FDOUT Process

To access this process:

Data ribbon >> Transfer >> Whittle >> Output FOUR-D.
Enter "FDOUT" into the Command Line and press <ENTER>.
Display the Find Command screen, locate FDOUT and click Run.

See this process in the Command Table.

Process Overview

Output a Datamine model in a format suitable for input to Whittle FOUR-D.

The processes FDOUT and FDIN provide the interface between your application and the standalone Whittle FOUR-D program for pit optimization.

The process FDOUT takes a Datamine model and creates two ASCII output files, which can be read by FOUR-D. When FOUR-D is run an output results file is created which can be read by FDIN along with the associated parameter file. A Datamine model is created.

Your application creates external model and parameter files, and reads external result and parameter files. All optimization procedures are carried out within Whittle FOUR-D

The FOUR-D results file has a record per block with the following information:

Block coordinates - IX, IY, IZ
Total tonnes of ROCK in the block
Mining cost adjustment factor
Processing cost adjustment factor
Parcel information

Zero or more parcels can be defined for each block on separate records. Up to 50 parcels are allowed.

Each parcel has the following information:

Rock type code (1-4 characters). This should not contain a period('.'), be 'ROCK' or start with 'GR_'. It is case sensitive and should be left justified
Tonnage of the parcel
Metal content of the parcel

Metal content is measured in metal units, not grade. A parcel is allowed to have a tonnage and zero metal content, to allow multiple 'waste' material types to be identified.

The block dimensions are defined by the Datamine model cell structure.

The rock type code must be supplied as an alphanumeric field. Only the first 4 characters are accepted.

The required field names are supplied interactively. An explicit field for tonnes of rock and metal content in the cell/sub-cell is required, together with optional explicit fields for mining cost adjustment, and processing cost adjustment. Where subcells are supplied, then block averages are calculated for the optional mining and processing cost adjustment factors. Two methods are available to specify the tonnage and metal content of the cell/sub-cell:

Method A:

Pairs of explicit fields are provided, where each pair gives the tonnage, and metal content for a particular rock type. Thus, if there are N rock types in the model, there must be 2N such fields.

If the total tonnes of rock is zero, these pairs of fields are ignored and no parcels are output for the cell/sub-cell. If tonnage is less than TOLTON or metal is less than TOLMET, no parcel is output for the pair.

Method B:

Three explicit fields are provided. One field is alphanumeric (only the first four characters are used), and is used for the rock type identification. Two other numeric fields contain the tonnage and the metal content.

If total tonnes of rock is zero, the rock type code, tonnage and metal fields are ignored. If tonnage is less than TOLTON or metal is less than TOLMET, the rock type field is ignored and no parcel is output for the cell/sub-cell.

You can choose whether multiple sub-cells of the same rock type code within a cell are to be summed into one parcel or not. If sub-cells are being output as separate parcels, a limit can be set on the total number of parcels output for a block. If necessary, parcels are combined with the same rules as the FOUR-D FDRB reblocking program. If a subcell model is supplied it must be in sorted (IJK) order.

Input Files

Name	Description	I/O Status	Required	Type
IN	Input model file.	Input	Yes	Undefined

Output Files

Name

I/O Status

Required

Type

Description

Parameters

Name

Description

Required

Default

Range

Values

TOLTON

Minimum tonnage in parcel to be output (0.5)

0.5

Undefined

FORMAT

Output format for economic file (0).

Option	Description
0	Fixed format.
1	Comma separated.

0,1

Example

!FDOUT &IN(MODEL1),@TOLTON=0.1

Enter FOUR-D parameter file name:

SYSFILE> run1.mpa

Enter FOUR-D model file name:

SYSFILE> model1.eco

There are two methods of specifying parcel fields:

Method A: A parcel type code and two numeric fields, for tonnes and metal content, are specified for each possible parcel type.
Method B: Three fields are specified. One contains the parcel type. The other two are numeric and contain the tonnes and metal content.

Product parcel specification method A/B [B] > B

Maximum number of parcels [50] > 30

Default density [1.0] > 2.7

Merge identical product parcel types Y/N [N] > N