How to classify different types of material in a waste dump using Minex

By

It’s Tip Tuesday! Today’s post comes from Shoaib Zia, one of our Mining Knowledge Consultants.

Typically in a mining operation, economic ore is not exposed at the surface, which requires the removal of overlying waste or sub-economic material. This ‘waste’ material is often moved and stored in an external or internal dump, relative to the mining location. Sometimes this waste material must be dumped in certain order, for example:

  • Dumping topsoil on top of a dump, so it can be later recovered for reclamation.
  • Capsuling hazardous waste so it cannot penetrate into the ground, causing environmental issues.
  • To enhance dump stability for geotechnical and safety reasons.
  • Mixing of waste rocks with tailings.

To classify this ‘waste’ material inside of GEOVIA Minex™ software, you will need to define different types of waste inside of your open pit reserve database (*dbr). You can do this by navigating to the “Material Classing” function, under the OP ReservesDB menu. This function will allow the user to define different types of ‘waste’ material in the pit. The resulting classification can be used to control and report, how and where the different ‘waste’ materials are dumped.

To run this command, follow these steps:

  • OP ReservesDB > Edit > Material Classing.
  • Select the Pit you need to classify.
  • Select type of material, “Waste” in this case.
  • Choose the layer you need to classify.
  • Type in class name, e.g. soil for top layer. 

  •  Press “OK” and it will provide a message in the output window stating how many records it has updated.

 

  • TIP: You can check the result of this process by going to OP ReservesDB > Edit > Edit layer.

The next step is to go into the “Dump Classing” function, under the OP ReservesDB menu and classify the dump layers. This command allows the user to define which material classes can be place in a dump and their relative position within it.

Note: To run the “Dump Classing” function, create a “Dump Design” and the “Dump layers” prior to this operation.

  • To run this command Select.
  • OP Reserves DB > Edit > Dump Classing.
  • Select relevant Dump, Benches, Pits and Blocks.
  • Select layers, “TOPSOIL”, in this case.
  • Select the placement class “SOIL”, in this case.

 

  • When you select “OK”, it will generate a message in the Output window stating how many records it has updated.

 

Following the definition of the material classes, the user should then proceed to use the MINEX dump scheduling tools to schedule the dumping of waste from the associated pit (pit 1, in this case) to the nominated ‘waste’ dump (dump 205, in this case). Minex, in this case, places the top layer from the pit into the top layer of Dump. 
 

Looking for more Minex Tips & Tricks?  Check out our post on How To Combine Smaller Sub-Pits Into A Single Main Pit With Minex.

Be sure to check back next Tuesday for more Product Tips & Tricks.

0
GEOVIA

GEOVIA

When mining companies seek to increase mine productivity, they turn to Dassault Systèmes for technology and services. It is home to world-renowned and award-winning mining solutions and to industry thought leaders who are pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in mining, through the GEOVIA brand. The largest global supplier of mining software, GEOVIA delivers comprehensive solutions in all major mining centers in more than 130 countries at over 4,000 sites.
GEOVIA

Latest posts by GEOVIA (see all)