NEWSLETTER JUNE 2010
The cost of accidents at an operation If the costs of operational risks were SAFETY AND can be considerable in terms of dimensioned at the planning stage, it equipment damage, lost production would make sense to add in a capital EFFICIENCY and recovery time. and operational cost to install a real time fleet monitoring and positional system. The importance of balancing Planning for safety efficiency and safety aspects In reality, SH&E and economic factors A good safety performance is not managed - it is a consequence of mining operations at the are not opposing forces. At the mine of effective management. planning stage should not be planning and evaluation stage, SH&E aspects are as important as other factors Improving efficiency underestimated. for determining a project’s viability. Improving efficiency on an industry-wide In the international mining environment During the implementation and execution basis becomes an interplay of many large mining entities are competing to of mine operations, SH&E outlay should factors. Key challenges include improving win lucrative global supply contracts, simply be viewed as a necessary cost the competitiveness of the mineral while smaller companies compete of compliance, since the cost of non- resource base itself, gaining administrative in more localised arenas but with compliance in today’s world is too high. and policy backing of the industry, comparatively fewer resources. Both and access to the right technology. situations result in pressure on operations Many opportunities do exist for improving to be more effective and efficient, and SH&E performance. For example, large Investment in training and supporting for the value chain to be technically trucks operate in open pit mines around the human resource which serves the and economically optimised. the world. Many small vehicles are involved mining industry is key to success. in accidents with these bulk carrying The accusation is often made that vehicles. Production losses can amount to People involved at all levels must be economic or production pressures huge sums as a result of such incidents. correctly equipped with respect to compete with the need to work safely. knowledge and skills. Motivated people, Safety, health and environmental (SH&E) This risk could be mitigated by adding an people with a spirit of innovation and aspects are increasingly scrutinised extra access ramp or providing alternative people who are entrepreneurial will ensure by society and by the communities in services for transportation of men and more exploration for mineral riches, which mines operate. Public scrutiny material, something to be considered sound investment, good governance, of the performance of mines is often when planning a potential operation. and a profitable mining industry. a rallying point for interest groups The value of having a good safety and Gys Landman, President Elect and labour organisations. This also Southern African Institute of Mining & Metallurgy has political implications and can put environmental record is not just in its great pressure on governments. ability to appease society; it makes Extract from keynote address at good economic sense as well. Maptek Users Conference, March 2010
‘IMPROVING EFFICIENCY AND SAFETY, AND HENCE IMPROVING COMPETITIVENESS, IS IN ALMOST ALL RESPECTS A PEOPLE ISSUE.’ Gys Landman, President Elect SAIMM
> In this issue Safety and efficiency in mining Introducing Vulcan 8.1 I-Site underground at Argyle Mine One version of the truth Educational partnership I-Site service What are some of the upgrades that PRIMO project, which brings together INTRODUCING customers have helped to drive? companies willing to invest in researching Customers indicated that they wanted to optimisation tools for the underground V ULCAN 8.1 work a lot faster within grade control, and mine environment. These partnerships to interact with elements on screen more help to develop more productive and Eric González, Vulcan Product efficiently. A new toolbar provides quick efficient tools for day-to-day operations. Manager, discusses upcoming single-click access to the tools. The result Explain the new scheduling options? improvements that were directly is a faster grade control process. New scheduler bundles work for open pit requested by customers, as well Ramp design is integral to underground mines which are not necessarily designed as planned upgrades. mine design. Customers reported that or created in Vulcan. Flexible tools can be it would be useful to unfold a ramp. A used with 3rd party data. Using Vulcan How does this release differ from new tool creates a section through a however, you can add more modules - other Vulcan releases? line, which is useful for not only unfolding start with a scheduling application and Using a more agile development has ramps but also other 3D design work. expand to a more feature-rich Vulcan allowed us to add to our planned roadmap configuration. as customer feedback is received. We What else is new? can leave space to be more responsive to New underground grade control tools It also performs as a stand-alone customers’ needs, and are able to work build on the easy workflow of our scheduler - it’s really a comprehensive on upgrades in a shorter time frame. traditional open pit framework. Grade general scheduling package. control engineers or geologists will now Obviously we cannot do that with some of The Short Term Planner works with the be able to apply an automated process the bigger projects which require a longer existing Vulcan MineModeller or equivalent to generate accurate, reliable results for lead time, but we’re very excited about configuration. It follows the Vulcan underground operations. some of the relatively smaller upgrades framework, and uses and outputs Vulcan which will provide value to our users. The stope optimiser is the first tool data for short to medium term planning. arising from Maptek’s involvement in the This is another example of partnering with customers to extend development.
tool, which allows users to interact directly with the block model, leads to reduced SHORT TERM with block models to generate the amount data preparation time, allowing users of product required. Multiple variable cut- to focus on the generation of plans and SCHEDULING off grades can be applied, without having analysis of results. to pre-calculate them. The Vulcan Short Term Planner Users can define stockpiles for multiple offers speed, precision and Scheduling of the blocks is accomplished products, modify targets, change cutoffs interactively and quickly across solids, and alter equipment positions easily. It is flexibility at the planning stage, without establishing predefined cutoffs, also possible to configure initial stockpiles delivering productivity increases using linear and radial accumulation and their extraction sequence to simulate never achieved before in the techniques. This accumulation is restricted various scenarios for material rehandling. important task of short and to each period of the plan across the mine and plant targets. It is fully user Reporting is based on spreadsheets medium term planning. configurable. and can be visualised within the Vulcan environment. It is fully integrated with The new decision tool allows users to Restrictions can be applied for capacities, statistics and other Vulcan tools. analyse various scenarios in advance, hours of crushing, product quantity or any and is adaptable to each operation. The variable in the block model which can be Clients using the Vulcan Short Term Vulcan Short Term Planner is a collection accumulated. The fact that it does not Planner include Cía Minera Doña Inés de of scheduling modules. One of these is need predefined cutoffs, and interacts Collahuasi and Minera Esperanza. the Sequence Accumulation Reporting JUNE 2010
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Vulcan short term planner focuses on short and medium term planning for generating mine schedules. These images show the blocks programmed by period using radial accumulation plans [left] and the progress by period [right]. Neil Vucak, Argyle’s Surveying Specialist, MOVING involved Maptek in the underground project. Luke Holdcroft, Maptek I-Site UNDERGROUND Consultant, suggested that the I-Site 4400CR could achieve what Argyle AT ARGYLE required in a much quicker time frame. The I-Site laser scanner has I-Site at work provided Argyle Diamond The crusher chamber measures nearly Mine with vital survey data 50m long, 12m wide and about 14m high; survey was required upon completion for underground design. of mining. Three surveyed, standard 01 Located in the East Kimberley region resolution scans were performed from the of Western Australia, the Rio Tinto bottom of the chamber, including one in Argyle Diamond Mine is the world’s the CWA drive, and an unsurveyed scan largest supplier of diamonds, historically from the top of the chamber. accounting for approximately one-quarter A total scanning time of about 30 to of the natural diamond production. 45 minutes allowed other underground As the current open pit approaches the work to be completed, with no time or end of its life, a new underground mine productivity loss. below the open pit is underway, due for Post-processing was quick and easy. A completion in 2013. loop model was generated in less than half To create an economically viable an hour and brought straight into Vulcan, underground mine, Argyle chose the then put in section view and compared to safest and lowest cost underground the design envelope. mining method available. Block caving The speed of the system was the greatest involves undercutting the orebody and benefit to Argyle. An accurate, usable allowing it to break up or ‘cave’ under result was generated quickly and without its own weight, removing the need for impeding any of the normal work flows. 02 blasting. The result was positive, with Argyle Underground project acquiring an accurate model of the The Argyle project requires excavation of crusher chamber that can be compared to several large chambers to construct the the design envelope for determining any underground facilities associated with the problem areas. Total time spent scanning block cave operation. These include pump and post-processing was in the range of station chambers, crusher chambers and 1 to 1.5 hours. It is Maptek’s opinion that transfer chambers. no other method can achieve those results in that time frame. The chambers must be mined exactly to design, or slightly larger, for construction Argyle currently uses I-Site Voidworks to to be able to proceed within them. process CMS data. As more chambers Quality control requires no underbreak come on line it is planned that the Maptek whatsoever. Therefore, accurate and high method will be chosen to perform these detail surveys must be performed in these surveys again. chambers once mining is finished. Thanks to 03 Argyle tried a number of ways to do this Neil Vucak, Surveying Specialist Argyle Diamond Mine including photogrammetry, which proved too time consuming, and CMS. The latter
‘I-SITE GAVE US THE REQUIRED JUNE 2010 was not detailed enough, and it was hard RESULTS QUICKLY, SAFELY to filter unwanted data such as rock bolt 3 tails with no post-processing package. AND WITH NO FUSS.’ Neil Vucak, Argyle Diamond Mine 04
01 Photograph of chamber 02 Scan of crusher chamberR
03 Underground chamber plus design work MAPTEK FORGE 04 Raw I-Site scan of underground chamber together, forming a common information continuous drive to improve safety. ONE VERSION resource to build ‘one version of the truth’. It is possible to achieve proximity awareness and near real time fleet OF THE TRUTH The current state of the mine is usually positioning from the same base communicated at the daily operations or technology. Maptek’s understanding of the shift hand-over meeting. Agreement on a mining execution value chain short term action plan can be hijacked by Most systems include vehicle to person differing versions of the truth from each interactions so that the real time location of allows us to apply and build on stakeholder. When data is gathered all personnel in the mine can be tracked. the technology in production manually, through operator PLOD sheets, Minor additional investment allows vehicle information systems such in-house spreadsheets and word of mouth, health sensors to be connected, so data as MineSuite to address our it is difficult to achieve consensus. can be transmitted to a central application, customers’ challenges. communicating breakdowns to This is exacerbated by information which maintenance as soon as they occur. is out of date as soon as it is recorded. Data, ‘a body of facts’, and information, Consider an underground operation where The diesel particulate matter and ‘knowledge communicated or received the shift supervisor returns to the surface ventilation system can now be managed concerning a particular circumstance’, are before the end of shift. The state of the from current information. As vehicles and often used interchangeably to support the active mining face will have changed by personnel move about the mine, emissions decision making process. the time the next crew is due to go can be monitored by ventilation zone. Truth, ‘a verified or indisputable fact’, underground, even if the information was The total head count compared to is hard to achieve in a multi-discipline up to date when the supervisor left. refuge chamber availability can then be environment such as mining. Many parties managed to ensure that all personnel Without real-time automated data capture, to the decision making process gather have access in case of emergency. the state of the fleet is hard to know, data independently using their own except at some arbitrary point in the past. This example shows how the secondary specialised tools. In the information age we Installing proximity awareness or collision benefits of technology can be integrated should be able to bring all the relevant data avoidance systems is part of the into a high quality decision support tool.
estimation and geostatistics. Students APPLIED exceeding the minimum 80% pass average are granted a Citation from the University GEOSTATISTICS of Alberta. Maptek’s Viña del Mar office Professor Clayton Deutsch, Director of the hosted a group of mining School of Mining & Petroleum Engineering, Department of Civil & Environmental students under difficult Engineering at the University of Alberta, conditions earlier this year. who runs the program, says:
Despite the effects of a magnitude 8.8 ‘This training is unique because it fills an Instructors and students at the Geostatistics earthquake in late February-March, the important gap between the conventional Citation course in Chile Citation in Applied Mining Geostatistics, short course format and the Master or th which gathers professionals from all over Doctorate degree. A short course is Maptek will host the 6 Citation
JUNE 2010 South America, went ahead for the 9th inadequate and a graduate degree takes Program in Applied Geostatistics in consecutive year. a long time.’ North America from July 6-30, 2010. 4 Presented by Dr Clayton Deutsch, in the The program has been taught annually at ‘The Citation program was quite informal Denver office training facility, the course the University of Alberta, Canada since in the early years. Students would come to covers the theory and use of modern 1999. Maptek partnered with the University the University and study geostatistics for 2 geostatistical tools, with an emphasis on in 2002 to host the course in Chile, which to 3 months.’The program was formalised mining. Vulcan experience is not required. has been taken by more than 100 people. to provide a consistent high standard in Register via email at [email protected] teaching resource estimation professionals MAPTEK FORGE This intensive training requires 1 month of the theoretical foundation of geostatistical classes, with 20-plus exercises, as well as This Citation will be delivered again in tools, the complexities of implementation Chile in March 2011, and also in Perth, a project that demonstrates independent and the place of modern techniques.’ application of the latest tools in resource for Australian mining professionals. since 2006, with 25 academic licences CSM tries to cover as many aspects of EDUCATIONAL currently on campus. the mining industry as possible. Lectures range from thermodynamics and fluid PARTNERSHIP In preparation for teaching Introductory mechanics to geotechnical engineering Vulcan, one of the university lecturers, and feasibility studies. Camborne School of Mines Dr Gareth Kennedy attended an in-depth applies a unique combination specialised course in Edinburgh. Maptek’s This not only gives students more technical services team provides further employment options, but means that of scientific and engineering training on underground and open pit when working, they will be familiar expertise in geology, mining, design. At the end of the coursework, with how mine departments interlink, minerals processing and students are assessed by Maptek in from underground blast engineers to renewable energy to world- conjunction with the university. processing plant. Students learn that leading research and teaching. they can’t just focus on their mining In 2008 Maptek awarded Mark Fry a engineering tasks; their work will have a prize for producing the best pit design in Camborne School of Mines (CSM) is direct effect on the overall operation and the class. After completing his Masters located on the Cornwall Campus of productivity of other departments. degree in 2009, Mark joined the technical the University of Exeter, UK, and has a services team in Edinburgh. Third year mining engineers undertake a particular interest in responsible mining full feasibility study as their final project. and sustainable development. As well as teaching students about Vulcan plays a significant role for the mine engineering, CSM prepares them Between 100 and 200 students enrol basis of their design work and for reserve for what to expect when they enter in Bachelor and Masters degrees. estimations. The use of Vulcan for MSc the industry. Using Vulcan and other Applicants for the mining program and PhD projects is currently being related software will become part of their have steadily increased over the last 3 considered, for example as a tool to assist everyday working life as mining engineers. to 4 years. Up to 25 third year mining in geotechnical research. As the majority of students would not engineering students receive Vulcan have used any 3D mine design software, Thanks to training each year. Maptek has been Dr Gareth Kennedy the training acts as a good introduction. providing software and training to CSM Camborne School of Mines
‘MAPTEK’S SUPPORT WITH VULCAN TRAINING HAS BEEN INVALUABLE, NOT JUST FOR DELIVERING THE MORE ADVANCED ASPECTS OF THE SOFTWARE. IT IS GOOD FOR STUDENTS TO BE EXPOSED TO AN OUTSIDE MINING SOFTWARE COMPANY AND ITS PERSPECTIVE ON THE INDUSTRY.’ Dr Andy Wetherelt, Senior Lecturer, Camborne School of Mines JUNE 2010
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Students at the University of Adelaide, South Australia also benefit from Vulcan training given by the local Maptek technical services team. Tibor Cser. They process an average of I-SITE SERVICE 5 scanners per month, with a peak of 9 scanners in December 2009. Customer service and support is an often unrecognised Michael Foster looks after the service element of product delivery. needs of scanners deployed in North America. Based in Denver, Mike is quite Maptek has established an I-Site service self-sufficient, but has a firm lifeline to system that is second to none. Complex Adelaide for solving difficult problems. products such as I-Site laser scanners The standard SystemCare service includes inevitably need expert attention. The a 37 point health check as well as system Maptek advantage is in how we resolve upgrades. We are currently reviewing issues that customers may experience. processes and methods to reduce I-Site scanners are supported by service servicing time from an average of 2 weeks. centres in Adelaide, South Australia Software malfunctions provide novel and Denver, Colorado. The teams are challenges. The Adelaide team recently responsible for carrying out annual discovered that all the Maptek I-Site HHC SystemCare servicing as well as ad hoc software had been deleted from a returned equipment and warranty repairs. HandHeld Controller. The various games Both service centres have received installed somehow weren’t capable of major upgrades recently, and now controlling a laser scanner! share a synchronised database The scanner service teams perform a vital providing access to centralised data A recent service role and strive to keep customers satisfied. request included a on critical scanner history. One of the biggest challenges today is picture of a beheaded scanner with the query The Adelaide centre is integrated with the understanding the different processes that ‘Any chance of fixing I-Site production facility so is capable of all have been used since the first scanners me?’ Our scanners repairs and maintenance tasks. Servicing were built 5 years ago. They persevere, operate in dangerous with the philosophy that ‘the best new places - a rock fall in is handled by Team Leader, Tony Alfonsi an underground mine and Technicians, Heath Graham and customer is a happy old one’. caused this damage. > JUNE 2010
6 MAPTEK FORGE services, applying innovative thinking to MAPTEK USERS help operations optimise their investment NORTH AMERICA with Maptek,’ Duncan Lee concluded.
CONFERENCES ‘When you attend a conference you see ‘Efficiency and Productivity’ straight away how you can do better. I’ve has been adopted as AFRICA-EUROPE picked up a number of things, such as with optimisation of our stockpiles. I was trained the theme for the users Maptek hosted the first regional in scheduling, I have the knowledge but now conference to be held in Africa and Europe users I can see how you can fully utilise the Vulcan Denver, Colorado from software.’ conference in the spectacular September 13-15. surroundings of a Big 5 game Patience Ndhlovu, Murowa Diamonds Examples of technology in action park near Johannesburg in will allow attendees to learn about South Africa in March 2010. ‘This is one of the best conferences that I have attended. It has reminded me how improving operational efficiency and productivity. Dr Bob Johnson, Duncan Lee, General Manager of Africa important it is to mix as an industry. The optimisation and scheduling talks are very Founder of Maptek and Dr Clayton & Europe said that it was an excellent relevant for everything that we are doing Deutsch, Professor at the University opportunity for both Maptek and now. We are a developing company and of Alberta will give keynotes. customers - to share ideas, forge new we need to ensure that our methods, our relationships and highlight the innovations systems are in tandem with our expansion. The conference, which will be held at that we have to offer. In terms of technology, Maptek is one of the Inverness Conference Center, is the organisations that will be able to help us open to all mining professionals. Customers gave the conference a 92% through our expansion program.’ overall rating, stating that presentations Wadzanayi Mutsakanyi, Zimplats Attendees can stay on for optional had strong relevance for their business. forums on September 16 and 17, As well as hearing about our technical choosing from: applications and learning new ways to use ‘One benefit that I found was it deepened the them, attendees had the opportunity for confidence in my work, adding to the value • Vulcan training that I have within my operation. Networking 1 on 1 advice from Maptek experts from • I-Site field trip with other people, and understanding that • MineSuite workshop around the world. they have similar frustrations and work issues has been interesting in itself. It gives you Call for papers is now open, and early ‘The conference allowed us to renew our the motivation to go back to work and keep bird registration ends July 1! commitment to be strategic partners in chugging along.’ delivering mining solutions, not just as maptek.com/north_america_2010 technology vendors. We’ll continue to Jayde Webb, Tulawaka Diamond Mine or [email protected] provide leading edge technology and (Barrick Africa) JUNE 2010
7 MAPTEK FORGE I-Site technical services are now available Optimise your investment in scanning in Emerald, Queensland. Jordan Herrmann >> End of month, pit, stockpile & ROM surveys has experience in laser scan site survey, data >> I-Site installation and customised training processing, training and support. >> I-Site Studio processing of any scan data
Contact [email protected]
REED RESOURCES LTD, with vanadium, NEW CUSTOMERS lithium, iron, gold and nickel assets across VISIT THE MAPTEK BOOTH Western Australia, has purchased Vulcan VULCAN for resource modelling. June 8-10 Euro Mine Expo BARRICK PASCUA-LAMA open pit REY RESOURCES, with head office in Skellefteå, Sweden silver-copper mine in Chile has acquired Sydney, will use Vulcan for the geological June 22-24 Vulcan and Chronos for geological modelling phase of their coal operation in Hillhead 2010 modelling, resource estimation, the Canning Basin, Western Australia. Derby, United Kingdom geotechnical, grade control, mine planning June 23-25 and scheduling. The mine is located south RIO TINTO EXPLORATION will use Mine Haulage Conference of Atacama at an elevation of 5200m. Vulcan for the exploration and evaluation Brisbane, Queensland - Technical paper of resources at the Bunder Diamond July 27-29 CRL ENERGY LTD, a New Zealand project in Madhya Pradesh, India. Queensland Mining Expo based consultancy company, will use Mackay, Queensland - Booth 1244 Vulcan for coal quality modelling. TITAN AMERICA LLC has purchased August 3-5 Vulcan to generate reserves for raw IBRAM GEOMINE, a Mackay based consulting materials which are turned into cement Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil firm, has purchased Vulcan GeoModeller and masonry products at the Roanoke August 11-13 for consulting to mines in the Bowen Basin Cement plant in Virginia, USA. Australian Institute of Mine Surveyors of Queensland, Australia. Surfers Paradise, Queensland VALE INTEGRA COAL is operating a September 14-15 HATCH, which provides engineering, project to integrate existing open cut and Oil Sands Trade Show Fort McMurray, Alberta - Booth 2212 project and construction services to the underground coal mines in the Hunter mining industry, has bought Vulcan for Valley of New South Wales. Vale has September 26 - October 1 underground drill & blast and mine design Congresso Brasileiro de Geologia implemented Vulcan for drill & blast and Belém, Pará, Brazil applications on projects managed out of mine design. Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. September 29 - October 1 AIG Geo-Computing Conference IVANHOE MINES has acquired Vulcan I-SITE Brisbane, Queensland - Booth B8 for exploration and geological modelling October 26-30 of the Oyu Tolgoi mine in Ulaan Baatar, BHP GEMCO (Groote Eylandt Expo Minera Sonora 2010 Hermosillo, Sonora, México - Booths 8 & 9 Mongolia. Construction is underway for Operations) has purchased an I-Site the large copper-gold mine being planned 4400LR system. GEMCO is a manganese November 10-11 and operated by Rio Tinto. Vulcan is also ore supplier, and will use the system for IMME Kolkata, India used for underground caving design at the end of month surveying, stockpiles, ROM Ivanhoe head office in Vancouver, Canada. pad surveys and highwall mapping.
LINDEN MINING & CONSULTING, based NEWMONT JUNDEE has ordered an in Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada, I-Site 4400LR system. Jundee will use has acquired Vulcan for underground I-Site to scan stockpiles and crusher geological modelling and mine design. cones, as well as for highwall mapping and general survey. A rail bracket will PHONESACK GROUP has purchased a be used for safe acquisition of cone Vulcan licence for mine planning for the stockpiles from the conveyor system. Alberto Ramírez (Maptek Mexico) with Sekong Saravan coal project in Laos. a visitor at the International Mining PEABODY ENERGY has bought an I-Site Conference in Chihuahua, Mexico in April QUANTITATIVE GROUP (QG) has 4400LR laser scanning system for end of begun using Vulcan for geological month survey, reconciliation and mapping JUNE 2010 modelling on consulting projects. QG at the North Antelope Rochelle Mine in 8 provides specialised geostatistical, Wyoming, USA. geological and resource estimation services to the resource sector, from offices in Brisbane, Queensland and Fremantle, Western Australia. Maptek staff with workshop attendees Luis Alberto Guajardo (Minsa), Enrique Rivera
MAPTEK FORGE (Gammon Gold) and Carlos Peña (Minsa) www.maptek.com
Maptek Forge newsletter is published quarterly. You can receive it by mail, Maptek, Vulcan, I-Site, and MineSuite are registered and unregistered emailed pdf or emailed link to the Maptek website. trademarks of Maptek Pty Ltd; Maptek Computación Chile Ltda; Maptek Computación Chile Ltda, Sucursal Perú; Maptek S de RL de CV; Maptek Email [email protected] to subscribe or advise changes to contact details. Informática do Brasil Ltda; and KRJA Systems, Inc. Marks are registered Articles may be reproduced with acknowledgement. in one or more of the following countries: Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, © 2010 Maptek Chile, Greece, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Peru, Russia, Spain, UK and USA.