Established in 1888, De Beers Consolidated Mines (DBCM) is renowned for the exploration, mining and marketing of rough diamonds. DBCM produces approximately 40 percent of the world’s supply of rough diamonds. The Finsch diamond mine, located in Lime Acres in the Northern Cape, South Africa, is among seven operations that DBCM manages. Discovered in 1961 during asbestos exploration, De Beers first developed the deposit as an open pit. Since 1991, production has come from the underground mine beneath the old pit.

De Beers selected Gemcom and Sandvik to build its block cave mining framework. In the process, Finsch became the world’s first automated, trackless mine requiring no operators on its production trucks. The mining framework consists of an automated ore-transport system by Sandvik, integrated with Gemcom PCBC and Cave Management System (CMS) software specifically designed for planning and scheduling block cave operations.

Gemcom collaborated with Sandvik to create the system, which allows De Beers managers to analyse mining sequences and rates from draw points over the short- and long-term. It also facilitates information sharing between major components used in the operation.

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Objective:

Meet growth targets and aid feasibility studies, design and production management for block cave mining.

Approach:

Implement the Gemcom PCBC software solution for planning and scheduling block cave operations, obtain customised Gemcom development and integration services, and help staff become skillful in using PCBC tools.

IT Improvements:

• Management tools for improved mine performance
• Customised, effective solution with monitoring capabilities
• Integration of block modelling software and databases with new
  block cave management software
• Data integrity
• Information sharing between major components used in block caving

Business Benefits:

• Improved productivity in the underground mining environment
• Better dilution management and geotechnical stability
• Substantial boost in deposit value
• More accurate resource estimates and reports
• Faster analysis and better decision-making
• Easier staff transitioning and training (due to integrated systems
  and consistent database tables within PCBC and Gemcom GEMS)
• Less time required to update mine plans, evaluate options and
  compile information
• Streamlined strategic planning process − months to weeks
  Evaluation of various mining scenarios to determine profitability
  scenarios and reports to be run quickly and easily