05 Surface Production Short Term Schedule V603

February 2008
MineSched V6
Surface Production
Scheduling: Short Term
Scheduling
July 2009
www.gemcomsoftware.com
Copyright © 2009 Gemcom Software International. All rights reserved.
Gemcom Software International publishes this documentation for the sole use of MineSched licenses.
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All brand and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.
Contributors
Aaron Loffler
Products
MineSched 6.0
Surpac 6.1.2
Document Release Date
July 2009
Table of Contents
Overview........................................................................................................................................... 5
Data Storage and Familiarisation ....................................................................................................... 6
Task: Setup Data Management Hierarchy .............................................................................................................6
Task: Set Your Working Directory ..........................................................................................................................6
Data Review ............................................................................................................................................................. 6
Short Term Polygons........................................................................................................................ 12
Creating Short Term Polygons from the Long Term Schedule ............................................................................... 12
Task: Create Short Term Polygons ......................................................................................................................12
MineSched Scenario Management ................................................................................................... 14
Creating a Scenario ................................................................................................................................................ 14
Task: Create a Scenario .......................................................................................................................................14
Define the Geological Model ................................................................................................................................. 15
Task: Add the Geological Information for the Schedule .....................................................................................15
Mining Locations ............................................................................................................................. 16
Polygon Mining vs Bench Polygon Mining and Polygon Constraints ..................................................................... 16
Examples of Polygon Locations ........................................................................................................ 19
Polygon Mining to a Seam Boundary ..................................................................................................................... 19
Polygon Mining a Single Bench .............................................................................................................................. 20
Polygon Mining a Single Bench by Flitches ............................................................................................................ 21
Polygon Mining with Different Polygons on Separate Benches ............................................................................. 22
Task: Create a Simple Schedule Using the Polygons Created Earlier ..................................................................22
Polygon Sequencing......................................................................................................................... 28
Adding a Polygon Sequence ................................................................................................................................... 28
Task: Add Various Polygon Sequences and See how the Results Change ..........................................................28
Graphically Sequencing Polygons .......................................................................................................................... 29
Task: Graphically Sequence the Polygons ...........................................................................................................30
Task: Apply the Correct Sequence for this Schedule ..........................................................................................37
Precedences and Parameters for Group Mining ................................................................................ 39
Precedences ........................................................................................................................................................... 39
BLOCK_PRECEDENCES_CONSTRAINED_BY_GROUP ............................................................................................39
GROUPS_IN_DEFINED_SEQUENCE ......................................................................................................................40
Parameters ............................................................................................................................................................. 40
MAX_ACTIVE_GROUPS ........................................................................................................................................40
Ancillary Activities ........................................................................................................................... 41
Drilling Activity ....................................................................................................................................................... 41
Task: Create the Drilling Ancillary Activity ..........................................................................................................41
Blasting Activity...................................................................................................................................................... 48
Task: Create the Blasting Activity........................................................................................................................49
Graphically Animating the Activities ...................................................................................................................... 51
Task: Create Graphical Results for the Activities ................................................................................................51
Adjusting the Schedule .................................................................................................................... 54
Task: Add another Production Resource to the Schedule ..................................................................................54
Reporting the Schedule.................................................................................................................... 56
Custom Reports ..................................................................................................................................................... 56
Task: Create a Detailed Mining Report ...............................................................................................................56
Task: Create a Summary Report of the Activities ...............................................................................................57
Gantt Chart ............................................................................................................................................................ 59
Task: Create a Gantt Chart of the Schedule ........................................................................................................59
Analysing the Schedule Performance ............................................................................................... 60
Task: Check the Schedule Deliverables ...............................................................................................................60
Task: Add the Stockpiles and MILL to the Schedule............................................................................................61
Production Activities (Optional) ....................................................................................................... 65
Task: Define a Schedule Using Production Activities ..........................................................................................65
Where to Next ................................................................................................................................. 77
Overview
Short Term Surface Production Scheduling can be challenging because many options are available to
move resources around the various locations of the excavation at short notice. A short-term schedule is
usually designed to maximise the equipment utilisation while still honouring the overall requirements of
the schedule such as a constant grade or ore throughput. This tutorial is aimed at the beginner to give a
working knowledge of short-term surface production scheduling in MineSched without complex
scheduling scenarios. This tutorial is an extension of the long-term surface scheduling tutorials. This is
the final tutorial in the series for surface scheduling.
Requirements
This tutorial assumes that you have a reasonably advanced knowledge of Surpac. If you are a new
Surpac user, you should go through the Introduction to Surpac tutorial, the Block Modeling tutorial and
the Mine Design tutorial before going through this tutorial. This tutorial is the last in a series of tutorials
designed to teach the common functionality within the MineSched Production Module. An understanding
of surface scheduling techniques is required to complete this tutorial. You must have completed the
Surface Production Schedule: Initialisation tutorial, the Surface Production Schedule: Material
Movement tutorial, the Surface Production: Targeting and Blending tutorial and the Surface
Production: Improving the Schedule tutorial prior to attempting this tutorial to understand some of the
concepts.
You will also need:
• To have Surpac V6.1 or higher installed on your computer.

• To have MineSched V6.0 installed into your version of Surpac.
• The data set accompanying this tutorial. You can use the data you finished with from the previous
tutorial or new data is supplied with this tutorial.
Objectives
The objective of this tutorial is to give you a basic understanding of how to setup a short-term surface
production schedule and report on this. This tutorial focuses on the parameters used in scheduling to
make the schedule more practical for mining. It is not intended to be exhaustive in scope, but will show
the workflows needed to achieve results. You can then refine and add to these workflows to meet your
specific scheduling requirements.
Workflow
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Data Storage and Familiarisation Task: Setup Data Management Hierarchy
Data Storage and Familiarisation

To complete the MineSched Surface Production Schedule there are four basic requirements for data.
• The Pit Designs and Topography. These are normally as DTM’s. Note: scheduling can also be
done with Whittle shells.
• A Block Model containing grades and material class definitions.
• Any data files created to complete the previous tutorial in this series.
• Polygons for the short term schedule.
Many files are also created during the scheduling process such as reports, parameter files, log files and
animation files. It is for this reason that it is important to manage your data so that it is easy to locate,
access and analyse.
Some of the parameter options within MineSched allow the user to store filenames using a relative path
or an absolute path. Using relative paths means that the schedule data will be transportable between
various data storage systems and can be operated from several different locations. This makes it very
important to store your data logically to facilitate this functionality as well as assisting other users to
understand and locate your data readily.
Task: Setup Data Management Hierarchy

Unzip the tutorial data. The files required for scheduling are already contained in their designated
directory. The dump, pit and topography dtms and string files are stored in the dtm directory and the
block models are contained in the mdl directory. The zip folder also contains a polygons directory which
will contain various string files we create for scheduling and a Scenario directory for managing the
MineSched production scenarios. If you have your own files you can copy over the files here or create
the directory structure yourself as shown below.
Task: Set Your Working Directory

Change your working directory to the newly created “Scenario” directory. You may need to refresh your
navigator in Surpac to see any changes made in Windows Explorer.
Data Review
The data was also reviewed in the previous tutorial; however, it is shown here again for reference.
1. Open the files pit_design1.dtm and pit_stage_a1.dtm. Using DTM properties change the
colour of the stage A pit.
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Data Storage and Familiarisation Task: Set Your Working Directory
The files show a final pit design and an initial stage A for this pit. The Stage A subpit is developed first to
quickly establish cash flow for the project then the remainder of the pit is mined.
2. Now open the block model and display it.
3. Run a block model summary.
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The block model contains four attributes.
Attribute Description
grade The quality value of the commodity
ore An integer value representing 0 for waste or 1 or 2 for ore
sg The specific gravity or density of the block
type The rock type. Either air, oxide, transition or fresh
1. Cancel the form when finished.
2. Graphically constrain the block model to show only the blocks where the grade > 1
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To get an indication of grade distribution, colour the model by the grade attribute. Select a cutoff range
that corresponds to the mining grade ranges selected for profitability.
Grade Range Description

<1 Waste
1 to 3 Low Grade
>3 High Grade
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Short Term Polygons Task: Create Short Term Polygons
Short Term Polygons

Typically, when short term planning, the mining area is divided up into smaller areas to better model the
drilling, blasting and mining sequence. The division into smaller polygons provides greater flexibility for
the allocation of resources and enables the plan to be presented to the mining crews more readily.
Creating Short Term Polygons from the Long Term Schedule

Polygons can be created from the results of the long-term schedule. In the previous tutorial, bench plans
of the final schedule were created. Some benches are shown below.
Task: Create Short Term Polygons

In this tutorial, we will assume that the schedule has been developed as planned up to the end of period
6. The objective now is to add some detail to the plan for the next three months, that is, periods 7, 8 and
9.
This task has already been completed and the results can be found in the polygons directory.
The files from the long-term schedule can be found in the polygons directory. They are prefixed with
‘results_by_elev.’ The benches that were worked on during those three periods are 355, 345, 335 and
325.
1. Open these files and create clockwise, closed polygons around the various periods 7, 8 and 9.
Sometimes a judgment call needs to be made to facilitate mining and the polygon boundary can be
moved slightly. As the pit stages are still important, the polygons have been created to the boundaries of
each of the stages where appropriate. These polygons have been created and are stored in the files
consolidated_polys<level>.str
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Short Term Polygons Task: Create Short Term Polygons
2. The overall period polygons can then be divided into smaller polygons that would represent the
boundaries for the mining activities. These should be logical in terms of mining equipment
moving around the mining locations. The results of this step can be found in the polygons
directory in the files short_term_polys<level>.str. The string numbering has been added
such that the strings for period 7 are between 71 and 79 (or 700+ if more are needed) and period
8 are strings 81 to 89 and period 9 are strings 91 to 99. The numbering is not important, this is
for a reference only but it is important that each polygon has its own number.
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MineSched Scenario Management Task: Create a Scenario
MineSched Scenario Management

MineSched offers the ability to create and manage many scenarios related to the same data. Scenarios
are typically slight variations of the scheduling parameters for the same dataset. This may include a
comparison between using one type of equipment to another or re-assigning the sequence of mining.
Scenarios can be accessed through the Surpac Interface using the Production Menu or through the
MineSched interface using the Scenario Menu. Best practice is to have a single directory that stores your
scenario files and multiple scenarios can be stored in here. This methodology allows you to keep the file
references the same between scenarios and only vary the parameters that are applicable to method of
scheduling. When running MineSched, each scenario will create its own Results folder, which will also be
stored under the scenario directory. As each scenario stores a separate results folder there will be no
overwriting of files relevant to each scenario.
Through this scheduling process we will produce several scenarios as we build the schedule up to a
complete functional schedule.
Creating a Scenario
For every schedule there must be at least one scenario file.
Task: Create a Scenario

1. In Surpac make sure your current working directory is set to ‘Scenario’
2. Use the Menus and choose Production > New production scenario. Call the new scenario
Surface_Production_Short_Term_1.
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MineSched Scenario Management Task: Add the Geological Information for the Schedule
Define the Geological Model

For all scenarios the geological information must be defined. The material classes for this schedule have
already been defined in the previous tutorials and do not need to be reassigned here. The material
attribute need only be referenced and defined.
Task: Add the Geological Information for the Schedule
1. As in the previous tutorials add the surface model information to this schedule.
2. Check the Model setup for errors and Validate the Model.
A scenario is now created which contains the information about the model. The next step is to define the
mining locations. As polygons have been created this will be different to how it was created in previous
tutorials. There are many options when mining by polygon, which will be explained in the next section.
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Mining Locations Task: Add the Geological Information for the Schedule
Mining Locations
When performing Short Term Scheduling a mining location is normally defined as only a few polygons
that will be mined during that short-term period. The polygons are normally managed as the areas that
require separate units or work such as drilling, blasting and mining. They are more manageable sizes
than an entire bench to allow the flexibility of mining in a more sustainable sequence.
In short-term scheduling there is normally a departure from block by block mining as the polygon face
needs to be advanced on a hole to make room for trucks and other activities to follow behind the
advancing face.
In some cases polygons will be different on different benches to facilitate the mining constraints but in
some cases the polygons may be the same for a series of benches.
Polygon Mining vs Bench Polygon Mining and Polygon

Constraints
In MineSched there are two mining methods that both use polygons: Polygon mining and Bench Polygon.
The main difference between these two mining methods is that Z constraints are automatically applied to
Bench Polygons based on the bench values and heights whereas the Polygon Method does not apply
any Z constraints. If the Polygon method is chosen, it is still valid to apply Z constraints to define a bench.
Is the same as
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In most basic open pit situations, mining occurs on fixed benches and hence the Bench Polygons method
is the best method to use.
The Polygons mining method is most useful when the bench that is being mined does not have a
constant Z plane to mine to. An example of this is mining to a seam boundary. In this case, MineSched
can extend the polygon in the Z direction within the polygon to find all of the blocks in the seam.
When using either the mining method of Bench Polygons or Polygons, the defined polygons string file will
act as an additional constraint on the block model. As such it is not necessary to add the polygons file as
a constraint to the list of constraints that define that location. There is however a case where this may be
desirable.
In some cases a master polygon file may be referenced. This may contain many polygons. In the short-
term, only a few of these polygons will be used. If the polygon string file is not referenced in the list of
constraints for the location then every polygon will be prepared when the location is evaluated. This is
done to speed up the scheduling process later as in most cases the evaluation of a location is the part of
the schedule that takes the longest to run. By preparing all of the polygons first, any polygons can be
referenced in the mining sequence without the need to evaluate these polygons as they have already
been prepared. In most mining cases the polygon sequence changes frequently when narrowing in on
the final schedule. Having to evaluate new polygons each scheduling run will waste time unnecessarily.
This can cause a problem when the master polygon file contains tens, hundreds or even thousands of
polygons and only a few are used in the short-term schedule. In this case it is more efficient to add a
constraint containing a subset of polygons to choose from. For example, if a polygon file contains strings
1 to 10000 it would be inefficient to prepare all of these polygons if only ten of the first twenty polygons
are to be used in the schedule. As the sequence is unknown but it is known that only strings 1 to 20 can
be mined, it is more efficient to add a constraint that will allow MineSched to only evaluate the first 20
polygons.
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Examples of Polygon Locations Task: Add the Geological Information for the Schedule
Examples of Polygon Locations

Polygon Mining to a Seam Boundary
When mining to a seam boundary the constraint is what defines the blocks that are inside the seam and
therefore defines the seam boundary. In a block model this is usually accomplished by a block value
constraint. This may also be defined between two dtm boundary layers or, if scheduling with Minex Grids,
grid files can be referenced.
In the above it can be seen that the blocks that make up the mining location are first constrained by the
constraints listed and then further detailed constraining is done using the polygon string file. When using
a block model, the effect of partial percentages can be of importance and, as seen on the left, the partial
percentage refers to the Polygon, which is referenced in the String File field.
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Polygon Mining a Single Bench

When mining a single bench, it is acceptable to define the mining location using either the mining method
of Polygons or Bench Polygons. When using the Polygons method the Z Planes that define the bench in
the model will need to be added.
TIP: A common mistake when using Bench Polygons for a single bench is to use the first bench, for
example as 335 and the last bench as 325. This is really defining two benches and when combined with
a second location that is from 325 to 315 this will result in the 325 bench being defined twice and the
tonnes will be counted twice. When Mining a single bench, the first bench and the last bench should be
the same.
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Polygon Mining a Single Bench by Flitches

In MineSched a single bench can easily be defined to be mined by flitches. When mining by flitches the
same polygon sequence is mined, however each polygon is mined in 2, 3 or more layers. For example, if
the following polygons were defined for a single bench:
When scheduling the polygons by flitch, the above would first mine the top flitch of polygon1, then the
next flitch of polygon 1 before moving on to polygon 2. The direction of mining is also shown in the above.
Mining by flitch can be defined by specifying a single string file but multiple benches for that string file.
For example if there was a 15m bench that was mined in three five metre flitches the definition would look
like the following:
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Examples of Polygon Locations Task: Create a Simple Schedule Using the Polygons Created Earlier
In the above definition the 15m 330 bench of this mine has been defined to be mined in three 5m flitches.
In this case the bench position is at the top of the bench so the three 5m bench values are 330, 325 and
320. It is a common mistake to simply subtract 15m from the first bench elevation but this would create 4
separate flitches so care must be taken. When mining a single bench by flitches, in the definition the
term bench can be considered “flitch.”
TIP: Flitches of variable heights can also be defined in MineSched. For example a single 10m bench
can be mined in 3 flitches of 4m, 3m and 3m by using a space between bench heights (note the separate
bench heights can also be separated by the use of a semi-colon):
Flitch or bench heights can also be stored in description fields of the polygons if each polygon will have a
different set of bench heights.
Polygon Mining with Different Polygons on Separate

Benches
In this tutorial, we have so far created a set of polygons that are different for each bench. MineSched can
use these different polygons to create a location where all of the benches can use all of the defined
polygons to be sequenced in any order that is desirable to meet any scheduling requirements.
Task: Create a Simple Schedule Using the Polygons Created Earlier
1. Go to the Locations Section of the Setup Schedule Step. If there are any locations on the
Canvas they can be deleted.
2. Add the mining location as follows:
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In this case, as the polygons that have been created already exist on the elevations that they will be
mined and as they are different for each polygon, the first and last bench elevations are left blank. These
elevations will be taken from the string files.
TIP: The elevation of the polygon in the string file needs to constant for all points in the polygon. This will
allow MineSched to choose the correct elevation for the polygon and create effective graphical results.
3. Check the Schedule setup for errors and evaluate the location.
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4. Add a resource as existed in the long-term schedule, which has a capacity of 100,000 tonnes per
day.
5. Assign the resource to the mining location.
6. Enough information has been defined to Create the schedule. At this stage we will not add any
parameters, precedences or calendars. Go to the Create Schedule Step and define the schedule
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time periods to be weekly for the three months of the short term schedule. The start date should
be 01/07/2009 and there should be 13 weeks in the schedule.
7. Add a chart to track the masses produced each period. The chart below shows the ore and
waste produced each period. Create the Schedule.
8. There is a small amount of production (200,000 tonnes) that will occur in week 14. This is
because the polygons that were defined included some material from other periods. At this stage
we will ignore this. Normally this would be carried forward to the next schedule or if it is important
the rates would be adjusted to ensure it is mined during this scheduling period. This issue would
be exacerbated by the introduction of resource calendars.
9. Go to the Publish Results step and create the graphical outputs. Animate the schedule.
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10. What is wrong with the schedule?

a. The mining direction of some of the polygons does not look appropriate for the geometry
of the mining location. Currently all of the polygons have been defined to be mined
towards the north. This can be changed in the location properties. In this case the
mining directions for the polygons have been stored in the d1 field which can be
referenced.
TIP: The mining direction is often a function of the polygon sequence. The mining directions in these
polygons have been designed based on a particular polygon sequence.
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b. The polygon sequence needs to be changed. Currently the sequence is being mined
based on string number (from lowest to highest). This is causing the undermining of
some polygons.
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Polygon Sequencing Task: Add Various Polygon Sequences and See how the Results Change
Polygon Sequencing
The polygon sequence determines the order of mining. The sequence can be defined by typing the
values into the cell or they can be graphically chosen in Surpac to determine the order of mining.
Combined with this there are parameters in MineSched that allow the sequence to be honoured or not
based on whether you are target scheduling or not. It is not common to target schedule in a short-term
scenario but to try to create a mining sequence that produces results close to your defined targets.
Adding a Polygon Sequence

A polygon sequence can be added in the Locations section by entering that sequence in the String
Range field. The sequence is specified the same way as a string range in any field in Surpac. For
example, a simple string range is possible.
A string range with a step value different of 1 is also possible.
Multiple range selections can also be added using a semi-colon to separate the individual ranges.
Finally, individual polygons can be specified by separating them with a semi-colon.
Task: Add Various Polygon Sequences and See how the Results Change
1. As mentioned earlier, the direction of the polygons to be mined has been stored in the d1 field.
Change the mining direction to reflect this.
2. Add a polygon sequence, for example, 71,79;700;701;81,88;91,99;900. This sequence will

honour the sequence as defined by period without pushing polygons 700 and 701 towards the
end of the schedule.
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Polygon Sequencing Task: Graphically Sequence the Polygons
3. Create the schedule and view the results. As the mining direction has been changed, the
location will need to be prepared again. This is completed automatically when the schedule is
created.
4. Try some other polygon sequences and create the schedule. The location will not need to be
prepared again as only the polygon sequence has changed.
Graphically Sequencing Polygons

Polygons can also be sequenced by graphically selecting them in the Surpac graphics environment. This
provides a flexible medium for visually building a polygon sequence without the need to know the string
numbers ahead of time.
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Task: Graphically Sequence the Polygons
1. Go to the Locations section of the Setup Schedule step.

2. Select the PIT_4_BENCHES location and click on the button next to String range to start the
graphical sequencing.
3. The Surpac Window will become active (in Windows Vista you may need to maximise Surpac
from the Windows taskbar). The graphical sequencing form is displayed in Surpac.
4. The existing sequence that has been defined is shown in the graphical sequence field. This
sequence is now no longer applicable and can be deleted.
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5. There are two options that can be used to assist with the selection of polygons. The view options
allow you to rotate or zoom in and out until the polygons are in an orientation that will facilitate the
selection of the sequence. The Display Options allow you to show the polygons as filled or
outlines which can also facilitate selection. Leave these options as their default values for the
time being.
6. The main three buttons on this form will allow you to manage the sequence. Continue
Sequencing allows you move into graphics and start adding more polygons to the current
sequence. Apply Sequence will quit out of the graphical sequencing form and apply the current
sequence to the schedule in the MineSched window. Cancel Sequencing will allow you to quit
out of the graphical sequencing form and will not change the sequence currently defined in the
MineSched window.
7. Choose to Continue Sequencing.
8. Select polygon 73.
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9. It is difficult to select polygons in the middle as the polygon edges cross over and it cannot be
guaranteed which polygon you are selecting (if you select the wrong polygon, that polygon can
be selected again which will remove it from the sequence).
10. We need to change the display parameters to facilitate the polygon selection. Press Escape to
invoke the graphical sequencing form again.
11. The currently selected sequence (polygon 73) is stored in the sequence field. Change the
Display Option from Outlined Polygons to Filled Polygons and select to Continue Sequencing.
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12. You may want to change the orientation of the view to help with the sequencing. Select some
more polygons as shown above.
13. When selecting polygons that lay underneath one another it can be difficult with the current view.
Press Escape to invoke the Graphical Sequencing form again.
14. Choose to apply the current sequence. We can continue sequencing later but we want to retain
the sequence that has currently been defined to add to later. If we cancel the sequence the
current sequence will not be retained.
15. The sequence that has been defined so far has been placed into the appropriate field in
MineSched.
16. Return to the Surpac Interface and add the Scale and Transparency Toolbar
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17. In MineSched, choose to graphically define the sequence.
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18. As before, choose to display Filled Polygons and continue sequencing. The same sequence that
we left with previously should now be restored.
19. Press escape to return to the graphical sequencing form and choose to change the view. While
in this mode you can use the Z scale slide bar, rotate the image and use the centre view icon
( ) in Surpac to orientate the view until you can select all of the polygons successfully. When
you have done this, press escape to return to the graphical sequencing form and choose to
continue sequencing.
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20. Continue to select a logical sequence for scheduling until all polygons have been selected.
21. Press escape and apply that sequence. Create the Schedule and view your results.
TIP: In this example the number of polygons is large and confusing so the Z scale was used to
manipulate the display to make polygon selection easier. Often this is not possible as the vertical
alignment of polygons must be respected when performing the graphical selection of the polygon
sequence. To facilitate this a third option is provided for display in MineSched which will display all of the
polygons as filled to begin with but remove the filling once the polygon has been selected.
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Polygon Sequencing Task: Apply the Correct Sequence for this Schedule
Task: Apply the Correct Sequence for this Schedule
1. A sequence has been determined which provides sufficient ore production which will also include
the drilling and blasting sequence which will be added later in the tutorial.
2. Using the Graphical Sequencer or by typing the sequence in, add the following sequence:
71;77;72;73;79;76;75;74;78;700;701;81;82;83;84;900;87;86;85;92;91;88;93;94;95;97;96;98;99
3. Create the schedule and view the dashboard chart.
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Polygon Sequencing Task: Apply the Correct Sequence for this Schedule
4. Create the graphical results and animate the schedule to validate that the sequence is correct.
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Precedences and Parameters for Group Mining BLOCK_PRECEDENCES_CONSTRAINED_BY_GROUP
Precedences and Parameters for Group Mining

There are some precedences and parameters in MineSched that are only applicable when mining by
groups. The term groups is used because it is not just applicable to mining Polygons or Bench Polygons
but also for the mining method of Solids which uses objects in Surpac to define parts of the mining
location.
Precedences
No precedences are required for this schedule, however there are two precedences that can be used with
groups (or polygons). The details of these are described here.
BLOCK_PRECEDENCES_CONSTRAINED_BY_GROUP
Valid Values – ‘yes’ or ‘no’. The default value is ‘no’

The block precedences constrained by group precedence provides control over how precedences are
calculated between mining locations that are mining by polygons, bench_polygons or solids that have a
spatial relationship between them. By default if this is not defined, block precedences are not constrained
by group.
In the image above if there was a spatial relationship between the location that contains the white block
and the location that contains the yellow block and a lag of 120m existed between the two locations
(block size is 20m) then the yellow block in the secondary location would not be able to be mined until the
white block in the primary location is mined. This is the default behaviour of MineSched. When
BLOCK_PRECEDENCES_CONSTRAINED_BY_GROUP is set to yes, the yellow block will be allowed to
be mined before the white block is mined because the influence of the white block is constrained to the
limits of the polygon it lies in. The influence of the white block will only extend to the secondary location
where the string number (or group number) is the same as in the primary location.
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Precedences and Parameters for Group Mining GROUPS_IN_DEFINED_SEQUENCE
GROUPS_IN_DEFINED_SEQUENCE
Valid Values – ‘yes’ or ‘no’. The default value varies depending on other settings in MineSched. If
the location has the property Consolidate Blocks ticked, then the default value is ‘yes’. If the
Precedence BLOCKS_IN_DEFINED_SEQUENCE is set to ‘yes’ then the default value is also ‘yes’.
All other times the default value is ‘no’.
The precedence GROUPS_IN_DEFINED_SEQUENCE forces MineSched to schedule the groups in the
sequence provided in the String Range Field in the Location Properties. If no string range is specified
here the groups will be mined from lowest string number to highest string number. When using target
scheduling in the short term it can be useful to set this precedence to no as this gives MineSched the
flexibility to choose polygons in any order to meet the defined targets. Combined with the parameter
MAX_ACTIVE_GROUPS this is a powerful tool for meeting targets in the short term while still maintaining
a practical schedule.
Parameters
No parameters are required for this schedule however; there is one parameter that is applicable to mining
by groups that is explained here.
MAX_ACTIVE_GROUPS
Valid Values – any integer greater than zero. The default value is all available polygons or objects.
When short term scheduling and using targeting, the MAX_ACTIVE_GROUPS parameter can be used to
restrict MineSched to choose only a subset of the total available polygons or solids to mine from in any
given period. Once a polygon has been started it must be completed before a new polygon is selected.
Based on the defined targets, MineSched will evaluate the best polygons to start mining in. Once a
polygon is completed all the remaining available polygons are evaluated again and the best one is
chosen. In the example below there are three active polygons at one time in the mining location.
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Ancillary Activities Task: Create the Drilling Ancillary Activity
Ancillary Activities
Before reporting the schedule we will look at the use of Ancillary activities. Activity Scheduling is an
important part of creating a short term schedule as these activities can often interfere with mining. In this
tutorial we will add a DRILLING activity and a BLASTING activity. Any activity can be modeled in the
ancillary activities which might affect the production including dewatering, setup, geological control or
survey control however the most common and the ones that have the greatest affect on production are
drilling and blasting.
Drilling Activity
There are two parts to activity scheduling: Defining the work involved and scheduling the activity, and
creating appropriate displays through graphical results to illustrate and validate the activity. Information
for the drilling activity can be taken from the blast hole designs if they have been completed already or
can be estimated based on a quantity relative to the production amount.
Task: Create the Drilling Ancillary Activity
1. Go to the Activities section of the Setup Schedule step.
2. The interface in this section works just like the other sections. On the left is a panel where
activities are added and the panel on the right contains the properties of these activities.
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3. Click the Add button to add a new activity.
4. There are many properties that can be used to define an activity. Change the name of the
activity to DRILLING.
5. The type of activity generally depends on the Mining Method. If the mining method is Polygons,
Bench Polygons or Solid the activity type is generally “Polygon.” The activity type determines the
frequency of the activity. Does the activity occur before or after an entire mining location is mined
or before or after each polygon in the location is mined? It is obviously impossible in this
example to drill out the entire 4 benches at once and then mine it so the activity type is Polygon.
6. The activity can be disabled through the use of the Active checkbox which is useful when trying
different options in the scenario as it may not be desirable to delete the entire activity definition.
The Locations field allows you define which locations the activity is valid for. For example
DRILLING would not be applicable to a location if it was all oxide material which might be free dig.
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7. The activity definition is divided into four main panels with an additional Comments panel to write
notes about the activity. The first panel is the Precedences panel which is used to define the
timing in the scheduling that the activity occurs.
8. A brief description of all of the fields can be found below. For now, nothing needs to be added in
this section.
Previous Activity
Enter the activity that will occur immediately prior to the current activity in the scheduling process within
the polygon. For example drilling must happen prior to blasting.
Next Activity
Enter the activity that will occur immediately after the current activity in the scheduling process within the
polygon. For example blasting must happen after drilling but before mining.
Earliest Start Date

Sometime, regardless of availability an activity may not be able to start until a certain date. For example
dewatering may not be able to occur until after a pump arrives on a given delivery date. The date entered
here is given as a ‘not prior to’ date so if the polygon becomes available for the activity on 12/09/2009 but
the earliest start date is 28/09/2009 then the activity will commence on the latter date. However if the
earliest start date was 03/09/2009 then the activity would not commence until it was available on
12/09/2009.
Honour Production Precedences

This option is used to define whether the production precedence needs to be honoured for the current
activity. Activities that occur after mining would honour the production precedences by default.
Production precedences are specified in the production rates grid.
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In the example above a production precedence exists such that PIT_2 cannot start until PIT_1 has been
completed. When DRILLING you can likely start drilling in PIT_2 before PIT_1 has finished mining so
there is no need to honour production precedences. For BLASTING, you may not be allowed to blast
until mining has been completed in PIT_1 so production precedences may need to be honoured.
Production Precedence Activity

When Honour production Precedences is ticked on, you must specify which activity must be completed in
the previous location before the current activity can take place.
Honour Development Precedences

If you have activities that must occur before mining can commence in a location but the location is not
available due to underground development then the activity should honour the development precedence
as the development must be completed before any activities can start in a mining location.
Polygon Precedences Other Locations

When a spatial relationship exists between two locations it may be important to honour the polygon
precedences from other locations. For example if there are two locations defined by polygons,
OVERBURDEN and ORE that will be mined at the same time the DRILLING activity cannot start in the
ORE location until enough OVERBURDEN has been mined to expose the ORE location. This is an
example of polygon precedences between locations. It is important that the polygon string number is the
same in each location for this to work.
Polygon Precedences Other Locations Activity

Define the activity that must be completed in the polygon in the other location before the current activity in
the current location can begin.
Polygon Precedences Same Location

Sometimes a precedence may exist between polygons in the same location. For example do not blast in
the next polygon until mining in the current polygon has been completed. Use this option if the current
activity must wait for an activity to be completed in the previous polygon in the sequence.
Polygon Precedences Same Location Activity

Define the activity that must be completed in the previous polygon prior to the current activity in the
current polygon commencing.
9. Delays are also used to control the timing of the activity. There are no delays to add in this
schedule.
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Delay Before Activity

Enter the number of days that pass after the previous activity but before the current activity can start.
Delay After Activity

Enter the number of days that pass after the current activity but before the next activity can start.
Delay Between Polygons

Enter the number of days that pass between the same activity after one polygon has been completed but
before the next polygon can start.
10. The Work panel is used to define the total amount of work required to complete the activity. For
example the drilling for the whole drilling activity might be a fixed number or calculated based on
the production volume or it may have already been defined based on the design.
Quantity Method
There are three ways to define the quantity of work required to complete the activity.
• Fixed. The fixed method allows the input of a fixed quantity. For example in the drilling activity
there might be 50,000m of drilling overall.
• Relative. The relative method allows the input of a quantity based on the volume or mass of
material in the location or polygon. For example as a guide the amount of drilling for a 10m
bench (ignoring subdrill) at a 6m x 7m pattern is approximately 2.5% of the total volume. So the
relative quantity will be:
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• CSV File. If the amount of work required to complete the activity has been pre-determined by
design (for example reports from the drill and blast design) then this can be added to the work by
referencing a CSV file. The format of the file is shown below.
Quantity Units
The quantity units are defined here. This is used in reporting and as a reference for the resource rates
for the activity.
11. Add the work for the DRILLING activity as shown below.
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12. The resources panel controls the creation and allocation of resources to the current activity.
Resources
This field allows the creation and selection of resources for the activities
13. Click on the + button in the resource field.
14. A list of resources can be added here. While in this form we will create a resource for the
DRILLING and one for the BLASTING. Click on the Add button twice to add two resources and
rename them to DRILL_CREW and BLAST_CREW.
15. Apply the Resource Creation Grid and then select the DRILL_CREW from the list of resources to
assign it to this activity.
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Ancillary Activities Task: Create the Blasting Activity
Resource Capacity
Define the maximum capacity that the resource is able to complete in a 24-hour period. The unit for the
resource capacity is specified in the Work Panel.
Location Max. Rate

Define the maximum allowable rate of the resource in any given location. This may be different to the
maximum capacity. The unit for the max rate is specified in the Work Panel.
Max. Resources Per Location

Specify the maximum number of resources that can be active a location to complete the activity at any
given time. In this example we have defined a crew which may include multiple resources.
Resource Priority
Specify the priority of the resource to complete this activity in the defined locations. This provides
flexibility when multiple locations are available for the activity, however they are normally the same
priority.
Equal Rates For Equal Priorities

When this is enabled, resource rates for an activity are split evenly between locations with the same
activity priority. When this is disabled, the resource works at its full individual location capacity in
locations, and it is assigned to locations until the total resource capacity is met.
Allow Reduced Resource Rates

When this is enabled, a resource can only work at its full individual location capacity in a location, or not
at all. When this is disabled, a resource cannot work at a rate below its individual location capacity.
Allow Activity Splits

When this is enabled, if a higher priority location becomes available for an activity, the resources will be
re-allocated to the new location. When this is disabled, the resources must complete the activity in the
current location before being re-allocated.
16. Assign the Resource Rates as shown below.
Blasting Activity
The Blasting Activity can be defined in a number of ways. Often it is determined by the volume blasted
per period, however it is also important to indicate the time taken to blast as this is the property that has
the greatest affect on the schedule.
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Task: Create the Blasting Activity
1. Add a new Activity and rename it to BLASTING.
2. The BLASTING activity occurs after the DRILLING and before the MINING activity. These can
be added to the Precedences panel of this activity. The MINING activity is always able to be
selected here. While MINING can be defined as its own activity there is no need to do this here
as the MINING activity is defined through the locations and resources sections. The BLASTING
should also occur just prior to the MINING to ensure there are not large amounts of blasted
stocks on the ground. To facilitate this the polygon precedence same location option can be
used to make sure BLASTING does not happen until after MINING is completed in the previous
polygon. The SHOVEL must be walked away from the blast at this time and this will also take
time.
3. At this time the DRILLING activity can be changed to add the BLASTING as the next activity. Go
to the DRILLING activity and change the precedence to add the BLASTING as the next activity.
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4. Go back to the BLASTING activity and define the work involved as shown below. The blasting for
the schedule will be determined by the length of time it takes to prepare and blast the polygon.
Regardless of the size of the polygon a full day is set aside to load the shot and fire it so this
would be a fixed quantity of 1 and the units are days.
5. Select the BLAST_CREW resource and define the capacities and rates as shown below. The
BLAST_CREW resource can only work on one blast at a time so the capacity and rate will be 1.
6. There are no delays to be added for any of the activities.
7. Create the schedule and view the dashboard results.
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Ancillary Activities Task: Create Graphical Results for the Activities
Graphically Animating the Activities

The graphical animation of the activities is important to validate that the activities are not occurring at
incorrect times or that the proximity of activities and mining is not impractical. The activities can be
animated graphically using different methods such as showing the polygon as it is being drilled or
creating drill holes and displaying them as they are drilled during the period. The string files need to be
created in such a way that they can be linked with the production polygons.
Task: Create Graphical Results for the Activities
1. The graphical results for the drilling will be animated as a series of drillholes in red. The graphical
results for the blasting will be the same drillholes but shown in white.
2. Open the file short_term_polys1.str in graphics in Surpac.
3. The string numbers of the drillholes must match the string numbers of these polygons.
4. Drillholes can be created using the Surpac drill and blast functions or string can be created
manually. In this case a macro is provided to speed up this process. The macro can be found in
the polygons directory and it is also supplied with pit activities demonstration data.
5. Run the macro and complete the details as shown below.
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6. The holes created are for animation purposes only and should not be considered accurate for
drilling planning. The drillholes are stored in the results layer.
7. Change the active layer to the results layer and save the drillholes to a file in the polygons
directory called drill_holes_1.str
8. Go to the Animations sections of the Publish Results step. On the Activities tab at the bottom
add the details for displaying the activities as red lines for DRILLING and white lines for
BLASTING.
9. It is important to use the display mode of Add for these activities as evolution or remove will
clutter the display with extra information not required at the period of animation.
10. Go to the Graphical Results section and create the graphical results for the schedule.
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11. Return to the Animations section and choose to animate the production and the activities. The
production should be displayed in the remove mode.
12. Animate the schedule.
13. The schedule looks ok; however there is a major problem. The schedule no longer completes in
the time specified. Why is this?
14. There are two main reason for this:

a. The long-term schedule was for mining production only. This short-term schedule
involved drilling and to be able start mining the first polygon it must be drilled first, so the
mining doesn’t start until 6 days into the schedule.
b. The original schedule never accounted for blasting. A day is lost each time a blast is
loaded and fired. This cuts the effective weekly production from 700,000 tonnes per
week to anywhere from 400,000 to 600,000 depending on the number of polygons
blasted during the week.
15. How can these problems be resolved?
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Adjusting the Schedule Task: Add another Production Resource to the Schedule
Adjusting the Schedule

The schedule needs to be refined in the short term. The original schedule was created without any
thought to the fact that blasting would occupy a full day of production each time. This needs to be
accounted for in the short term. The only way to do this is to add another resource which can make up
for lost time from blasting. Furthermore time initially used to drill the first polygon before production starts
must be accounted for.
Task: Add another Production Resource to the Schedule
1. Go to the Resources Section of the Setup Schedule step.

2. Add a new resource called “EXCAVATOR” and assign a Capacity of 50,000 tonnes per day.
3. Assign the EXCAVATOR to the Mining Location at its MAX_RATE of 50,000
4. As the production rate has increased the drilling rate should be increased. This may involve the
acquisition of another drill rig to add to the pool of resources the DRILL_CREW can use.
5. Go to the DRILLING activity in the Activities section of the Setup Schedule step and change the
capacity and maximum rate of the DRILL_CREW to 1350 per day.
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Adjusting the Schedule Task: Add another Production Resource to the Schedule
6. Create the schedule and view the results.
There is still a reduction in production during the first week of the schedule as it takes three full days to
drill the first polygon and one full day to blast it leaving only three days to of the first period for production.
In reality this schedule is part way through the long term schedule so the drilling for that polygon would be
already completed during the previous period making production available from the beginning of this
period, just as drilling finishes before the end of the final period in this schedule, the drilling would really
continue preparing the next polygons for the next periods. To account for this we will add a four day
period at the beginning of this schedule to represent the drilling commencing in the first polygon.
7. Go to Create Schedule and click on the change periods button and add a four-day period at the
start and also change the period start date to four days before the production periods start.
8. Create the schedule and view the results. The schedule is now completed in time and there are
no conflicts between activities in the pit.
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Reporting the Schedule Task: Create a Detailed Mining Report
Reporting the Schedule

The completed schedule can be viewed through the use of the dashboard, and also the graphical results
can be used to validate the schedule. For a more customised and detailed analysis of the results they
can be published in various other formats.
Custom Reports
Custom reports are the most useful type of output as they offer a detailed view of the scheduling results.
In this section we will create a summary of activities and a detailed mining report.
Task: Create a Detailed Mining Report
1. Go to the Custom Report section of the Publish Results step and add a new report.
2. Change the name of the report to mining_report_detailed and make the report type Detailed and
periods by Row.
3. Add the report detail to report the Location, Bench, Polygon and the different masses of waste
and ore as well as the average grades and aggregate grams as shown below. The period
number can also be useful to report before Location.
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Reporting the Schedule Task: Create a Summary Report of the Activities
4. Create and View the report.
5. A template can be created to make viewing and analysing the data more efficient.
A detailed report contains many entries for the same period. Each entry will individually display the
results for the period for each bench and polygon that was mined during that period. As these reports
can often contain many entries the report must be created with periods by row to ensure all of the report
can be created. This is because there are more rows in Excel than there are columns.
Task: Create a Summary Report of the Activities
1. Add another report and change the name to Activity_Report. This report should be a Summary
report with periods by Rows.
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Reporting the Schedule Task: Create a Summary Report of the Activities
2. Add the details of the report as shown below.
3. Create and view the report. A template will assist with the analysis
The report is broken up by period. The polygon shown is the polygon that was the last polygon that
mining occurred in for the period. The blasting is the number of days of blasting that occurred during the
period. Where there number is not a whole number this shows that charging of the shot begun before the
end of the period and was completed in the following period.
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Reporting the Schedule Task: Create a Gantt Chart of the Schedule
Gantt Chart
A Gantt chart can be created which will assist in visualising the schedule. The following task can only be
completed if you have Microsoft Project installed.
Task: Create a Gantt Chart of the Schedule
1. Go to the Gantt Charts section of the Publish Results step.

2. Create new project file and make the level of detail at the bench/polygon level.
3. In the bottom left panel select the ancillary activities tab and check the prefixes/suffixes of the
defined activities.
4. Create the Gantt Chart Output
TIP: If the polygons areas in your mining location have specific names, these can be added to a
description field of the string file and referenced in the Gantt Chart Output using the Polygon Descriptions
Tab. They can also be used in the custom reporting using the POLY_Dx reporting value where x is the
description field number that the name is stored in, for example POLY_D4.
5. Save the Gantt Chart if required.
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Analysing the Schedule Performance Task: Check the Schedule Deliverables
Analysing the Schedule Performance

Based on the long term schedule there were certain requirements than need to be met. Most importantly
was that the mill needed to be able to process 28,405 grams of gold each day.
Task: Check the Schedule Deliverables
1. Go to the Create Schedule step and change the schedule to periods to be daily for 100 days.
2. Create the Schedule and view the results.
3. This is indicative of the daily running of a mine. Ore cannot physically be mined every day
however the stockpiles will provide a buffer to try to sustain the MILL requirements while the ore
is unavailable.
4. Define a Mining Summary Report that will be able to track the amount of GRADE_AGG produced
each day.
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Analysing the Schedule Performance Task: Add the Stockpiles and MILL to the Schedule
5. Create the report, view it and create a template that will help to validate the flow of grams of
product to the MILL.
6. As can be seen there are times when the actual production dips below the desired production but
times when the actual production is above the desired production of ore.
7. Remember this is the short term schedule from periods 7, 8 and 9. If we were to add in the
current state of the stockpiles as at the end of period 6 then this would resolve the processing
shortfalls.
Task: Add the Stockpiles and MILL to the Schedule
1. Go to the Locations section of the Setup Schedule step and add the Stockpiles and Processes
and material movement to the schedule.
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2. Add the stockpile balances as they would be at the end of period 6 from the long term schedule
as shown below.
Low Grade Stockpile High Grade Stockpile
3. Add the process rate for the MILL
4. Go to the Create Schedule step and Create the schedule. Define charts to review the stockpile
balances and material added to the MILL.
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5. Create the custom report and view it with the template to verify that the MILL is processing the
correct amounts. The Report will need to be altered to report the GRADE_AGG added to the
MILL rather than removed from the mining location.
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6. Save the schedule. This completes the short term schedule.
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Production Activities (Optional) Task: Define a Schedule Using Production Activities
Production Activities (Optional)

In some instances the ancillary activities do not provide enough flexibility for the schedule. This is
because the activities must occur in the same sequence as the mining. In some cases it is better for the
schedule if the activities are considered independent to the mining. In MineSched these are known as
Production activities.
Production activities involve creating a location for the activity and redefining the production work to be
suitable for the type of work required to complete the activity. For example mining a location involves
mining of 10,000 cubic metres however this can be redefined to represent 250m of drilling. As this is a
separate location the sequence can be defined independently of the mining sequence.
Task: Define a Schedule Using Production Activities
1. Create a new scenario with the same Model setup as the previous one. This can be done by
creating a new scenario from the beginning or by saving the previous scenario and deleting the
locations, resources and ancillary activities.
2. The work required for the production activities will be defined by volumes extracted from the
model. As the work is a relative or constant amount (metres drilled, volume or days blasting) the
material class for those locations should be constant. For this reason it is important to add
another block model to the list of models that represents the activities. With a small amount of
work in the original model the same model can then be used to model the activity volumes.
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3. In Surpac, open the surface.mdl block model and add a calculated attribute called
activity_material.
As this attribute is a calculated attribute with a constant value of zero, it will not add any size to the block
model. Alternatively, a second block model can be created with a single attribute representing the
material class as a constant.
4. Save the Block Model.

5. In MineSched make a copy of the first model and change the name to ACTIVITY and the material
class attribute to activity_material.
6. Validate the models.

7. The polygons to use for this schedule can be found in the polygons folder in the file
single_bench_345.str. In this tutorial we will schedule a subset of the data from the previous
schedule we created. The mining will be conducted in three flitches of 4m, 3m and 3m to mine a
10m bench. The drilling and the blasting will be conducted over a single 10m bench height. The
mining directions for the polygons are stored in the d1 field.
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8. Go to the Locations section of the Setup Schedule step. Add a single mining location to
represent the MINING (or DIGGING) activity for the bench. Make sure the mining by flitch is
defined as is the mining direction. The polygon sequence is also given below.
9. Add a location to represent the blasting of this bench. The setup will be very similar, however the
block model referenced will be the ACTIVITY model, the bench will be a single 10m bench rather
than flitches and block size will be very large (9,999). This is done to ensure that only one
scheduling point is created for the polygon so the volume can be redefined to a single day to load
and fire the polygon. This is important as the volume applies to each point so if more than 1 point
is created for the polygon then this would represent more than 1 day of blasting. Note the image
has been changed for this location to a custom image. This image can be found in the polygons
directory if you wish to use it.
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10. Add a location to represent the drilling for this bench. This will be exactly the same as the mining
of the bench, except the referenced model will be the ACTIVITY model and the bench height will
be 10m as the drilling operates over the entire bench. Later the volume will be modified to
represent the number of metres of drilling required for each polygon. The image for this location
has been changed and can be found in the polygons directory if you wish to use it.
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TIP: Locations can be quickly duplicated by right mouse clicking on an existing location and then
changing just the properties that vary from the original. Alternatively the locations can be defined in the
spreadsheet view which is very efficient when the number of locations increases.
11. Once the locations have been defined go to the Evaluate section and check the schedule setup
for errors. If there are any errors, fix them and then update the locations.
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12. The work required to complete the drilling and the blasting needs to be redefined. Currently the
work units are defined in terms of volumes but the drilling should be expressed in terms of metres
and the blasting in terms of days of blasting.
TIP: The process is the same if BLASTING is expressed in terms of metres blasted or volume blasted.
The volume is re-factored to express the blast in the amount of work and units required.
13. Go to the Parameters section of the Setup Schedule step. To redefine the work required for the
blasting we can set the volume of the single block created for each polygon to a single cubic
metre. This means that regardless of the size of the polygon the volume of the polygon will be 1.
Changing this volume means it is now represented in terms of days required for blasting the
polygon (the reporting unit is changed later).
14. The drilling locations can have their unit redefined by the use of a relative factor based on the
volume of the polygon. In this case the drilling metres are simply 0.025 * VOLUME. This can be
achieved using a BLOCK_FACTOR. For example if a polygon comprises 20,000 cubic metres
this would represent 0.025 * 20,000 = 500m of drilling.
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15. Effectively the work involved has been altered to represent the days and metres drilling, although
the work unit is still VOLUME. When defining the resources the resource will work in Volume but
the capacity and rate will be expressed in days or metres.
16. Go to the Resources section of the Setup Schedule and add the mining resource (SHOVEL).
The capacity of this resource will be 100,000 tonnes per day.
17. Add the resource for the blasting (BLAST_CREW). In this case the blast crew has a capacity of 1
blast per day, however the unit will be set to VOLUME as the volume of each polygon has been
redefined to be 1 day.
18. Add the resource for the drilling (DRILL_CREW). In this case the drill crew has a capacity of
900m of drilling per day, however the unit will be set to VOLUME as the volume of the drilling
locations has been re-factored to represent the drilling required for each polygon.
19. Assign the resources to the individual locations by dragging and dropping the relevant resources
onto the relevant locations. Assign the same value as the capacity to the MAX_RATE.
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20. Now we need to manage the timing of the different activities in the schedule. This is a matter of
sequencing the locations by filling in the Date/event field to make sure that one location starts
after another. For example, once DRILLING in a polygon has been completed, BLASTING and
then MINING can be completed in that same polygon.
TIP: When the BLASTING polygons are being sequenced they are dependent on two polygons finishing.
Drilling must be completed in the polygon and MINING must be completed in the previous polygon. This
is accomplished using the Date/event builder and adding multiple items to the list.
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TIP: Such a large list is best managed with the spreadsheet view for the production rates. In this case
the comments field can be used to store the polygon sequence and a series of formulas can be used to
define the rules. For example =CONCATENATE("DRILLING_Bench_345:POLY=",J19,"
MINING_Bench_345:POLY=",J18)
TIP: In the above when the polygon sequence is changed in the comments column the Date or Event
field is updated automatically. This sequence is not the mining sequence. The mining sequence is still
controlled from the Location properties and the sequence must be changed here.
Note that the BLASTING is the only event controlled by the use of the Date or Event field. As polygons
become available the BLASTING is conducted at 1 polygon blast per day and the once that polygon is
blasted the blasting rate is set to zero to stop blasting until that polygon has been mined and a new
polygon is required.
So how is the drilling and mining controlled so that mining does not race ahead to unexposed polygons.
This is controlled through the use of Polygon Precedences.
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21. Go to the Precedences section of the Setup Schedule step. In the Polygon Precedences section
add the precedences by location as they would occur in a polygon. For example, first DRILLING
would occur then BLASTING then mining.
Polygon precedences provide a method for controlling the sequence of polygons between locations.
Using the example above, polygon precedences work such that a polygon of a given string number in the
BLASTING location cannot be started until the corresponding polygon with the same string number in the
DRILLING location has been completed. When multiple benches are involved the use of Spatial
Relationships is required to ensure that drilling does not progress unfettered.
22. Create the schedule and define a chart to view the results. To get a good resolution of the
schedule, set the periods to daily for 45 days.
23. The schedule can be treated as any other schedule. Create a custom report.
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24. When creating the custom report, the title contains the unit that the resource works in, however
the reporting value will be the volume. When creating a Gantt Chart, there is a special panel in
MineSched to perform this.
25. Create a Gantt Output of the schedule. The Work Units panel can be used to redefine the work
units in the locations where the volume has been altered.
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26. The different activities can be animated in different ways. While they are all defined as MINING
activities these can be presented in a different format by choosing to animate them in a different
style for each location. Go to the Animations section of the Publish Results step and fill in the
Activity table as shown below:
27. Create Graphical Results and view the animations. The drilling should show up as the drill holes
that were created using the supplied macros and the polygon will flash white when blasted.
Digging will be shown as normal.
Note: The above image has been created artificially to illustrate the animation. In normal circumstances
the drilling shown will have already been drilled and mined and the blast shown will have already been
mined.
Page 76 of 77
Where to Next Task: Define a Schedule Using Production Activities
Where to Next
This concludes the series relating to Surface Scheduling with MineSched. These tutorials cover much of
the functionality within MineSched but not all of it. For information relating to some of the less used
functions not covered in these tutorials please refer to the MineSched help or contact your local Gemcom
Support Office.
Importantly, scheduling your own deposit may involve the use of various techniques described within
these tutorials in different ways than described here. Each deposit is usually different in the way it needs
to be scheduled and we encourage you to use the resources at your disposal in seeking an optimum,
accurate and practical schedule.
Page 77 of 77

05 Surface Production Short Term Schedule V603

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February 2008

• To have Surpac V6.1 or higher installed on your computer.

Data Storage and Familiarisation

Task: Setup Data Management Hierarchy

Task: Set Your Working Directory

2. Now open the block model and display it.

3. Run a block model summary.

The block model contains four attributes.

1. Cancel the form when finished.

Grade Range Description

Short Term Polygons

Creating Short Term Polygons from the Long Term Schedule

Task: Create Short Term Polygons

MineSched Scenario Management

Task: Create a Scenario

Define the Geological Model

Task: Add the Geological Information for the Schedule

Polygon Mining vs Bench Polygon Mining and Polygon

Examples of Polygon Locations

Polygon Mining a Single Bench

Polygon Mining a Single Bench by Flitches

Polygon Mining with Different Polygons on Separate

Task: Create a Simple Schedule Using the Polygons Created Earlier

5. Assign the resource to the mining location.

10. What is wrong with the schedule?

Adding a Polygon Sequence

A string range with a step value different of 1 is also possible.

Finally, individual polygons can be specified by separating them with a semi-colon.

2. Add a polygon sequence, for example, 71,79;700;701;81,88;91,99;900. This sequence will

Graphically Sequencing Polygons

Task: Graphically Sequence the Polygons

1. Go to the Locations section of the Setup Schedule step.

8. Select polygon 73.

17. In MineSched, choose to graphically define the sequence.

Task: Apply the Correct Sequence for this Schedule

3. Create the schedule and view the dashboard chart.

Precedences and Parameters for Group Mining

Valid Values – ‘yes’ or ‘no’. The default value is ‘no’

Task: Create the Drilling Ancillary Activity

1. Go to the Activities section of the Setup Schedule step.

3. Click the Add button to add a new activity.

Earliest Start Date

Honour Production Precedences

Production Precedence Activity

Honour Development Precedences

Polygon Precedences Other Locations

Polygon Precedences Other Locations Activity

Polygon Precedences Same Location

Polygon Precedences Same Location Activity

Delay Before Activity

Delay After Activity

Delay Between Polygons

13. Click on the + button in the resource field.

Location Max. Rate

Max. Resources Per Location

Equal Rates For Equal Priorities

Allow Reduced Resource Rates

Allow Activity Splits

16. Assign the Resource Rates as shown below.

Task: Create the Blasting Activity

1. Add a new Activity and rename it to BLASTING.

6. There are no delays to be added for any of the activities.

7. Create the schedule and view the dashboard results.