the minesight series

the minesight series: going underground

GOING UNDERGROUND: MineSight and the Future

Jim Lonergan, Principal MineSight Specialist, Tucson, AZ
MineSight has been a leading edge provider of geological modeling and mine planning software since 1970. MineSight software is
used on virtually every type of mineral deposit, from thin seam coal to porphyry copper. It is used to generate mine plans for both
surface and underground mining methods. Surface methods range from continuous miner extraction of industrial minerals and
surface coal seams to multiple bench open pit mining of base and precious metals using trucks and shovels. Underground methods
range from room and pillar coal mining to mass mining methods, such as block caving and everything in-between.
This paper will present an overview of MineSights underground mine planning and scheduling capabilities. The CAD tools in MS3D
are used for design of mine development openings and mining method shapes, such as rooms, stopes, pillars, panels, etc. MineSights
reserving tools are used to compute material tonnes and grades, including dilution, contained in the design openings and shapes.
The recent addition of sub-blocking capability to our 3D Block Models provides more precise modeling results along geologic
contacts, ore/waste contacts, etc., which, in turn, allows more precise estimation of underground reserves (both in-situ and run-ofmine considering ore loss and dilution). For more information, see MineSight Specialist Liam Murphys white paper, The Sub-Blocking
Alternative.
MineSight scheduling tools MineSight Stope and MineSight Atlas are used for conceptual and detailed scheduling respectively.
MSStope provides high-level schedules and quick NPV analysis of underground projects. MSAtlas is a more detailed, multipleactivity, calendar-based scheduling tool. It uses mine sequencing rules, dependencies, and advance rates to schedule underground
development and orebody extraction simultaneously. It presents the results in Gantt charts, graphical displays and 3D animation.

MineSight 3D CAD Tools for Underground

MineSight 3D has a complete set of 3D CAD tools for creating, editing, and labeling point, polyline and solid graphics entities. Several
of these standard 3D CAD tools are used routinely for underground mine design. For example, attaching a 3D template to a digitized
centerline of a raise or drift is the standard MineSight method for creating mine development 3D design openings.

A set of standard mine opening templates

are available and you can also create your
own templates.

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the minesight series

the minesight series: going underground
Mine development designs can be represented by centerlines, polygons, or solids.

Stope designs can also be created using polygons or solids.

MS3D standard CAD tools can be used to build a complete 3D representation of mine development design and stope design.

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the minesight series: going underground
These generic CAD tools are complemented by additional tools specifically created for underground mine design. These tools are
listed below:
Create from Survey
Decline Design
Raise Design
Ring Design Tool
Room and Pillar
Safety Bays
Vertical Opening Tool
The Create from Survey tool allows you to quickly build 3D solids of underground openings using survey pick-up points as control
points. This is an effective way to quickly get a good representation of as-built opening shapes from point data collected by the
underground surveyors. The survey point data typically consists of back and floor coordinates taken along the opening every few
meters or so.

The Decline Design tool will automatically generate underground ramps at user-specified inclinations through user-specified control
points. This tool uses an optimizing routine to find the shortest distance between two points, subject to grade and radius constraints.
This gives you the best layout possible for ramp development. It can be used to build spiral ramps or on-strike ramps. The ramp
location can be controlled to avoid known fault zones, keep it a minimal distance from the footwall of the orebody, intersect crosscuts
on the different mining levels, and avoid areas of disturbance from caving type mining operations.
Use the Raise Design tool to create multiple raises of the same dimensions automatically. This is useful when a standard raise layout
is needed in multiple places in the overall mine design. These raises can be created with one application of the Raise Design tool,
instead of creating each raise individually. An example would be the automatic creation of slot raises for multiple sub-level stopes
along several mining levels.

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the minesight series: going underground

The Ring Design tool quickly lays out blasthole drilling fans, computes explosives usage, and reports results for use by drill operators
and shift foremen. Control the placement of each hole or let the tool place the holes automatically with placement spacing parameters,
such as the maximum burden at the toe of each hole. A rock density is used to compute the broken tonnes supplied by each blast
ring based on the cross-sectional area of the ring perimeter and the burden between rings. A report showing the length of each
blasthole (either in length units or number of drilling rods), its inclination, the inclination of the entire ring of holes, and collaring
location diagram provide the drill operator with all the information needed for correct placement of each blast hole. The type of
explosive to use, explosive density, and length of uncharged hole to leave at the collar, and a computed powder factor are examples
of the type of information the tool provides for the blasting foreman.

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the minesight series: going underground
The Room and Pillar tool will automatically generate complete room and pillar designs based on nominal dimensions and orebody
boundaries. Different areas of the orebody can have different room and pillar dimensions based on orebody thickness, ground
conditions, type of equipment being used, etc. Areas separating active mining areas ( e.g. barrier pillar areas or access corridors in
longwall coal mines) can have their own room and pillar dimensions for vehicular cross-traffic, ventilation requirements, etc. For each
different set of room and pillar dimensions, a quick stability analysis is performed using a tributary area approach for Factor of Safety
(pillar strength/pillar stress) calculation. Unstable pillars having a Factor of Safety below a minimal acceptable threshold are then
flagged and color-coded for quick re-design.

The Safety Bays tool will automatically add cut-outs of a specified size along the ramp for safety and storage purposes based on your
ramp design and cut-out spacing parameters. Several options exist for the placement of the safety bays, including:
Variable spacing along the ramp
Inside/Outside placement on curves

Placement controls on straights (staggered, all on one side, etc.)

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The Vertical Opening Tool can quickly design 3D raises from digitized center-lines and has the added feature of incorporating
curvatures into the design for long raises or for large diameter boreholes to be used for drainage, slurry fill transfer, etc. This is useful
where deviation from a straight line trajectory because of geologic conditions , operating factors, equipment being used, etc. must
be accounted for at the design stage. Historical deviation measurements based on past experience can be incorporated as design
parameters into new designs.

By using these underground design tools with MineSight 3Ds comprehensive CAD functions, mine designers can complete
underground mine designs quickly and easily.

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the minesight series: going underground
MineSight Underground Scheduling Programs
MineSight has two underground scheduling programs: MSStope and MSAtlas. MSStope is a complete conceptual level UG evaluation
program used to quickly assess the economic potential of an underground mining operation based on block model information,
user-supplied mining criteria, and economics. On the other side of the ledger, MSAtlas is a more detailed, multiple-activity, calendarbased scheduling tool using mine sequencing rules, dependencies, advance rates and designed openings to schedule underground
development and orebody extraction simultaneously. It presents the results in Gantt charts, graphical displays and 3D animation.
MSStope uses a 3D block model and finds areas that are profitable to mine based on your economic parameters (including optional
recovery and dilution factors). The program will then slice these payable areas into rough stope shapes for conceptual scheduling
purposes in annual increments. The scheduling provides a quick NPV analysis of the underground mining potential based on tonnes
and grades of ore mined each year, revenues generated, operating costs and capital costs. Pre-production construction periods can
be specified and the program supports multiple case scheduling for sensitivity analyses of key factors, such as prices, investment
amounts, amounts of dilution, etc. Use MSStope for quick, conceptual-level, mine evaluation; and to guide detailed mine design.

MSAtlas is an activity-based scheduling program that links the graphical powers of MS3D with a dynamic Gantt chart schedule of
mining activities. Interactively identify a line of stopes in MS3D, apply some scheduling rules, and the scheduled extraction appears
in the Gantt chart. Interactively adjust the scheduled results on the Gantt chart and the graphical display of the stoping schedule in
MS3D is automatically updated. MS3D and the Gantt chart are dynamically connected to instantly synchronize the latest results of
the interactively produced schedule. Combine this with the schedule reporting tools embedded in Atlas (Standard MineSight ARC
Reporting) and you have a complete underground scheduling solution.

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Scheduling is accomplished in Atlas based on user-specified advance rates for activities such as mine development (meters/day),
mine production (tonnes/day), and backfilling (cu. meters/day). Scheduling controls include precedencies among development
headings, stope and pillar extraction order, lag times between activities, etc. Shafts, ramps, drifts, raises, stopes to be scheduled are all
pre-designed using the MS3D CAD tools and are displayed in the MS3D viewer for interactive selection to build the schedule. They
can be selected all at once and pre-defined scheduling rules will dictate the sequence. Alternatively, the designed shapes can be
selected in scheduling order for more manual control.
Gantt chart flexibility allows you to simply schedule mine advance and associated tonnes and grades. Or you can drill down into the
details of an activity; for example mine development, by scheduling the associated unit operations of drilling, blasting, loading and
haulage. Or drill down further to track daily crew assignments, equipment assignments and equipment sharing. The level of detail is
up to you.
MineSight ARC reporting offers complete flexibility in presenting schedule results in both report and chart form. Examples include:
Meters of development by heading by period
Ore tonnes and grades from development by period
Ore tonnes and grades from production stopes
Waste from development by period
Mine waste for backfill by period
Paste backfill by period
Create customized reporting templates for repeat use.

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MineSight Atlas offers everything you need for underground scheduling tasks. Atlas can schedule underground mines from a longrange conceptual level for new projects right down to daily scheduling for existing mines. Automated scheduling or complete user
control - you decide.

ABOUT MINESIGHT

MineSight is a Hexagon AB company providing software and service to the mining industry. Founded in 1970, MineSight has grown
into a global network of mining professionals providing technology, service, and support in the most complex mining operations in
the world. MineSight software is a comprehensive modeling and mine planning platform, offering integrated solutions for exploration,
modeling, design, scheduling and operation. Headquartered in Tucson, AZ, MineSight delivers efficiency and reliability that improves
productivity at every stage of a mines life.
sales@mintec.com

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