Integrated Tools for Mining, Modelling, Estimation, Design, Optimisation and Scheduling

by Kayleigh Cooper, Snr Consultant MICROMINE Africa

• Founded in Western Australia in 1986, MICROMINE is an Australian-owned provider of intuitive software solutions to the mining and exploration industry.

• From capturing, managing, visualising and understanding data to controlling and reporting on mine production, MICROMINE has a solution.

• MICROMINE is the only provider of solutions that are relevant to every stage of the mining process. This means that our clients can source all of their software needs through the one local vendor.

MICROMINE Africa – Who are we?

With offices in 18 of the world’s mining capitals, MICROMINE’s specialists have the local knowledge to provide solutions that are relevant to your geographic location and operation, maximising the return on your investment.

Micromine Modules Exploration through to Exploitation

Micromine Modules

CoreResource

Estimation

ExplorationImplicit

Modelling

Mining Wireframing

Stratigraphic Modelling

Surveying

SchedulerPit

Optimisation

Micromine’s 10 Modules

Stratigraphic Modelling Module:

Simplifying the Geological Modelling Process

Where do we start?

The aim of most drilling programs is to locate and define a resource. This is achieved through a number

a number of key steps including:

• Data Preparation

• Data Processing

• Seam elevation modelling

• Seam thickness modelling

• Generating a Seam Block Model (SBM)

• Enhancing the SBM

• Reporting

How long does this take? Time is money.

We are currently investigating a Coal Project. The information we have so far:

• The project area spans 30km2

• 153 diamond drillholes consisting of 687 sample intervals (Including lithology and Assays)

• Database consists of historical and recent information

• 7 Faulted zones

Lets set up a scenario

Lets Prepare the Data

What problems are we facing when we are interpreting the drillholes?

Cross section through the modified data

Data Processing

Cross section through the data as is

What is happening in the Background?

Creating the SBM

Creating the SBM

Creating the SBM

Modifying the SBM

Modifying the SBM

Creating Wireframes

Modelling stratigraphic deposits, such as coal seams, laterites, oil and gas reservoirs, or aquifers, is a specialiseddiscipline requiring many techniques not used in the hard rock industry. The modelling needs to take into account instances such as seams eroded away, or lithology tend to “pinch-out” and rock partings.

MICROMINE has developed a suite of tools to model complex stratigraphic deposits. The SBM has become an efficient container for all information relating to the deposit. This module can cuts down on the time consuming and labor intensive work that a Geologist would have to do in order to generate an equivalent model using traditional methods such as explicit wireframing.

It doesn’t stop there. MICROMINES’s geological modelling toolkit also includes the Implicit Modelling and Resource Estimation modules. Workflow steps from each of the three modules are easily combined, helping geologists to efficiently model virtually any mineral deposit.

In Conclusion

Questions?