In the recent past, if you were to look for mining software at many industrial minerals operations, you might have come up empty-handed. If you did find software, it was likely rudimentary CAD packages. The reasons for the lack of mining software at industrial mineral sites can be varied, such as few geologists and engineers being on site, but this is changing. Within the industrial minerals industry, there is a desire to increase productivity to drive profitability. This is due in part to industry consolidation which has seen larger players buy up smaller companies.
Dassault Systèmes GEOVIA has experience working with industrial minerals companies all over the world, both as a software vendor and services provider. Through our engagements with the industry and our clients, we have found an industry in transition. Amongst our findings is a need to:
- Gain a better understanding of the geology of a deposit
- Run geology and planning processes from a central location
- Make geological and mine planning workflows consistent
- Improve community stakeholder relations and reporting
A Changing Industrial Minerals Industry as Seen Through GEOVIA Clients
Like many GEOVIA customers, Rheinkalk, a subsidiary of global giant Lhoist, uses geology and mine planning software to model geology, create monthly mine plans, and collaborate across different groups. With their software they have enhanced data accuracy, consistency and protection by storing geology, planning and drilling data in one system for use across business units. This data can be utilised by geologists and engineers at a central location and shared with those who will implement the plans at local sites.
At Rheinkalk’s operations, plant personnel manufacture various types of lime in different furnaces or kilns according to customer specifications. Rheinkalk’s limestone rock from the quarry is a chemically composed product derived from calcinations.
From exploration work and core drilling, the staff create geological and geochemical models that exemplify the chemical composition and main structural elements of the limestone deposits. Quarry employees enter the drillhole data from the quarry operation and update it in the software. They distribute that data to the geologists, who conduct their grade control work. From there, the data goes to the purchasing engineers for equipment budgeting, procurement and materials management.
Brining Consistency to Workflows
Workflow standardisation, through software automation, has also assisted Rheinkalk’s operations. Surpac macros automate input functions such as plan updates, plotting, interrogation of maps by date, count volumes, and design forms – all at the click of the button. In addition, there are macros to calculate cut-off curves and cycle times for mobile equipment on block models. With workflow automation, tasks are made consistent and even staff with limited software experience can run them with confidence.
Ensuring Product Quality
Limestone customers have individual needs and strict quality requirements. With complex deposits, Nordkalk is another example of an industrial minerals company using software to control quality and manage its deposits. The company employs GEOVIA software for calculating ore reserves, generating geological and grade block models, producing maps, surveying daily blasts, and managing its daily quality control stages.
Nordkalk staff classifies impurity content and grade frequency of the limestone using drillhole databases and block models. Geology, surveying and quality personnel manage a large number of quality parameters in the software, including geological, chemical and physical properties. This helps them control and optimise the different quality classes so it does not mine more than is needed at a certain time. As an added benefit, daily blast control − from measuring to reporting − is streamlined, reducing the amount of time spent on the task by 1,000 to 1,500 work hours per year.
An Integrated Solution for Mine Planning and Optimisation
Integrated software solutions are growing in use at industrial minerals sites. Clay producer Imerys Minerals Ltd. worked with GEOVIA’s services team to link geology, optimisation, and scheduling together to at its St. Austell Kaolin Quarries. With the system, Imerys can make better decisions about how to plan its operations to meet customer demand and to improve the economic return they deliver.
Supporting Community Relations
Many industrial mineral operations must get the buy in of the local communities they intend to operate in. Geology and mine planning software can be used to demonstrate what the quarry or mine will look like throughout its period of development, during production, and ultimately reclamation. In an age of smart phones and tablets, GEOVIA customers can bring these visualisations to show what the site will look like, including if it can be seen from a pit or housing development.
Reporting Requirements
With more industrial mineral and aggregate companies are now publicly traded, and acquired, professional resource and reserve reports have become standard requirements. On the permitting side, companies need to be able to identify geotechnical problems, deleterious elements in ore and waste material, and what is remaining in the pit walls that may produce problems in surface runoff and groundwater supplies. These are all items which can be accounted for with geology software.
Conclusion
As global partners to the industrial minerals industry, it has been GEOVIA’s experience that by employing mining software, industrial minerals operators are creating opportunities for new levels of productivity profitability. Once the mining software in the industry becomes more widespread, the logical next step is for larger industrial minerals companies and sites to adopt mine production management solutions which will enable greater cost control and new levels of efficiency through a holistic view of all mining, plant, and haulage processes through to customer delivery.
More information on Surpac Quarry Edition and other GEOVIA products.
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