• Starting mining positions on a bench
• Direction of mining
• Maximum number of active benches
• Minimum lag distance between benches
• Geometry of the advancing mining face.

Polygons

The polygons mining method is typically used for short term scheduling where the polygons represent blast polygons. With a polygon mining method, the location is “cookie-cut” by the polygons and mining blocks are extracted within each polygon. This provides added flexibility to mine this location, depending on production properties.

The polygons mining method “cookie-cuts” the constraint through the full vertical extent. If the constraint is the entire pit, and the polygon applies to a single bench within the pit, you must add Z Plane constraints. To use this method, all polygons must be on the same bench. To schedule polygons on multiple benches, use bench_polygons mining method, which is discussed below.

The precedence parameter GROUPS_IN_DEFINED_SEQUENCE will force mining of the polygons in the order of the defined polygon string range. If the precedence parameter BLOCKS_IN_SEQUENCE is either set to “yes”, or if it is not set, but the Consolidate Blocks checkbox is checked, the polygons will be mined in the order of the defined polygon string range. For the polygons, bench-polygons and solids methods there is also the option of the Graphical Sequencer where you can select the sequence of polygons in a 3D canvas while charts and reports update during sequencing to assist with choosing the polygon sequence.

When target scheduling, specify the number of maximum active polygons that can be minedat one time—MineSched will automatically choose the order to best meet your targets. Once a polygon is complete, MineSched will choose the next best polygon to mine. This effectively constrains mining within given areas with flexibility to meet targets.

Bench_polygons

Similar to polygons, bench_polygons is designed for polygons on multiple benches, as this method automatically adds horizontal plane constraints eliminating the need to add additional Z Plane constraints. MineSched adds the horizontal plane constraints using a true horizontal slice, rather than based on the position of the block centroids with respect to the bench top and bottom. As a result, the top and bottom of each flitch can be at any position with respect to the original blocks in the block model.

The bench_polygons method has a great deal of extra flexibility with regards to defining the bench elevations and bench heights associated with the polygons. Polygons do not need to exist on each bench. You can have one set of polygons and you can specify the bench elevations that they are to be applied to – stay tuned to the blog for Part Two of this series, where I’ll provide more depth on bench elevation.

Solids

The solids mining method can be useful for short term scheduling and is used when the bench top and bottom cannot be represented with a horizontal plane. If you are consolidating blocks in your location and wish to create consolidated graphical results when mining by solids, the graphical results are created from a specified string file containing closed segments of where the string numbers match the object numbers of the solid.

Whole

The whole (constrained) location is mined in the mining direction specified. This mining method is commonly used in underground mining where a location is a stope and the entire vertical extent of the stope is mined in a given mining direction. This method is also common for medium and long-term surface scheduling where the benches are geologically controlled.

Hope this helps in your use of MineSched. Be sure to check back next month for Part Two, where we discuss further use of benches and bench_polygons.

Looking for more Tips & Tricks?  Check out the GEOVIA Support Centre for more information.