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MINE OPTIMIIZATION USING GEOVIA SURPAC SOFTWARE

Technical Report · June 2022

DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.19503.20646

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 AUTHOR: GODFREY MOENG MONYAKENG
COURSE: MINING ENGINEERING
YEAR: 3
ST ID: 17000196
REPORT TITLE: MINE OPTIMIIZATION USING GEOVIA SURPAC SOFTWARE

1
Table of Contents
1. ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................................. 3
2. INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................ 4
2.1. Background Information ........................................................................................................... 4
2.1.1. Mine Panning and Design ..................................................................................................... 4
3. LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................................................................. 5
3.1. SURPAC Software.................................................................................................................... 5
3.11. Advantages of using SURPAC .................................................................................................... 5
3.12. Applications of SURPAC ............................................................................................................ 6
4. METHODOLOGY ....................................................................................................................... 7
4.1. Experimental details .................................................................................................................. 7
5. RESULTS ................................................................................................................................... 17
6. DISCUSSION ............................................................................................................................. 25
7. CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................................... 26
8. REFERENCES ................................................................................................................................... 27

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 1. ABSTRACT
This report entails a procedure which was carried out with the aim of exploring the characteristics
of drill hole data using the Geovia SURPAC 6.8. Geological data were loaded into the SURPAC
to create a geological database for which drill hole models were produced. Characteristics of the
drill hole models were examined.

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 2. INTRODUCTION
2.1. Background Information
2.1.1. Mine Panning and Design
The mining industry is only concerned with the extraction of materials or minerals from the earth’s
crust at a profit (Saidoo, 2017). Standard measures have to be taken into consideration in order to
maximize the operations of a mine in order to attain a profit and avoid too much expenses. This
involves careful Mine Planning and Mine Design (Y, 2003).
This then brings about the aspect of money and time which are highly to essential to monitor in
order to bring about optimization of a mine.
‘’Mine Planning for opencast mines is done by assessing the total reserve and the average grade
of the deposit’’ (Saidoo, 2017). From this data, scheduling is done time to time based on where to
extract the ore at a particular point of time. ‘’Sometimes the mine management may ask for rich
grades of ore while sometimes it may ask for normal grades and ore blending’’ (Saidoo, 2017).
‘’Opencast mine planning is done by first generating a representative model of the ore deposit,
then dividing the ore body into smaller blocks and sub-blocks which is basically referred to as
block modelling’’ (Saidoo, 2017). From the stage of block modelling, a suitable depth is selected
from which the pit is to be designed. While designing the pit, it should be kept in mind that the
stripping ratio should be economical in order to minimize losses (Saidoo, 2017).
‘’For the process of geological modelling and opencast mine planning, several software have come
into use with the application of information technology in mining industry. Among them,
SURPAC is one having multiple high-end functions of mine modelling. The software has been
developed by Gemcom International. It is a complete software of mine planning and designing’’
(Saidoo, 2017).
GEOVIA SURPAC is the most widely used software system of its kind in the world, supporting
open pit and underground mining operations and exploration projects in more than 120 countries.
SURPAC enables mining practitioners to quantify and evaluate mineral deposits and to plan the
efficient extraction of reserves (Agrawal, 2012).

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 3. LITERATURE REVIEW
3.1.SURPAC Software
‘’SURPAC is an complete mine planning software which has various modules ranging from
drilling and blasting, surveying, pit design, geo-statistics and grade control, block modeling, solid
modeling, open pit design, underground design’’ (Agrawal, 2012), and so on.
Whether creating designs and plans for open pit or underground operations, SURPAC software
serves as a platform to assist engineers with all the tools they need. In this integrated environment,
designs can be created to maximize ore recovery, while complying with project constraints such
as cut- off grade, economic limits, and ground stability (Saidoo, 2017).
Data attained from the exploration team is used to construct a geological database. The geological
database is created to determine the extent of ore deposit and its basic geo-statistical
characteristics. ‘’The borehole data are composited in order to use it to find geo-statistical values
of the deposit’’ (Agrawal, 2012).
‘’The boreholes are displayed on the basis of the collar values taking into account the coordinates
of each and every borehole present in the database’’ (Agrawal, 2012). The total volume of reserve
can then be estimated by developing solid model comprising of all these borehole data.’’ In order
to obtain the solid model the borehole present in the database are sectioned at regular interval and
the strings are stitched together to form solid model’’ (Agrawal, 2012).
‘’The solid model so developed is then fitted into a block model of regular size developed to
generate a constraint block model. The block economic parameter is then calculated using ordinary
kriging method, based on the grade of each block’’ (Agrawal, 2012).
3.11. Advantages of using SURPAC
o It is Multi-Lingual
o Tasks in SURPAC can be automated for compliance with company-specific processes and
data flows for increased time savings and consistency of execution
o SURPAC is modular and easily customized to adapt to changing needs
o SURPAC reduces data duplication and interfaces with common file formats from Aerial
Survey, Photogrammetry, GIS, CAD and other systems
o Different pieces of information can be viewed simultaneously to ensure designs are within
the physical constraints of the mining area and to maximize the economic extraction of a
resource.
o Interact with all mine design data: drillholes; existing orebody and surface models;
optimized pit shells; block and grid models, colored by grade distribution; and many more
o Step through planes, delineate stope boundaries to create design solids and then divide
these solids into practical mining shapes quickly and easily with underground stope design
tools
o Data from various sources can be viewed and incorporated into plans to support feasibility
projects

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3.12. Applications of SURPAC

o Geological resource and modelling

o Data management
o Estimation and Modelling
o Mine survey and Ore control
o Overall Mine Planning and Production

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 4. METHODOLOGY
4.1.Experimental details
6 geological data base were incorporated into the SURPAC software which are
• Assay
• Collar
• Composite
• Geology
• Survey
The basic steps which were carried out using the data are shown below:
Two mandatory fields were required within the data base which are Collar and Survey.

Mandatory
Collar Survey
x depth
y x(calculated)
z y(calculated)
Hole ID max_depth z(calculated)

Hole_path dip
54 optional
fields azimuth
53 optional fields
Optional tables

Creating Geology data base file

• Choose Database > Open/New.
• You can also create optional tables for sample a
• Choose Database > Close.
• In the Navigator, right-click new database.ddb, and select Edit.
• The file is opened in your default text editor.nd geology data
Importation of data into new database
• Choose Database > Import data.

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 • Select the Text File Name and Load Type for the tables.
• Viewing data
• You can view data directly from the Access database by dragging the .accdb file into the
graphics
• When selecting View table constrained, the Define Query Constraints form allows the data
to be
• Filtered depending on the values for a particular field from that table. You can also use
multiple
• Constraints, but all of the conditions must be met for the data to be displayed.
Creating a new data base for Geological database
Creating a new data base involved creation of an information platform in SURPAC software which
will be used to construct the geology data. It was done using the following command procedure:
• Choose Database > Open/New.
• You can also create optional tables for sample a
• Choose Database > Close.
• In the Navigator, right-click new_database.ddb, and select Edit.
• The file is opened in your default text editor.nd geology data
• The value for DB_SPECIFIC can be any folder on your local drive or on a network drive.
• The database definition file (.ddb) contains:
• the type and name of database
• where the database is located (that is, a path location)
• table names, field names, and formatting of each field type
• The .ddb file is a text file and contains no data. It allows SURPAC to connect to a relational
database and usually has the same name as the database.
• Close the text editor.
Importation of new data into the new data base
The next step was to incorporate new data into the new data base which has just been created by
the previous procedure using the following commands:
• Choose Database > Import data.
• Select the Text File Name and Load Type for the tables.

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 • Viewing data
• You can view data directly from the Access database by dragging the .accdb file into the
graphics
• When selecting View table constrained, the Define Query Constraints form allows the data
to be
• filtered depending on the values for a particular field from that table. You can also use
multiple
• constraints, but all of the conditions must be met for the data to be displayed.
Displaying the drillholes
Apply styles to drillholes
• Choose Display > Drill hole display styles.
• Expand the geology folder and locate the lithology field.
• Right-click on the lithology field and choose Get field codes
• Expand the lithology folder. B Yellow
• For each of the 7 lithological codes,
• select a different color for Graphics
• and plotting.
Manipulating the drillholes
Manipulating the drillholes involved displaying the cylinders, displaying the lithological codes on
the right hand side, displaying the assays on the left hand side, displaying color filled bar graphs
of the gold assays on the left hand side and offsetting them by 5m. It was done with the following
command procedure:
o Choose Display > Drillholes.
o Select the Rescale view to display all holes in plan view check box, to allow Graphics to
o resize and display all data after you have applied the changed styles.
o Clear the Add constraint to holes check box, to display all data in Graphics.
o Enter the information as shown, and click Apply

Displaying the lithological codes on the right hand side

• 1. Choose Display > Drillholes.
• 2. Enter the information as shown on each the Trace styles, Collar styles, and Labels
tabs,and then click Apply.

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Examining the Drillholes
• Choose Display > Identify drill hole.
• Follow the prompt and click in Graphics to select a hole.
• Press ESC.
• A message similar to the following is displayed in the message window:
Graphically editing the drillholes
o Task: Run edit drill hole
o Choose Display > Edit drill hole.
o Follow the prompt, and click in Graphics to select the hole of interest.
o Select the sample table and the gold field, and then click Add.
o Select the geology table and the lithology field, and then click Add.
o The results for hole WRC065 are displayed
o Note: To remove charts from the editor, right-click on the field headings (in this case,
sample/gold or geology/lithology) and choose Remove from the shortcut menu.
Sectioning the Drillholes
o Creating sections graphically
o Task: Create sections graphically
o Choose Section > Define.
o Enter the information
o as shown, and click Apply

Digitizing Ore outlines

o In the Planes panel, double-click 7280N in the cross sections group.
o Zoom in on the area of interest as shown:
o Choose Create > Digitise > Properties.
o Enter the information as shown, and click Apply.

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 o In the Layers pane, click New.
o 7. Enter the information as shown, and click Apply.
o This creates a layer called "ore_interp" to store the new data you are digitizing

o Choose Create > Digitise > New point.

o The following options can be seen under the Database > Display menu.
o 9. Digitise some end points for the ore zone by clicking the points as shown

Determination of grade after digitizing

o When a segment has been digitized on a section, the grade for that segment can be
calculated using the Digitized segment grade function.
o Choose Sections > Digitized segment grade.
o Enter the information as shown, and click

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 o Apply.
o Click the segment.
o The results are displayed in the message window
o Choose Inquire > Point properties and click any point on the segment.
o The point properties are displayed in the message window. The segment grade is written
o in the D1 field. Press ESC.
o 8. Close the database.

Creating a Solid model after Digitizing segments

o Click Reset graphics .
o Open mod1.str in Graphics.
o Choose Display > Strings > With string numbers.
o Enter the information as shown, and click Apply
o Choose Solids > Triangulate > Between segments.
o Enter the information as shown, and click Apply

o You are prompted to Select a point on the first segment to be triangulated.

o Click string 1.

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 o You are prompted to Select a point on the next segment to be triangulated.
o Click string 2.
o Continue using the Between segments function up to and including string 5.
o Press ESC.
o The part of the solid created using triangulate between segments is displayed

Compositing Downhole
o Task: Perform composite downhole
o Choose Composite > Downhole.
o Enter the information as shown,
o and click Apply

o Open comp1.str in Graphics.

o Choose Display > Hide strings > In a layer.
o Enter the information as shown, and click Apply
o Choose Display > Point > Markers.
o Enter the information as shown, and click Apply.

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Displaying Basic statistics
o Displaying Histograms in SURPAC
o Analysis > Basic statistics window to open the Basic Statistics window.

Creating a Block model

o Choose Block model > New / Open.
o Enter the information as shown, and click Apply.

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 o Select the Get extents from string file box.
o In the Location box, type ore1, press TAB, and click Open.
o The model's coordinates are filled in based on the values in ore1.str.
o In the Description field type a description of the block model.
o Adjust the values as shown to create a block model which completely covers the extents
of the ore body.
o Click Apply.
o Enter the information as shown, and click Create Model

Final Diagram of block model

o The block model is created and its name is displayed in the Status bar.
o Click Reset graphics.
o Choose Block model > Save to save
the block model.
o Choose Display > Display block model.
o Enter the information as shown, and click Apply.
o The block model is displayed.
o Rotate the view in Graphics.

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16
 5. RESULTS
The following are illustrations which were derived from the drillhole data

Gold grade

Rock And Grade

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Block model with constraints

The following are the Gold string files which were created by digitizing the ore segments

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Properties for segment 1(7120N)

Properties for segment 2(7160N)

Properties for segment 3(7200N)

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Properties for segment 4(7240N)

Properties for segment 5(7280N)

Propertties for segment 6(7320N)

20
Properties for segment 7(7360N)

Properties for segment 8(7400N)

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Associated Digitized segment grades from Segment 1 to segment 8 for both ( Length Weighted)
and Area Weighted

Weighted
String Segment Segment
with no Gold(assay)
number number area
Dilution
1 183.985 2.631
2 5202.05 1.015
3 5458.79 2.533
Length 4 9627.415 1.54
Weighted 5 11357.75 1.128
6 6771.184 1.229
7 4466.032 1.887
8 4368 0.852
1
1 183.987 1.469
2 5202.054 0.899
3 5458.792 2.247
4 9627.415 2.782
5 11357.75 0.939
6 6771.184 1.529
Area 7 4466.032 1.394
Weighted 8 4638.48 0.731

After digitizing the ore segments, an extrude segment function command was used to connect the
segments, starting with the first segment at the bottom, to create a solid model as shown below
Solid model

22
Volume and surface area of solid model

Block model

Basic statistics
Histogram( Natural log with constant)

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Histogram(Natural log with no constant)

Statistics report

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 6. DISCUSSION
After creating the solid model from extruding the segments, it was found that the surface area of
the solid model was 274019.63 and the volume was 2444216.46 as shown by the Solid model
report below:

The statistics report also indicated that the minimum and maximum values of the ore grade were
0.698135 and 3.800765. The mean was found to be 1.132578, median 0.919007, variance
0.255600 and standard deviation to be 0.505569 as shown by the report:

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 7. CONCLUSION
A common problem for all mining operations, is the difficulty they face in accurately predicting
the resource that can be mined at their sites. This is because for every estimation is associated with
error. These errors are directly proportional to the negative effects of the mining business. The
financial model could be grossly overstating the value of the actual resource, meaning the mine
will never make money, or the estimation could understate the resource, and a viable and
potentially very profitable deposit could be left in the ground. The solution to this problem is the
application of an integrated software called Geovia SURPAC .
By using sampling data, drilling data, geological knowledge, informed interpretation and
geostatistical evaluation, GEOVIA SURPAC is able to provide accurate resource estimation, the
results of which have many uses, including for Shareholder reports, to help raise finance, as the
basis for a Whittle evaluation of the finances of the deposit, to help develop the long term mine
planning schedule and for intermediate and short term tactical scheduling in a software package
such as GEOVIA MineSched. All of these are critical to the success of the mine, and effective
resource estimation is often recognized as being a critical factor for the success of a business.
GEOVIA SURPAC is the world’s most popular geology and mine planning software, supporting
open pit and underground operations and exploration projects in more than 120 countries. The
software delivers efficiency and accuracy through ease-of-use, powerful 3D graphics and
workflow automation that can be aligned to company-specific processes and data flows. SURPAC
contains a comprehensive suite of geostatistical evaluation and modelling tools which enable the
user to carry out detailed and extensive estimation work on their data.
Even up to now, SURPAC remains a robust, auditable and proven accurate method of resource
estimation. In order to enable clients to fully utilize these tools and arrive at their “best guess”,
GEOVIA offers Services solutions including project assistance and consulting.

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 8. REFERENCES
Agrawal, H. (2012, May). Modellling of Open Cast Mines using Surpac and its Optimization. Retrieved
from Research Gate:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/311431825_Modelling_of_opencast_mines_using_S
urpac_and_its_optimisation?enrichId=rgreq-9773e4b0e4aa792479a2835cb62d89d0-
XXX&enrichSource=Y292ZXJQYWdlOzMxMTQzMTgyNTtBUzo0MzYxNDY0NjQzOTkzNjBAMTQ4M
Dk5NjgyODU0Nw%3D%3D&

Saidoo, M. M. (2017, July). Geological modelling of a deposit and application using surpac. Retrieved
from Researchgate:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/319514377_Geological_modelling_of_a_deposit_an
d_application_using_Surpac?enrichId=rgreq-2990da9aba3e5ba9e668330b39e23a2f-
XXX&enrichSource=Y292ZXJQYWdlOzMxOTUxNDM3NztBUzo3MTUzMTc2NjM3NjQ0ODFAMTU0
NzU1NjQyOTUwMA%3D%3D

Y, B. (2003). Application of agent based modeling to truck dispatch systems in opencast. Retrieved from
Application of agent based modeling to truck dispatch systems in opencast.

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