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Saluting an award winner!
Longtime customer, Garth Kirkham, is celebrating another prestigious award and has singled out Hexagon Mining’s MineSight software for praise. The Vancouver-based geoscientist who runs Kirkham Geosystems is the 2015 winner of the C.J. Westerman Memorial Award, presented by the Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of British Columbia (APEG).
“MineSight is integral to the work I’m being recognized for and I’d like to thank Hexagon Mining for helping me to excel in what I do,” said Kirkham.
The C.J. Westerman Memorial Award is the highest award bestowed by the AEPG for a geoscientist, and recognizes “significant technical contributions, including leadership, to professional geoscience” and “substantial professional service and community service”.
MineSight makes a couple of guest appearances (1:05 and 1:18) in the video tribute to Kirkham made especially for the award.
Kirkham is President of the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM) and is no stranger to the awards podium. In 2012, he won the CIM’s Julian Boldy Memorial Award, for “exemplary efforts in resource modeling and estimation”. At that time, Kirkham praised MineSight.
MineSight user and multiple award winner, Garth Kirkham, in the field, in his element.
“I share this accolade with MineSight because there is no way that I could do what I do, to the level that I do it, without you guys,” he said.
He won CIM’s Barlow Memorial Medal in 2006 and the J.C. Sproule Memorial Plaque in 2010. In Canada’s far north, he is using MineSight in uranium exploration in Nunavut, and to update a multi-disciplinary 3D model of the Can Tung Mine in the Northwest Territories.
Also in NWT, Kirkham has worked extensively on the EXTECH III project, archiving almost a century’s worth of data from Yellowknife’s Con and Giant mines, to build a 3D model.
“Garth has been a great advocate for our solutions for years and his talent for solving difficult modeling problems is impressive,” said Glenn Wylde, Hexagon Mining EVP of Technology and Innovation.
“He has often been a valuable contributor to our annual MineQuest seminar, producing several thought provoking presentations.”
For more information about Garth Kirkham’s work using MineSight, click here.
Halloween at the Boneyard
They may be too old for trick or treating but several Hexagon Mining staff decided to observe Halloween by joining the annual Desert Boneyard Run in Tucson. The 2,600-acre site at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base is home to nearly 4,000 aircraft, and is rarely seen by the public. 100% of the proceeds from the 10k/5k run/walk go to a Morale, Welfare, and Recreation (MWR) fund that directly supports the military men and women on Davis-Monthan AFB and their families. From left to right are Trevor West, Brandon Townsend, Sean Hunter, James Johnson, Erik Johnson, Meghan Hendren, Ken Amuri, and Seth Gering.
In the field: Essar Steel
Don’t try this at home kids. Ernesto Vivas is a trained Hexagon Mining professional.
Hexagon Mining serves clients all over the world. In October, Senior MineSight Specialist, Ernesto Vivas, visited Essar Steel in Hibbing, Minnesota. Here’s his report.
It’s fair to say they know how to mine iron ore in Hibbing. Located on the Mesabi Range in northern Minnesota, the area has been home to mining since 1866. Today, Essar Steel runs a state-of-the-art open pit mine and greenfield pellet plant project. And every iron ore pellet starts with a good mine plan!
That’s why Essar turned to Hexagon Mining and its mine planning software, MineSight. Senior MineSight Specialist Ernesto Vivas visited the mine Oct. 5-14 to train three Essar employees in the following topics:
- General MineSight 3D (MS3D)
- MineSight Economic Planner for pit optimization
- Pit expansion/MS3D tools for pit, dump, road design
- MineSight Haulage
- MineSight Schedule Optimizer (MSSO) for long, medium and short-range planning with blending
- MineSight Planner for short-range planning with MSSO integration
From left to right are engineers Paul Buchanan, Chris Droste, and geologist, Anya Kircher, of Essar Steel.
“During the first week the training was conducted with our standard training data set,” said Ernesto. “However, during the second week we were able to incorporate their data set into the training, which greatly enriched the class.
“All three were very proficient with their use of our tools for mine planning and we did plenty of practical exercises until they mastered their own data.”
MineSight specialists have also conducted drill and blast training for the mine, which is located across 19,000 acres. Essar’s project involves the construction and commissioning of an iron ore pellet plant with a total production capacity of 7.0 MTPA of iron ore pellets.
The Hull Rust-Mahoning mine, once the world’s largest iron ore mine, is hard to miss from land or air.
Hibbing is home to the Hull Rust-Mahoning mine, which was once the largest iron ore mine in the world. It combines more than nine open pits with a footprint of 1.5 by 3.5 miles.
Taconite is mined in the region. For many years, taconite was considered waste rock until Dr. E.W. Davis at the University of Minnesota developed a way to extract iron ore. A process has since been developed to create taconite pellets, thereby saving Minnesota’s iron ore mining industry.
Not only did the founders of bus line Greyhound call Hibbing home, so too did Bob Dylan! Ernesto spent the weekend exploring the Minnesota Museum of Mining in Chisholm and the Minnesota Discovery Center. He followed the iron ore trail from mine to port, taking him from Hibbing to Duluth in Lake Superior.
Yes, the times, they are a changing!
And ever committed to shaping smart change, Ernesto recreated the Hexagon corporate flag at the end of the trail; right on the railroad street where iron ore travels most days.
Grupo turns to Hexagon Mining
Grupo Mexico’s engineers in training at Hexagon Mining’s Tucson headquarters.
Grupo Mexico is the world’s fourth largest copper producer and its staff has worked with Hexagon Mining’s MineSight consultants for many years. So when Grupo announced one of the biggest expansions in Mexican mining history, management turned to Hexagon Mining for assistance.
Grupo’s open pit and shovel operations include Southern Peru’s Toquepala and Cuajone mines, and ASARCO’s mines Mission, Silverbell and Ray. In Mexico, Grupo operates La Caridad and Cananea, otherwise known as Buena Vista del Cobre, the largest mine in the country.
Topo of Cananea, otherwise known as Buena Vista del Cobre, the largest mine in Mexico.
“Cananea recently completed a major expansion and MineSight’s consulting services were retained to prepare its life-of-mine plan,” said Senior MineSight Specialist, Ernesto Vivas. “After the life-of-mine plan was completed, Grupo’s engineers came to Hexagon Mining headquarters in Tucson for training.”
That training included a review of Cananea’s pit optimization runs, phase designs, and production schedule. The engineers started by using MineSight Economic Planner (MSEP) to determine the economic pit limits and pit sequence. Enhanced with multithreading and 64-bit capacity, MSEP enables planning engineers to design mining sequences and generate life-of-mine schedules, including rapid evaluation of alternative plans to maximize net present value.
The results from MSEP were then used as a guideline for pit design. For example, phase 8 below was analyzed and further subdivided into phases 8a and 8b as shown below:
Original pushback 8.
Original pushback 8 modified into 8a and 8b.
Next, two high-level production schedules were created with everything equal, except for the phase sequencing.
“The results were very encouraging and indicated a potentially significant increase in project value just by optimizing the phase sequence,” said Vivas. “After reviewing the economic pit limits and phase design, we reviewed their life-of-mine plan. We went over the schedule considerations, project setup and the students learned to run their life-of-mine plan with MineSight Schedule Optimizer.
“We reviewed the schedule graphically and analytically and the engineers were very pleased with the results and how they are presented in MineSight Schedule Optimizer.”
Training concluded with a review of some of Schedule Optimizer’s newest features, such as cut geometry, destination geometry, and enhanced haulage features.
Grupo Mexico recently adopted Hexagon Mining’s Jigsaw system for its fleet management at Toquepala. Opportunities for further transition to Hexagon Mining products are being reviewed by Grupo.
Taking a break from the classroom, from left to right, are Jesus Molinares, Jim Lonergan, Arnoldo Rodriguez, Antonio Gonzalez, Abinash Moharana, Ernesto Vivas, and Oscar Moreno.
Miners of Tomorrow: Greek odyssey
UBC mining grads pictured at the entrance to the 8.5-km tunnel under development at Stratoni mine. Students spent two weeks exploring Greece’s mining industry, with help from Hexagon Mining.
Modern mines, old mines, and ancient historical sites made for a fascinating adventure in Greece for the 2015 UBC (University of British Columbia) Mining Engineering Grads earlier this year. Hexagon Mining’s mine planning arm, MineSight, helped sponsor the trip, which saw students from the Vancouver-based university visit the country April 30 to May 15 as part of the UBC Mining and Mineral Processing experience.
After a relatively smooth trans-Atlantic flight and just one lost bag, the group blinked back jet lag on Day 1 to visit Ptolemaida and a tour of the nation’s mining industry. The coal mines in this area help fuel four power plants, which together provide 70 per cent of Greece’s electrical power.
Hellas Gold, a subsidiary of Eldorado Gold, arranged a couple of mine tours, which included two of the three Kassandra Mines (Olympias, Skouries, and Stratoni).
Olympias is an underground mine in the Chalkidiki Peninsula in northern Greece. The group toured inside and visited the flotation plant. The mine is processing its tailings material using a flotation process to produce three concentrates: lead-silver, zinc, and gold bearing pyrite-arsenopyrite.
UBC students prepare for a trip underground at the Olympias Mine in Greece.
At Stratoni, the grads saw an 8.5-kilometer tunnel under development. The tunnel will transport ore from the Olympias mine to the new flotation plant in Stratoni. Next, the group traveled to Skouries Mine – a project under development which will consist of both an open pit and underground mine. The mine is expected to be in production by 2016 and will produce a clean copper-gold concentrate via flotation, as well as dore from a gravity circuit.
After a day spent touring Olympiada and El Dorado’s mines, the grads moved on to Ptolemaida, home to PPC’s (Public Power Corporation) huge lignite mining operation. To break up the journey, the group made a few choice stops by the seaside along the way, including the beautiful village of Nikiti.
PPC was founded in 1950 to autonomize Greece’s energy. Today it is one of the largest heavy industries in the country. The smokestacks here tower over the surrounding farmland and the power plants supply nearly half of the Greece’s electrical power.
Mineral Resources Engineer, Miltiades Triantafyllou, led the group on an extensive and informative tour of the South Field Mine, a tremendously large lignite mining operation. Canadians may picture the Athabasca oil sands, but slightly smaller. About 55 million tonnes of thermal coal is extracted here every year and used to feed the country’s energy requirements. Coal here has a variable calorific value from a few hundred to a couple thousand kCal/kg.
UBC students underground in the Olympias Mine, in the Chalkidiki Peninsula, northern Greece.
South Field Mine depends on a large fleet and uses both bucket-wheel excavators and traditional truck and shovel methods, depending on the topology. The bucket-wheels spin and continuously excavate material to deposit it onto a conveyor. Nearly 180 km of conveyor belting is used to transport the ore to the stockpiles. The mine is also a hugely important employer for the region, with about 5,000 employees and another 1,000 contractors working here.
In contrast with South Field Mine’s modern technology, the Lavrion Technological and Cultural Park (LTCP) is an initiative to preserve a unique monument of an old mine site through restoration and rehabilitation.
The National Technical University of Athens (NTUA) organized a tour of the LTCP for the grads, so they could see the history of industrial tools and equipment. Several environmental research projects are being implemented on this site. One of the projects included the formation of a Hazardous Waste Landfill Site where polluted soils – approximately 115,000 cubic meters of tailings – are deposited. After successful deposition, this landfill site was permanently closed and sealed.
Next, the grads visited an underground space formed to store special hazardous waste that cannot be deposited at the landfill site. This underground space is entirely covered with shot-crete, with pillar heights of 5.5 meters, and room width and pillar width of 7 meters. The waste stored in this space will mainly consist of arsenic compounds and will be deposited in specific barrels and bags.
The grads also visited the laboratory which monitors and records all environmental parameters of the technical projects. As part of an energy generation initiative, the lab has implemented solar panels and windmills.
During the trip, the group visited other university departments, including the Technical University of Crete and its Mineral Resources Engineering department. Plus there were numerous opportunities to savor Greek culture, via the ancient sites of Athens, some wonderful museums, and memorable meals.
“We’d like to thank MineSight and Hexagon Mining for helping to make the trip happen,” said Kevin Voros, UBC Mining Engineering – Graduating Class Representative. “We had a fantastic time in Greece and I think no one will forget it.”
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- Ball and SAG mill at the Skouries project.
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- Ball Mill at Olympias Plant.
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- Equipment at the Olympias Mine.
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- Old plant at Lavrion technical park.
Miners of tomorrow
Junhyeok Park used Hexagon Mining’s MineSight mine planning software to win a mine modeling contest in his native South Korea earlier this year. Junhyeok is studying for a Master’s degree at University of Arizona.
When Junhyeok Park decided to compete in a 3D mine modeling contest in his native South Korea, he had one software in mind.
“MineSight shows strong ability for geostatistical analysis,” said Junhyeok, a graduate student at the University of Arizona. “It provides a user-friendly environment to follow all procedures for resource estimation.”
Earlier this year, Junhyeok used MineSight – Hexagon Mining’s mine planning software suite – to win the contest held by the Korean National Mineral Corporation (KORES) for mining and geology students.
The story behind his victory begins a few years earlier.
“In Korea, there are only a few small mines so the national focus of education is to evaluate and invest in overseas mineral or petroleum resources,” said Junhyeok, who is studying for a Master’s in Mine Engineering. “However, a lack of infrastructure and experts drove KORES to hold an annual mine software contest to accumulate experiences and attract interest from students.”
Before coming to the University of Arizona, Junhyeok had studied energy and resources engineering in Korea.
“I had longed to participate in the contest for three years, but without interested colleagues and the ability to learn the software, I could not. Luckily, I could come to study in University of Arizona last year. This is one of the most active mining institutes in the world and here I can learn the MineSight program, as well as theoretical background with many professionals and colleagues.”
Junhyeok didn’t hesitate to seize the opportunity to compete this year.
“I was so excited to use the world-class mining software and to learn step by step,” he said. “The contest was a big opportunity to utilize my knowledge longed for three years before.”
Junhyeok first sought permission from Hexagon Mining to use MineSight in the contest.
“We’ve long recognized the importance of investing in the miners of tomorrow, by issuing free academic licenses, and by offering scholarships to mining students at several schools,” said John Davies, President of Hexagon Mining-MineSight. “We were happy to support Junhyeok, and we were thrilled that he won.”
The contest, held in February, was divided into three sessions: geophysical exploration; resource estimation; and reserve estimation. Junhyeok and his colleagues, Soowon Jung, and Sewook Oh, participated in session 2, Resource estimation using a geostatistical approach.
Junhyeok’s team created the Deba Project, which covered a project sample database, geological interpretation, basic statistics, geostatistical analysis, and resources estimation.
“At first, I did not know anything to initiate the software and input data,” said Junhyeok. “It takes over 100 hours to do a trial-error process and to understand how it is working. MineSight shows strong ability for geostatistical analysis.”
On the heels of his victory, Junhyeok says his research interest is to build an optimized mine to mill system in the mine.
“One of my goals is to be an mining engineer who can integrate the whole mining procedure and suggest better strategy for the most efficient operation. I would like to be the one who contributes to the world’s mining technology.”
Junhyeok’s teammates, Soowon Jung (right) and Seewook Oh, at the KORES contest earlier this year.
In the field: Toquepala, Peru
Senior MineSight Specialist, Ernesto Vivas, meets some of the ‘locals’ during a visit to Toquepala.
Hexagon Mining serves clients in some of the remotest parts of the planet. Earlier this year, Senior MineSight Specialist, Ernesto Vivas, visited the Toquepala mine in the Peruvian Andes. Here’s his report.
Toquepala is more of a city than a mining camp. ‘Home’ to 2,000 people, Toquepala offers almost everything you might need, including an elementary school, a high school, hospital, supermarkets – even a golf course complete with 19th hole!
The mine itself is a typical open pit, truck, and shovel operation. On behalf of Hexagon Mining’s mine planning arm, MineSight, I visited to deliver a two-week mine planning training course. MineSight is a comprehensive mine planning and mine modeling software platform for exploration, modeling, design, scheduling and operation.
Toquepala is a typical open pit, truck, and shovel operation in the Peruvian Andes.
We started the class with MineSight Economic Planner to determine the economic pit limits, incremental pit shells, and preliminary pushback creation. One of the issues encountered during the training was the ‘gap/jump’ challenge when the price is slightly increased. There are a few alternative ways to solve this issue. However, one simple solution to this problem is to limit the optimization area of the block model, as shown below.
Limiting the optimization area of the block model is a simple solution for the gap/jump challenge.
After the pit optimization portion of the class, we proceeded to reserves reporting, pushback design and haulage configuration. The intention of the haulage portion for long range was to simply obtain cycle times for later use during the scheduling stage, for which we used the existing phase solids.
Starting topography and phase designs.
Toquepala’s LOM schedule was evaluated with MSSO first with *.scd files and later with solids. Some of the students were familiar with our legacy scheduling tools, and for them it was really refreshing to see the latest and greatest version of MineSight Schedule Optimizer (MSSO) in action, which put a big smile on their faces. After the long range portion of the class, I spent a weekend of spiritual retreat at Toquepala’s housing facilities.
Peace and quiet at Toquepala’s housing facilities.
During the second week, we switched gears to the medium- and short-range planning portion of the class. Toquepala’s main goal is the implementation of MSSO for medium- and short-term planning. During the first three days we trained with Toquepala’s data using a simplified case. During the last couple of days we worked on setting up a preliminary 18-month mine plan. The students were a combination of experienced users, all the way to interns with very little experience. However, all of the students were very smart and engaged with the training.
Lastly, no trip to South America is complete without a proper game of soccer!
Toquepala is a successful and productive user of Hexagon Mining’s MineSight software. We have high hopes of the mine converting to Hexagon Mining’s operations and safety solutions, too!
Toquepala’s students take a break from training.
Preview MineQuest’s program
First for Coal
Watch the video and see why mines are turning to MineSight for their coal needs.
MineSight products offer numerous advantages for mining coal, particularly structurally complex coal. MineSight Reserve, which unifies the consolidated power of MineSight’s reserve engines, provides complex coal functionality and comprehensive reporting logic. Recent improvements to the MineSight Implicit Modeler offer true thickness calculations with surface outputs, plus user-input controlling features. There’s new multiple ore percent support in MineSight Data Analyst as well as enhancements in MineSight Torque that improve complex coal modeling.
MineSight Schedule Optimizer is equipped with new features, such as multiple equipment sets by material for handling different waste types and coal seams.
MineSight offers coal-specific modeling features and selective mining options for reporting. It can handle both metallurgical and thermal coal deposits, and can report and model multiple coal types within each of these deposits.
For block models, MineSight is the only software package that can model unlimited seams in one project. With greater spatial precision, Sub-Blocking enhances MineSight’s underground solution and makes modeling even the narrowest coal seams both quick and simple. And MineSight is the only software package with fully integrated haulage with multiple equipment allocation.
MineSight supports multiple types of block models – multiple ore percent for unequalled accuracy in complex geology, gridded seam models for stratiform deposits, and sub-blocked models for spatial precision.
For more information on these coal-friendly products and others, read the MineSight for Coal eBrochure.
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