Surpac Caving Solutions
Surpac currently supports open pit and underground operations and exploration projects in more than 120 countries around the world, with tools for geologists, surveyors, and mining engineers that include drillhole data management, geological modeling, block modeling, sample compositing and geostatistics, mine design, mine planning, and resource estimation.
Now, Surpac has added new, leading-edge block and sub-level cave planning and scheduling solutions to its already impressive array of Underground tools.
Formerly known as GEOVIA PCBC — the world’s most widely used software for block cave projects and mines — these new solutions employ a flexible and powerful engine and sharp modern graphics that will help you take all aspects of your cave projects, from strategic analyses to feasibility studies and daily mine operations, to a whole new level.
What are the Surpac Caving roles?
GEOVIA Cave Footprint Finder reduces risk in pre-feasibility studies of large capital caving projects by rapidly evaluating multiple block and sub-level caving footprints at different elevations — before mine planners create detailed footprints with explicit draw points or rings. It employs discounted cash flow calculations that factor-in cave sequencing and multiple sector scheduling, including multi-lift and inclined cave; allows varying parameters to be tested in batches; and can apply additional factors, such as maximum height of draw, mixing, costs, metal prices, and mining rate. And it enables mine planners to:
- run a mini-production-scheduler from all the economic blocks within the footprint, allowing for horizontal as well as vertical discounting and
- do sensitive analysis by creating various iterations on production rate, sequence, economics, etc
GEOVIA Cave Planning Manager improves cave-site operational productivity and profitability through advanced long and medium-term planning tools for block and sub-level caving (known in GEMS as PCBC and PCSLC, respectively), including detail analysis per draw point or ring, flow model analysis, calibration, and production schedule. It also automatically generates tunnels for a cave design for both for block and sub-level cave operations.
- Sophisticated empirical mixing models allowing for vertical and horizontal mixing as well as the mixing which results from toppling or sliding of material close to surface.
- Definition of mineable reserves which allows for easy delineation of practical footprints as well as sensitivity studies of price and mining cost variations
- Generation of numerous production schedules to study the interaction of the key scheduling parameters, such as total production target, development rate (commissioning of new draw points or rings), production Rate and cave draw strategies.
GEOVIA Cave Scheduler helps cave mines achieve their long- and medium-term scheduling objectives by using quadratic programming optimization and numerical modeling tools to create and analyze multiple scheduling scenarios quickly and efficiently. By focusing on the first years of production and using tonnage, grade, and equipment performance constraints, the Scheduler has the ability to optimize the lifetime value of a project/mine while at the same time maintaining a practical mining plan and satisfying complex cave management. It provides specific tools to:
- create realistic undercut sequences in Block Cave with operational constraints
- design the undercut level with exact ring shapes and precise grades
- develop alternative flow models to help determine the best model to be applied to any site situation, and
- develop detailed graphics that allow users to see and understand complex mechanisms, such as toppling, open pit failure, fine vs. coarse fragmentation, etc.
GEOVIA Cave Management System improves the daily productivity of cave management technicians and their ability to monitor dynamic situations by managing cave production schedules and systems at the daily and shift-time resolution level. The system works by storing past tons mined from draw points, using these to generate new daily draw orders for daily/shift operations that can then be fed to an LHD dispatch system, and enabling schedulers to operate the mine production. It includes:
- Short Interval Control to improve the productivity of cave management by operating mine production at variable conditions during the shift, and
- Sample Trend Estimation by LSQ, which uses past assay data to more accurately predict the grade for selected draw points in the short term to support block and sub-level caving information scheduling
How do I find out more?
Contact GEOVIA.info@3DS.com to find out more about Surpac’s new caving roles or visit our Surpac Caving page.
