Geology and Mine Planning for Stratified Deposits
Long Term Planning
Minex Mine Planning is tailored to open pit coal and other stratified deposit mines. Design functions are integrally linked to the geological model’s economic or geological considerations, such as depth, strip ratio or optimum pit limits. Once designed, the reserves and quality data are stored in a database for fast and easy access, viewing, editing and manipulation.
Minex Long Term Mine Planning tools include;
- Pit Optimisation
- Strip and Economic Ratios
- Underground Engineering
- Mine and Ramp Design
- Volumes and Reserves
Pit Optimisation
The Minex Pit Optimiser locates and generates a set of incremental pits that show the most economic mining sequence, and can be immediately used in resource estimation or design . The Pit Optimiser uses the well known Lerchs and Grossman (LG) algorithm, and is ideal where;
- Pits are deep and the material in the sloping final highwall makes a vertical analysis difficult
- Topography is rugged and the support effect is complex
- Seams are structurally complex with splits or faulting, making the final economic pit envelope obscure
- Seam value defined by tonnes, yield and quality is complex (especially where the economic floor is not apparent)
Strip and Economic Ratios
Strip ratios are used extensively in Minex to evaluate economic Open Pit areas. Strip ratio is often applicable in flat lying deposits where the 3D advantages of op timization is not required
Minex generates Strip Ratios automatically using the seam list, and a set of density values.
- Generate strip ratio either as BCM of waste per coal-tonne, or tonnes of waste to tonnes of ore.
- Limit coal ratios to economic coal by excluding low-grade coal (i.e. thin seams, or high ash or sulfur content) from the strip ratio
- For mines that have a general strike and consistent highwall angle, generate strip ratios on a dip and azimuth
- Create economic ratios using Minex SQL processes to convert grid point values to costs and revenues
Underground Engineering
To address the needs of the growing number of underground mines being developed globally, the Gemcom MinexUnderground Mine Design and Reserves module gives mining engineers the tools to accurately calculate reserves and develop effective mine designs.
- Design and draft underground mines. Use the Underground Quick Layout tool to rapidly create and edit regular and symmetrical mine designs for either longwall or bord and pillar layouts, based on previously defined panel configurations and working types.
- Underground scheduling. Use Minex's interactive Underground Scheduling tools to optimise resource extraction and to report on production.
- Visualise design layouts. Utilise rich and interactive tools which provide instant visualisation of your design as it progresses. Display your design in 3D and colour each panel block based on a single colour, working type or quality variable.
- Automatically generate reserves. Calculate accurate reserves based on the mine layout and seam properties and then generate customised reports.
- Evaluate different mine design options. Alternative designs can be created quickly, allowing mining engineers more time to perform technical evaluations of layout options.
- Save time. Libraries of common layouts can be visually created and stored for use in future mine designs.
- Eliminate human errors. Automatic calculation of reserves reduces reliance on spreadsheets and manual calculations.
- Lower economic risk. Reserves are calculated accurately, allowing mine designs to be optimised for the most cost efficient extraction. Easy-to-use tools mean mine designs can be created in-house, saving time and reducing costs.
Mine and Ramp Design
Powerful and easy-to-use Mine and Ramp design tools allow manual or automatic generation of pits or dumps. Ramps are defined and generated as the pit or dump is created, enabling instant visualisation of your project.
Minex dissects your deposit into a set of mining volumes using the intersection of benches, strips and blocks with the geological model.
- Benches follow elevations, seam roof or floor, or surfaces such as a sloped bench designed for drainage
- Variable width strips allow for a range of equipment limitations
- Angle benches and strips to accurately model actual mining values
- Mine design is integrated with the geological model and optimization output, enabling fast, accurate and timely designs
- Design ramps on high walls, low walls and active working faces
- Build ramps “up” or “down” as the design advances
- Generate benches, strips, blocks and ramps automatically over multiple benches
Volumes and Reserves
The heart of a reserves package is accurate volumes. Minex creates volumes and quality values for the blocks by superimposing the design and the geological model.
- Special volumes options allow for active pits and steep dip pits
- Minex accurately calculates the “wedge volume” of material above the ore in steep dip pits, lowering dozing costs.
- Volumes are stored in an indexed database that provides rapid access. Block layer coordinates are also stored in the database for fast plotting and schedule display.
- A “percent mined” variable allows the database to be updated as a mine progresses. Rapid update of the percentage mined allows you to quickly reschedule an active pit.
- Output reserves volumes to formatted reports, or to flat ASCII or CSV formats for rapid integration with scheduling packages.
