Data Overview General information relating to data management

Strategic Mine Planning Data

The following topic provides general information about  the management of Studio NPVS data.

Lexicon of terms

• Block Model: a model of mineral deposit obtained by dividing a rock mass into a regular 3D right-angled grid delineating “blocks” or “cells”. Blocks are referenced by world coordinates XYZ or by relative integer coordinates (IJK).

• • Sub-cell Model: a block model with cells further subdivided into irregular array of non-overlapping “sub-cells”, where a sub-cell contains information about its spatial position  and the attributes of the rock mass enclosed in it.

  • Parcel Model: a block model with cells further subdivided into “parcels” of rock mass; unlike sub-cells, parcels do not have their spatial location within a cell defined.

  • Economic Model: a block model containing revenue/cost information. The information is organized by types rather than by parcels.

  • • Reduced economic model limits information per block to revenue, processing costs and mining costs and, optionally, block values if mined underground.

    • Full economic model adds tonnages and grades by rock types and processing methods.

• Indicator File: a list of blocks identified by integer coordinates (IJK) where each block has a positive “indicator value” integer assigned to it. NPVS defines 3D slope regions and collections of surfaces (pit shells) as indicator files. Optimal extraction sequences (OES) are represented by indicator files where blocks are sorted in order of extraction.

• 3D Object: a data format used by Plot View drawing engine and by data drivers. Block models, surfaces and outlines (digitized strings) are converted into 3D objects for Plot View displays and for export to other applications.

How Data is Stored

• Block models stored on disk and retrieved when needed include:

• • Input parcel model generated directly from the imported sub-cell model; one per project; input to Economic Model.

  • Economic models; one reduced model and one full model for each Economic Model case study. The reduced model is used by Pit Optimizer in LG optimization mode. The full model is used by Pit Optimizer for reporting and for blended pit search, by Pushback Generator and by Scheduler. Loading of the full model into the document is almost always limited to blocks within the ultimate pit shell; the one exception is loading the model into Plot View.

  • MAO/MFO input parcel models (blocks from the ultimate pit shell only), one per “Stockpile” case study.

  • MAO/MFO result parcel models (blocks from the ultimate pit shell only), one per “Stockpile” case study. These models can be converted to sub-cell models on export to Datamine.

• Indicator files stored on disk and retrieved when needed include:

• • Imported and Studio NPVS generated 3D slope regions.

  • Imported surfaces.

  • NPVS generated surfaces and optimal extraction sequences.

• The document stores all other data, including 3D objects.

Output Sub-Cell Models

NPVS sub-cell models are generated to facilitate export of optimization results to other applications. The models are stored on the disk in Datamine format and can be directly loaded into Datamine Studio or Table Editor (Table Editor can be obtained from Datamine free of charge), or can be exported to any other application supported by Datamine data drivers.

There are four types of NPVS sub-cell models:

• The Parent Model is similar to the imported geological model except for the modifications listed below. Parent Models are global (as opposed to case study-specific) data items. NPVS projects have one Parent Model while Multimine Scheduler projects have one Parent Model for each mine. Parent Models are stored in the Global folder.

• • The data fields not assigned to any NPVS parameters are discarded.

  • Air blocks are omitted.

  • If the original model is re-blocked on import, the Parent Model has the same sub-cell structure with the sub-cells grouped into correspondingly larger cells (blocks).

  • If the original model is imported from Medsystem format with the NPVS data driver, the model is converted to the Datamine format; when re-blocked, the original Medsystem model cells are represented by sub-cells.

• The Full Economic Model adds to the Parent Model (see above) optimal destination, revenue/cost and recovered product fields obtained by applying economic settings to the geological data. Full Economic Models are specific to economic model case studies and are stored in the Case Studies folder.
  
  To create a model, use the Result Model command from the Tools menu.
  
  A Full Economic model can be generated any time after defining economic settings for the active case study. The economic data for sub-cells are calculated independently of the standard NPVS economic model calculations.

• A Pit-limited Model filters out Parent Model cells (blocks) outside the final pit.
  
  In addition to the economic data fields of the Full Economic Model, a Pit-limited Model can add fields resulting from NPVS optimal extraction sequences such as those representing pit optimizations, pushbacks, as well as standard and MFO schedules.
  
  To create a model, use the Result Model command from the Tools menu; in the Result Model Options dialog select Make Pit Limited Model and check the items you want to include in the model.
  
  Each OES item adds two fields representing each sub-cell in the pit to which the sub-cell belongs and its position in the OES. Models are specific to economic model case studies and are stored in the Case Studies folder.

• An MAO/MFO Model is similar to a Pit-limited Model with one important difference; material destinations are not optimized on a purely economic basis but also take into account any scheduling requirements.
  
  Models are specific to MAO/MFO case studies and are stored in the Case Studies folder.
  
  To create a model, use the Save Model command from the Task Pane.

Working with sub-cell models

Creating sub-cell models is optional because they are not used by NPVS for optimization or reporting. Their purpose is to provide additional insight into optimization results and make export to external applications as easy as possible.

Existing sub-cell models, except the Parent Model, are listed on the Project Data Bar under the Datamine Models group and can be viewed in either a Plot view or the Table Editor, or exported whenever required. Please note that exporting to the Datamine binary format is unnecessary because the files are already stored in this way.

Managing the document

The largest data items in the document are 3D objects. To keep the document size manageable, unload 3D objects whenever they are not needed, they will be regenerated automatically when required.

Global vs. case study-specific

All imported data items are “global”, that is, available to all case studies. Internally-generated slope regions and various digitized outlines are also global in this sense. All other data items are specific to the case study where they were generated.

Data Preparation and Visualization

Your product has a variety of tools to prepare block models, surfaces, and polygons required for mine planning​:

Block Models​

• Define rock types​
• Add geotechnical domains​
• Add product recoveries​
• Apply/perform dilution analysis​
• Change block size / adjust Minimum Mining Unit​
• Extend model​
• Add waste blocks​

Surfaces​

• Update topography​
• Trim/expand DTM​
• Verify and fix​

Polygons​

• Check/correct pit boundaries​
• Add removal costs​
• Transfer to model coordinates​

You can copy and paste string/boundary and surface data between projects using context-sensitive menu options within the Project Database control bar.

 

	Related Topics
	Project Data Bar Plot Views Project Database