Define Timeframe

To access this screen:

Reserves ribbon >> Mining Blocks >> Auto >> Scheduling Timeframe.

The Timeframe definition is used in the automatic creation of blocks and defines the granularity of the reserve blocks with regards to extraction duration - in essence, they become the basic units by which the schedule is described, for a given period of time.

It is unnecessary and usually meaningless to create reserve mining blocks whose size represent only a month's worth of mining if it is known that they are going to be mined in several years time. It is more practical, as well as meaningful, to create smaller mining blocks and report on shorter timeframes for the near term and have larger mining blocks and longer reporting durations for longer term scheduling. The timeframe definition is used as a guide to control the size of mining blocks that are automatically generated.

In the image above, the definition specifies that the first six months of the schedule should ideally be at the level of months, followed by 1 year divided into quarters with the remaining 4 years of the life of mine reported by years.

Activity steps:

Display the Define Timeframe screen.
Click Add to add a new timeframe element to the list. Items are added in order of increasing time unit.
- Choose how many major time units are represented by the timeframe element using Duration.
- Choose the major time unit using the Units menu. The contents of this list enforce the logic of increasing time unit duration from top to bottom.
- Use Split Into to define the minor time units for element.
For example, to add an initial time unit at the top of the table (representing the most granular timeframe element) of 2 months split into weeks, Duration = 2, Units = Months and Split Into = Weeks.
Continue adding table rows to build up the timeframe definition.
Review your list. If you want to ignore any elements already defined, uncheck Use.
Save your task.
Save your project.