May/June 2013 - The ASIA Miner

Mine Design
Multiple grade value shells generated on a single grade element using Geovia's Dynamic Shells module.
nical experts, announced a change of name
to RungePincockMinarco (RPM).
The company’s software suite includes
FRACSIS for visualizing geological data,
XPAC and XACT for mine scheduling, TAL-
PAC, HAULNET, DRAGSIM and FACETS for
simulating loading, haulage, dragline and
longwall face operations, and XERAS for financial
analysis. At MINExpo 2012, it released
an update for its TALPAC haulage
and loading software which, it says, is used
by mining operations world-wide to evaluate
the performance of mixed fleets.
According to RPM, it now has a database
of more than 500 trucks and 400 loaders, allowing
virtually any truck and loader combination
to be simulated and evaluated. The
update includes Caterpillar’s Unit Rig
MT4400D AC and 777G trucks, Komatsu’s
750E (AC) truck and Hitachi’s EH 5000AC-3
truck, all of which were launched at MIN-
Expo, together with newly introduced or upgraded
equipment from other manufacturers
such as Liebherr, Bell, Volvo, Belaz and P&H.
Geovia: A Raft of Upgrades
At MINExpo, Dassault Systèmes’ subsidiary
Gemcom (now Geovia) introduced updates
to its Surpac, GEMS, InSite, Whittle and MineSched
mining-industry applications.
“With the mining industry facing higher
costs and more pressure on commodity
prices, it is imperative that they can unlock
additional efficiencies and economic value
from their mining operations,” said
Moignard. “The new features will provide
additional tools and functionality for mining
professionals to better quantify, plan and
manage extraction of their orebodies.”
Surpac 6.4 (geology and mine-planning
software) will be available in the first quarter
of 2013, and has a new integrated Dynamic
Shells tool for significant time savings when
initially evaluating deposits, Geovia said. It
also has increased memory handling for
faster working with very large datasets, and
a new stereoscopic 3-D visualization capability.
The company is also introducing a Dynamic
Shells tool for its GEMS 6.5
collaborative geology and mine planning
application, which will launch in early 2013.
The new Dynamic Shells module allows
geologists to quickly and easily model geologic
data for visualization of grade data.
Fully integrated with GEMS, this tool is designed
to save time when initially evaluating
deposits and can assist in generating surfaces
and solids in moments as opposed to
hours. Although this method does not replace
traditional solids and block modelling,
it is a technique that can provide mining operations
with a faster and more flexible
analysis capability for an ore deposit.
Whittle 4.5, for open-pit mine planning, now
has the capability of producing more practical
mine plans through the use of a new mining direction
feature and alternative pushback creation
capabilities, while MineSched 8.0
provides users with much faster response
times, with production scheduling up to 50-
times faster and development scheduling 10-
times faster than before, according to Geovia.
This year Geovia has released the latest
version of the InSite mine production management
and reconciliation software. Geovia
says InSite 4.3 provides users with even more
operational visibility through new and improved
tools for data analysis and advanced
tools to reconcile production outputs and activities
against what was planned.
It says identifying variances and the causes
behind them is made easier with the new
Variance Analysis module. Now future variances
can be reduced by providing the justification
required to update models, plans and
schedules. Companies will also benefit from
the ability to see production activities as they
happen, to ensure they are performing efficiently
at all times. “InSite provides greater
confidence in the accuracy of our monthly
production. The mine and wash plant have
visibility of the variances between plan and
actual,” says Simon Ewart, Operations Superintendent
at Stanwell’s Meandu Mine. “Visual
representation of mining progress helps
to validate activity hours and provide accurate
reporting to contractors. Reconciliation
has never been easier.”
Micromine 2013 Available Soon
From its headquarters in Western Australia, Micromine
provided visitors to its MINExpo exhibit
with a preview of the latest edition of its
namesake exploration and mine design software.
Micromine 2013 is scheduled for release
early in the year, having still been at the development
stage at the Las Vegas show.
The company reports that new features
within Micromine 2013 will include capabilities
for rotated block models, with one, two or
three-dimensional rotations being supported.
Orientating the blocks to match the orebody
means they are a better fit with reality, producing
a smaller model and saving processing time
and disc space, Micromine says.
The new version will also contain tools to
simplify the creation of seam block models,
including splits, plies, overburden and interburden,
even in stratigraphically complex
areas. The company says that Micromine’s
stratigraphic modelling tools honor the original
data, with smart tools that handle seam
pinching and missing holes, producing a
geologically correct model.
There will also be a range of new features
and improved functionality for Vizex in Micromine
2013, including seam correlation,
annotation layers, seismic SEG-Y, drillhole
solid, color/hatch/symbol sets, line styles
and stereo 3-D.
At MINExpo, Micromine presented its Coal
Measure software which, it said, is coal-industry
specific in terms of terminology, features and
functionality. The suite combines the data management
features and benefits of Micromine’s
62 | ASIA Miner | May/June 2013