01 surface production initialisation v603

MineSched V6 Surface Production

Scheduling: Initialisation

March 2009

February 2008

Copyright © 2009 Gemcom Software International. All rights reserved.

Gemcom Software International publishes this documentation for the sole use of MineSched licenses. Without written permission you may not sell, reproduce, store in a retrieval system, or transmit any part of the documentation. For such permission, or to obtain extra copies please contact your local Gemcom Office.

Gemcom Software International Level 8 190 St Georges Terrace Perth, Western Australia 6000 Telephone: (08) 94201383 Fax: (08) 94201350

While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this manual, we assume no responsibility for errors or omissions. Neither is any liability assumed for damage resulting from the use of the information contained herein.

All brand and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.

Contributors

Aaron Loffler

Gemcom Software International Perth, Western Australia

Products

MineSched 6.0 Surpac 6.1

Document Release Date

March 2009

Table of Contents Overview ........................................................................................................................................... 5

Data Storage and Familiarisation ....................................................................................................... 6 Task: Setup Data Management Hierarchy ............................................................................................................. 6

The Surpac Production Interface ............................................................................................................................. 6 Task: Set Your Working Directory .......................................................................................................................... 7

The MineSched Production Interface ...................................................................................................................... 7 Data Review ............................................................................................................................................................. 9

Data Editing and Management ......................................................................................................... 13 Block Model Reporting .......................................................................................................................................... 13

Task: Report Figures from Model ....................................................................................................................... 13 Task: Determine the Tonnes and Grades within each Rock Type ....................................................................... 19

Polygons for Graphical Results .............................................................................................................................. 20 Task: Produce Polygons for Graphical Results .................................................................................................... 20

Block Model Material Classes ........................................................................................................... 26 Task: Assign Material Classes for the Schedule in the Block Model ................................................................... 26

MineSched Scenario Management ................................................................................................... 30 Creating a Scenario ................................................................................................................................................ 30

Task: Create a Scenario ....................................................................................................................................... 30

Navigating the Scenario ................................................................................................................... 32 Step Navigator ....................................................................................................................................................... 32 Section Navigator ................................................................................................................................................... 32 Task Navigator ....................................................................................................................................................... 33 Tooltips .................................................................................................................................................................. 33 Canvas .................................................................................................................................................................... 34 Data Grids .............................................................................................................................................................. 35 Charts ..................................................................................................................................................................... 36 Dashboard .............................................................................................................................................................. 37 Spreadsheet Views ................................................................................................................................................. 37

Scenario Parameters – Geological Model Data.................................................................................. 38 Task: Open the Existing Scenario File.................................................................................................................. 38

Define Geology....................................................................................................................................................... 39 Defining Geological Models ................................................................................................................................... 39

Task: Add the Model for Scheduling ................................................................................................................... 39 Optional Task: Assign Material Classes for the Schedule in MineSched ............................................................. 42 Task: Continue Configuring the Model for Scheduling ....................................................................................... 45

Validate Model ....................................................................................................................................................... 48 Task: Check the Model for Errors........................................................................................................................ 48

Scenario Parameters – Location Definition ....................................................................................... 51 Setup Schedule Step .............................................................................................................................................. 51 Define Mining Locations ........................................................................................................................................ 51

Task: Discover the Functionality of the Canvas .................................................................................................. 52 Task: Define the Two Mining Locations for Scheduling ...................................................................................... 61 Task: Investigate the Spreadsheet View ............................................................................................................. 65

Evaluate Mining Locations ..................................................................................................................................... 68 Task: Evaluate the Defined Locations ................................................................................................................. 68

Mining Constraints .......................................................................................................................... 71

Table of Contents

Mining Rates .......................................................................................................................................................... 71 Resource Availability .............................................................................................................................................. 71 Physical Constraints ............................................................................................................................................... 71

Scenario Parameters – Resources ..................................................................................................... 73 Resource Definition and Assignment ..................................................................................................................... 73

Task: Become Familiar with the Resources Section ............................................................................................ 73

Create Schedule ............................................................................................................................... 77 The MineSched Timeline ........................................................................................................................................ 77

Task: Define a Timeline for the Schedule............................................................................................................ 77 Create the Schedule ............................................................................................................................................... 79

Task: Create the Schedule ................................................................................................................................... 80 The Dashboard ....................................................................................................................................................... 80

Task: Add a Report to the Dashboard ................................................................................................................. 80 Task: Add a Chart to the Dashboard ................................................................................................................... 81 Task: Arrange the Dashboard ............................................................................................................................. 84

Publishing Results ............................................................................................................................ 87 Create Graphical Results ........................................................................................................................................ 87

Task: Create the Graphical Results ..................................................................................................................... 88 Animations ............................................................................................................................................................. 88

Task: Animate the Schedule ................................................................................................................................ 88 Standard Reports ................................................................................................................................................... 91 Custom Reports ..................................................................................................................................................... 91

Task: Explore the Custom Report Functionality .................................................................................................. 91 Task: Create a Report for the Schedule .............................................................................................................. 94 Task: Edit the Template for this Report .............................................................................................................. 97

Gantt Charts ........................................................................................................................................................... 99 Block Model ......................................................................................................................................................... 101

Analysing the Schedule .................................................................................................................. 102 Task: What Problems in the Schedule need to be Addressed? ........................................................................102

Adding Calendars to Resources ...................................................................................................... 103 Task: Define Calendars for the Schedule ..........................................................................................................103

Sequencing the Stages ................................................................................................................... 107 Sequencing the Stages using Precedences .......................................................................................................... 107

Task: Sequence the Stages ................................................................................................................................107 Sequencing the Stages Using Priorities ................................................................................................................ 110

Task: Sequence the Stages based on Priority. ..................................................................................................110

Where to Next? ............................................................................................................................. 112

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Overview Surface Production Scheduling can be challenging because many options are available to move resources around the various locations of the excavation at short notice. The schedule is usually designed to achieve a constant production rate, target grade at a process point or points or combinations of both. This tutorial is aimed at the beginner to give a working knowledge of surface production scheduling in MineSched without complex scheduling scenarios. This tutorial will be a brief exploration of the concepts within MineSched used to initially set up a schedule. This tutorial will cover the initial set up of mining locations, scheduling those locations and publishing results. Subsequent tutorials in this series will extend the results of this schedule to investigate the different options within MineSched to create a valid, accurate and practical schedule.

Requirements

This tutorial assumes that you have a reasonably advanced knowledge of Surpac. If you are a new Surpac user, you should go through the Introduction to Surpac tutorial, the Block Modeling tutorial and the Mine Design tutorial before going through this tutorial. This tutorial is the first in a series of tutorials designed to teach the common functionality within MineSched. The results of this tutorial will be used to complete the next tutorial. An understanding of surface scheduling techniques is required to complete this tutorial.

You will also need:

• To have Surpac V6.1 or higher installed on your computer. • To have MineSched V6.0 installed into your version of Surpac. • The data set accompanying this tutorial.

Objectives

The objective of this tutorial is to give you a basic understanding of how to setup a surface production schedule and report on this. It is not intended to be exhaustive in scope, but will show the workflows needed to achieve results. You can then refine and add to these workflows to meet your specific requirements.

Workflow

Data Storage and Familiarisation Task: Setup Data Management Hierarchy

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Data Storage and Familiarisation To complete the MineSched Surface Production Setup there are two basic requirements for data.

• The Pit Designs and Topography. These are normally as DTM’s. Note scheduling can also be done with Whittle shells.

• A Block Model containing grades and material class definitions.

Many files are also created during the scheduling process such as reports, parameter files, log files and animation files. It is for this reason that it is important to manage your data so that it is easy to locate, access and analyse.

Some of the parameter options within MineSched allow the user to store filenames using a relative path or an absolute path. Using relative paths means that the schedule data will be transportable between various data storage systems and can be operated from several different locations. This makes it very important to store your data logically to facilitate this functionality as well as assisting other users to understand and locate your data readily.

Task: Setup Data Management Hierarchy Unzip the tutorial data. The files required for scheduling are already contained in their designated directory. The pit and topography dtm’s and string files are stored in the dtm directory and the block model is contained in the mdl directory. The zip folder also contains a polygons directory which will contain various string files we create for scheduling and a Scenario directory for managing the MineSched production scenarios.

The Surpac Production Interface The MineSched Production module is built into Surpac by means of Menus, Toolbars and a Profile. The profile contains the most common functions on a single toolbar while other, less common functions can be found under the MineSched Menu (this exists as a Menu of its own or as a submenu of the Surpac Applications Menu).

The profile can be turned on by right-mouse-clicking in the menu area and selecting the MineSched profile from the profiles menu. The MineSched menu can be found by turning on the Applications menu in the same manner.

Data Storage and Familiarisation Task: Set Your Working Directory

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Task: Set Your Working Directory Change your working directory to the newly created “Scenario” directory. You may need to refresh your navigator in Surpac to see the changes made in Windows Explorer.

The MineSched Production Interface The MineSched Production Interface is a dynamic environment. That is, the work environment changes depending on the current Step, Section or Task at hand. The interface is broken up into different areas. Some areas may be replaced if not applicable to the task, but this will become evident as we progress through this tutorial.


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Step Navigator The scheduling process is broken into 4 convenient steps which are arranged in a workflow at the top of the interface. Simply click on the step required to operate the sections within that step. These Steps are persistent in the interface. Each Step will be explained in detail throughout the tutorial. Section Navigator Each Step contains one or more sections. Not all sections are mandatory. Upon the selection of the desired step, the section icons will change to reflect the sections relevant to defining the schedule for that step. Not all Sections will be covered in this tutorial. Task Navigator Depending on the Section selected the interface in the task area will change to contain the tasks required to define the parameters for the section. In the example above the Locations Section of the Setup Schedule Step is shown. We will explore the different properties of elements in each task as we progress through the schedule.


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Data Review Open the files pit_design1.dtm and pit_stage_a1.dtm. Using DTM properties, change the colour of the stage A pit.

The files show a final pit design and an initial stage A for this pit. The Stage A subpit is developed first to quickly establish cash flow for the project then the remainder of the pit is mined. Now open the block model and display it. Run a block model summary.


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The block model contains four attributes.

Attribute Description

grade The quality value of the commodity ore An integer value representing 0 for waste or 1 or 2 for ore sg The specific gravity or density of the block

type The rock type. Either air, oxide, transition or fresh

Cancel the form when finished. Graphically constrain the block model to show only the blocks where the grade > 1


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To get an indication of grade distribution, colour the model by the grade attribute. Select a cutoff range that corresponds to the mining grade ranges selected for profitability.

Grade Range Description

< 1 Waste 1 to 3 Low Grade > 3 High Grade


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Data Editing and Management Task: Report Figures from Model

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Data Editing and Management

Block Model Reporting Block model reporting is a fundamental part of the data analysis. This will confirm that the figures from the schedule are correct and logical and will also give an indication of what the schedule is possible of accomplishing. For instance, by using block model reports you can determine logical quality target values or achievable production rates. That is, there is no point scheduling to achieve a grade that is not supported by the data in the model. In MineSched 6.0, this has been made easier through the use of charts and other tools which allow you to make decisions within the software. To understand the background of MineSched calculations in this section we will manually generate some block model reports. These figures can be used to check against the MineSched figures.

Task: Report Figures from Model Using the definition of cutoff grades described previously determine the quantities and average grades of waste, low grade and high grade in each pit.

1. Generate a block model report constrained between the topography and pit_stage_A On the Block Model Menu Go to Block Model > Report


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2. Generate a block model report constrained between the topography and the final pit design. This

report should NOT include the blocks already reported in Stage_A. To do this we will first need to create a constraint file of the blocks inside Stage_A so they can be removed from the report. Creating a constraint of both pits will be useful later in the tutorial so these should be saved into the MDL directory. On the Block Model Menu, go to Constraints > New constraint file

This will create a constraint file for Stage_A. Run this function again and create a constraint file for the Final Pit.


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It is highly recommended to graphically check any constraint files you have made to ensure the correct blocks have been selected.

Pit Stage_A Blocks


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Final Pit Blocks

Now generate a report for the Final Pit. On the Block Model Menu, go to Block Model > Report


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Data Editing and Management Task: Determine the Tonnes and Grades within each Rock Type

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From these figures we can derive some other values, for instance a waste to ore ratio which could be useful in the scheduling process. Stage_A Waste to Ore Ratio: 6.4 to 1 Final Pit Waste to Ore Ratio: 5.0 to 1 Overall Waste to Ore Ratio: 5.7 to 1

Task: Determine the Tonnes and Grades within each Rock Type 1. Using the above methodology, generate tonnage and grade reports for each of the rock types of

oxide, transition and fresh within each grade category and within each pit. Check your answers with the table below:

Pit Stage Rock Type Grade Category Tonnes Grade

Pit Stage A Oxide Waste 13,854,788 NA

Low Grade 1,067,282 2.07433 High Grade 447,440 3.79322 Transition Waste 14,921,375 NA Low Grade 1,335,551 2.36510 High Grade 1,613,965 3.71152 Fresh Waste 657,193 NA Low Grade 48,864 2.42013 High Grade 52,730 3.59969

Final Pit Oxide Waste 5,792,390 NA Low Grade 373,747 1.97998 High Grade 86,904 3.68271 Transition Waste 8,227,427 NA Low Grade 568,805 2.21317 High Grade 241,771 3.69275 Fresh Waste 12,207,626 NA Low Grade 1,367,930 2.52093 High Grade 2,574,968 3.83113

Data Editing and Management Task: Produce Polygons for Graphical Results

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Polygons for Graphical Results In this example, to present the schedule graphically we need to generate some files which enable MineSched to locate and orient the data for animation. This is not required if scheduling by not consolidating blocks. Consolidated versus unconsolidated scheduling is discussed in later chapters. Graphical display of the schedule, while not a necessary step, is an extremely powerful tool available to MineSched schedulers as it assists in validating the mining sequence. This tutorial will be looking at a long-term schedule where mining takes place by bench and a short-term example on a single bench split up by blast polygons. Commonly, for a long term schedule this step is not required as the scheduling is performed using unconsolidated blocks. The task below has already been performed and the results can be found in the polygons directory. It is fine to use those results, however it is important to understand the work involved when creating polygons for a long term schedule.

Task: Produce Polygons for Graphical Results The files required to animate a bench-by-bench long-term schedule are simple closed, clockwise polygons for each bench. The section of each bench can be taken at the bottom of the bench, top of the bench or at the middle of the bench. Creating polygons at the top or bottom of a bench means that the polygon can contain both the crest and the toe of a berm. This requires a decision for animation purposes regarding whether the bench should be displayed to either the crest or the toe. For simplicity we will create bench polygons at the mid-bench. The mining bench height for our project is 10m. We must create a separate polygon file for each stage of the pit. The bench polygons can all be the same string number or they can be different string numbers. • Open the Stage_A pit DTM file and use a function such as Contour a DTM or Slice Object to

generate the mid-bench sections. When contouring the DTM, the string numbers are automatically incremented, but using slice object produces the same string number for all polygons. Once the mid-bench strings have been generated, check them for duplicate points, crossovers, spikes and direction (clockwise).


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Save the string file into the polygons directory as stage_a_polys1.str • Creating the Polygons for the Final Pit is a little trickier. To present the schedule graphically

correctly, we need to subtract the subpit strings from the strings for the final pit. While the volumes are not counted twice graphically it could appear as if it is mining the stage_A pit twice.

• First, create the mid-bench strings for the final pit as previously outlined.


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Save the file to the strings directory as pit_final_temp_polys1.str 1. To create outersected polygons for the final pit, bring both files into the same layer and use the

graphical viewing planes to show one mid-bench at a time and use Create > Polygons By > Outersection to create the desired polygons.


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As we do not have any descriptions, you can select to use “From Intersected String” or “From Both Strings,” the result will be the same.

The edges may need to be cleaned up to delete some data that is not applicable. Continue to do this for each required bench. Save your work in a temporary file as you progress.


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Save the result to the strings directory as final_pit_polys1.str We are now ready for graphical results for our long term schedule. The string creation for the short term scheduling can be found under the heading Polygon Sequencing.

Block Model Material Classes Task: Assign Material Classes for the Schedule in the Block Model

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Block Model Material Classes The material class value stored in the block model lies at the heart of the scheduling process. Simply, a material class is any discrete unit you wish to report on from the block model, be able to specifically schedule or track its path through the mining flow process. Examples of material classes include high grade, low grade, oxide, contaminated ore or waste. The definition of material classes is completely within the control of the user. To set up material classes we need to create an attribute within the block model and fill it with material class values. Traditionally material classes can be defined by integers in the block model however character attributes can also be used to determine material classes. Alternatively, material classes can be defined in MineSched. Both options will be covered in this tutorial. It is a good idea to be aware of both methods. When completing the tasks below, you can complete both tasks, as the latter will simply overwrite the former. The task “Assign Material Classes for the Schedule in the Block Model” is explored in this section and they are assigned again later in the tutorial under the task “Assign Material Classes for the Schedule in MineSched.”

Task: Assign Material Classes for the Schedule in the Block Model Create an integer attribute in the block model and fill it with values for scheduling based on the following material class definitions.

Material Class Value Description

Waste 0 grade <= 1

Low Grade Oxide 1 grade > 1 and

grade <= 3 and type = oxide

High Grade Oxide 2 grade > 3 and type = oxide

Low Grade Transition 3 grade > 1 and

grade <= 3 and type = transition

High Grade Transition 4 grade > 3 and type = transition

Low Grade Fresh 5 grade > 1 and

grade <= 3 and type = fresh

High Grade Fresh 6 grade > 3 and type = fresh

These material classes are defined by the way in which the process plant can handle the different rock types. For instance if the mill does not handle high volumes of oxide material this material will need to be stockpiled and then blended with fresh or transitional material when this becomes available during the mining process. These effects can be handled by MineSched’s powerful stockpile blending algorithms or material ratio targeting algorithms. These are explored in another tutorial.

1. First create an attribute to represent the material class. From the Block Model Menu choose Attribute > New.


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2. Fill the attribute with values. From the Block Model Menu choose Estimation > Assign Value

The above constraint is the definition described for Low Grade Oxide assigned a value of 1. 3. Continue using this method to assign values to the material attribute. 4. Once you have finished, graphically constrain the block model within a single bench of the pit and

colour the model by the material attribute to confirm it has been filled correctly. You may need to choose a few different benches to represent the different rock type zones.


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The bench defined above lies in the fresh zone of the pit so the only material class values that should be present are waste (0 – dark blue), low grade fresh (5 – orange) and high grade fresh (6 – red). This can be confirmed by the image below.

5. Check benches within the transition zone and the oxide zone. 6. Once you are confident of your material class definition, save the model.

MineSched Scenario Management Task: Create a Scenario

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MineSched Scenario Management MineSched offers the ability to create and manage many scenarios related to the same data. Scenarios are typically slight variations of the scheduling parameters for the same dataset. This may include a comparison between using one type of equipment to another or re-assigning the sequence of mining. Scenarios can be accessed through the Surpac Interface or through the MineSched interface. Best practice is to have a single directory that stores your scenario files and multiple scenarios can be stored in here. This methodology allows you to keep file references the same between scenarios and only vary the parameters that are applicable to method of scheduling. When running MineSched, each scenario will create its own Results folder which will also be stored under the scenario directory. As each scenario stores a separate results folder there will be no overwriting of files relevant to each scenario. Through this scheduling process we will produce several scenarios as we build the schedule up to a complete functional schedule.

Creating a Scenario For every schedule there must be at least one scenario file.

Task: Create a Scenario 1. In Surpac make sure your current working directory is set to ‘Scenario’ 2. Use the Menus and go to Production >> New production scenario

MineSched will open the Scenario Management Window and start at the first Section of the First Step.

MineSched Scenario Management Task: Create a Scenario

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Navigating the Scenario Task: Create a Scenario

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Navigating the Scenario There are many aspects of the scenario graphical interface that can help to facilitate the entry of parameters relevant to the scheduling scenario. At first we will spend some time familiarizing ourselves with different aspects of the interface which are explained here.

Step Navigator

The Step Navigator allows you to move between the four steps of scheduling. These steps are:

1. Define Geology where geological model data is configured (Block Models, String Models or Grid Models)

2. Setup Schedule where the parameters for the scenario are entered 3. Create Schedule where the schedule is run and the dashboard reviewed 4. Publish Results where the various outputs are created such as Graphical Outputs, Reports, Block

Model updates and Gantt charts.

Section Navigator

The Section Navigator allows you to move between each section that makes up the step. Not every section is mandatory to complete a step. The above shows the sections involved in the Setup Schedule Step.


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Task Navigator

The task navigator changes depending on the section selected. Every screen may contain a number of tasks that need to be completed to finalise the scheduling scenario. As we explore each task in the schedule further explanation will be provided.

Tooltips

Tooltips exist on the fields in the interface to assist the user as a quick reference for the type of input required for a field. Hovering the mouse over the field will initiate the display of tooltips.


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Canvas

The Canvas is the graphical area of MineSched that allows you to build the scenario using a diagram. The canvas allows you to drag and move items onto it including mining locations, fill locations, stockpiles and processes as well as assigning resources and designing material flow paths across the network of locations. Right mouse clicking in the canvas will allow you to perform tasks common to many graphical interfaces such as zooming, displaying/hiding items, auto-arranging items and interacting with selected items.


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Data Grids

Data grids are populated manually or automatically by constructing items on the canvas. Items are modified manually by using the icons at the top of the data grid.

Using these icons, rows can be added, removed or copied. You can also add a comment field to keep track of information added to the scenario. Finally you can apply a filter to the grid to constrain the information displayed. When the filter is selected, the grid will only show rows that apply to the item selected in the canvas. An important function of the data grid is the ability to group items. Items are grouped by dragging the title of the field you want to group by into the space above the grids. For instance, to group by Resource, drag the resource field title into the space immediately above the grid.


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You can apply multiple levels of grouping if required. For example you may want to group the grid by resource by location.

Charts

Charting is applicable in some tasks. Charting allows you to validate quantities and qualities contained in an entire geological model or in specific locations. All items available for charting can be refreshed when parameters have been changed in the scenario by clicking on the Update charts button below the list of changeable items. Alternatively, individual items can be refreshed by selecting only that item in the list and choosing to update that item. In some cases many charts are created. To facilitate the viewing of charts, there is a group of icons above the charts which allows the user to set the density of the chart layout.


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Dashboard

The dashboard provides a snapshot of the results of the scheduling scenario. The dashboard can display both charts and reports. The above shows a simple mining chart and a report constrained by location by material class. Charts can be configured to show items as bar charts, stacked bar charts, line charts and step charts. When target scheduling, targets are automatically drawn on relevant charts.

Spreadsheet Views

MineSched also supports the use of a spreadsheet style of input. This is a far more efficient way to work in some circumstances, for example when there may be tens or hundreds of mining locations to define. The spreadsheet views work in a similar fashion to the functionality of Microsoft Excel so formulas can be used to help rapidly populate large amounts of information. In all of the areas of the software where it is considered that the spreadsheet could provide an advantage for the input of information for the schedule there exists an alternative view to enable that functionality. The spreadsheet views are enabled from the Spreadsheets menu.

Scenario Parameters – Geological Model Data Task: Open the Existing Scenario File

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Scenario Parameters – Geological Model Data In this section we will set up the parameters required for the scheduling scenario. This will be the most basic setup required to produce the schedule, however we will explore the functionality of each section as we define the information for the scenario. Not all sections will be covered in this tutorial.

Task: Open the Existing Scenario File

1. Close the Scenario file if you created one in an earlier task. 2. Open the scenario Surface_Production_Scenario_1 using the toolbar icon or using the Menu item

MineSched >> Production >> Open production scenario.

Scenario Parameters – Geological Model Data Task: Add the Model for Scheduling

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3. The opened scenario will not be populated with any data yet.

Define Geology The Define Geology Step is divided into two separate sections. The first section is where we define the details of the geological models and the second section is where we validate the contents of the geological models.

Defining Geological Models

The Models Section is divided into three mandatory tasks and three optional tasks. The mandatory tasks are the tasks shown by default. The three mandatory tasks are configuring the model, defining the material classes and defining the qualities required for reporting.

Task: Add the Model for Scheduling

1. To add a model to the scenario click on the add button at the top of the Models panel and browse through your file structure to find the model. Alternatively, the model file can be dragged directly from Microsoft Explorer and dropped in the Models panel. The model file can be found in the mdl directory. Add surface.mdl to the scenario.


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For large scheduling scenarios that rely on multiple geological models, more than one model can be added. MineSched will also handle multiple types of geological models within the same scenario.

2. To access the properties of the model, click on the model in the Models panel and the properties of that model will be displayed in the next panel to the right. The properties required for scheduling include a reference name for the model, the file location for the model, the material class attribute in the model, an optional volume adjustment factor and the specific gravity of data in the model.

3. Change the name of the model to SURFACE_MINE

4. The filename will already be taken care of due to the fact we dragged the file from explorer or

selected the file. You will notice the Material class attribute field has a warning icon next to it. This is part of the persistent validation in the MineSched interface. This indicates that MineSched cannot automatically fill a value here but a value is mandatory to be able to complete the schedule.

5. To assist in defining the material class attribute the link between MineSched and Surpac can be utilized to extract the attribute list from the model. Below the Material class attribute field is a button where the material classes can be defined as part of MineSched. This option is covered in the next task (optional) as the material classes have already been defined for this model. Click the down arrow in this field to access the list of attributes.


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6. The list is currently empty. Click the Extract from model button to update the list. This will communicate with Surpac to retrieve the list of attributes from the model.

7. Select the material attribute from the newly generated list.

Scenario Parameters – Geological Model Data Optional Task: Assign Material Classes for the Schedule in MineSched

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Optional Task: Assign Material Classes for the Schedule in MineSched

Previously in the tutorial we assigned values in the block model to define material classes for scheduling. This is an alternative methodology for assigning material classes for scheduling. If you have previously defined your material classes and do not wish to use this methodology then please skip this task and move on to the next task. There are advantages to both methods. Assigning material classes in the block model using Surpac functions gives more flexibility in the ways the assignment can be conducted. Assigning the material classes in MineSched keeps a permanent record of how the material classes are defined within the MineSched scenario file.

1. Before MineSched can add material classes to the material class attribute this attribute must be defined in the model. This should already have been added earlier. If not, in Surpac add an integer attribute to the model with a background value of 0 and save the model.


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2. Select the material class attribute.

3. To assign material class values to the material class attribute, click on the Assign values button directly below the material class attribute field.

4. A form will pop up allowing you to define the material class values. These values are defined as a function of the grade values and other constraints that can be defined by the user. There is an option to define an initial grade range that falls within a material class value and also the option to define two additional BLOCK type constraints. If more complex constraints are required there is a further optional constraint file that can be referenced. For complicated assignments, it is recommended that the assignment should be carried out and checked in Surpac.


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5. Define the material class values as shown below.

The assignment provides values for the material class for waste and low and high grade oxide, transition and fresh.

Scenario Parameters – Geological Model Data Task: Continue Configuring the Model for Scheduling

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6. Click the Execute button to begin the assignment. You will be warned that this will permanently overwrite your model so you must be sure your definitions are correct.

7. When this is completed, you can close the Material Class Assignment form.

Task: Continue Configuring the Model for Scheduling The Volume adjustment attribute will not be used in this tutorial. For some scheduling scenarios, the volume of the material needs to be adjusted. This should be done by some multiplying attribute within the model. This is used rarely but can be useful in dilution/reduction scenarios or swell factors. MineSched uses this field automatically when modeling with partial attributes or when calculating partial percentages, therefore if either of these features is used, this field is reserved for their use and must be left blank here.

1. Material masses are calculated using a specific gravity or density. This is stored as either a constant multiplier on the volume or a variable multiplier which will be stored as an attribute in the model. Choose to use an attribute and select the sg attribute from the attribute list.

Material classes were discussed in detail earlier in the tutorial. A definition of material classes is required for MineSched to accurately schedule your data. The material definition task exists as a data grid and can be filled in manually or MineSched can populate the data grid by reading values from the block model.


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2. Extract the material class values from the block model by clicking on the Extract button. This can extract values from integer type attributes and character type attributes. Some model types do not store values as these types. In these cases the Extract button will extract a range of values from the model, however these may need to be adjusted manually. Once the extraction is complete, the material classes data grid will be populated.

Note: The Show Partials button ( ) activates a new column in the grid. This is used for special estimation techniques where material classes are partially split within the same blocks in the model. This

is often the case for MIK models. This is not used in this tutorial.

There are two new tools in this grid (and any other grids where the order of stored items may be of importance to users and there is no ability to filter). These options allow you to move the selected row in the grid up or down in the list. In the case of character attributes, the Material Class name is known, but when the material value is stored as an integer, MineSched will populate the grid with default names for each extracted value.

3. Rename the material classes as shown below.

The Calculate qualities option determines whether or not you wish to calculate the quality values within the material class. For example in the ORE we will want to calculate the grade of our qualities however normally the WASTE this is not necessary and means MineSched will perform unnecessary calculations. We now need to define which qualities are to be reported on in the scenario. Qualities are also defined in a data grid and can be extracted in the same manner as the material classes. Sometimes it is not desirable to extract the qualities from the model for example if the model contains hundreds of attributes but only a few are required to report on for the scenario. In these cases you should fill in the grid manually. Only float, real and calculated type attributes will be extracted to the grid.


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4. Extract the qualities from the SURFACE_MINE model.

The sg attribute is not an attribute required to report on (it is used to convert block model volumes into masses).

5. Select the row with sg and click on the minus button to remove that row. The single row remaining shows the grade attribute from the model. The different fields in this data grid indicate what reporting is to be done on the attribute. The weight by field indicates what unit the attribute is measured in and how to combine values for reporting. For example an attribute stored in grams per tonne would be weighted by Mass when combined with other values to calculate an average. An attribute stored as a percentage may be weighted by Volume or Mass depending if the percentage is based on volume or mass. The MineSched default value is shown in a background blue-grey colour. If changed, the colour will become black. You can choose to report the average value or the aggregate value. For example the average grade of gold would be used to ensure mill feed grades stay within defined tolerances and the aggregate value of gold would be used to determine the total ounces of gold produced. The number of decimal places can also be controlled in the scenario. There is little reason to change this unless you have a very large number of qualities and are in danger of reaching Surpac’s 512 character limit for the total length of a description field.

6. Change the name of the quality to GRADE_AVE and weight it by Mass and report the Average.

7. Add a new quality called GRADE_AGG to report the Aggregate value of grade, weighted by Mass.

The minimum requirements are now met to define the model. Another option in the schedule is to create a user calculation to track through the schedule. For example the recovered grade may be represented as a percentage of the mined grade.

8. Select the User Calculations tab under the qualities panel.

Scenario Parameters – Geological Model Data Task: Check the Model for Errors

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9. A drop-down list showing all available codes can be used to assist in the construction of an appropriate expression.

10. Add an expression where the recovered grade is equal to the mined grade * 0.9.

We have now finished configuring the model and can validate the contents of the model.

Validate Model

The next section in the Define Geology step is where we validate the contents of defined geological models. This section allows you to chart the volumes and masses of material classes and the values of qualities within these material classes. MineSched will also check the values of entered information in the model configuration section against the values in the block model and ensure that all attributes and file names exist. This is also a good way to analyse if any of the entered values are incorrect. For example if you manually entered the wrong value for a material class this would be evident in the charts.

Task: Check the Model for Errors

1. The screen is divided into two separate panels. The panel on the left contains a list of all of the models defined in the schedule. At the bottom of this panel are two buttons. One for updating the charts and one for checking the model(s) for errors. Click on the lower button to check the entered information exists in the model.


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2. No errors should have been found. If MineSched found errors, follow the information in the report to fix the issues listed.

3. Some of the values have already been charted. The volumes and masses of material classes have been added to the charting area as this information was already collected when MineSched extracted the material classes from the model. However, the charts need to be updated to provide the quality information. Charts can be updated individually for each model by clicking on the update button for that model in the model list. Alternatively the charts can be updated for all models by clicking the button at the bottom of the list of models. Update the model charts for this schedule.


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4. Analyse the data to ensure the values are correct. The low grade values should be less than the high grade values. In general, the grade increases with depth such that the fresh is higher grade than transition which is higher than oxide, but looking at the chart the oxide is greater than the transition. This is due to a supergene enrichment zone near the boundary of the oxidation states. This information is for the entire model, this is why the waste in the model is almost five million cubic metres. When the locations are defined, the volume of materials can be charted for the individual locations.

The charted information is useful for validating that you have selected the correct material classes for reporting in the model as well as giving clues as to what the expected quality values are within the defined material classes. It is also highly useful in situations where block models are updated frequently and you need to ensure you have the most current version of the model.

Scenario Parameters – Location Definition Task: Discover the Functionality of the Canvas

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Scenario Parameters – Location Definition In this step we will look at setting up the specific information for the mining locations, validating these locations and defining resources for scheduling from the locations. As we progress through this chapter we will explore the various functionality of each section.

Setup Schedule Step Initiate the setup schedule step by selecting it in the step navigator.

There are eight sections to the Setup Schedule step; Location definition, location evaluation, resource definition and assignment, production precedences, production parameters, working calendars, activities and targets. In this tutorial we will take a detailed look at the location definition, validation and resource definition sections and the other sections will be covered in subsequent tutorials in this series.

Define Mining Locations

Mining locations are defined using the canvas (they can also be created in spreadsheet mode). The Canvas allows you to graphically construct the mining network and includes material movements which will not be explored in this tutorial but can be found in subsequent tutorials. The aim of this tutorial is simply to define the mining. This interface works closely with the properties task positioned to the right of the canvas.


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Task: Discover the Functionality of the Canvas The Canvas is divided into three sections, illustrated here:

1. Create a new location by clicking and dragging a mining location from the toolbox to the canvas. A location is created called ‘location_1’. If you drag a second location into the canvas, this location will be automatically called ‘location_2.’ As many locations as are required can be dragged onto the canvas or, with the location type selected, hold down control and click multiple times in the canvas. A new location is created at each point you click in the canvas.


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2. Click on the ‘Defaults…’ button at the bottom of the toolbox. The options allow you to change some of the properties of the items within the toolbox. For example you can browse to select a default image to use and change the location name prefix and the start value for the incrementing number suffix.


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3. You can play with some of the options here. Firstly, change the location name prefix to STAGE_

4. Drag the four different location types onto the canvas; a mining location, a stockpile location, a fill location and process location.

5. The upper portion of the toolbox contains the select tool and the material movement definition tool. The material movement tool allows you to define material movement rules between locations by clicking and dragging between the relevant locations. Note that material movement is not possible in some cases, for instance you cannot move material from a process to a mining, fill or stockpile location. MineSched will only allow material movements to be created that are valid.


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6. Note that when you define a material movement rule, the material movement grid is populated automatically in the right hand panel.


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7. Another helpful feature of the interactivity between the data grid and the canvas is when you mouse over an entry in the data grid, the elements named in that row of the grid will be highlighted on the canvas to make it easy to identify the correct elements.

The highlighting also works the other way, hovering the mouse over a location on the canvas will highlight the rules in the grid that apply to that location. Selecting a location in the canvas will darken that highlighting.


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8. The select option in the toolbox allows you to select items on the canvas and manipulate their properties. Select each location type and investigate the properties tab in the panel on the right. These will change for each individual location type.


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9. The canvas itself has properties similar to other graphical editing software. Right mouse clicking and dragging in the canvas area will zoom in/out as will spinning the mouse wheel if you have one. Holding down both the left and the right mouse buttons and dragging will pan the image as will holding down the middle button or pressing the wheel if the functionality exists on your mouse.

10. Right mouse click in a blank area in the canvas will reveal a menu with some functions available for the canvas in general.

The Organise menu item will enable MineSched to use a simple hierarchical structure to organize the items in the canvas. Items will be organized based on the level they appear in the material flow network. For example:

Another option is to show only the material movement for the selected item. This is very useful in situations, like above, where there are many material movement rules that exist between many locations. Filtering the material movement arrows on the canvas by the selected item can make the set up of the schedule easier to understand.

Scenario Parameters – Location Definition Task: Define the Two Mining Locations for Scheduling

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11. Right mouse click on an item on the canvas will also give the option to delete that item. Items can also be deleted by selecting them and pressing the delete key. As a lot of information can be stored with a location, you will be prompted for a confirmation to delete each location you choose to delete.

12. Delete all items you have created on the canvas and return to a blank canvas.


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Task: Define the Two Mining Locations for Scheduling

1. Drag a new mining location onto the canvas and select it to fill in the properties.

2. The location name is already defined as we set this as a default in the toolbox properties dialogue. The model name is automatically selected because this is the only defined geological model data. If multiple geological models exist, you will be required to choose the model. Locations can also be made inactive. This is useful when trying different options for scheduling. You can make a location inactive without deleting the entire definition.

3. Now right mouse click on the location icon in the properties panel. This will allow you to change the colour of the existing image or choose a unique image for that location.


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4. Choose to change the colour of the image. Change the image to another colour if you like or add an image if you have one.

5. Define the blocks from the model that make up the mining location. This is done by using block model constraints. In this case, the STAGE_1 pit blocks are defined as those block above the stage 1 pit dtm and not above the topography dtm. Where locations are complex or contain many blocks, it is often better to make a constraint file prior to scheduling and use this.

TIP: When using DTM’s to define block model constraints, the processing time may be considerably longer. This is

particularly true if the dtm contains many triangles and the block model user block size and sub-celling create very small blocks. Surpac will be required to do many calculations to determine which blocks are above and which blocks are below a dtm. Often it is more efficient to create a constraint file for the location prior to scheduling and reference the constraint file. A constraint file is simply an index of blocks inside the constraint and this will significantly reduce process time and memory use.

6. Constraint Files were created earlier in this tutorial. Use these constraint files if you have them.


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7. We have now defined the location name and the blocks that make up the location. The rest of the properties determine how the location will be mined. Note that in this portion of the properties, the interface changes depending on selections in the fields. For example, mining by polygon requires the definition of a polygon string file. Selecting this mining method will display the relevant fields.

A description of these fields is as follows:

Mining Method Many mining methods can be used. In medium and long term scheduling, the mining method of benches is the most commonly used. This allows the user to define the start and end bench of a pit and mining will be constrained to these benches. Bench elevations can be defined as the top, middle or bottom of the bench. Further options can restrict or allow flexibility of resource movements over those benches. Bench_polygons and polygons are used for shorter term schedules where many benches are not required. In these cases usually a tighter control of resource allocation is required so the locations are broken up into polygons. Bench polygons are automatically constrained by the bench elevations defined, however polygons will be to the full vertical extent of the constrained blocks. Other methods of whole and solids are commonly used for underground mining and the sloping faces method is used for mining sand mines with scrapers where the angle of the advancing face is exceedingly shallow. String File Name When blocks are not consolidated the String File field will not be shown as this is not required, however when we choose to consolidate blocks a string file is optionally entered to spatially locate the data and produce meaningful graphical results. Mining Direction The direction for the advancement of the mining face. For longer term or target scheduling this can be set to none to allow MineSched full flexibility to decide which blocks are best to mine at given times. Sometimes the mining method or geographical nature of the location means that a constant face and mining direction must be maintained. This field has cardinal compass directions as well as the ability to specify the direction based on a description field in a polygon string file or you can simply type in the azimuth as a number between 0 and 360.

Consolidate Blocks Consolidating blocks is used in conjunction with the mining direction. For example, when consolidate blocks is set to yes and the mining is set to north, the blocks for that location or polygon in the east-west direction will be consolidated into a single block representing the mining face across the direction of mining. The consolidate blocks option is usually set to yes for short term, polygon or underground mining but creates inflexibility for long term or target scheduling.


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TIP: A frequently asked question is what happens to my grades when MineSched creates mining

blocks, especially when consolidate blocks is used. Are my higher grades blended down with the lower grades and waste and my lower grades blended up with the higher grades in the mining block. The answer to this is NO. MineSched maintains the grades within each material class defined. If a mining block contains all of the material classes defined then MineSched will create a record in the scheduling model for each material class and the grades will only be averaged within each individual material class. When MineSched mines the block with a resource, all of the material classes are mined, however each material class can be treated separately in the mining network.

X and Y Mining Block Size The mining block size is based on the mining equipment used. Effectively this is the smallest dimension block your equipment could practically extract from the location. For instance it is pointless to set your mining block size to 1 x 1 if the bucket size on the shovel is 5 metres. Another way to look at this is what is the smallest area you would be prepared to move all of your equipment to mine and then move all the equipment elsewhere? This setting effectively re-blocks the geological model. While the geological model may have a block size of 5m x 10m, the size of the mining equipment means that the blocks should be resized to 50m x 50m.

TIP: When initially setting up a schedule you should set your mining block size to a relatively large size so that the schedule runs quickly. Once you get closer to your final schedule, you should then reduce the block size based on your mining equipment selectivity. This will ensure the most efficient use of MineSched and will allow you to achieve your final results in less time than if you start scheduling with a small block size.

Z Size The Z size is used to set the height of the graphical solid created for displaying the schedule graphically when the mining method is whole or polygons.

8. Set the definition for the mining location as shown below.

9. The use of Partial Percentages is not relevant to this schedule. In most cases the volumes taken from pit benches are not adversely affected by partial percentages however this may be of use in some circumstances. The use of partial percentages is explained in detail in the Underground Production Tutorial.

10. The first location has now been defined. Use similar definitions to define the other stage of the

pit. An item on the canvas can be duplicated by right mouse clicking and choosing to create a copy. Then the information that differs between locations can be edited.

Scenario Parameters – Location Definition Task: Investigate the Spreadsheet View

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11. After making many changes such as this to your scenario, it is wise to save your scenario. This can be done using the Save function from the Scenario menu in the upper left of the main MineSched window, or by using the keyboard short cut Control+s.

Task: Investigate the Spreadsheet View Alternatively, the locations could be defined using the Spreadsheet view. In this task we will look at how the spreadsheet view interacts with the canvas and properties.

1. To open the Spreadsheet View, go to Spreadsheets >> Enable Spreadsheet Views.

2. There are 9 available spreadsheet views that can be enabled separately. Go to Spreadsheets >> Mining and Fill Locations to enable the location definition spreadsheet view. Once this has been done a message appears above the canvas:

3. The spreadsheet view can be accessed from the tabs that have now appeared below the canvas. Click on the Locations tab.


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4. The spreadsheet view shows the exact same properties for the location definition. All location information can be driven from this view. For example, add a new location to the spreadsheet as shown below:

5. Now select the Canvas tab to move back to the Canvas view. You may need to Zoom Out to see, but the location has now been added to the canvas and the properties entered have been attached to the location.


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6. Note also that the tools for adding a mining or fill location have been locked out as have the tools for editing the properties of the item. Creation and modification of locations can only be driven either from the canvas view or from the spreadsheet view at one time.

7. Disable the spreadsheet view by selecting the menu item Spreadsheets > Enable Spreadsheet Views.

8. When you are choosing to disable this option, the spreadsheet view will not be retained and will be constructed again from entered values if enabled again in the future. Select Yes.

9. The functionality to create and modify locations in the canvas and its properties is now enabled again.

10. Delete the EXAMPLE location that was created.

11. Save your scenario. The location creation step has now been completed.

Scenario Parameters – Location Definition Task: Evaluate the Defined Locations

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Evaluate Mining Locations

The evaluate mining locations section is used to replace the Prepare Model step in V5.1, however it is no longer compulsory to run this prior to scheduling. Upon scheduling, if the locations have not been evaluated, MineSched will run this automatically. The Evaluate Locations section is important to ensure that the location definitions are correct prior to running the schedule. This can save considerable time. This is similar to the Validate Model section, however the charts are now constrained by each location definition. When MineSched is choosing which locations to evaluate, it considers the changes made to fields in the location definition section as well as if changes have been made to any referenced files such as block models and string files. Only the locations where a change has occurred will force MineSched to re-evaluate that location.

Task: Evaluate the Defined Locations

1. Select the Evaluate Location icon. If you have made any errors in the definition, this will be displayed in the screen.


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If this is the case, select the option to Check the schedule setup for errors to get a report. For example, if the geological model file was moved the error report would look something like this:

2. Once the errors have been fixed, you can update the charts for the locations. As with the charting option in the Validate Geology section, this can be done individually for each location or can be done for all the locations at the same time.

3. Generate the charts for all of the locations; you can do this individually or all together.


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For each location a chart is created. The Volume and Mass of each material class are charted (green) as well as the qualities within each material class (blue) and any user calculations (brown).

4. Check the values against those that were reported earlier. Is MineSched producing valid results?

5. Save the scenario. The next part of the tutorial will discuss mining resources and constraints on the mining activity.

Mining Constraints Task: Evaluate the Defined Locations

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Mining Constraints A mining constraint is simply any part of the mining process that can affect the way in which the schedule can be generated. Constraints can be physical limitations, such as the maximum capacity of mining equipment or can be driven by external sources such as client requests for particular qualities of ore.

Mining Rates Mining rates are perhaps the most common and most influential constraints on the schedule. Mining rates can vary depending on the resource and they can vary depending on location. For instance an excavator with a 20 tonne bucket capacity with a fleet of 4 trucks will not be able to produce 1 million tonnes per day. Similarly a fleet of 10 excavators with 87 trucks simply won’t fit into a small pit so high rates cannot be achieved. Mining rates can also vary over time. For example in winter, due to the high clay material, truck movement is slower across the ground so lower rates are expected. Furthermore, mining rates can be dependent on material type. If a material is significantly denser than other materials, it may take longer to mine so you could expect reduced rates. Examples of this (without activity scheduling) are that hard rock needs to be blasted first, but oxide can be mined without blasting. Another example is when handling toxic (radioactive or acidic) material, it may need to be transported to a different location for treatment or encapsulation which is a longer haulage route causing reduced rates. MineSched handles the input of rates directly against individual locations. Rates can be varied depending on time, events or the material mined.

Resource Availability The availability of resources is another common constraint on mining. Resources can become unavailable due to scheduled maintenance or more commonly from their use in other parts of the project. For instance the same excavator could be used for three different pits. The availability of this excavator would depend on the status of these pits. MineSched controls resource availability through the use of detailed resource specific calendars and prioritizing locations and the use of location precedences. MineSched’s scheduling engine carries out resource leveling directly within MineSched so that resource capacities are never exceeded. When target scheduling, MineSched will allocate resources so as to best meet the defined targets.

Physical Constraints Physical constraints are usually less tangible in nature and sometimes cannot be determined until you are confronted with a situation. Most, however, are common sense. For example the mine may be split into 10 different locations. In a single mining period we do not want the excavator to be able to mine from all 10 locations as too much time will be lost moving equipment. We may want to constrain the resource to two or three active locations per period. Other examples include that we do not want to have too many benches active at the same time or that we do not wish to be mining in a polygon adjacent to a polygon where charging is taking place. A more common mining constraint is that we wish to maintain a particular ratio of ore to waste. This is so that the mining company can maintain a steady cash flow and keep the processing plant busy for as long

Mining Constraints Task: Evaluate the Defined Locations

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as possible. This is, of course, not always possible as often the ore is buried under several metres of waste. MineSched controls many of these constraints through different production properties or targets and ratios. The more constraints you place on your schedule, the less likely it is to meet your desired outcome, however the mining process will be modeled more accurately and produce a more practical schedule. This is particularly the case when scheduling to produce a specific quality target. If the constraints you have placed on the schedule mean that there is only one specific way that blocks can be mined, it is unlikely you will meet your quality targets but likely that you will have a valid, practical schedule. By loosening the mining constraints you may meet your quality target, but produce an impractical schedule. Striking a balance between practical mining and quality targets is a goal of MineSched.

Scenario Parameters – Resources Task: Become Familiar with the Resources Section

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Scenario Parameters – Resources

Resource Definition and Assignment

The Resources section allows you to define resource names and working capacities as well as assign the resources to perform the work in the locations. Without resources defined it is not possible to schedule the movement of any material.

Task: Become Familiar with the Resources Section 1. Click on the resource section button.

The resources section is divided into three parts. The Resource Toolbox allows you create and name new resources that can be dragged onto the canvas to assign them to mining locations. The Property Grids control the various options relating to both the resource capacities and the individual production rates within each location.

2. Add a new resource by clicking the add button above the resource toolbox.


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3. The name of the resource can be changed by clicking the Name field in this newly created tool.

Change the name to SHOVEL_FLEET. Similarly to the location icons the pictures can be changed to by right mouse clicking on the image. The colour can also be changed.

4. Note that the Property panel has updated to show the resource capacity properties associated with the created resource.

5. When a resource is initially created, it has no defined capacity. This is the only mandatory field that must be configured. By default the capacity unit will be MASS (however VOLUME or any aggregated quality is acceptable) and the material classes contributing to the capacity will be all material classes. The capacity of a resource can be changed over time. Set the resource capacity to 35000 and the Unit to VOLUME. This capacity is a on a per day basis.

TIP: When long term scheduling it is suggested to model the resources as a fleet, rather than creating each individual resource. It is only necessary to create the individual resources if they are going to be assigned to separate locations in the schedule.

6. To assign a resource to a mining location, simply click and drag the resource from the toolbox

and drop it onto a location. When the resource is assigned a field activates next to the location on the canvas asking to enter a maximum rate for the resource in that location. Production rates can be any number zero or greater. The MAX_RATE does not necessarily have to be the same as the resource capacity. This will be explained in more detail later.

7. Drag the resource to allocate it to the location STAGE_1.


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8. Notice when the resource is assigned to a location, the property grid on the right has switched to the Production Rates grid. Assigning each location will add another row to the grid. This grid supports the use of wildcards, for example, rather than assigning the resource to each location individually we could change the location name from STAGE_1 to STAGE_* and this would make the assignment the same for each of those locations that match the wildcard definition. Fields that allow the use of wildcards will include the … button which will access the wildcard expression builder.


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The wildcard builder shows a list of available items on the left and the use of a wildcard expression in the top field will produce the results shown on the right hand side. For example, using a wildcard expression of STAGE_* would like the following:

If there are no consistencies in naming of the items then you can build a list of items by double-clicking them in the left hand side to add to them to the list on the right hand side. The use of wildcards can be very powerful in MineSched but in some cases they can reduce the flexibility. In this case we want to be able to control the individual precedences of each location so we need a separate entry in the grid for each location.

9. Assign the resource to each location individually.

10. Save your scenario. We have now defined enough information to get a result from our schedule. Initially we will run the schedule and then return to the Schedule Setup to sequence the production.

Create Schedule Task: Define a Timeline for the Schedule

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Create Schedule

The Create Schedule step involves the setup of the time periods for scheduling, creating the schedule and then analyzing the scheduling results in a dashboard prior to publishing them.

The MineSched Timeline When a MineSched scenario is initialized a default timeline spanning one year scheduled at monthly intervals is created. This can be modified.

Task: Define a Timeline for the Schedule

1. Click on the Create Schedule Step. The default view would be as follows:

2. To change the timeline, click on the Change Periods button.


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When defining the periods for the schedule, each line represents the definition for a set of periods, also known as an epoch. For example, an epoch in the above schedule is the periods defined between 01/01/2010 and 01/01/2011. This epoch represents 4 periods each lasting for three months. The MineSched timeline can be defined using short period lengths such as days or long period lengths such as years. Multiples of each time unit can be used to be able to define periods of any lengths. For example, in the above image, the schedule starts on 01/01/2009 (Please note the date format will be the same as that defined in your Windows System Regional Settings), the schedule consists of 5 epochs, the first schedules daily for 31 days (the length of January), the second epoch is defined as 2 periods of 2 weeks each. The third epoch completes the year by defining the remaining months on a monthly basis. The fourth epoch extends the schedule into the medium term by scheduling four periods of 3 months length each, this is a schedule by quarter. Finally the schedule is extended into the long term by scheduling the final 5 years on a yearly basis.

3. The timeline will update dynamically as each epoch is defined. Try some different definitions to become familiar. Note that the exact dates that indicate the extents of each epoch are listed to the right.

4. This schedule will be a simple timeline of monthly for 24 months. Define the timeline to represent this.


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Create the Schedule The schedule can be created by pressing the play button.

When the schedule is created, MineSched first analyses all of the entered parameters. If a problem exists, MineSched will not proceed with the schedule, but will display a dialogue box outlining which errors need to be fixed before scheduling can proceed. For example a mis-spelled parameter:

Create Schedule Task: Create the Schedule

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When the schedule is running, MineSched will show the progress of the schedule by changing the colour of the timeline as each period is completed.

Task: Create the Schedule

1. Create the schedule, if any errors are produced, follow the instructions and fix the errors and then create the schedule again.

The Dashboard Once the schedule has been created the dashboard can be customised to produce various charts and reports to validate the schedule before valid results can be published to external sources.

Task: Add a Report to the Dashboard

1. Click on the Add Report button. There are three reports that can be added. The material movement report details the quantities and qualities that are moved between mining locations, stockpiles, processes and fill locations. The block sequence report details the mining blocks that were mined in each location expressing the quantities and qualities from each block. The block sequence summary report is a less detailed version of the block sequence report.

Create Schedule Task: Add a Chart to the Dashboard

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2. Add the block sequence summary report.

3. The reports can be grouped like most data grids in MineSched by dragging the column headers into the space provided above the reports. Group the report by Mining Location by Material Class.

Task: Add a Chart to the Dashboard

1. Click on the Add Chart button. There are four standard charts that can be added and one option to create a custom chart. The custom chart allows you to create a chart from scratch; the standard charts can be edited later to customize them if necessary. The mining locations chart can display the quantities and qualities that have been removed from the mining locations. They can be shown individually or summarized in a group. The same can be applied to the next two


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charts however these are specific to stockpile balances and process throughput. The quality Targets chart will graph the qualities along with a line matching the defined quality targets.

2. Add the Mining Locations Chart.

3. When you have more than five items in a default chart, a dialogue is presented where you can choose the items you wish to chart. For now, choose to chart the MASS of * Removed STAGE_1, MASS of * Removed STAGE_2 and GRADE_AVE of * Removed STAGE_1 and press OK.

4. The chart can be customized by right mouse-clicking in the chart area and choosing Customise.


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5. Many items can be changed in the chart customization. This includes the value charted, locations to chart, material classes to chart, chart type, which axis to chart the value against and the colour in the chart.

6. Explore the different options for charting and see how it affects the display of the chart. Note that you can change the title of the chart as well as the location of the legend.

7. Once finished exploring the options, change the chart types of both STAGE_1 and STAGE_2 to Stacked Bar and change the GRADE_AVE to be for both locations. The definition look as follows (colours are optional):

Create Schedule Task: Arrange the Dashboard

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Task: Arrange the Dashboard

1. By default, when items are added to the dashboard, they are added as another tab. It is possible to move the items around and tile them.

2. To rearrange the dashboard, click and drag the title bar of one of the tabs, a locator will appear in the window which allows you attach the item to the other window to the top, bottom, left, right or to reapply the item as a tab by selecting the middle option.


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3. Arrange the dashboard as you would like to see it. Add more charts or reports if you like. In the

image below a chart has been added to indicate the strip ratio. The definition for that is as follows:


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4. Each time you create the schedule the dashboard will be updated with the new information of the schedule.

5. Save your scenario. We will next look at the various results that can be published for a schedule.

Publishing Results Task: Arrange the Dashboard

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Publishing Results

There are various ways that the schedule can be published. Graphical outputs can be published and animated in Surpac to visualize the schedule; reports can be published to Microsoft Excel or Microsoft Access; Gantt Charts can be published to Microsoft Project and mining block period information can be written back to the block model.

Create Graphical Results

The graphical results section allows the creation of the mining blocks, bench plans and end of period surfaces. In this tutorial we will create the block graphical results.

The various options in the Blocks panel include the output file prefix, whether to create solids or filled polygons for the animation. Locations can be filtered and you can choose the qualities to output and the

Publishing Results Task: Create the Graphical Results

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decimal places. These values will be added to the description fields of the strings created in the graphical results.

Task: Create the Graphical Results

1. The graphical results can be created either in the working directory or any directory that must already have been created in explorer. The output date format will also be written to the description fields of the strings created in the output. Once the items have been defined as above, click the Create Outputs button.

2. The graphical results are now ready to be animated.

Animations

The animation section allows you to visually display the graphical results within Surpac. Various items can be displayed such as the production schedule, development schedule, stockpiles, activities and more. The animation can be displayed in many ways and can be captured in a series of images for use in the production of a video. MineSched has three animation modes; Added, Evolution and Removed. Added will display the blocks one period at a time. That is, show one period, then remove that period from the screen and show the next period. Evolution will start with a blank screen, display the blocks for the first period then, while keeping the previous blocks on the screen show the next period and so on. Removed starts by showing all of the blocks which are mined during the entire length of the schedule and removes the blocks that were mined for each period in sequence.

Task: Animate the Schedule

1. Animate the production schedule and choose to display the schedule by removing the blocks.

2. Once this has been defined, click the Animate button.

3. When you click the animate button, Surpac will become active. You may need to select Surpac from the Windows taskbar to bring the window to the front.

Publishing Results Task: Animate the Schedule

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4. Surpac will allow you to rotate and orient the view before pressing the Escape key to begin the animation.

You will notice when animating this that the schedule is invalid. This is one of the great advantages of the graphical feedback for your schedule. The ability to validate the schedule visually is one of the important aspects of MineSched. We will deal with the invalid results later in the tutorial.

5. The schedule can be re-animated once complete.

6. The animation can be shown in manual playback mode which allows the user to advance the

schedule themselves. Try animating the schedule manually.

Publishing Results Task: Animate the Schedule

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Return to the first defined period.

Return to the previous period.

Advance the schedule to an entered period number.

Advance display to the next period.

Advance display to final period.

Pause the animation and allow a point to be graphically selected to get its details.

Window In on a part of the schedule.

Window out to the previous window orientation.

Zoom to extent of the data.

Rotate the view to a new orientation. When in rotation mode, you can choose the Target Icon ( ) from the Main Toolbar to select the centre point of rotation. From the animation we can see the first major problem with our schedule. All locations are being mined at the same time and this is not physically possible. This will be confirmed with a report.

Publishing Results Task: Explore the Custom Report Functionality

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Standard Reports

The Standard Reports include the block sequence reports. These can be written out to .csv files or written into Microsoft Access tables. These reports are useful for validation and troubleshooting.

Custom Reports

Custom Reports are used to integrate the results into another system. Reports are created in a .csv file. They can be linked to templates to facilitate further analysis.

Task: Explore the Custom Report Functionality

1. A report can be added by clicking the add button in the report panel on the left.


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2. The report definition is split into two sections. The top section contains some general information about how the report will be laid out.

Output File Name The name given to the report created.

Report Type There are three types of reports; summary, detailed and location. Summary reports are most common and contain a summary of information for each period. Detailed reports will break the report up by period and by bench or polygon depending on the mining method. Location reports are similar to detailed reports but do not provide as much detail. Location reports are fixed format and are useful for troubleshooting your mining locations.

Periods by Row or Column Define how you would like the report laid out. The options are to have one row in the csv file for each period or one column for each period in the csv file. Changing this option will change the layout of the fields in the group section below to more accurately represent how the report output will be laid out. When creating a detailed report, this option must be set to Row as many hundreds of lines of data may be written out and there is a more limited number of columns in Excel than there are rows. Excel Template Assign an Excel file that is used as a template. Templates can be created separately and then referenced here or can be automatically generated and then formatted later. We will create a template later in the tutorial. Title Method The creation of titles for the report can be automatically entered by MineSched from an analysis of the information being filtered or can be constructed manually using the information from the filtering and/or custom text information.


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Title Lines The number of individual rows or columns to reserve for the titles of each individual reporting field when Custom Titles is chosen. When Automatic Titles is chosen the automatic title is created on a single line.

The report options button also provides some further options to change the layout of the report.

Header 1 on Line Which line of the file contains the overall title for the whole report (note, this is different to the title for each field of the report).

Header 2 on Line As many reports can be generated for a schedule the date it was created is important information. Which line of the report will hold the creation date?

Start on Line Which line of the report will the individual information for each field be reported to? That is, which line will the body of the report start from?

Gaps after Titles This field relates to how many blank lines to leave between the field titles and the schedule values.

Gaps after Dates The number of lines after the period dates to leave blank before the data is written.

Separators before Total If a total is required, how many blank lines between the data and the total? The bottom section contains the filters for the values that will be written to the report.

Group Location Filter Where multiple locations are present, you may require a filter to report only locations of interest. Enter the locations here using wildcards and separated by spaces, commas or semi-colons. This is a constraint which applies to all codes being reported.

Report Locations Individually This option allows the report to be combined in the sense that all locations are reported in one unit or individually in that each location is reported as a separate set of fields. When locations are reported individually, the first title line is reserved for the location name.

Title The title to place in the report for the value being reported. The number of title lines here must correspond to the number of lines indicated in the format definition section of the report definition. When “Individual or Combined” is set to Individual the first title line will automatically contain the individual location name regardless of what is entered here. When the option to automatically generate the titles is chosen, this field is not editable. The text is compiled based on the options chosen in the filtering section of the report definition. When Custom Titles is chosen, the construction of the title is left to the user, however this can be rapidly entered using the drop down list in the field. For Period by Row reports, this menu is invoked via a right mouse click.

Publishing Results Task: Create a Report for the Schedule

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For example the title can be constructed in much the same way as building an expression.

The above title will translate to:

Value Select the value you wish to include in the report. Some of these values are built into MineSched and some are user values which are populated automatically.

Locations For each individual code you can constrain the report to only the locations of interest.

Materials Select the material class or material classes to contribute towards the value being reported.

Resources Optionally you may constrain the report to only the quantities removed by specific resources.

Movement When reporting stockpiles or processes you can choose to report how much material was added to the stockpile, how much material was removed from the stockpile or what the remaining balance of the stockpile is.

Factor This is a multiplier on the reported value. This is useful for converting percentages or changing grams to ounces.

Gaps After You can leave any number of blank rows or columns after the current row or column by placing a number in this field.

Task: Create a Report for the Schedule A report which combines both a summary of all mining locations and the detail of each individual location can be very useful for analyzing results. To create this, you simply need to create two groups in the lower section of the report definition. In this way you can define a report body showing a COMBINED report to summarise all locations included with an INDIVIDUAL report summarizing each individual location. An example is shown below. Note that there can be any number of groups within a single report.


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1. We can get MineSched to automatically create the template interface for us by adding the name

of the template into the field the press the Create template button. The template is created silently and will be used when the report is viewed.

2. Note there are two groups in this report definition. The first group is defined to report the four options that we require for analysis of the schedule. The first title refers to All stages because this is the summary information for all of the combined stages in a single cell for the period.


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3. The second group is identical to the first group, however the option to Report locations individually has been selected. This group can be quickly created by right-mouse clicking on the tab for Group 1 and choosing to copy the group. Then check the tick box to report the locations individually. The value of Title 1 has been changed to reflect the individual stage name that will be written into this field. Whatever exists in this first title field will be replaced by the location name.

Publishing Results Task: Edit the Template for this Report

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4. To create the report, click on the create reports button at the top of this section. This will create

all of the defined reports that have been ticked as Active. To view the created report, you can either click on the View Reports button at the top of this section which will open all of the defined reports (and any defined templates), or you can click on the View Report button which will open only the defined report that is highlighted (and any defined template). The report will be opened in Microsoft Excel.

Task: Edit the Template for this Report

1. Make sure the mining report is open with its template. Ensure that window you are actively editing is the TEMPLATE_mining_report.xls window.


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2. In this new document, format the report how you would like to view it. For information on

formatting Excel documents, refer to Microsoft Help.

3. Save this template (for example as TEMPLATE_report_mining.xls).

4. The report can now be opened with the template.

Templates can incorporate other links, formulas and charts as required.


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Gantt Charts

MineSched can also take the production schedule and create a Gantt chart in Microsoft Project that contains all the relevant statistics from the schedule. MineSched will automatically open Microsoft Project and populate the Project data model.


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Connect to Open Project MineSched can integrate the information from the schedule into an existing Project Gantt chart. This is used when integrating production and development schedules.

The other options relate to what information gets transferred to the Microsoft Project data model. For example, the movement of quality data can be transferred into Microsoft Project or the level of detail (bench when mining by benches, polygon when mining by polygons or solids when mining by solids). For more information regarding the use of Project, please refer to the Microsoft Project Help Library.


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Block Model

The period that a block was mined can be written back to the block if required, this is useful for reporting and display purposes. To write the periods back to the block model, simply type in the name of the attribute to create and populate, and you can also filter based on location. Then press the Update Block Models button.

Analysing the Schedule Task: What Problems in the Schedule need to be Addressed?

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Analysing the Schedule Now that we have some results we can look at we can see some major issues with the schedule. Analysis shows that the tonnages and grades are being reported correctly, however the timing is where the issues are.

Task: What Problems in the Schedule need to be Addressed?

1. Look at the various results of the schedule. What issues do we need to address to make the schedule more practical? Check your answers with those given below.

Answers

1. Stage 2 is mining before Stage 1 is completed. 2. The Resource needs servicing. Add a maintenance schedule to the resource. 3. There are other issues that we will deal with in subsequent tutorials like stabilizing the grade,

material movement and other such options.

Adding Calendars to Resources Task: Define Calendars for the Schedule

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Adding Calendars to Resources

Calendars in MineSched exist as two different types: resource specific holiday calendars that define the periods of time the resources do not work and resource specific working calendars that define the periods of time the resources do work. Calendars can be either global which apply to all resources or specific that apply only to the resources they have been assigned to.

Task: Define Calendars for the Schedule

1. Define calendars for the schedule such that there is no mining on Christmas day, there is no mining during Lunar New Year celebrations and the resource will be unavailable every Sunday for half a day due to servicing.

2. First we need a way to verify the changes in the calendar are being honoured. Based on the current mining rate, the capacity of the resource is 35,000 cubic metres per day which equates to 1,050,000 per 30-day month or 1,085,000 per 31-day month. If the resource is unavailable every Sunday for half a day, then the monthly capacity will vary depending on how many Sundays there are in a month. Christmas will affect the schedule as the schedule runs for longer than a year. The Lunar New year will need to be entered as this will affect the schedule. The lunar new year changes each year and is as follows: 2009 Jan 26, 2010 Feb 14, 2011 Feb 3, 2012 Jan 23, 2013 Feb 10, 2014 Jan 31. Because of this we will need to put in a specific entry for each year.


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3. In the Setup Schedule Step, go to the Calendars Section.

4. To add a calendar, click on the add button in the panel on the top left. Calendars can be working

or holiday type calendars and can be specified globally or resource specific. First, add the resource specific maintenance schedule calendar.

5. As defined, above the FLEET_SERVICE calendar repeats weekly and it is a holiday calendar where no mining can take place with the resource on Sunday for 0.5 days. The frequency is 1 in 1 which means the holiday occurs every 1 week in every 1 week. This can be useful for specifying fortnightly calendars which may be 1 in 2 weeks or rosters such as a 5 day holiday for every 14 day period. This calendar lasts from the start of the schedule to the end of the schedule.

6. To assign the calendar to the resource, simply click and drag the calendar from the toolbox on the left and drop it onto the specific resource that it applies to.


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7. Now add the Christmas Holiday Calendar. This will be a global calendar that recurs annually on

25/12 each year.

8. This is a global calendar and when the global option is selected, the calendar is automatically added to all of the available resources. While there is only one resource here, when we add subsequent resources the calendar will automatically be applied to them.

9. Finally, add the Lunar New Year calendar using the dates provided above.

10. The length of the holiday varies in different Asian cultures and this can be adjusted using the duration field. Once again this is a global calendar and should be applied to all resources.

11. We will not use working calendars in this tutorial however an example is given here. If the resource does not work for the full 24 hours in a day that can be modeled by using a working calendar. For example, 1 hour may be lost during a shift change each day.


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The resource rate will be adjusted accordingly during scheduling. In this tutorial however, the resource capacity defined is inclusive of the time lost during shift change. TIP: It is recommended that if your scheduling period length is 1 day or more that the resource working times calendar not be used to define the working times of less than 1 day. This will cause unnecessary processing in the schedule. Instead it is better to redefine the capacity of the resource to incorporate the time lost during that day. For example if a resource has a capacity of 10000 but only works from 6:00am to 6:00pm, it is more efficient to define the resource with a capacity of 5000 instead of using a calendar. However, MineSched will still work fine with the resource calendar and sometimes this is a necessary action.

12. Delete the Working Time Calendar if you created one.

13. Create the schedule again and look at the results in the dashboard. Note the Production Rates dashboard chart has been changed to chart the VOLUME instead of the mass to allow us to validate the rates and calendars are being honoured.

The results indicate that the resources are now producing the correct tonnes. The monthly production has been decreased. We can validate the results by looking at the production values in the report. Let’s look at two months in detail to validate the figures. In month 1 there is a total production of 980,000 cubic metres. The total number of days in this month is 31 so the total available production should be 1,085,000 cubic metres. There are 4 Sundays in that month so subtract 4 * 35,000 * 0.5 which gives 1,015,000 cubic metres. The Lunar New year also occurs in that first period so subtract another 35,000 which gives 980,000 cubic metres. Month 14 looks very low with 875,000 cubic metres. The total number of days in that month (February) is 28 which equates to 980,000 cubic metres. There are 4 Sundays in February 2010 which reduces the production to 910,000. The Lunar New Year also occurs in that February so subtract another 35,000 and you get 875,000 cubic metres. The results are valid. MineSched is producing the materials as expected. Now that the correct production is being honoured, we can address the sequencing of the stages.

Sequencing the Stages Task: Sequence the Stages

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Sequencing the Stages Sequencing the locations and ensuring that the production follows the correct procedures can be handled using priorities, precedences or a combination of both. The sequencing is handled through the use of precedence specifications in the Production Rates data grid in the Resources section. Priorities are also handled in this section. Currently both of the stages are being mined at the same time. This is evident by analyzing the results through the use of a chart.

Sequencing the Stages using Precedences While there are two ways to sequence the mining locations, the most useful is to use location or production precedences.

Task: Sequence the Stages

1. We want to sequence the mining such that Stage 1 is completed before Stage 2 can begin.

2. Go to the Production Rates Panel of the Resources Section in the Setup Schedule Step.

3. Precedences can be assigned between locations such that a location cannot start mining until

another location is completed. This is done by specifying it in the Date/Event field. To enable a stage to start only after the completion of another stage, add the name of the stage that must be completed into the Date/event field for the production rate rule for the stage you want to start mining.


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4. When you click in the Date/event field, you have three options for data entry. You can type directly into the field, you can use the calendar button to assign a date or you can use the Event Builder. Select the Event Builder.

5. The event builder allows you set the event to the time when a mining or fill location is completed,

or partially completed based on some rules, as well as trigger events based on stockpile capacities or using dates or periods. In the entry for STAGE_2 build an event such that this location cannot start until STAGE_1 is completed.


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6. Create the schedule and check the results.

7. The sequence now looks correct. This can be verified by producing the graphical results and

animating the schedule.

8. Locations can also be set to start mining once an elevation has been completed in another location. For example:

Sequencing the Stages Task: Sequence the Stages based on Priority.

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TIP: It is important to realize that the Date/Event field is a precedence for the rule described in that row. It is a way of saying this row will not take effect until this Date/event has been met. So by that logic, the precedences can be used, not only to control when a location starts, but also when the production rate changes in a location. Some examples are shown below.

In the above example mining has been stopped in STAGE_2 between June and October. This may be due to legislation or environmental conditions such as monsoon season.

Sequencing the Stages Using Priorities Another valid way of sequencing the locations is to use priorities. Priorities control the allocation of resources when you are not target scheduling. The resource will be allocated to the location that has the highest priority. The priority can be any number greater than and including zero. A priority of zero effectively switches the location off, that is, no material will be produced from that location. Priority numbers work such that with the exception of zero, the lower the number the higher the priority. That is, a location with a priority of 1 will be mined in preference to a location with a priority of 2 so long as both locations are available at the same time. It is important to note that the Priority field is only used when you are NOT target scheduling. Priorities are most useful when the resource MAX_RATE in individual locations is less than the overall resource capacity. It provides a way to allocate the excess capacity. It is also a simpler way to define a mining sequence when you have a large number of locations. Often it is simpler to change the sequence by changing the numeric priorities than by changing location names in the date/event field. However, when the complexity increases in may become more difficult to track the appropriate priorities so Date/Event Precedences are more useful.

Task: Sequence the Stages based on Priority.

1. The desired sequence is the same as before, that is, STAGE_1 first, then STAGE_2

2. Clear the precedences that were entered previously.

Sequencing the Stages Task: Sequence the Stages based on Priority.

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3. Add priorities to the mining locations in the order that they will be sequenced.

4. Run the schedule and view the results.

5. The results are identical to before, that is, using the priority method in this case can be likened to

the precedence method.

6. Check this result by producing the Graphical Results and animating the schedule.

Where to Next? Task: Sequence the Stages based on Priority.

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Where to Next? This concludes this tutorial. In this tutorial we have explored

• the data that is used to create a schedule • How the MineSched Production Interface works including:

o Step Navigator o Section Navigator o Grids o Canvas o Charts o Dashboard o Timeline o Spreadsheet Views

• Publishing Some results including: o Graphical Blocks o Animating Blocks o Standard Reports o Custom Report Creation with Templates o Microsoft Project Output o Block Model Output

• Adjusting the schedule sequence to be more valid. The data for this tutorial will be used for the next tutorial in this series. In the next tutorial we will add the material movement to this schedule and explore the properties of stockpiles and processes. The data used in this tutorial will be available in the next tutorial or you can use your own by saving your data here and copying it over the data supplied with the next tutorial.

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