Materials

• Materials
• • Material Types
  • Material Groups
  • Products
  • • Characteristics Specific to 3D Stockpile Products
    • • Angle of Repose
      • Density
  • Brands
  • Waste Materials
  • Supply Materials

In MineMarket, materials are the various types of physical matter extracted, processed, consumed and sold throughout the mining supply chain. These materials may be configured as products, brands, waste materials or supply materials.

Bulk materials are materials that are moved as a mass, and are not packaged or separated into discrete entities. Examples of materials that would be handled in bulk are coal, iron ore, or any bulk base metal concentrate, such as copper or lead concentrate.

A discrete material is a material that is handled as a distinct, identifiable entity in terms of creation, packing, movement, stocktaking, sales and consumption. Examples of materials that are handled as discrete materials are precious metals (for example, gold and silver bullion), base metals (for example, copper, lead, zinc) and packaged minerals (for example, mineral sands, cement).

When a material is packaged or formed as an individual unit (for example, an ingot or bar), the material is said to be of a discrete unit (DU) form.

Material Types

Material types are used to categorise products and brands that are defined by individual specifications, as known to the business. Material types limit the selection of contract products and brands and the applicability of price series, premium matrixes and commodities for trading.

Each material type has a specified main analyte. Material types are also known in some businesses as 'commodities'.

Material Groups

Materials can be grouped into material groups based on a logical commonality between the different materials. A material can be in multiple material groups.

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 can be transformed into other products, which can be used as 'substitute' products. Products have quality specifications with target, minimum, maximum, upper and lower warning limits for each analyte.

Products can be used in sales or purchase contracts and quotas.

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 a given material makes with the horizontal plane. Materials with a coarse 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 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 quality specifications with target, minimum, maximum, upper and lower warning limits for each analyte.

Brands are optional in MineMarket because they are used with the same functionality as products.

Brands can be used in sales or purchase contracts and 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 to customers, and typically do not have specifications. Examples include tailings, topsoil and overburden.

To record waste material removal from a mine location, the waste material must be added to a mine source at that location.

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

Supply Materials

Supply materials are materials that are used by the company's processes, and supplied by external organisations. Examples include equipment items, spare parts, tyres, fuel, lubricants, explosives and water. Supply materials are used in the Supply Trains and Ships functionality.

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