Cement Manufacturers Association

29 In the context of the above resource optimisation resources in mines, the following benefits of using IT tools emerge:  Efficiency, flexibility and accuracy through ease-of- use, powerful 3D graphics and workflow automation  Creating Digital Inventory of mineral deposits through proper 3D geological resource modelling for long-term to short-term scheduling  Mine layout design and site assessments which comply with all geographical and environmental constraints with accurate volumetric calculations (can be validated by multiple methods)  Understanding the potential value of a deposit and determining target areas for future drilling  Establishing the economic viability of the deposit and the options for capital investment and development strategies  Enabling fulfillment of corporate economic objectives by ensuring the mine plans are robust enough to stand up to changing physical and economic factors  Reducing variation and increasing productivity through a faster consideration of a large number of WHAT-IF scenarios and delivering executable mining plans accordingly. The integration of IT application in field and desktop, can be better understood with the following figure – While the information collection and representation aspects of such IT tools are the main interfaces for the operations of a mine, the powerhouse of these IT tools are the various mathematical algorithms developed to analyse the collected data. The foremost of these algorithms was the Lerchs-Grossman algorithm, which makes use of the Deposit block models to generate an optimisation problem on a weighted graph, which can be solved. A major factor in this generation is the floating cone method, which requires the removal of overlying ore blocks if one wishes to mine the block underneath. Multiple modifications to this algorithm use different methods to solve the same problem, or extend it to consider other constraints (such as economic data, engineering feasibility, etc.). Other methods move away from the floating cone method, and instead consider other possible mine layouts, a major one here being the split shell concept. Yet another method is of Dynamic programming, which takes an iterative or sequential approach to the optimization problem. All these software solutions consider survey, mine planning and scheduling (both strategic and tactical) while generating an optimisation plan. Thus, it would be now fruitful to turn to first the desired general specifications for such a software, and then a brief description of the mining software solutions available in India. Figure 3 Use of IT tools for optimization. GPS based technology used for surveying and data collection. Various GIS technologies used for collecting deposit information and surface mapping. Mining and Geology software (SW) used for making Deposit Block Model. All this plus Borehole data is essential for optimization of mine resources. Borehole Plotting & Subsurface Interpretation Pit Design Satellite Imagery Borehole Data Bore hole & Blast hole Locations Administrative Boundaries Surface Plan & Topography GPS Enabled Rugged Tablet Increased Life of Mine Optimised Operations Field Real-time Schedulling & Monitoring Accurate & Updated Block Model D-GPS Basemap Location GPS Block Model Scheduling Map data & Attribute Information Mining /Geology SW GIS