Modern Mining February 2017

MINING SOFTWARE

such as Zimbabwe, Zambia, the DRC and Tanzania,” he says. “In recent years, however, we have devoted considerable attention to South Africa and we now have a better balance, with the South African mining sector account- ing for almost a third of our African business.” According to Venter, Maptek’s scanning solutions are proving particularly popular in Africa with some notable successes being notched up. One case study he points to is the use by De Beers of the I-Site Studio soft- ware in combination with the I-Site 8800 laser scanning system at its Venetia diamond mine in Limpopo Province. In 2006 the mine began using I-Site laser scanning to survey the pit and stockpiles, upgrading to the I-Site 8800 laser scanner in 2012. The I-Site Studio software is used to create a pit surface for month end production calcula- tions. Toes and crests, and contours from this surface are applied to generate various plans for different departments. The pit surface is impor- tant for identifying the amount of waste and ore mined. This is measured by making the waste and ore block models part of the overall volume calculations. Previously, surveyors had to enter every loading area to record material being loaded. The long range scanner requires far fewer set- ups, which saves time and minimises safety issues. Measuring the rehabilitated waste dumps with a GPS or Total Station typically took one day. This was cut to three hours with the I-Site 8800 long range scanner, with fewer setups reducing the physical effort as well. Venter notes that among Maptek’s clients across the continent are some of the biggest names in mining, including not only De Beers but many other ‘blue chip’ mining groups such as Randgold Resources, First Quantum, various Anglo group companies, Vedanta and Barrick. “Our employees travel widely in Africa in sup- port of our customers and we are known for the quality of our technical support and our con- sulting services,” he says. An interesting development in the mine ventilation field is Maptek’s collaboration with VUMA, a subsidiary of leading South Africa- based mine ventilation solution provider Bluhm Burton Engineering (BBE). The two companies executed a memorandum of under- standing last year to facilitate the integration of Vulcan with VUMA’s software, developed for the analysis and design of underground mine ventilation and refrigeration systems. “This integration will allow mine survey and design data to be used in ventilation and cooling analysis, without replication of data,

Implicit Modelling provides resource geologists with a newmethod for interpreting a deposit by generating automatic models of complex geological domains from drillhole information.

and will ensure that accurate and up-to- date representations of the mine surface can be applied to the planning of mine ventilation systems,” says Venter. Venter also mentions that the MineSuite software is now being marketed globally by MinLog. “We have a stake in MinLog’s South African operation and work very closely with them,” he notes. He adds that the partner- ship between Maptek and MinLog has seen MineSuite becoming ever more capable. “It is now one of the few products on the market able to integrate various business processes across a variety of disciplines into a single source of operational information spanning the entire mining value chain.” Venter sees further growth for Maptek’s products in Africa. “Mines around the con- tinent are looking to technology to enable them to work efficiently and contain costs,” he explains. “This provides huge opportuni- ties for us as we have what is arguably one of the most complete suites of mining software available in the market and are well placed to be a mine solutions technology partner to the African mining industry. Our sales have seen good growth through the downturn in mining that has been experienced over the past two or three years. Now with a recovery underway, this trend can only strengthen and we are very positive about prospects.” 

A pit design generated with the Automated Pit Designer in Vulcan 10.

February 2017  MODERN MINING  37