Tag Archives: mine planning

OceanaGold on the benefits of data-driven transformation

Automation, Communications in mining, Equipment maintenance, IoT, Mining equipment, Mining maintenance, Mining people, Mining safety, Mining services, Mining software, Power supply for mines, Sustainable mining, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

With a Vancouver-based headquarters and operational mines in the Philippines, the US and New Zealand, access to – and sharing of – data for decision making is critical for the optimisation of OceanaGold’s various operations and processes. It is also proving equally important for the company’s pursuit of recruitment and upskilling.

OceanaGold’s vision is to be a company people trust, want to work and partner with, supply and invest in, to create value. This vision comes alongside a plan to grow its gold production from 460,000-480,000 oz, to 580,000-600,000 oz in 2025, all while lowering its all-in sustaining costs.

Data is playing an increasingly important role in achieving this vision, with the company having invested heavily in digital and networking technology in the last few years.

For example, the company has made investments in industrial Wi-Fi across its operations – at the Golden Point underground mine (part of the Macraes operaton in New Zealand), Didipio (Philippines) and Haile (USA) – to improve access to data and company systems.

Michelle Du Plessis, Chief People & Technology Officer, told IM: “This investment is improving operational efficiency by reducing the need for people to leave operational areas of the mine to access data and systems.

“This also enables more of our equipment to be operated more safely and remotely.”

And remote operation of equipment has been growing with the installation of these network backbones, with teleremote underground drilling, loading and hauling in place at Golden Point with Sandvik fleets, plus teleremote loading and hauling – with Sandvik AutoMine®-equipped LH517is and TH551is – occurring at Haile.

There are also plans to switch to teleremote operations from a surface cabin at the Didipio underground mine.

The company is completing the real-time data process loop, with tablet-based mine operation control software – Digital Terrain’s Simbio solution – being implemented at all of its underground operations to, Du Plessis says, more accurately and effectively control underground mine planning based on what is happening in the mine at that time.

At the Horseshoe underground mine at Haile, the newest underground mine within the group, the company is also using digital and data platforms for its mine planning and short interval control systems, with the API-enabled integration coming into the Snowflake cloud-based ecosystem.

Du Plessis says these platforms are fully integrated with shift plans uploaded onto tablets and updated digitally if plans change through the shift.

On surface at the Macraes open-pit operation in New Zealand, the company is also working on the effective digital transfer of data, having recently migrated away from an older version of the Cat® MineStar™ Fleet FMS to MineSense for Miners’ (MS4M) FMS. “The main benefits were more accurate management of the fleet in terms of efficiency and maintenance planning,” Du Plessis explained of this change.

On surface at the Macraes open-pit operation in New Zealand, OceanaGold is now using MineSense for Miners’ (MS4M) FMS

Data access and availability is having a positive impact on operational productivity at OceanaGold’s operations, as well as enabling the company to confront the skills shortage it and every mining company is facing at the moment.

Du Plessis said: “At OceanaGold, we are taking a systematic and multi-pronged approach to skills development across the talent lifecycle. This guides the way we prepare our workforce for the future opportunities by building the data and technology capabilities across the company.

“We also have a distributed operational footprint, which allows us to draw on, and foster, talent in multiple jurisdictions and we can take advantage of workforce mobility between the operations.”

Some of the company’s operations are in regions where mining is not the major employer, and there are plenty of people with skills but no mining-specific experience. With OceanaGold prioritising a residential workforce and local employment over fly-in, fly-out options, skills development is crucial for resourcing its operations.

“To help us develop these skills and provide people an opportunity to build a career and have sustainable employment in mining, we partner with experienced training providers and contract mining companies,” Du Plessis explained.

For example, in the Philippines, OceanaGold has partnered with Site WorkReady (Philippines) Pty Ltd to use the Site Skills Training Center in Clark Pampanga. This facility allows the company to train new employees to work in an underground mining environment, with a focus on safety. “We are also looking at the opportunity to extend this partnership to include additional skills, such as automotive and heavy diesel mechanics, to continue to upskill our local workforce,” Du Plessis said.

In South Carolina, where the company has recently commenced mining from the new Horseshoe underground mine, OceanaGold has engaged Redpath Mining Inc in a similar skills development role.

“In addition to their mining contract, Redpath provide training and resources to develop the underground mining skills of the local workforce, allowing us to transition to a full owner-operator model over time,” Du Plessis explained.

The company has also invested in an underground training simulator at the operation, offering potential recruits exposure to the underground environment and building the operating skills of new trainees.

Micromine introduces cloud-based AI capabilities to software suite

IoT, Mining services, Mining software, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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.

RPMGlobal launches ‘next generation’ mine scheduling solution

Automation, Mining services, Mining software, , , , , , ,

RPMGlobal has leveraged its XPAC mine scheduling engine to develop what it says is a next generation mine scheduling solution in the form of RPM MinePlanner.

RPM MinePlanner is built on the foundation of XPAC, the world’s most utilised mine scheduling engine, RPM claims. This scheduling engine has been continually refined for over 40 years and is used globally across virtually every commodity and mining method. MinePlanner combines all of those mining methods and commodity types into one single enterprise package, it explains.

MinePlanner includes a complete core redesign of the scheduling engine that underpins the product. The release introduces Smart Scheduling, a heuristic-based scheduling engine that combines automated, manual and hybrid approaches and tools. Smart Scheduling provides a streamlined user experience and adds flexibility by, RPM says, eliminating restrictions on the scheduling methodology being used at any point of the schedule.

David Batkin, RPMGlobal’s Executive General Manager of Product Strategy, said the design team was tasked with simplifying the product without compromising sophistication and capabilities.

“RPM MinePlanner takes the complicated mine planning process and simplifies it so engineers can focus on generating value,” he said. “The team has provided more sophistication within the product while making it easier to use.”

Unlike many other scheduling tools, MinePlanner has advanced heuristics fully integrated into the product, RPM says. It can be used for any commodity and is 100% script free. This sophisticated package includes reserving, dump and destination scheduling, equipment modelling, haulage modelling, product optimisation and reporting all rolled into one integrated mine scheduling solution. The smarts of MinePlanner really come to the fore when the scheduling engine is run as all components are considered in parallel rather than in series, the company says.

Reporting also gets a major upgrade with the introduction of live reporting always in sync with the scheduling engine.

According to Batkin, reporting is its most valuable when you are in the middle of making scheduling decisions, so having live reporting ensures the right information is available as and when needed. Being able to see the results of each scheduling change without the need to re-run the schedule provides significant advantages and time savings.

The inclusion of “Breakpoint Scheduling”, which RPM says it pioneered in 2021, has been strengthened significantly with the addition of live reporting. Users now get immediate feedback on current scheduling results every time a breakpoint is reached.

Another new feature of MinePlanner is “Schedule Locking”. Schedule locking allows the user to lock portions of the schedule they are finished with, avoiding the need to reschedule when refining future periods, the company explains. Schedule locking significantly reduces the time needed to complete a schedule by eliminating unnecessary reprocessing of scheduling periods that have already been successfully scheduled.

Batkin concluded: “During our 40 years as the market leader in mine scheduling we have seen copycats come and go, however this evolution of the product will be extremely difficult to replicate given both the architecture and functionality advances.”

BEUMER Group and FAM ‘the right project partner for all challenges’, Hotz says

Bulk handling, Equipment maintenance, Mineral processing, Mining equipment, Mining mergers and acquisitions, Mining safety, Mining services, Water management, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

In June, BEUMER Group completed the acquisition of the FAM Group of Magdeburg, Germany, in the process, increasing its conveyor system and loading technology offering and becoming a significant player in the in-pit crushing and conveying (IPCC) space.

Close to six months after closing, IM put some questions to Stefan Hotz, Director Sales FAM Group, to find out how the integration of the two companies is going and how the transaction should strengthen the enlarged company’s market position in the minerals and mining sectors.

IM: Where – regionally – do you see the most opportunities in the mining sector for the integrated company to gain market share? South America has been a particularly strong market for FAM in the past; do you see this as a big opportunity for the integrated group?

SH: FAM – member of BEUMER Group – is one of the world’s leading full-range suppliers of bulk handling and processing systems. The customers come from more than 80 countries and the solutions are successfully in use everywhere. With BEUMER’s acquisition of the FAM Group, we were able to expand our portfolio to include bulk material handling, crushing technology as well as conveyor technology. Customers receive solutions from a single source with which they can work efficiently. In addition to engineering and project execution competences, FAM also brings the complete value chain, including after-sales service, to the BEUMER Group. This makes us a sought-after partner worldwide.

Of course, South America is a strong market, especially countries with iron ore and copper resources such as Brazil, Chile and Peru. For example, in Peru, the mining companies are transporting iron ore to the stockyards, which are often located at distances of several kilometres from the port. Callao Port, for example, is home to the most modern and largest ship loading terminal in the country. A reliable and safe connection for material transport is required, which at the same time ideally prevents the emission of particles into the atmosphere. Conveyors are the preferred solution here that can be individually adapted to the respective environmental and technical requirements and to the topography, as well as protect the environment from dust emissions.

IM: Are you expecting to increase your manufacturing capacity or acquire new premises to fulfil this demand, or do you have enough capacity to serve these growing markets in the near-to-medium term?

SH: The FAM Group has subsidiaries in Brazil, Chile, China, Canada and India. In addition, there are the numerous subsidiaries and agencies of the BEUMER Group. This means that we are very well positioned worldwide and can optimally serve these growing markets in the short to medium term. In our project business it’s a must to be, on the one hand, close to our customers but, on the other hand, using our global resource network and know-how to balance workloads. But, of course, we expand the network of our subsidiaries if we notice that we cannot serve certain regions with the desired reliability.

IM: Is the company already pursuing mining projects that involve the solutions/expertise of FAM and BEUMER Group? Can you elaborate on what type of projects these are and what solutions they involve (ie overland conveyors, bucketwheel excavators, spreaders, etc)?

SH: Yes, we are already in the process to support our mining clients from one hand, integrating FAM and BEUMER solutions. For example, we are working on one large project for gold extraction, where BEUMER is providing the long-distance overland conveyor and FAM supports the client with spreader technology to dump overburden. We have combined this with an attractive digitalisation and service package to ensure optimisation of the client’s total cost of ownership.

IM: With this transaction the company has effectively become a major player in the IPCC space. Do you see this as a major growth area for BEUMER Group going forward?

SH: In general, with this new setup, we expand our product portfolio and we are significantly strengthening our market position worldwide, especially in the field of large-scale mining equipment. But the most important thing is that we can provide our customers with even more comprehensive support over the whole value chain from pit to port, including digitalisation and service for our projects. Due to our many years of experience, we also support our clients in complex upgrade, lifetime extension and refurbishment jobs for existing machines. This means we avoid interfaces and customers now have only one contact.

IM: Do you see your ability to offer not only the solutions but also the engineering and design expertise underpinning these solutions as differentiating your offering from your competitors in the IPCC market? What other differentiators will serve you well in winning business in this market?

SH: I don’t want to say much about our market competitors, but I am sure that together with FAM we stand out positively from the market, specifically for continuous soft rock and overburden IPCC applications. Furthermore, we have long-term partners with whom we are serving the needs of our clients in terms of mine planning and pre-engineering. This ensures that we are defining  a solution for the client with a focus on CAPEX and OPEX optimisation. Specifically for IPCC applications, we are convinced of adding value during the first months of operation by providing integrated training and service packages to ensure successful implementation of continuous mining systems after commissioning. In doing so, the specialism is characterised in particular by distinctive engineering at a high level.

IM: What other areas of your business do you see growing with the need for mining companies to move away from their reliance on diesel-powered mobile mining equipment for material transport? Are you seeing more interest in your overland conveyor portfolio, for instance?

SH: Our belt conveyor systems are used successfully all over the world. They solve complex transport problems for any bulk material and are suitable in many cases as an economic alternative to truck transport. While the basic task – to transport bulk materials from the mine to the final discharge point – appears very comparable, no two systems are alike. The range of potential materials to be conveyed, alone, requires individual consideration of the components to be used in terms of wear resistance or the maximum permissible gradients of a conveyor. In addition, above all, the mass flow to be transported and the height to be overcome determine the dimensioning of the drive unit of an overland conveyor. Plants at high altitudes pose a further challenge. At altitudes above 4,000 m, as is often the case in the Andes for example, it must be taken into account that the air pressure and, thus, the density of the air decreases with increasing altitude. This reduces both the cooling effect and the insulating capacity of the air. We are the right project partner for all these challenges.

Hexagon’s Mining division updates mine planning software suite

Mining services, Mining software, , , , , , , , , ,

Hexagon’s Mining division has added to the capabilities of its mine planning software, HxGN MinePlan, with a new release that, it says, brings new functionality to MinePlan 3D, MinePlan Schedule Optimizer and MinePlan Project Evaluator, along with vast improvements in performance and speed.

MinePlan 3D is the hub of all Hexagon’s mine planning tools and activities, with the latest release improving performance and responding to customer feedback, the company said.

The new reserves engine is now integrated into the Autoslicer tool, allowing users to select between legacy and new reserve logic setups to slice by tonnes as a target. This allows users to quickly generate shapes to help meet planning requirements.

The new reserves engine can be used in the Pit Expander, enabling users to select between legacy and new reserve logic setups to run bench reserves while designing a pit. Audit pit reserves during the design process, meanwhile, ensure best design and comparison with strategic pit optimization.

MinePlan Schedule Optimizer (MPSO) ensures optimal scheduling with great detail, with Hexagon enabling mid-range planning and hybrid scheduling, combining optimal and manual scheduling.

Block Schedule Coding is a new feature which allows users to code back MPSO period and destination schedule results to the block model. This reconciles optimisation and operational models and assists in pre-targeting material for short-range planning and grade control.

Shovel Control (screenshot, pictured) assigns shovels to areas, phases, benches and cuts in advanced constraints. Users can limit the number of shovels applied to a given cut per period. This will help generate more operational schedules by controlling shovel allocation and movement, the company says.

Improved with speed and greater performance, MinePlan Project Evaluator ensures a user’s long-term plan starts with an economically optimised shell.

The ability to skip invalid cases in a task with multiple runs allows multi-case runs to continue regardless of invalid cases, and without the need to monitor process time, the company says.

Users can also now limit their pit optimisation by an existing surface, speeding up run time for optimisation as fewer blocks will need to be analysed.

Sandvik to acquire Deswik and form new Digital Mining Technologies division

Automation, IoT, Mining equipment, Mining mergers and acquisitions, Mining software, Sustainable mining, , , , , , , ,

Sandvik has signed an agreement to acquire Deswik, a provider of mine planning software, with plans for the Australia-based company to be part of a newly formed Digital Mining Technologies division within the Sandvik Mining and Rock Solutions business area. 

By acquiring Deswik, Sandvik gains a top-tier supplier of integrated software platforms that, it says, support digitalisation throughout mine planning stages, with more than 10,000 current licences.

Deswik has a high quality customer base, and its strong profitable growth and low customer churn will further enhance Sandvik’s presence within software and digitalisation, and help accelerate growth, the company added.

“I am very pleased that we continue to execute on our shift to growth strategy, and continue to broaden our offering with digital solutions that increase productivity in the customer’s value chain,” Stefan Widing, President and CEO of Sandvik, said. “Mine planning and operations management is a key growth opportunity, and this complementary acquisition and our new Digital Mining Technologies division will strengthen our digital offering and enable us to provide customers a more comprehensive suite of technologies.”

Deswik will fill a value chain gap in Sandvik Mining and Rock Solutions’ offering, increasing upstream mining coverage and enabling opportunities for end-to-end optimisation solutions, including, for example, incorporating electrification at the mine planning stage, the company explained. Its core software suite includes computer-aided 3D mine design, scheduling, operations planning, mining data management and geological mapping. Deswik also offers a range of consultancy services, including mine planning, scoping, software implementation and training support.

Henrik Ager, President of Sandvik Mining and Rock Solutions, added: “Deswik’s second-to-none software suite combined with Sandvik’s digital and automation offering creates a clear world leader in digital solutions for the mining industry. Combining Deswik’s skills in mine planning and scheduling with our equipment and automation expertise will open new opportunities for optimising our customers’ mining value chain.” 

Deswik will form one of three cornerstones in the newly–created Digital Mining Technologies division, established to, the company says, accelerate the execution of Sandvik Mining and Rock Solutions’ strategic priority to lead the industry development of underground sustainability and productivity solutions in electrification, automation, digitalisation and end-to-end optimisation. The new division also includes Sandvik Mining and Rock Solutions automation solutions and the Newtrax telemetry and collision avoidance solutions.

Privately-owned Deswik, established in 2008 and headquartered in Brisbane, has approximately 300 employees and operates 14 offices in 10 countries. Deswik’s revenue as of October 2021, on a rolling 12-month basis, totalled A$79 million ($56 million), of which the share of recurring revenue was approximately 45%, and with an EBITA margin of approximately 30%.

The transaction is expected to close during the March quarter of 2022, subject to relevant regulatory approvals. Sandvik estimates that transaction costs of approximately SEK50 million ($5.5 million) in total will impact Sandvik Mining and Rock Solutions in the December quarter.

RPMGlobal looks for increased XPAC, IMAFS market share with supported language adds

Mining services, Mining software, , , , ,

RPMGlobal says it has expanded the reach of its industry-leading planning and scheduling software, XPAC Solutions, adding Chinese to the list of supported languages.

XPAC commodity-based solutions support multiple mining methods for both open pit and underground operations including metals mines, bulk commodities, oil sands, diamonds, potash and quarrying.

Building on a recent major upgrade that marked the introduction of hybrid scheduling, the latest releases of XPAC Solutions is focused on supporting the increasing user base with additional language support features, the company said.

The mine planning solution now supports five languages (English, French, Spanish, Russian and Chinese) across its commodity-specific mining software suite.

These language enhancements come as the company’s client base continues to expand, with the latest language compatibility upgrade designed to strengthen Chinese operations using the software, according to the company.

David Batkin, RPMGlobal’s Executive Manager, Product Strategy, said: “With the rapid growth of our solution footprint, we are committed to ensuring we invest in true internationalisation, helping our global customer base maximise the value they receive from our solutions”.

RPMGlobal has also added language support for its newly acquired inventory optimisation management software tool, IMAFS. IMAFS is an inventory management and forecasting software solution that uses proprietary artificial intelligence algorithms to greatly improve inventory management, the company says.

In the latest release of IMAFS, the product now supports three languages (Spanish, Portuguese and Russian), ensuring the product’s customer base has a “seamless user experience in regions speaking those languages”, it said.

Other enhancements to IMAFS include a new user interface, making it easier than before to use the software, along with improved visualisation of frequency, usage multiples and lead times.

Commenting on the addition of the new language support, Batkin said the company prides itself on offering comprehensive global multi-lingual support for its products that meets the needs of its global customer base.

“Along with further advancements to our mining software, we anticipate the expansion of more language offerings across our software suite to ensure we are delivering enhanced value to our global customer base,” he said.

RPMGlobal says its software offering is deployed all over the world and is supported by 24 offices globally.

RPMGlobal seeks to align short- and long-term mine planning with Attain

Communications in mining, IoT, Mining services, Mining software, , , ,

RPMGlobal has broadened its software optimisation suite with the launch of Attain, a solution that, the company says, helps mine planners maintain alignment between their long-term and short-term production schedules and improve the net present value (NPV) of their operations.

The company explained: “The dynamic nature of mining operations creates a high degree of uncertainty across many different elements. Unexpected events often arise which require mine planners to reschedule their mine plan. Should the short-term mine plan deviate too far off course from the long-term plan then value can be eroded by the failure to achieve the strategic long-term goals.”

Attain is a software solution that solves the challenge of mine planning horizon misalignment by ensuring operational mine planning is systematically aligned with the long-term plan, resulting in optimised short-term schedules and improved NPV, RPMGlobal claims.

Once a schedule becomes misaligned with the longer-term plan, Attain will produce feasible, optimised short-range schedules aligned with the long-range schedule. These alternatives are offered to the mine planner who is then able to review and selects the preferred short-range schedule.

Attain targets the two-to-six-month planning horizon and builds a short-term schedule that considers the actual results to-date while maintaining alignment with the long-term plan, it says.

“With a highly intuitive user interface, the user simply selects their preferred long-term plan which then becomes Attain’s optimisation objective,” RPMGlobal added.

RPMGlobal Chief Executive Officer, Richard Mathews, said: “Short-term planners are always reacting to events that cause a deviation from the mine plan but they often don’t have a way of knowing what the unintended consequences of the resulting re-planning decisions are on the life of the mine.

“With Attain, users can make informed decisions while adjusting the short-term plan knowing that the long-term plan objectives are being met. Attain complements all mine planning tools and processes that mining operations use.”

Mathews said the team were excited to launch the Attain solution to the market and would be seeking feedback from early adopters to prioritise future development.

EY addresses Americas mining and metals company needs with new Centre of Excellence

Environmental, IoT, Mining services, Power supply for mines, Sustainable mining, Water management, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

EY Canada has announced the launch of an EY Americas Mining and Metals Centre of Excellence that, it says, will offer companies across the Americas access to cutting-edge services and innovation-led solutions that meet the most pressing needs of mining and metals businesses, today and in the future.

“Post-COVID-19 investments in infrastructure, combined with demand to sustain the energy transition, will drive significant growth in the mining and metals sector over the next three to five years,” Theo Yameogo, EY Americas Mining and Metals Leader and the man leading the centre’s charge, said. “But capitalising on these opportunities is going to require a major pivot – and we want to be there to support companies as they navigate the path forward. While working cross-collaboratively with our colleagues in the Americas to combine our business and technical expertise with emerging technologies, the centre will ground us under one unified vision to help companies drive meaningful and long-term growth.”

Powered by EY wavespaceTM, the centre’s integrated, business-led and technology-enabled approach will, EY says, support the growth ambitions of mining and metals companies by focusing on four key areas:

  • Technical expertise: bringing advanced knowledge and understanding of the unique business landscape, including reserves and resources, mine planning and tailings management;
  • Digital transformation: connecting the dots to link investments to value realisation through strategic roadmaps, prioritisation of initiatives and disciplined execution;
  • Operations management: improving efficiency and productivity in operations through data-driven diagnostics, culture uplift and integrated planning and execution; and
  • Decarbonisation and ESG: supporting adoption of carbon footprint analytics, greater energy optimisation and increased health and safety.

Jad Shimaly, EY Canada Chairman and CEO, said: “The mining and metals industry is an integral part of our Canadian fabric, and is poised to be an increasing contributor to job and economic recovery moving forward.

“We’re excited the centre will allow us to play a role in enabling Canada’s journey in the energy transition, while supporting mining and metals companies as they look to develop innovative and sustainable solutions that deliver long-term value for stakeholders.”

The first Americas Mining and Metals Centre of Excellence will be hosted in Canada, with an additional location operating in Latin America later this year, according to the company.

Deswik opens pit design options for miners with SPD module

Base metals, Mining services, Mining software, , , , , , , , ,

Deswik says it has come up with a way to rapidly create practical pit designs from optimisation outputs as part of miners’ strategic planning process with its Strategic Pit Design (Deswik.SPD) module.

Developed in direct response to client needs, Deswik.SPD allows users to quickly generate multiple pit designs for any number of optimisation runs, compare results and select go-forward cases, the software company says. Final pit designs, which took days to create manually, can now be created in minutes, enabling planners to spend less time doing repetitive design tasks and more time analysing results and evaluating options.

Deswik.SPD features the Automated Pit Design tool, which bridges the gap between optimisation shells and a detailed manual pit design. The tool uses a scenario-based approach to rapidly generate, visualise and compare pit designs using outputs from Deswik.GO, Pseudoflow or other pit optimisation software such as Whittle, the company says.

The tool is flexible and, according to Dewsik, able to provide the following features:

  • Supports multiple ramp rules, exclusion zones and geotechnical domains for wall angle and berm width rules;
  • Provides post-processing options to smooth pit designs; and
  • Integrates with Deswik’s manual pit design and reserving tools, for more detailed scheduling, or to pass back into Deswik.GO for high level phase-bench schedules.

Any number of scenarios can be created with Deswik.SPD, according to the company.

Once processing is complete, the output designs are summarised in a table in rank order for review. Furthermore, if the results are not optimal, users can fine-tune options to manually adjust the output designs. There are also options to add a new ramp chain, move ramp chains to close large gaps, add switchbacks, manually adjust the berm shape and split ramps in two.

Tim Rijsdijk, from Glencore’s copper division, said Deswik.SPD produces multiple pit designs in the time it takes a mining engineer to design a single bench.

“By having a multitude of pit designs provided by Deswik.SPD, our mine planning team has been able to tactically implement the most suitable design and consider concepts that could often be overlooked when completing only a single design,” he said.

“Deswik.SPD also allows us to customise inputs that result in practical designs complying with site specific requirements, such as block model-based berm and batter parameters, dynamic ramp widths and gradients, ramp exit positions and exclusions zones. It has eliminated hundreds of hours of pit design work and allowed us to focus on adding value in more opportune areas.”