Modern Mining May 2021

Growth drivers Commenting on growth drivers in the African min- ing market, Slabbert has seen increased interest in Maptek Vulcan software, which provides the mining industry with advanced 3D geological modelling, mine design and production planning solutions. More than 19 000 licences of Vulcan are in use across the globe for applications ranging from explo- ration, through geological modelling, mine design and planning to rehabilitation. “We are getting a lot of traction on Vulcan mainly because of the integration we offer with this solution. Groups of tools are available for each specific mining scenario and can be customised with different mod- ules for all stages of the mine’s life cycle, creating the total solution for mining companies across the continent,” says Slabbert. Over the past few years, Maptek’s blast manage- ment software, BlastLogic, has become a sought after solution for leading mining companies in Africa. Traditionally, there was no major focus on evaluating and optimising blasts. Today, says Slabbert, mines understand that drill and blast is a primary driver of value for their operations, equating to approximately 20% of mining cost per tonne, so getting it right can have a huge impact on a mine’s bottom line. As a result, Slabbert reports increased uptake of BlastLogic at mines in Africa. “With BlastLogic Maptek offers a complete digital blast management system. Continual development of this solution over the years has helped mines to safely optimise blast designs, streamline processes and increase productivity,” he says, adding that those who have

On screen visualisation clearly indicates where blast holes are not drilled or loaded to plan.

implemented the system have seen great savings, not only in terms of their blasting costs, but in their downstream processes as well, including load & haul and crushing & screening. Slabbert says the entrenchment of BlastLogic at Anglo American open cut operations is one of the flagship projects for Maptek in Africa. “Since 2017, we have had a great partnership with this mining giant and BlastLogic has become a staple at their mines. We remain constantly in touch with the client to see what needs arise and how we can use their feedback to further improve the system in line with their needs,” he says. Slabbert has also seen a big step-up in the use of Maptek PointStudio on African mines. PointStudio provides the tools to accurately measure, quan- tify and communicate conformance to design. Customers get a quick and clear picture about the status of their project with intuitive point cloud pro- cessing tools. They are able to process and combine

A new dynamic interface and streamlined geological modelling workflow make it easy to test different domaining scenarios for confident resource modelling.

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