Mine planning software is an industrial-age solution that makes this ancient profession more efficient—and prevents lost investments. More and more, technological progress expands the capabilities to revolutionize mining. Mining software provides multiple benefits that mining companies can get for efficient planning and making well-informed (and responsible) decisions.
Mining operations, which includes planning, performing and optimization, can be done better, faster, more cost-effectively, and certainly more responsibly using modern software. Here is what software can do for mine planning optimization:
Data Integration and Visualization
Mining is a data-driven industry where multiple metrics and datasets—geological, environmental, operational—must be aggregated to create a mine plan. Proper software for mine planning will consolidate this data into a virtual database in the cloud. This is also called a ‘mine model’ since there are a lot of spatial components and corresponding relationships between them. Planners can view their mine model to see the geographical extent of the space in which they have (or may have) mineral claims.
Optimization of Mine Design and Layout
But—the utility of advanced software goes much further than simple modeling. Designing a mine plan requires more than knowledge of what’s underground. Designers must also consider a mine’s surface infrastructure requirements, transportation needs, and the order of operations. Today’s software allows designers to optimize these configurations—running simulations to find the most efficient plan. Designers can test alternative options, such as changes in economic or environmental variables, in order to find the plan that recovers the most aggregate at the least cost and minimizes environmental impact on the community. None of this was possible with traditional modeling.
Risk Management and Automation
There are a million variables in the mining process—a piece of equipment goes down, a stockpile collapses, a slope gives way—and suddenly, production is delayed, or worse, people are endangered. Predictive analytics software can identify and mitigate those problems before they happen; processing historical and real-time data to identify a potential equipment failure, environmental event, or other mineral extraction issue before it occurs.
Automation software processes data for both the real and predicted world. It manages the schedule to ensure drilling, loading ore, hauling, and more happen in support of the production schedule. Performing production risk management, in other words, automates the operation to improve efficiency and safety.
Environmental Impact and Compliance
Mining companies are under increasing scrutiny over their environmental footprint. With the help of software, companies can deliver the required level of compliance. If a good environmental assessment process is carried out in the last stages of a project application, where improvements to reduce land impact, water control and waste reduction can be made, then it’s not just compliance, it’s doing the right thing for the environment.
Sophisticated software is changing the face of mine planning, enabling better data integration, modelling, design, risk management and environmental compliance. It enables mining companies to run more efficiently, reduce costs and be safer. Technology is only improving and, in future, software will have an increasing influence on mining operations.