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PCBC Block Cave Scheduling
PCBC Block Cave Scheduling
PCBC Block Cave Scheduling
Abstract
Gemcom PCBCTM is a software package which
has been developed over the last 22 years for the
planning and scheduling of block cave mines. This
paper presents an update of the various research and
development activities done to PCBC recently. It
also provides an overview of the current capabilities
of the software including tools for both feasibility
type studies as well as tools for operating mines.
Introduction
History
PCBC was first developed in 1988 for the
Premier Diamond Mine in South Africa(Diering,
2000). In 1992, the first production scheduler was
added to the system and in 1994 a significant upgrade
was done for Northparkes Mine in preparation for
their Lift 1. PCBC was upgraded to Microsoft
Windows operating system in 1996. In 2002, the
Cave Management System (CMS) was developed for
Freeport DOZ mine and this was upgraded to provide
SQL Server database support in 2003 for Finsch
Diamond mine(Diering, 2004). A new algorithm
called Template Mixing (Diering, 2007) was added to
provide better and alternate flow modeling options to
users.
Graphical interface
Blocks
Lines
Points
Triangulations
SQL database / workspaces
Profile editors / parameter management
Footprint Finder
Input for Footprint Finder utility comes from a
geological block model together with mining costs,
revenue factors, etc. The program will look at each
level in the block model and then construct vertical
columns accumulating the dollar value. Vertical
mixing is applied to each column using an algorithm
based on Laubschers mixing method (Laubscher,
1994).
In this paper
This paper describes the various components in
the PCBC product. It is not intended to provide any
explanation as to how these components work or are
used.
Components of PCBC
Dollar value
2560
2620
2680
2740
2800
2860
2920
2980
3040
3100
3160
3220
3280
3340
3400
3460
3520
3580
3640
Tonnage (Mt)
Tons
1,000
900
800
700
600
500
400
300
200
100
-
Elevation
Recent Developments
PCBC is over 20 years old and hence should be
considered as a mature product. As such the basic
planning and scheduling work flow is well covered.
On the other hand, being mature and with a good
foundation, PCBC has provided a useful foundation
for a number of recent developments which are
summarized in this section.
Upgrades to material flow tools
Playback utility
Display tools
Each of these is considered in more detail
Material flow upgrades
Material flow is an integral part of the block
cave mining (and material depletion) process. The
entry of dilution is a significant factor in the planning
process and modeling of this has proven to be
difficult. As such, a variety of different mixing tools
have been developed within PCBC and users are then
given the choice as to which approach they would
like to adopt. This is summarized in Table 1.
Method
Ease
of use
Linear?
No mixing
Easy
Yes
No mixing base
case (In-situ)
Pre-Vertical
Easy
Yes
PCBC Default
(includes
preerosion)
Easy
Yes
Uses Laubscher
tables
mixing
Comment
Laubscher
mixing
Sequential
mixing
Harder
No
Older method,
includes
toppling
Template
Mixing
Harder
No
Most
flexible
option available
REBOP
interface
Harder
No
Not
generally
available
yet
Cu%_M3P3
Cu% Tm4
Jan-08
Jul-08
Jan-09
Jul-09
Jan-10
Jul-10
Jan-11
Jul-11
Jan-12
Jul-12
Jan-13
Jul-13
Jan-14
Jul-14
Cu %
Freeport Grasberg
The Grasberg block cave is scheduled to start
production as the Grasberg open pit slows down at
the end of its life. (Figure 27) (Brannon, Casten, &
Johnson, 2004) This will be a very large block cave
with production up to 160,000t/d.
Numerous
scheduling options have been evaluated using PCBC
and particular emphasis has been placed on effective
modeling of large open pit failures which will
generate additional dilution material.
Project examples
Freeport DOZ
PT Freeport Indonesia has been using PCBC
since around 2000. They are currently mining close
to 80,000 t/d, making it a large block cave mine (T.
Casten, 2008). PCBC and CMS are used extensively
for planning and scheduling at the DOZ mine as well
as for daily draw control. Figure 25 shows a plot of
forecast rock types at one step during a production
schedule. Figure 26 shows a plot of HOD for the
same mining step.
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Salvador
The Salvador mine in Chile has used PCBC
both for the detailed scheduling of individual mining
panels (Figure 30) as well as for combined
scheduling of multiple mining blocks (Figure 31).
Northparkes
PCBC was first used for Northparkes E26 Lift 1
around 1994 and then for Lift 2 planning and
currently for Lift 2 North (Figure 29) (Ross, 2008)
and E 48. Each lift has provided surprises and
challenges from a modeling perspective.
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Andina
Palabora
The Rio Tinto Palabora mine in South Africa
started block cave production in 2000. (Moss,
Russell, & Jones, 2004)
As the scheduler can work with historical
tonnages as easily as forward looking tonnages, the
playback tool can thus also be used for historical
analysis or reconciliation purposes.
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Finsch
The Finsch Block 4 block cave is an example of
mining beneath an old open pit (Richter & Diering,
2004) (Figure 38). As mining progresses, additional
pit wall material is failing into the developing cave.
The remaining ore and ore/waste combination has to
be continually updated as additional material fails
into the cave.
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Calibration examples
Freeport DOZ
A detailed description of the calibration curves
in figures Figure 41 and Figure 42 is beyond the
scope of this paper. (Villa, Prasetyo, & Diering,
2008) Figure 41 is for grade and it shows the extent
to which the PCBC model can be changed to improve
the fit actual against actual observations.
Palabora
Work has been done at Palabora to improve the
short term grade estimates using the LSQ tool
described above. Figure 45 shows the improvement
in the short term comparing the PCBC LSQ forecast
vs Samples.
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Salvador
Various calibration runs were done at Salvador
mine. Two examples are shown in Figure 47 and
Figure 48. A detailed explanation of the curves is
beyond the scope of this paper, but the graphs show
how mixing parameters were adjusted to improve
both the model results and the confidence in other
forecast results.
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Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the following
mining companies for permissions to publish
information and figures pertaining to their projects in
this paper: Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc.,
Rio Tinto, Newcrest Mining Limited, De Beers
Consolidated Mines Finsch mine, Codelco Divisin
Salvador, Codelco Divisin Andina and Palabora
Mining Company.
References
Concluding remarks
PCBC has been applied to a variety of different
block cave projects and mines over the last 20 years.
Every project has its own unique challenges some of
which have been described in this paper. As the
program has evolved to meet these new problems, its
capability has been enhanced.
A key component of the modeling and program
development process has been the ongoing
calibration of PCBC against observations / sampling.
This process has clearly indicated that it is not always
the material mixing which required the most
adjustment. Careful attention is also required in areas
of past mining, or for open pit failure material or
even to the geological block model itself.
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