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Using MineSight for to Explore Open Stoping

2009 Dr. B. C. Paul Note- This slide set uses views taken from Mintecs MineSight software program and utilizes files created for Mintec Underground training or from their seminars for demonstration purposes.

What is MineSight?
It is a mine planning and design computer software package
It works in true 3D Cad making it suitable for complex underground metal mines and structures

This slide set and following assignment are intended to orient you only to basic operations of views and visualizing within the program.

Why a Computer Package?


Most mines today use one or more computer packages to speed the engineers design process and productivity
The ability to do computer aided design will increase your marketability and speed of orientation to engineering jobs in industry

Why MineSight?
There are multiple packages out there
MineSight Vulcan Datamine Gemcon Carlson

Each has a following


SIU has MineSight and Carlson

Knowing one makes picking up another easier since they do similar things with varying ease and efficiency.

Limitations Comments
Carlson is easiest to learn
Has very limited 3D visualization (its an autocad overlay) Was built for underground coal with simple deposit bedding
Applications are very focused on day to day cad mapping
Planning Optimization functions and routines are limited

Has the best survey input connectivity in the business


Very good for using surveys to keep up mine maps or advance operations

About 90% of coal industry in U.S. uses

Performance for true 3D metals, industrial minerals or more complex coal is poor

True 3D Packages
Datamine came out of a computer graphics company
Has some remarkable visual tricks including 3D movies Allows variable size blocks to be used for deposits
Very helpful for underground vein deposits

Does not have the add on features of for mine planning


Was developed to capitalize on graphics more than mining

More True 3D
Gemcon
Functions highly broken down by modules Little simpler than some true 3D but lacks versatility and forces assumptions and approximations.

Vulcan
Part of a more comprehensive software company Prob better underground than surface Prob one of most windows like
Software design not strictly mine focused Prob most like MineSight Reputed to be one of the most unfriendly and hard to use

MineSight
Was born out of software development in Mining in the 1960s
Built up an independent 3D interface Prob the most comprehensive set of optimization programs in the business Still a Mining focused software company Built for and dominates open pit metal (We also have a number of alums there and get really good service) For flat 2D bedded deposits the flexibility (and required decision making that comes with it) resembles nuking an ant hill

Starting Up MineSight

(of course you can Do this from a Desktop icon too).

Click Start Select All Programs Pick MineSight Select MS3D

MineSights Splash Screen comes up


Click browse to Work your way To the directory Where your Assignment files Are located If you have been Working a lot of Projects recently You can pick From a drop down List (since this Will be a first time For you this wont Happen now)

The Browse Screen Comes Up


The browse Screen works just Like windows And windows exploring

Pick the Starting Directory and Click Ok

The Directory Comes Up in the Screen

Click Ok

MineSight Will Start Up


(your opening a completed project)
The viewer is Where you See you image Data Manager Is a two Tiered Windows Explorer The top level Shows where The folder is The bottom Shows whats In the folder

More Features
Drop down Menus at the top Bring up options And function Icons provide Short cuts to many Of the most used Functions The information line Shows coordinates And distances etc. The message Window tells you What MineSight is Looking for next.

Lets Experiment with Data Manager and See How it Works


Use a click of your Left mouse button To pick 2007 Seminar in the Data Manager Note the plus Beside it left click The plus (Ok this is just like Picking things in Windows not so Hard for people With computer Experience)

Note Clicking the Plus Expands and shows the files below
(Yes this works just like Windows Exploring)
Left click on the Completed Development Folder to pick it (it turns blue)

Note that the Bottom part of Data Manager Now shows you What files are In the folder.

We Can Close Everything


Left click 2007 Seminar to Pick the folder Right click up Comes the popUp Move the curser Over close until It turns blue Left click it to Close everything In that folder.

We Are About to Examine an Underground Open Stoping Mine


Move your curser Over 3ddevp in The upper part of Data Manager and Left click it. (yes it turned blue And all the files in It appeared in The lower window Of Data Manager.

Lets Take a Look at How Our Mine is Accessed


Move your mouse Over 3Dshafts And X cuts in The lower part of Data Manager. Left click with Your mouse. The Selection will Turn blue. Now without Moving your Mouse right click. This will bring up A Pop-Up Menu

Move Your Curser Up the Menu to Open (note that options turn blue as the curser
moves over the top)
When you get To open left Click it with your Mouse.

We See Our Shaft Coming from the surface and going down to 4 different shaft stations
From each Station on the shaft There is a cross-cut That moves toward The orebody

The shaft continues Down below the Bottom station to An ore pocket at the Base where ore Can be collected and Hoisted to the surface

Note What Happened in Data Manager


The 3D Shaft & Xcuts file turned Red. (This means The file is open In the viewer)

I Wonder How the Ore Gets Down to that Ore Pocket at the Bottom of the Shaft
Move your curser To 3Drockpass in The lower window Of Data Manager And left click (pick It so it turns blue) Now right click for The pop-up menu Move your curser To open and Right click it

There is the Rock Pass


Equipment in the Underground mine Carries ore to The rock pass And dumps it Down the shoot Where it goes to The ore pocket.

LHD Moving Ore

Use the Same Procedure To Open 3Dfwhaulage

Equipment drives Around underground In the haulage Drifts. Note that the Cross-cuts from The shaft stations Provide access To the haulage Drifts. Note also that the Haulage drifts go Over to the ore Pass.

Miners and Equipment Like to Breath


We can use our Object opening Procedure to open 3Dvents. We can see that The underground Haulage ways Go to air shafts Where fresh air Can be circulated Into the mine.

One Problem With Underground Equipment is Moving it from One Level to Another
Many mine Shafts are not Big enough to Allow fully Assembled Equipment to Move from one Level to another So the often Build ramps for Equipment to Drive from one Area to another We used our Open procedure To open 3D ramps.

Our View is Now Getting A Little Hard to See


Move your mouse Over to the viewer. Depress and hold Both the left and Right mouse keys And move the mouse

Note that you can rotate the angle you view the mine from
Now hold down The left mouse Button and the Center button or Roller Move the mouse Down.

Note that you Zoom Out That didnt help us see much
Holding the same Left and center Mouse buttons down Move your mouse up

Note That You Zoom In


Now hold down The right and Center mouse Button and move Your mouse

Note that you can pan around the screen


Move your Mouse around And try to look At things to Help you better Understand how The underground Mine works.

Here is Another View

When Things Were Rotten


Sometimes you Are trying to pan And rotate around And you cant keep Your object Centered and it Rotates right off The screen.

You Are Suffering From a Poorly Placed Viewing Camera


To fix things, pan Your view back Onto the screen

Left Click the Pretty Camera Icon


Then left click A spot near the Center of the Object you are Looking at.
Now the camera Is close to your Object and Your rotations Will stay on screen

Much Better

We Know They Are Mining Ore But Where is it?


In the top of Data Manager Left click on Plnore Now in the lower Part of Data Manager use Your opening Procedure and Open 66-solid.

Note that in most Underground Mining the mine working are put in underneath the orebody
We say that we Are putting our Development in The footwall. (you can imagine What would Happen if we Put them in the hanging wall And then mined Out a hole Underground that Things caved Into later ie Dropped out from Under you).

When We Rotate Around to Look At Things we find some views kind of blocked
Lets try some Tricks Move your mouse Over to 66 solid And make sure it Is blue (ie has Been picked by Left clicking). Now Right click to get The pop-up menu

Highlight and Select Properties

The Object Properties Window Opens


We can change The way Surfaces are Displayed.

Point your mouse To wireframe Only and left Click the radio Button.

Well I Can Definitely See Through that but Wireframes confuse some people

Ok Im going to Left click faces Only and loose The wireframe

I might like to play With the color Just for grins and A little detour Left click the Global Color icon

Up Comes My Color Pallet


I think I will pick A light yellow By left clicking It and then Left clicking Ok

(this looks pretty Much like the Standard color Pallet stuff most Windows Programs have)

Hmm I wonder what I can do for solid gold.


One thing I kind Of dislike about Surface is that it Still looks like A rough web of Triangles (it was made by Triangulating Between contour Lines of the ore Body) Left click on the Surfaces tab of The Object Properties

If I Left Click on the box by Smooth Shading it Smoothes those rough edges

Hay I Found a Cure to My Orebody Hiding My Mine Works


I left clicked the Transparent Faces box and Then increased The number Beside it the Higher the number The more seeThrough (this is 75) Im going to Left click ok to Get out of this For now.

I Think I Will Get My Surface showing too


I picked Topo on The upper part Of Data Manager And then used my Opening procedure On the tri-topo File.

MineSight lets you Set up and name Files and folders for Things as you like So the naming Scheme for things Can very with the Designer.

These Views are Nice But How Do We Know What to Mine?


Computer models Divide orebodies Up into stacked Blocks. The Average grade of Each block as Well as other Information about That part of the Ore is stored in The program. These are called Block Models.

Lets take a look at our block model


Left click on the Pln-ore folder In the top of Data Manager

This time Right Click the Folder After it is Picked


A pop up menu Appears here Too Move the curser Over close so That it turns blue -Then left click it (The trick here is That I can open Or close Everything in a Whole folder this Way)

Go to Data Manager and Left Click on Model


Now go to UG66 In the lower part Of Data Manager And use your Opening Procedure.

Now We See A Block Model of Ore Body


The block color Coding actually Represents how Rich the ore is.

Now Lets Think About Planning an Open Stope Mining Sequence to Get This Good Stuff

Often When We Mine We Plan to Go After the Best Ore First


I like the looks of This stuff

Open Stoping Takes Ore Out of the Ground leaving an open void behind

Here you see The first stope Of ore I dug Out. You can Also see it hits Some of the Juiciest ore blocks Around

(Ok you also Noticed that I Made my block Model partly Transparent so You could see What I was Wacking out)

I Think I Will Go After the Next Best Ore on the Top Level
Next I think I will Go to the best Ore on the level Below.

MineSight Has a Part Called Activity Planner that Can Keep Track of My Ore Grades from Stopes as I Mine them.
I think I will try Going in here next

The View Shows all My Underground Support Workings


In practice as I see where I Will go first I May develop All the Underground Workings in the Order needed To stay ahead Of mining. (The fact that The production Shaft lined up With the first ore I would mine Was not an Accident)

And So I Continue to Sequence for the Best and Most Profitable Ore

Eventually We Are Left With a Series of Hollow Open Stopes in the Ground
The ground is Now supported By pillars that run Across the top of The open stopes (Called Crown Pillars)

A pillars between Open stopes (sometimes called Ribs or Rib Pillars)

And Pillars Between Stopes


These are Called ribs, Or rib pillars

The Value of the Ore Remaining in Pillars Determines What Happens Next
If the ore in the Pillars is valuable Enough the open Stopes are Filled with mixtures Of sand (or mill Tailings) and Cement

With the Stopes Backfilled Mining of the Pillars Can Begin

The Pillars Can Be Mined


(Frequently some backfilling will be required)

Wow!
Wait a minute The background Was black What happened?

The Funny Little Blue List is the Viewer Properties


Left click on the Viewer properties

Up Comes the Viewer Properties Window


The background Color is controlled From the little Color pallet Down here

Left click on it

Pick Your Color With a Left Click


Then left click ok

Hmm Ok Hot Pink is a Little Over the Top

The Lighting Tab lets you Adjust Lighting Effects on Your Mine Drawing
I bet you figured Out that I left Clicked my Viewer properties And changed the Background Color back before Going here to Play with the Lighting.

I Can Go for the Spot Light


Left click the little Pull down arrow Move the curser Over the spot light To turn it blue And then left click.

You Can Experiment with Lighting Effects

With Spot Light

With Distant Light

I Can Also Change the Color And Brightness of the Lights

Ok Maybe that light effect Kind of stinks.

Of Course We Still Have Not Explained How We Got the Rest of the Way Over to the Ore Body to Mine It

Cross Cuts Are Developed From the Foot Wall Haulage Drifts to the Orebody

You Then Develop A Drill Drive Down the Center of the Deposit
From the drill Drive drilling Will be done Up into the Orebody to blast Down ore. The ore can be Pulled out using LHDs working From the Cross-cuts into The orebody

(If you suspect I Turned off the Ramp to clear up The view you Are right)

Jumbo Drill Advancing A Drill Drift

Stopes Are Started By Putting Up Slot Raises from the Drill Drifts
In order to blast Ore there has To be a place For the broken Rock to go. The first slice Of ore will be Blown into the Slot raise.

Once A Slice Has been Cut Out all Across the Orebody Later Slices are Blasted into that Void

There Are Variations of Open Stoping That Depend Mostly on Where the Drill Drifts are Located
Some varieties Put the drill drift On top of the Stope. Other have drill Drifts on the Sides of the orebody

Your Assignment Opportunity


In this assignment you will perform work and then document your work using screen shots that you will save to a Word document.

Get A View That You Want on Your Screen


On your Keyboard Depress the Control and Print screen Keys at the Same time

Go to Your Word Document and Left Click the Paste Icon

Now For the Things You Get to Show


Start MineSight and Take a Screenshot of your splash screen When the Project Opens Take a Screen Shot. Go to the 3D Development Folder and open the shaft and crosscuts, footwall haulage drifts, Rock Pass, Vent shafts, and ramp take a screen shot Rotate your view around and take another screen shot Zoom in and take a screen shot Zoom out and take a screen shot Zoom to a convenient point and pan your view and take a screen shot. Change the background color of your viewer and take another screen shot.

Continued Work
Go to the plnore folder and open the file 66solid take a screen shot Rotate your workings around so you can see where they are relative to your ore body take a screen shot Now adjust your ore body to have a smooth, semitransparent surface so that you can see your mine workings from the hanging wall side of the orebody take a screen shot. Turn in your word document with your name and the required screen shots. Also go to the working directory for your project and find the file msAudit.txt and make a copy of this file to turn in. Note that this assignment is best submitted by e-mail attaching a word file and a copy of the msAudit.txt file.

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