Materials

Materials are used to cluster together products and brands and are defined by individual specifications, as known to the business. Materials are used to specify contract products and brands and when setting up a price series.

Within MineMarket, materials are divided into the following categories.

  • Products are materials that are output from the pit or mine and are tracked through the supply chain and sold to customers. Products can be transformed into other products. This is like a 'substitute' product. Quality in products is tracked using analytes. Products have specifications with target, minimum, maximum, upper and lower warning limits for each analyte specified within them. Products can be used in sales contract quotas.
  • Brands are products that are used for marketing purposes, that is, they are tracked through the supply chain and sold to customers. Brands can be the result of blending different products in specified ratios. Brands have specifications with target, minimum, maximum, upper and lower warning limits for each analyte specified.
  • Waste materials are those outputs from the pit, mine or product processing that have little or no commercial value and are usually not sold to customers, and typically do not have specifications (for example, topsoil, overburden).
  • Supply materials are those materials that are used by the company's processes, and supplied from external organisations. They are used for the supply train and ship functionality.

Each material can have a material type and main analyte specified.

Each material can have versions of quality specifications that can be applied from a defined date. These quality specifications can be inherited from a selected specification template. Any reports or interfaces that check the current quality against the material specifications will use the specification version for the applicable date period.

Materials can be grouped into material groups based on a logical commonality between the different materials. A material can exist as a member of multiple material groups.

Specification Templates

Specification templates are created to act as generic specifications that are used when creating product specifications. They can be used to define analytes only (without any specification limits) or analytes with full specifications limits.

A specification template must belong to a specification template category or sub-category.

The specification templates define the limits for the analyte values: minimum, lower warning, upper warning, maximum, and target.

Products

Products are materials that may be mining products or exported products, taken from some source, tracked through the supply chain and sold to customers, perhaps as a branded product. Products are usually used to identify all non-waste materials.

Each product can have a material basis and material type specified. Products can be transformed into other products. This is like a substitute product.

Quality in products is tracked using analytical results and specifications for defined analytes. Products have specifications with target, minimum, maximum, upper and lower warning limits for each analyte specified.

Similar products can be grouped into material groups. A product can be in multiple material groups.

A product must belong to a product category or sub-category.

Characteristics Specific to 3D Stockpile Products

For a product to be used in a 3D stockpile (see 3D Stockpile Modelling), additional characteristics must be specified:

  • Angle of repose
  • Density
Angle of Repose

The angle of repose is the natural angle that a free-standing stockpile of this material makes with the horizontal plane. Materials with a course or interlocking texture have a higher angle of repose than materials with finer or smoother grains. Moisture also increases the angle of repose of materials.

The angle of repose can range from 0° to 90°. Many materials have an angle of repose between 25° and 45°.

Density

The density of a material is calculated:

Density = Mass / Volume

Three densities can be specified for products in MineMarket: the nominal density and an upper and lower warning limit. The warning limits are used to check data entry for 3D transactions.

Example: Consider a product that has a bulk Nominal Density of 1.2, a Lower Density Warning of 1.1 and an Upper Density Warning of 1.3. A 3D transaction is entered with a mass of 10,000 t, and the 3D parameters correspond to a volume of 5000 m3. This represents a bulk Nominal Density of 2 t/m3. A warning displays because either the mass or the parameters are in error, and need to be corrected. The expected mass for a volume of 5000 m3 would be 6000 t.

Brands

Brands are usually a combination of one or more products, and given a sales name for marketing purposes, that is, they are tracked through the supply chain and sold to customers. Brands can be the result of blending different products in specified ratios. Note that brands do not have to be configured, whereas products must be configured.

Each brand can have a material basis and material type specified.

Quality in brands is tracked using analytical results and specifications for defined analytes. Brands have specifications with target, minimum, maximum, upper and lower warning limits for each analyte specified.

Brands can be used in sales or purchase contract quotas.

A brand must belong to a brand category or sub-category.

Waste Materials

Waste materials are those outputs from the pit, mine or product processing that have little or no commercial value and are usually not sold. For mine locations to have waste material removed from them, the waste material must first be added to the mine location.

A waste material must belong to a waste material category or sub-category.