Phase — Stage Design Module

The Phase module provides a practical approach to phase/stage/pushback design. In this context, we will use phase as the means to describe an interim component to a final design.

A pit is divided into areas of varying economic viability known as shells. One of the key outputs of this process is to convert shells into stages using the phase tool. The goal of this process is to maximise the net present value (NPV) of the schedule with a series of modified shells as inputs. At any point, you can present any number of phasing options to Evolution Strategy for evaluation.

Once a schedule has been reached where any number of other constraints have been accommodated (i.e. cut-off grade optimisation, blending, ore exposure, vertical rates of advanced, stage releasing etc), the resultant phasing can then be used for detailed phase design. When complete, this interim scheduling exercise gives you the assurance that the detailed phase designs will result in a maximum value, practical schedule.

Once a model has been loaded into Phase, a suggested workflow is:

1. Create phase design
2. Merge shells
3. Repair i.e. small walls, drop cuts and stumps
4. Apply mining rules
5. Block edit mode for detailed design
6. Update model