MineSight® Schedule Optimizer (MSSO) - A New Short and Medium Term Planning Tool

MineSight® Schedule Optimizer (MSSO) - A New Short

and Medium Term Planning Tool
Introduction
MineSight Schedule Optimizer (MSSO) is one of the new tools within the suite of planning
products developed by Mintec, Inc. for the short and medium term production planning.
It utilizes the Mixed Integer Liner Programming technique (MILP) to develop an optimum
mining schedule in each period accomplishing the period objective and at the same time
satisfying the various constraints. This tool can be used for production scheduling in
simple to complex open pit and underground mining operations.
Currently, MineSight provides the following five packages for the short and medium
term production planning: MineSight Interactive Planner (MSIP), MineSight Operations
(MSOPS), MineSight Haulage (MSH), MineSight Schedule Optimizer (MSSO), and
MineSight Activity Planner (MSAP). All of these tools are interconnected to a central data
hub, MineSight Planning Database (MSPD), for data storage and retrieval. Figure 1 shows
the relationship that exists between these planning tools and MSPD, while Figure 2 shows
an overall workflow of the entire planning process using MineSight.

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Since Figure 1. MSPD and scheduling tools.
1970

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MineSight® Schedule Optimizer (MSSO) - A New Short and Medium Term Planning Tool

Figure 2. Workflow of MineSight® scheduling tools.

To describe the process briefly (as shown above in Figure 2):

• Mine planning in MineSight starts with the creation of long term mine plans at the
scoping and prefeasibility/feasibility level using the MineSight Economic Planner
(MSEP) and MineSight Strategic Planner (MSSP).
• Using the long term mine plans as a guiding rule, MSIP (with other tools) is used to
design cuts and calculate reserves. The cut geometries and the cut reserves are then
stored in the MSPD.
• Once the cuts are ready and you are satisfied, MSHaulage can be used to generate
haulage profiles, cycle time files, and material routing reports. This information can
also be stored back into the MSPD.  
• Using the cuts and the cycle time data stored in MSPD, MSSO dedicates itself to
finding the optimum operational cut mining sequence in each period that achieves Mintec, Inc.
the objective and satisfies the product quality and quantity and equipment
Global
requirements, as well as technical, physical, and marketing constraints.
Mining
• After the optimal cut mining sequence is obtained in each period, we can import it Software
to MSAP to perform the more detailed equipment and activity based scheduling.
Solutions
Further application and use of these tools have been discussed elsewhere in various seminar Since
and newsletter articles published by Mintec. 1970
In this workshop paper, we will look broadly into the various features of MSSO as a short
term mine planning tool. We will also describe in detail the preparatory work necessary
prior to running MSSO. Basically, we will look into:
• Setting up MSPD,
• Setting up the plan (defining the required attributes and generating the cuts),

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 MineSight® Schedule Optimizer (MSSO) - A New Short and Medium Term Planning Tool

• Scheduling the cuts, and

• Visualization in MineSight 3D (MS3D).
We will use the MineSight Database Manager Script to create MSPD, MS3D tools and MSIP
to generate the cuts, MSSO to schedule the cuts, and finally MS3D for visualization.

MSSO Overview
As mentioned in the earlier section, MSSO is primarily a short or medium term planning
tool, which finds the optimum sequence of cut extraction based on product quality and
quantity and geotechnical constraints and blending requirements. An illustration of a simple
MSSO prototype is shown in Figure 3.
This figure shows a typical mining scenario with n models from which the cuts will be
mined. These models can have distinct material types and grade items. Similarly, we can
have several destinations in the mine such as m mills, s stockpiles, p leach pads and/
or d waste dumps. Each destination will have certain capacity and feed material quality
requirements. We can also have a definite number of truck, shovel, and other auxiliary
equipment fleets which can provide a known number of service hours. In each period, we
need to have enough feed materials for each destination while not exceeding its capacity.
The goal is to use the available shovels and trucks to mine the cuts from the models and
send them to appropriate destinations so we can achieve our objective (maximize net
value, metal content, or minimize stripping ratio, haulage distance, and truck hours) while
satisfying product quality and quantity requirements, as well as physical and technical
constraints. All of this and more can be attained using this powerful new tool. Optionally,
we can also store the resulting schedule and period information back to the MSPD.

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Figure 3. A Typical MSSO Model.

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MineSight® Schedule Optimizer (MSSO) - A New Short and Medium Term Planning Tool

Preparatory Work and Requirements

In order to work with MSSO, the minimum software requirements are:-
• Microsoft® SQL server 2000 or higher.
• Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 or higher.
• LINDO API Runtime License (Version 5.0).

MSPD Creation
The first step prior to working with MSSO is to create a MSPD (formerly known as AGDM)
and attach it to the SQL Server. The MSPD provides predefined tables for storing the
attributed geometry (mining cuts, default and custom attributes, and atomic reserves)
haulage, and equipment data. The MSPD is created from within MS3D using the Database
Manager script accessed from the MS3D Utilities menu (Utilities | Database | Database
Management | Database Manager). The script provides several other functionalities;
attaching to SQL server and making ODBC connections are two of them. Please refer to
MineSight help and Mintec newsletters for further information.

Mintec, Inc.
Global
Figure 4. Database Manager script. Mining
Software
Cut Generation Solutions
Cuts are working faces normally made at the toe of a bench. MSIP calculates the reserves for Since
the cuts which can be imported into MSSO for scheduling. There are several ways we can 1970
generate the cuts in MS3D.
• Using the Cut Generation Tool—This tool is generally used when we have to generate
uniform sized cuts and clip it along a polygon.
• Using the Autoslicer—This tool has several options to control the volume/tonnage of
each cut and is generally used when we have to generate cuts along an orthogonal grid

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 MineSight® Schedule Optimizer (MSSO) - A New Short and Medium Term Planning Tool

set or along a polyline tube. We can use MS3D tools to create contours along each bench
toe/crest, and then take each contour as a big polygon in Autoslicer to generate small
cuts within it.
• By digitizing along cut polygon boundaries—This manual method is the most
timeconsuming, but at the same time, it is the most flexible as it allows you to have
control on the size and shape of each cut.
• And, using the Auto Cut Generation script.
The first three methods have been discussed in the 2007 and 2008 Annual Mintec Seminar
workshop papers. In this workshop, we will create the cuts using the Auto Cut Generation
script. The Auto Cut Generation script (Figure 5) is an embedded script executed from the
MS3D file menu (File | Scripts | em-AutoCutGeneration.pyc). It is very similar to the
second approach, but can automatically generate, clip, and process many separate and small
cuts on all benches in one pass. This tool will also automatically handle “donut” polygons.
(Figures 6 and Figure 7).
The Auto Cut Generation tool:
• Requires an MSR of polygons and generates a series of grids clipped by those
polygons. Additionally, different grid sizes and azimuths can be specified for each
elevation present in the MSR.
• To assign different cut sizes and azimuth’s to elevations, first select an MSR file.
Then under Elevation Parameters select the elevations you wish to modify.
• Type in the Cut X width, Y width and azimuths you desire. To turn OFF processing
for that bench, uncheck the process option. Then press the Set button to set the
selected elevations. To set all elevations at once, use the Set All button.
• More control on the cut dimension can be achieved using the Minimum Merge
Cut Size and Minimum Remove Cut Size options. The Minimum Merge Cut
Size option will attempt to merge any cuts that are less than the percentage of cut
area specified into adjoining cuts. In Figure 5, any cuts less than 1,000m2 (100m x
100m x 10%) would be merged into an adjoining cut. The Minimum Remove Cut
Size option will remove any cuts less than the percentage of cut area specified; this
option will take effect after the Minimum Merge Cut Size option.
• Each cut name can be customized by adjusting the Cut element name options on
the Name Options tab. The settings shown in Figure 5 would produce cuts named
1:1, 1:2, 1:3… 2:1, 2:2, 2:3… etc.
Mintec, Inc. The script is located in the \\winexe\msso\scripts folder.
Global An important tip on designing the cuts is to base it on block size. By designing the size like
Mining this, you greatly increase the selectivity and practicality of your schedules and the likelihood
Software of getting the solutions.
Solutions
Since
1970

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MineSight® Schedule Optimizer (MSSO) - A New Short and Medium Term Planning Tool

Figure 5. Auto Cut Generation script.

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Figure 6. Initial polygons (note donut polygon).

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 MineSight® Schedule Optimizer (MSSO) - A New Short and Medium Term Planning Tool

Figure 7. Final cuts after the script execution.

Import Cuts and MSIP Plan Setu Up

In this section, the cuts that were generated in the previous section 3.0.2 will be imported to
the MSPD associated with the MSIP. The plan set up along with the required attributes and
types will be discussed.
The setting up of a MSIP plan is pretty standard and won’t be covered in this workshop. As
can be seen in Figure 8, a simple setup with two grade items (CUIDS, MOIDS) and one Zone
(CLASS) has been used. In the Material Sets tab, all the materials that correspond to the
different zones have been classified into cut off bins 0-0.2, 0.2-0.4, 0-4-0.6, 0.6 and higher. The
aim is to direct the material corresponding to Zone “Waste” to Waste destination and the
Zone “OTYP1 and OTYP2” to either Mill or Stockpile while doing the scheduling. It may be
noted that zones and cutoffs within the zones will be used in MSSO.
Mintec, Inc.
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MineSight® Schedule Optimizer (MSSO) - A New Short and Medium Term Planning Tool

Mintec, Inc.
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Figure 8. MSIP set up (Area and Material Sets tabs). Solutions
In MSIP, each cut has a set of default attributes. In addition to these, MSSO requires that
Since
each cut should also have a set of custom attributes (Figure 9). They are: 1970
• Phase (string)—defines the phase to which a cut belongs (Attribute - Pushback).
• Digline (integer)—defines the shovel associated with a cut. The cuts on the same
bench within a phase can form a digline. The cuts on the same digline may be
mined by the same shovel. Each bench within a phase may have several diglines.

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 MineSight® Schedule Optimizer (MSSO) - A New Short and Medium Term Planning Tool

The cuts on different diglines can be mined simultaneously if physically and

technically allowable (Attribute - Digline).
• Direction (integer)—defines the mining order of the cuts on the same digline. Note
the direction defines the physical mining order of cuts on the same digline, but
these cuts may be mined in different periods. (Attribute- Direction)
• Precedence (string)—defines those cuts that must be mined prior to a cut.
Preceding cuts include those on the same phase, same bench, same digline; same
phase, same bench but across diglines; same phase, immediate upper bench; same
bench but across phases (Attribute - Restricted By).
• Status (integer)—defines the status and period a cut is to be mined. Status ‘0’
stands for unmined cuts, and a positive status value indicates the period in which
this cut will be mined (Attribute- Status).
• Mining Sequence (integer)—defines the mining sequence of a cut in a period
(Attribute- cutSequ).
• Cycle Time (float)— This attribute is optional and it defines the shortest cycle time
from a cut to the ramp exit point on the bench.

Figure 9. Custom
attributes required
in MSSO.

These custom attributes are created under the Attributes tab of the IP Cut Design dialog of
MSIP. Further detailed descriptions of these attributes and their set up is available in MSSO
help doc.
Mintec, Inc.
Global Please note that the Digline, Direction, and the Precedence (a certain part of it) stated
above in addition to being set manually can also be set using the Digline Generator script
Mining
(Figure 10) located in the \\winexe\msso\scripts directory. It’s a very powerful
Software embedded script with plenty of options which allows you to take an msr file containing a
Solutions collection of cuts to be sequenced in MSSO; calculates the digline, direction and precedence;
Since and finally has the ability to export the attribute values and the cuts to MSPD. A detailed
1970 document describing the usage of the script exists in the \\winexe\msso\scripts folder.

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MineSight® Schedule Optimizer (MSSO) - A New Short and Medium Term Planning Tool

Figure 10. Digline Generator script.

The final step involves importing the cuts to the MSPD created in the MSPD Creation
section above (Figure 10). This can be done from:
• The Digline Generator script (in the Write to MSPD tab). Automated Cut Naming
can be done in the Options tab.
• In MSIP using the Import Multiple option (Design Cuts | File | Import Multiple).
We can use cut the auto-naming option in the Defaults tab to automatically name
the cuts in sequence.

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Figure 11. Imported cuts displayed on Plan 2510.

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 MineSight® Schedule Optimizer (MSSO) - A New Short and Medium Term Planning Tool

Scheduling Cuts Using MSSO

In this section we will cover the important features and capabilities of MSSO. At the
same time we will present a case study using a sample dataset. The basic idea would be
to schedule the cuts to know the number of cuts to be mined in each period based on our
mining capacities and processing plant requirements. We would also like to know the
approximate sequence of mining the cuts within the same period. While doing this, we will
look into some of the important panel set ups in MSSO.
MSSO can be started from the Start | All Programs | MineSight | MSSO.
Once started, in order to import the cuts and perform the scheduling, we will have to
perform the following in the Data Sources tab of MSSO as shown in Figure 12.
• Connect to the SQL server.
• Define a mining area.
• Define the IPSet, IPArea and IP Material Set.
• Map the MSIP custom attributes to the MSSO required attributes.
• Specify the Mining Method and number of periods to schedule.

Figure 12. Data source definition panel set up.

For more information on the other MSSO panels, please refer to the comprehensive MSSO
help doc.

MSSO Features and Capabilities

Some of the key features in MSSO are:-
Mintec, Inc. a) Objectives
Global The most common objective in any scheduling scenario is maximizing the net
Mining present value (NPV). Apart from this particular objective, MSSO also allows you to
Software maximize metal contents or minimize stripping ratio, haulage distance, or shovel/
Solutions truck hours. The objectives can also be made to vary by periods. These objectives
Since can be defined under the Objectives tab in MSSO.
1970 b) Constraints
A comprehensive set of geometric, mining, processing, and equipments constraints
can be specified in MSSO. MSSO honors these constraints while performing the
schedule calculations. These constraints can be specified under the Constraints tab
in MSSO.

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MineSight® Schedule Optimizer (MSSO) - A New Short and Medium Term Planning Tool

Geometrical Constraints
Phase precedence rules are specified to define the phase mining order based on the relative
location of the phases. It means a particular phase must be mined before another can be
defined. The idea behind this is to prevent undercutting in standard mining operations.
Apart from the phase precedence, Cut Precedence can also be defined in MSSO. The cut
precedence allows you to specify parameters in order for MSSO to automatically calculate
the cut precedence between benches and phases. Figure 13 shows an illustration of the logic
behind the cut precedence calculation in MSSO, while Figure 14 shows the Cut Precedence
section in the MSSO panel.
Slope angle gives the slope that should be used to test the precedence for cuts in various
levels. The grid size gives you the accuracy of the precedence calculation with smaller grid
size amounting to a better precedence calculation. The minimum per cent of overlap in
expanded cut and tested cut gives you the minimum area of the second cut that has to be
within the area of the expanded cone from the first cut. A detailed explanation of the logic
exists in the MSSO help doc.
The bench advance rates in each phase, i.e., the maximum number of benches that can be
mined from each phase in each period, as well as a limit on the total number of cuts that can
be mined in a certain period can also be controlled.
Please Note: Once the precedence has been defined, we will have to click the Apply
button. MSSO will then calculate and store the cut and phase precedences internally. The
precedence has to be calculated first before doing the actual schedule calculations, otherwise
there might be risk of undercutting.

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Figure 13. MSSO cut precedence logic.

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 MineSight® Schedule Optimizer (MSSO) - A New Short and Medium Term Planning Tool

Figure 14. MSSO Cut Precedence section.

Mining and Processing Constraints

These constraints include defining a limit on the amount of the various schedule materials
that can be mined and processed each period. A lower and upper limit can be defined for
the tonnage and/or volume of the total and/or individual rock materials (mills, wastes,
stockpiles, and leaches) that can be mined or processed from all and/or individual phases in
each period.
Grade constraints and Grade Ratio constraints can also be specified in MSSO. MSSO will
automatically perform the material blending to satisfy these grade constraints. The stripping
ratio can also be controlled in each period. While honoring the above constraints, the
destination capacity restrictions are taken into consideration.

Equipment Constraints
The shovel and truck usages can be controlled in each phase in each period. The number
of shovels and trucks, efficiency, availability, capacity, and operating cost data can be
input interactively. The cycle time from each cut to each destination can be calculated in
MSHaulage imported from MSPD. MSSO assigns the shovels and trucks to each cut during
the schedule calculations in order to efficiently utilize the available equipment resources.
c) Stockpiles
MSSO can efficiently perform stockpile handling and reclaim during the process
of schedule optimization. You can interactively control the amount of materials
that is sent to and reclaimed from each stockpile, in each period. The current
Reclaim method is ANY whereby the materials that are sent to the stockpile can be
reclaimed in any time and in any given sequence.
d) Economic Parameters
The following parameters can be entered for economic calculations:
• Annual discount rate.
• Haulage and loading costs (based on $/ton or cycle time).
Mintec, Inc. • Fixed mining costs of mill, waste, stockpile and leach materials.
Global • Processing cost of each plant.
Mining
• Reclaiming cost of each stockpile.
Software
• Recovery of each metal or mineral in each mill.
Solutions
Since • Selling price of each metal or mineral from each mill.
1970 e) Optimization Engines
MSSO performs the optimization based on a mixed integer linear programming
technique. It uses the commercially available LINDO API optimization engine for
solving the scheduling problems. LINDO has been evaluated internally within
Mintec and has been found to be very effective and efficient.

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MineSight® Schedule Optimizer (MSSO) - A New Short and Medium Term Planning Tool

f) Infeasibility Analysis
One of the useful features available in MSSO is its ability to perform infeasibility
analysis when a feasible solution can’t be obtained in a certain period. This can be
very handy because it can tell you which constraints are getting violated in that
period, and then accordingly, we can modify the constraint limits (Figure 15). A
time limit and/or iteration limit can be specified during which the analysis will be
performed.

Figure 15. Infeasibility analysis in MSSO.

g) Reporting
MSSO can be used for generating powerful and flexible customized reports. There
are options to export the results to Microsoft Excel and CSV files. Reports (Figure
16) can be generated in a variety of ways by specifying the number and sequence of
columns in each period. A filter or combination of filters can also be applied based
on the mining areas, periods, phases, benches, schedule materials, and destinations. Mintec, Inc.
Global
MSSO also creates an Output Folder based on the scheduling project name where
all the schedule result reports along with the infeasibility reports are stored. By Mining
default, an MSSO project has an mso extension. Software
Solutions
Since
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 MineSight® Schedule Optimizer (MSSO) - A New Short and Medium Term Planning Tool

Figure 16. A typical MSSO report.

h) Interactive Graphical User Interface

The graphical interface of MSSO is user friendly and highly interactive. Some of the
salient features are:
• Ability to stop the schedule calculation at a certain period, make some
changes, and restart the schedule calculation from the previous period. MSSO
remembers the period at which the schedule calculations are interrupted.
• Ability to perform tasks in parallel in MSSO. For example, you can work
on other MSSO panels, while MSSO is loading the cuts, which can be time
consuming if there are several thousands of cuts. Similarly, you can check and
analyze the obtained schedule results using the MSSO reporting tool while
MSSO is still calculating schedules for other periods.
• Ability to change certain parameters or variable value and perform the
schedule calculations without having to save it. This can be particularly useful
in large projects with several thousands cuts where saving the project can take
some time.
Mintec, Inc. • Another built in feature in MSSO is its ability to highlight a particular field if
Global it is not defined by you, and is required by the program to compute schedule
Mining calculations.
Software
Case Study
Solutions
In this section, the application of MSSO will be demonstrated by performing a case study
Since using a sample dataset. The model data consisted of six different alteration types (ALTR 1-
1970 6) coming from four different phases (PHS 1-4) as shown in Figure 17.

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MineSight® Schedule Optimizer (MSSO) - A New Short and Medium Term Planning Tool

Figure 17. Phase solids used for scheduling.

During the preliminary pit optimization using MSEP, the best destination of the individual
model blocks were also determined and stored in the Route item of the 3DBM as either Ore
(Route =1) or Waste (Route =2) as shown in Figure 18.

Figure 18. Phase 3 displayed over a model section showing the best destinations. Mintec, Inc.
A subsequent material classification was done using the Alteration type item and Global
Destination item using the logic shown in Table 1 and it was stored into the Class item of Mining
the 3DBM. Figure 19 shows a model sectional display of the reserve class item. Software
Solutions
Route ALTR Class Reserve Class Since
1 1-5 1 Ore Type 1 1970
1 1-6 2 Ore Type 2
2 1-6 3 Waste
Table1. Reserve classification logic.

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 MineSight® Schedule Optimizer (MSSO) - A New Short and Medium Term Planning Tool

Figure 19. A 3DBM section of the reserve class.

Reserves were determined and have been tabulated in Table 2 shown below.
Phase OTYP1 OTYP2 Tonnes Ktonnes Tonnes Strip Top Bottom
Ore Waste Total Ratio Bench Bench
1 1043313.7 3010889.37 4064203.09 1329030.48 5383233.57 0.32 2660 2495
2 1891061.32 4113258.24 6004319.56 1949002.344 7953321.91 0.33 2660 2435
3 5047921.96 12028481.4 17076403.37 14451245.11 31527648.48 0.84 2690 2360
4 5166761.42 17841053.3 23007814.73 32276642.02 55284456.74 1.40 2720 2255
total 13149058.4 36993682.3 50142740.76 50005919.95 100148660.7

Table2. Reserve distribution.

A seven period schedule is desired with the first two periods involving pre-stripping and
some stockpiling. The stockpiled material was reclaimed subsequently later in periods 3 and 4.
The mining, processing and grade constraints requirements have been tabulated in Table 3.
Mill Stockpile Waste CUIDS%
Period Lower Upper Lower Upper Lower Upper Lower Upper
1 - - 2mt 2.01mt 5mt 5,01mt
2 - - 2mt 2.01mt 5mt 5.01mt
3 8mt 8.01mt - 5mt - 0.8 1
4 8mt 8.01mt - - 0 - 0.5 0.7
5 10mt 10.01mt - 0 - 0.7 0.9
6 10mt 10.01mt - 0 - 0.6 0.8
7 10mt 10.01mt - 0 - 0.7 0.9
Mintec, Inc.
Global Table 3. Mining, processing, and grade constraints.
Mining Cuts were designed on all benches of all the four phases using the Auto Cut Generation
Software script. There were 8,083 cuts with 249 cuts in phase 1, 653 cuts in phase 2, 2,437 cuts in phase
Solutions 3, and 4,749 cuts in phase 4. Figure 20 shows all the cuts that were designed based on their
Since Pushback attribute. These cuts were stored back to the MSPD using the Digline Generator
1970 script. As mentioned earlier, they could also have been stored within MSIP using the import
multiple option.

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MineSight® Schedule Optimizer (MSSO) - A New Short and Medium Term Planning Tool

Figure 20. Imported cuts displayed based on their Pushback attribute.

The MSSO panels set up for the mining, processing, and grade constraints in Table 3 are
shown in Figures21, 22, and 23, while Figure 24 shows the phase and cut precedence that
was defined in this particular study.

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Figure 21. MSSO Mining constraint panel.

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 MineSight® Schedule Optimizer (MSSO) - A New Short and Medium Term Planning Tool

Figure 22. MSSO stockpile reclaim panel.

Figure 23. MSSO grade constraint panel.

Mintec, Inc.
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Mining
Software
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Since
1970

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MineSight® Schedule Optimizer (MSSO) - A New Short and Medium Term Planning Tool

Figure 24. Precedence rules (cut and phase).

Results and Conclusions

Once the schedule calculations are completed, comprehensive reports can be obtained from
the MSSO Reports tab. Table 4 shows the summary scheduling results for all seven periods
(1-7). The period values are stored in the Status attribute of the cut which represents
the period of time in which the particular cut is mined. A status of zero represents the
unmined cuts. It can be seen that the target constraints and grade constraints that were
specified (Figures 21-24) were met in the schedule. The negative values for the stockpile tons
represent the amount of materials that were reclaimed from the stockpile destination in a
given period. All the values concur with what was specified. Mintec, Inc.
Global
Similarly, Table 5 gives a summary of the total cuts mined and a breakdown of the cuts
Mining
mined by phases in a given period. It can be seen that in the initial periods most of the cuts
Software
were getting mined from the outer phases.
Solutions
Since
1970

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 MineSight® Schedule Optimizer (MSSO) - A New Short and Medium Term Planning Tool

Avg Cu Grade
Period Total Tons Mill Ore Tons Stockpile Tons Waste Tons [MILL1]

0 4697222.91 0 445628.06 0 0
1 7000862.06 0 2000008.65 5000000.04 0
2 7000004.68 0 2000000.82 5000003.86 0
3 13001002.18 8000997.24 -2000321.656 5000005.68 0.81
4 14339491.99 8000999.536 -1507985.65 6338492.88 0.53
5 11634129.51 10000935.53 -11442.26 1622193.96 0.73
6 33567969.07 10000817.06 -32868.00 23567152.01 0.64
7 12908840.43 10000914.51 -1764.00 2907925.92 0.78
Table 4. Scheduling results (schedule material tons).
Cuts Mined
Total Cuts Cuts Mined Cuts Mined Cuts Mined
Period Phase 4
Mined Phase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3
0 422 03 10 46 363
1 256 73 50 115 18
2 426 66 18 215 127
3 1134 228 536 01 369
4 1190 68 89 1033 0
5 1019 00 01 1018 0
6 2886 00 01 73 2812
7 1056 00 01 00 1055
Table 5. Number of cuts mined each period (summary by phase).

Figure 25 is a graphic 3D display of the cuts based on the color coded cutoff values of the
Status attribute. Each color code represents the cut mining period. Similarly, Figure 26 is
the schedule outline on bench 2555. The black outline surrounding the yellow cut outlines
(status=3) represents our phase 2 (which is the inner and the most profitable phase). It
should be noted that the first two periods were pre-stripping periods and the mill targets
were specified starting at period 3. Our schedule objective was maximizing NPV; MSSO
mining those cuts does justify the reason and it also signifies it honored the cut precedence.

Mintec, Inc.
Global
Mining
Software
Solutions
Since
1970

Figure 25. 3D display of the period mining schedule.

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MineSight® Schedule Optimizer (MSSO) - A New Short and Medium Term Planning Tool

Figure 26. Schedule on bench 2555 and phase 1 outline.

Figure 27 shows the mining order of the cuts on a certain level (Plan 2660). On that bench
the cuts are being mined during period 1 (red) and period 2 (green). The cut mining
sequence is stored in the required MSSO Mining Sequence attribute. In our case it is stored
in the “cutSequ” custom attribute when we created our MSIP plan.

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Software
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Figure 27. Cut mining sequence on Plan 2660 (period 1 and period 2).

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 MineSight® Schedule Optimizer (MSSO) - A New Short and Medium Term Planning Tool

Figure 28 shows the end-of-period maps (EOP) for period 2 and period 3. The color solids
represent the material that gets mined in these two periods. The figure on the left is the
setup for the MSIP EOP Map tool.

Figure 28. MSIP end of period maps (periods 2 and 3).

Overall MSSO is a very efficient short and medium term planning tool with lots of built-in
powerful features which make mine planning easier and interesting.

References
1. Mintec, Inc. 25th Seminar, May 2008.

Mintec, Inc. 2. Zhanyou Huang, Wen-Long Cai, and Fred Banfield, A New Short and Medium
Global Term Production Planning Tool - MineSight Schedule Optimizer, SME 2009
Mining
Software
Solutions
Since
1970

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