Mining

Under construction!

On this page you will find programs that I have written that can be used in mining applications, including:

• Open pit optimisation (MaxPit)
• Digital terrain (surface) visualisation (PitViewer)
• Modelling mine truck performance in a spread-sheet
• Modelling conveyors in a spread-sheet
• A Datamine String to KML Macro

MaxPit

Open pit optimisation using WhittleTM software is standard for almost all mine planning engineers.

Maxpit is a program I wrote many years ago that does the same job.

It solves the maximum closure problem using the max-flow algorithm.

The current program is incomplete:

• limited to one slope domain
• reads command line parameters (i.e. no configuration file)

But I will update this version with the final version soon.

Use:

1. Download the example zip file (MaxPit).
2. Run MaxPit.exe (not MaxPit.bat) without any parameters and you will get the command line parameters.
3. Open to view MaxPit.bat to see how the parameters are set up.
4. Run MaxPit.bat to see the example file run.
5. Run PitViewer.bat to view the results.

Using your own data

All you need to do is create a CSV file of your regularised model.

Here are the first 10 lines of the demo file (REGM.CSV):

  XC    , YC    , ZC   , REVENUE, COST  , DOMAIN, SHELL
    60.0,   46.0,  26.0         ,       ,       ,      
  3500.0, 3245.0, 350.0         ,       ,       ,      
     5.0,   10.0,   5.0         ,       ,       ,      
  3502.5, 3250.0, 352.5,     0.0, 2700.0,    0.0,   0.0
  3502.5, 3250.0, 357.5,     0.0, 2700.0,    0.0,   0.0
  3502.5, 3250.0, 362.5,     0.0, 2700.0,    0.0,   0.0
  3502.5, 3250.0, 367.5,     0.0, 2700.0,    0.0,   0.0
  3502.5, 3250.0, 372.5,     0.0, 2700.0,    0.0,   0.0
  3502.5, 3250.0, 377.5,     0.0, 2700.0,    0.0,   0.0

Model description:

• The first line has the field names (DOMAIN and SHELL are not essential).
• The second line the maximum number of blocks in each direction of the model.
• The next line the origin of the model (i.e. model corner).
• The next line the size of each block in each direction.

The following lines contain the data for each block in the model.

• XC, YC and ZC are the block centroids.
• REVENUE is the metal value in each block.
• COST is the cost of mining the entire block and processing of ore contained in each block.

Notes:

• The model must be regularised (i.e. all blocks are the same size).
• Air can be either blocks with no Revenue or Cost but better if not included (i.e. a small model)

Limitations:

• The program is a Windows 32 bit so the maximum memory is about
• That is enough for 20M dependencies or about 400k blocks.
• With some pre-processing of the model, about 1M blocks can be processed.

I am thinking about a Widows 64 bit version that has no limits (contact me if you are interested).

If you want multiple pit shells, then re-run Maxpit with the previous output as an input using a different shell number.

Edit the PitViewer batch file to recognise the other pit shells.

If you use CAE’s Studio 2 or Studio 3 then I have a macro for converting a Datamine block model into the CSV format.

Email me on master@alancooper.id.au if you would like a copy.

If you have downloaded the files and ran the batch file then you will have a number of pit shells you may what to view.

You can use the PitViewer batch file to examine the results. The batch file calls another program I wrote call PitViewer.

Here is a zip file with demo data.

You can contact me at Master@AlanCooper.id.au if you feel the need.

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