The current downturn in commodity prices has forced mining operations to become more flexible and efficient to ensure that operations not only reduce costs, but also maximize value generated through the mine life. Modern mine planning techniques should be adopted to ensure that mines are developed profitably within the constraints of practical mining.
This has been made possible with the use of Dassault Systèmes’ GEOVIA MineSchedTM as our mine planning tool at Phu Bia’s Phu Kham and Ban Houayxai mine sites. Phu Bia initially used MineSched as a short-term scheduler on a weekly to monthly basis but this quickly evolved to short and medium-term scheduling on a full year forecast and five year budget schedule, with significant input to long-term strategy.
What are your tips for creating successful mining schedules, especially in difficult mining conditions?
The success we have experienced with MineSched is dependent on having a good working knowledge of the software, understanding our existing engineering skill sets and addressing areas where training is required. It’s also critical to understand the long term mining strategy and what the stakeholder requirements are, and of course having strong operational support.
Our planning process looks like this:
The broader application of MineSched as a short and medium-term scheduling tool has definitely enabled us to adapt to external conditions such as the downturn in commodity prices and changing site conditions, such as harder ore types and higher arsenic grades.
This in turn has allowed Phu Bia Mining to develop an optimal mine planning strategy and maximize value generated throughout the life of mine.
What are the features you find useful in MineSched?
MineSched is well-regarded in Phu Bia for its proven scheduling algorithms, its ability to produce long-term and short-term schedules that meet mine targets, and its ability to output results in a variety of formats.
In particular, MineSched interfaces directly with Surpac – which is very handy as our site engineers are skilled users of Surpac, enabling them to perform rapid scheduling and evaluation of complex scenarios to help them make informed decisions when adopting the best mine development strategy.
The gradual progression of mine planning responsibilities to site engineers was executed concurrently with the development of site skills and resources, both software and personnel. This was an important factor in its success – had it been forcefully implemented before the site was ready, it would have likely been less successful.
Next week, we speak to Arthur Pacunana again for Part 2 of User Spotlight: Adapting Mine Planning to Changing Conditions. For more user spotlights, check out Addressing Safety and Environmental Concerns with Technology from Surpac user Jaideep Bose.
