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AcQuire in The Production Environment
AcQuire in The Production Environment
Seminar Using acQuire™ in the mining production environment allows the operation to
centralize and streamline many of its data storage, collection, and reporting practices.
Some examples include automated Laboratory Information Systems (LIMS) importing,
handheld PC logging of production drilling details using barcodes and direct, on-line
logging of Drillhole (DH) details.
Some other areas where acQuire™ has been used to manage production information
is for open pit ore block cataloguing, open pit, and underground face mapping details,
underground muck and grab sampling, and drillers details (plods).
Data Client connectivity is key to the efficiency of utilizing the data that acQuire™
manages. The acQuire™ API makes this data retrieval process much more effective.
Open Pit Operations
The vast amount and speed that data is collected in the modern open pit
environment necessitates that a system such as acQuire™ be implemented to manage
these data sets effectively.
Blasthole Location Survey Details
Open pit blasthole survey co-ordinate data is usually collected with electronic data
recording devices attached to total station or GPS instruments. These instruments
generally produce a delimited text file. Uploading this data to the database is generally a
simple matter if importing the text file from the survey data recorder.
Often some of the details regarding the blast pattern and bench reference information
are part of the hole identifier. Any extra detail that may not be contained in the source file
is assigned at the point of importing. Examples of this may be date, surveyor, etc.
Blasthole Assay Details
Due to the consistent nature of production analysis, importing the results is usually a
very routine process. If QAQC samples have been inserted, acQuire™ importers can be
configured to automatically insert these results to the correct parts of the database.
Some sites have been implemented to upload assays results automatically. This is
usually only done when a site/company laboratory is generating the analysis results.
This unattended loading process makes use of the command line importing engine. This
process allows an import template to be configured using the standard graphical interface
and then the command line program uses this template when set up as a scheduled task by
the operating system.
Below is an example of the syntax used to operate the command line importer.
“C:\Program Files\acquire\bin\acq3import.exe” /database test /user zk /
passw ztk /ignerr N /commit Y /form c:\forms\new_assays.qimp /datafile d:
\data\new_assays.csv /rejectfile d:\data\new_assays.qrej /errfile d:\data\
new_assays.qrpt
The benefits of this type of system are that the results are available in acQuire™ when
the assayers have released the results. The up-load timing will always vary. Examples of
once a day to every 15 minutes have been set-up.
Some companies have LIMS that are accessible via ODBC connections on the network.
These systems generally require some level of access to write back from acQuire™. Often
the results that acQuire™ is reading to insert are filtered by a flag field that is set if the data
is already loaded to acQuire™. Generally once the import has occurred, the flag field is
updated with a SQL statement from the acQuire™ importer.
This process can be activated automatically using the command line importer as well as
from a manual import.
Annual as a sub-horizontal drill hole. The geology and structure details are logged as from and
to readings or depth makers from a 0 origin that has a know X,Y,Z position (collar).
Inflections are stored as down hole survey values.
Seminar This information is generally entered into Data Entry screens and the Data Client
software is used to visualize and interpret the data.
This example used MineSight® and the MineSight® Grail scripting interface to position
this image.
Ore Block Cataloguing for Dispatching and Reconciliation
acQuire™ has been used to catalogue ore cut details for transfer to dispatching and
reconciliation programs. This use of acQuire™ simply imports the details about the ore cut
that have been generated by the mine planning software and stores a unique identifier for
each ore cut. By using acQuire™ to store this detail, the information is easily filtered and
exported for the client systems.
Underground Operations
Underground mines often generate a large amount of diamond core drilling that
needs efficient systems in place to mange the logging, sample results, and security of
this information. acQuire™ has also been utilized for storing muck and grab sampling
information which allow for reporting of tonnes and grade summaries for given work areas.
Drilling Collar and Downhole Surveying Detail
Initialization
Underground operations generally plan a series of diamond drill holes that need to be
entered to the database before actual drilling takes place. In some cases the actual collar
survey is never obtained due to production interference.
Annual The table below lists the status of various suppliers of the client software that deal with
acQuire™ data.
Software Supplier Status
Seminar MineSight
Oasis Montage
Target for ArcGIS
Metech Pty. Ltd./Mintec Inc.
Geosoft Inc.
Geosoft Inc.
Active
Active
Active
Mapinfo Discover Encom Technology Pty. Ltd. Active
FracViewer Professional Fractal Graphics Pty. Ltd. Active
Gemcom Gemcom Software International Inc. Signed Agreement
Datamine Mineral Industries Computing Group Ltd Signed Agreement
Earthworks Mineral Industries Computing Group Ltd Signed Agreement
Surpac/Minex Surpac Minex Group Signed Agreement
Vulcan Maptek Pty. Ltd. Signed Agreement
WinDisp Scientific Computing & Applications Signed Agreement
Xemplex XempleX Pty Ltd Signed Agreement
Gap Technologies S.A. Signed Agreement
GoCAD Mira Geosciences In Discussion
Newmont TSS Newmont USA Limited In Discussion