2020 will be the same, the new version will come with some new features, these include:

  • “New charting tools for Geostaticians; swath plots, boundary analysis, QKNA, top cut analysis, multiple charts, and ternary charts;
  • “New unfolding tool for model interpolation – Micromine has long been considered the #1 product for un-folding complex orebodies for interpolation and our new unfolding tool takes this to the next level allowing us to model more complex orebodies, more rapidly;
  • “New Stope Optimiser which will enable engineers to design optimal stope shapes based on economic and design constraints from a block model;
  • “Improved scheduler; the existing Scheduler module has had significant improvements made to it for MM2020. A new Gantt chart and the ability to schedule auxiliary tasks are important but the biggest change will be the ability to use Gurobi to solve the schedule. Gurobi is the world leader in schedule optimisation solving and its integration with Micromine Scheduler will enable engineers to schedule larger, more complex problems, and;
  • “Enhancements to Implicit Modelling and Pit Optimiser modules.”

MICROMINE is also releasing new underground mining precision software to refine and enhance loading and haulage processes as part of its Pitram solution in early 2019.

“This new offering will see the introduction of Artificial intelligence to take loading and haulage automation in underground mines to a new level,” MICROMINE said. “Utilising the processes of computer vision and deep machine learning, on-board cameras are placed on loaders to track variables such as loading time, hauling time, dumping time and travelling empty time. The video feed is processed on the Pitram vehicle computer edge device, the extracted information is then transferred to Pitram servers for processing and analyses.”

A timely update from mine software solutions provider Micromine

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As the New Year begins, Micromine is reminding mining companies to update their software to avoid potential cyber-security breaches, data loss, system integration issues and operational downtime in 2019.

The reminder comes on the back of Micromine’s release of new versions of Geobank and Micromine in 2018, which delivered a range of new productivity tools features and data security enhancements on both the exploration and mine design and geological data management solutions.

It also comes in the same week mining and metals processing company Nyrstar was hit by a cyber attack.

Micromine Chief Technology Officer, Ivan Zelina, said: “Software updates are often overlooked as they are not as visible as other business processes, but the value of new software versions should not be underestimated in our current, highly digitalised mining environment.

“Investing in software, but not upgrading it, is like buying a new car but never getting it serviced – you simply won’t get the best out of it.”

Potential risks and issues of not upgrading software, according to Micromine, include:

  • Security – all software and saved files become vulnerable to hacking and cyber crimes over time. Developers like Micromine proactively identify and address security threats, holes and bugs in new software versions;
  • Compatibility – many different technology systems and platforms are used simultaneously, which means older versions of software can be slow or not configure properly when integrated with other, newer platforms. As new technology emerges, it’s important that systems remain compatible. For example, Geobank Mobile integrates with the latest magnetic susceptibility devices, barcode readers, GPS, in-built and external cameras and more;
  • Inefficiency – new features and enhancements exist in updated software to make it easier to use, faster and more effective. Micromine invests significantly into continuous research and development to ensure clients enjoy intuitive, feature-rich functionality and interpretive capabilities with each upgrade;
  • Support – older software versions are often not supported as developers focus on improvements to enhance client outcomes. Users operating on outdated versions can waste time and energy on workarounds or lost time addressing issues.
  • People – by providing staff with the latest, innovative software tools, mining companies are more likely to attract and retain the best talent. It provides employees with the opportunity to learn and apply new techniques to problem solving whilst increasing their knowledge and skills.

To ensure clients can easily manage software upgrades, Micromine offers an annual licence programme for Geobank and Micromine.

The company said: “After paying a one-off annual fee, clients receive unlimited software upgrades and patches, complimentary new version training and participation in software beta programs and focus groups.”

Micromine and Imdex team up to make geologists’ jobs easier

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Micromine has announced a partnership with Australia’s Imdex, where the former’s Geobank platform will integrate directly with the latter’s REFLEX IQ-LOGGER™ core logging technology.

Micromine said the integration enables “quality, reliable structural data by ensuring optimised and auditable workflows, QA/QC protocols and data integrity, while providing a seamless and user-friendly software interface”. The integration will enhance Geobank’s capabilities in both exploration and product environments, according to Micromine.

The REFLEX IQ-LOGGER handheld structural logging device can be rolled along the orientation line on diamond core, automatically recording depth and structural measurements at the press of a button. The data can be used for a better understanding of the orientation of ore controlling structures.

“The solution negates the excessive time required for logging, while the digital transfer of structural measurements provides a reliable digital audit trail. The inbuilt data verification capability, via immediate stereonet projection, ensures orientations are accurate and reliable,” Micromine said.

Micromine said the Geobank development team saw the integration as a “key strategic direction” for the product.

Geobank Product Strategy Manager Mark Gabbitus said: “Integrating with the IMDEX REFLEX IQ-LOGGER allows geologists to view and manage data in Geobank at the time of collection, reducing the effort required to merge data later. It also allows the data to be presented to the geologist in the field as they are working instead of weeks later.

“This gives the geologist the ability to make near real time decisions that add value to a drilling programme.”

The additional benefit of the integration is that all readings and measurements are automatically uploaded to the master database where they are merged with the laboratory assay results to produce a full geoscientific database for use in 3D modelling software, such as Micromine.

Nick Payne, IMDEX’s Global Product Manager – Structural IQ, said: “Our aim is to make the job of geologists easier and to improve real-time decision making. This integration serves both those ends.”

In addition to the IMDEX integration, Geobank is also able to connect to magnetic susceptibility devices, barcode readers, GPS, scale devices and on-board cameras.