Understanding the difference between Mining Width and Net Present Value Practical Pushbacks Modules

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Today’s post comes from Cory Case, one of GEOVIA’s Technical Customer Support experts!

When working in GEOVIA Whittle™, one of the most common queries received is for an explanation of the difference between assorted licencing options and how they can address optimization needs. Mining Width shows up in two locations in Whittle – as a module and as an option in the Net Present Value Practical Pushbacks Module (NPVP) – yet each offers a different functionality. 

Here is a quick overview of Mining Width in Whittle

After running an optimization, the user will be presented with a result that, while optimal mathematically for the given model, may not be feasible from a practical standpoint. Perhaps the model blocks are 5 feet to a side, but the shovel can only dig in 20ft blocks. Will the shell narrow to a point the shovel cannot get to or will it have small dips in and out? These results need to be adjusted to account for the physical width the user has available. This comes in two possible implementations: Static Mining Width and Dynamic Mining Width.

Static Mining Width

This is referred to as “Static” since it adjusts the entered pits and then saves the results to be used in scheduling. The pit shells will no longer change, regardless if this makes a potentially lower value schedule.  This is accessed by creating a Mining Width Node under a pit shell node and selecting the pit shells to use as push backs. Note – this option only requires the Mining Width module.

Using the Mining Width Module to set specific pushbacks and allow for minor adjustments.

Dynamic Mining Width

This version is activated in the Schedule node by clicking on the Mining Width tab. This requires both the Mining Width and NPVP module. When scheduling with automatic pushback selection with Mining Width turned on, the Schedule node will turn into an NPVP Node as shown here:

Using Mining Width during the pushback selection process for the best choice of pushbacks after adjustments are made.

As the NPVP module is taking over, there is no requirement to specify the pushbacks you want to use. Whittle will use the automatic scheduling algorithm to cycle through all possible combination of pitshells and apply Mining Width using the entered rules to each of them, which determines the optimal schedule.

It’s important to note that the Static method is not very memory intensive. To run this dynamically can get extremely memory intensive depending on:

  • The number of blocks in the model
  • The number of pushbacks you want to use
  • The number of instances that will require adjustment by the Mining Width function

Hope this helps in your use with Whittle. For more of information regarding the Mining Width module and each of its settings, please contact GEOVIA Support at GEOVIA.Whittle.Support@3ds.com.

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

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