Tag Archives: Origin

Micromine2025Release

Micromine to ‘Advance’ underground mine planning

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

Micromine has announced its 2025 Release and a brand-new product specifically for underground metals in an update that, it says, brings exciting new features and enhancements to all Micromine products, empowering users with cutting-edge tools to streamline workflows, ensure data consistency and boost overall efficiency.

Andrew Birch, Micromine’s Chief Executive Officer, said: “Our commitment to the mining and exploration industry remains as strong as ever. The needs of the industry drive our continued dedication to innovation. By staying at the forefront of technological developments and maintaining communication with the people powering mining, we ensure our solutions are responsive to their ever-changing needs.”

Micromine’s integrated suite of solutions addresses the entire mining lifecycle. Key highlights for each stage include:

Exploration and geology

Micromine Origin solidifies its position as the most comprehensive geological modelling solution on the market by revolutionising workflows with intuitive features and advanced machine-learning architecture, the company says. The new Grade Estimator transforms how users manage estimates, offering a seamless and efficient experience. This tool lets you run multiple Kriging and Inverse Distance Weighting (IDW) estimates across elements, domains and search passes. Additionally, the Grade Copilot feature continues to redefine critical tasks for resource geologists, using powerful neural networks to facilitate informed, confident decisions swiftly.

Micromine Geobank, a geoscience data logging and management software, has enhanced its Sample Tracker feature, streamlining metadata entry and field data handling. Soon, the solution’s functionality will be moved into the cloud, resulting in better data integration with users’ downstream decisions.

Planning and scheduling

Drawing on Micromine’s extensive industry expertise, Birch announced the upcoming release of Micromine Advance, a new mine planning solution set to launch early next year: “We’re thrilled to expand Micromine’s product ecosystem with Micromine Advance – the first and only dedicated tool designed to model the operational complexity of underground operations.”

Earlier this year, mine design and scheduling software Micromine Beyond introduced a powerful dynamic Pit Design Toolset that provides an interactive user experience. This allows mine planners to achieve optimal pit designs faster. Its functionality has been further enhanced, minimising manual interaction and accelerating decision making.

Micromine Spry, mine planning for open-pit soft rock, provides a detail-oriented and flexible approach to assist with the intricacies of complex operations. The new Repair Solids Wizard feature does all the detective work, identifying problems such as self-intersections, holes, or invalid geometries and automatically resolving them.

Micromine Alastri, mine planning for open-pit hard rock, introduces a new Expression Builder feature that provides a straightforward and
guided process for calculating site-specific scheduling data such as drilling metres or explosive quantities. Another key functionality introduced is that users can now forecast how long broken stocks can sustain production whilst meeting all necessary blend and grade targets.

Operation

OEM-agnostic fleet management and mine control solution, Micromine Pitram, has introduced two powerful new features. Real-time Deviation Tracking allows users to configure parameters tailored to specific operational needs. This functionality provides faster detection of variances, enabling immediate corrective actions. And the new Sub-location Data Capture allows activity at any mining location to be monitored with unprecedented granularity, giving personnel precise data to assess drilling efficiency, grade distribution and drill plan compliance.

Data management

In cloud-native collaboration and data-sharing solution, Micromine Nexus, users can unlock the full potential of their data by delivering synchronous collaboration, cloud computing and advanced AI capabilities to their exploration and mining projects, regardless of location.

In summary of the 2025 Release, Birch remarked, “Our relentless drive is about more than innovation, it’s about powering the mining industry and enabling our users to tackle complex challenges with ease. As we look to the future, we will continually push the boundaries to deliver next-generation technology.”

Orica, Origin partner on ‘Hunter Valley Hydrogen Hub’ feasibility study for Kooragang Island

Environmental, Power supply for mines, Sustainable mining, , , , , ,

Orica and Origin have announced a partnership to assess opportunities to collaborate on the development of a green hydrogen production facility, and associated value chain, in the Hunter Valley of New South Wales, Australia.

Signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), Orica and Origin will conduct a feasibility study into the viability of a green hydrogen production facility, or ‘Hunter Valley Hydrogen Hub’, and downstream value chain opportunities.

The feasibility study will assess ways an industrial hydrogen hub could enable use cases that support a meaningful green hydrogen industry in the Hunter Valley and beyond, Orica said. This includes the supply of hydrogen for heavy industry and transport, conversion into green ammonia at Orica’s existing Kooragang Island ammonium nitrate manufacturing facility, blending hydrogen into natural gas pipelines and the potential to stimulate Australia’s hydrogen export industry.

Green hydrogen, produced via electrolysis using renewable electricity sources, has emerged as a potentially significant enabler of Australia’s transition to a lower carbon economy. The proposed hub would produce green hydrogen from recycled water sources and renewable electricity, using a grid connected 55 MW electrolyser.

Orica Chief Executive Officer, Sanjeev Gandhi, said: “We’ve been operating our Kooragang Island site for over 50 years, and are committed to ensuring both our manufacturing facility and the Newcastle region remain competitive in a low carbon economy, while also strengthening Australia’s domestic manufacturing capability.

“We support both the Federal and New South Wales Hydrogen Strategies, and this partnership will allow us to define opportunities and ways we can contribute to a more sustainable future for the region.

“This partnership aligns with our corporate strategy and our ambition to achieve net zero emissions by 2050, and our target to reduce our scope 1 and 2 operational emissions by at least 40% by 2030. By partnering for progress, we can drive sustainable change and achieve our decarbonisation ambitions, together.”

The project marks an important step in transitioning Orica’s business model towards a lower carbon economy, it said. Exploring opportunities to diversify, Orica is committed to ensuring its Kooragang Island facility remains competitive in a lower carbon economy, while creating more sustainable products for customers and broader applications for industry.

The project builds on several initiatives to enhance the long-term sustainability of the site, including the recently announced Kooragang Island Decarbonisation Project and planned installation of an Australia-first tertiary catalyst abatement technology for decarbonisation of nitric acid production. The A$37 million ($27 million) project is designed to deliver up to 95% abatement efficiency from unabated levels, reducing the site’s total greenhouse gas emissions by almost 50%.