Mine Plan

The Mine Plan group are tools that allow you to oversee scheduled movements. You can visualise scheduled run-of-mine movements using Mine Plan - Viewer, compare actual-to-plan data using Mine Plan - Chart, review scheduled movements by shift using Mine Plan - Editor, and formulate mine plans using Mine Plan - Blend Plan Calculator. The topics that follow explain each of these functions.

Mine Plan - Viewer

The mine plan viewer allows you to view the status of scheduled run-of-mine movements. Scheduled movements are shown as colour-coded arrows to indicate the origin and destination of the material. The in-viewer legend provides the following additional information:

Green arrows indicate that the material movement is, or was on schedule. While the schedule is in progress, darker shading indicates the progress so far with respect to the lighter shaded section representing the remaining timeline.
The blue crossbar intersecting an arrow indicates the expected tonnage mark with respect to the scheduled timeline. We can use the following example:

If a movement is scheduled over a 12 hour shift and the elapsed time has reached the 6 hour (half-way) mark, MaterialMRTexpects that half of the required material has been moved at that point in time. The blue crossbar marks that point at the halfway point along the arrow shaft.
Shades of orange through red (gradient) indicate movements that are behind schedule. Movements more than 10% behind schedule are flagged as critical.
Purple arrows indicate unplanned movements that have occurred.

Controlling what appears in Mine Plan - Viewer

Mine Plan - Viewer has a specific setting that allows you to show or hide features. Click on the viewer’s settings cog () to open its configuration panel and expand the Plan Vs Actual Viewer section to configure the following options:

Show Labels: When enabled, The in-viewer labels and the list panel are shown. The labels allow you to recognise movements and view their basic statistics.
Hide Arrows: When enabled, any unselected movements in the list panel are hidden. In this configuration, you can use the checkboxes in the list panel to control which arrows are displayed in the viewer.
Mass Lower Bound: Enter a value to ignore unscheduled movements that fall below this threshold.

Identifying, selecting, and filtering movements in the mine plan viewer

The mine plan viewer uses a list pane next to the viewer to show your schedules. The scheduled items are displayed in the matching colour as their movement arrows in the viewer. The label has the following information:

The source and destination of the material being moved
The tonnage of the material obtained and remaining, and a percentage of that ratio
The degree of compliance to the schedule

Labels can be selectively included or excluded from the view. You can also use the labels and the arrows to identify a schedule by doing the following:

Select a label by using its checkbox. When a label is selected, it’s displayed in the viewer adjacent to its movement arrow.
Use Show All, Show Critical , and Show Unplanned schedules by enabling their corresponding checkboxes.
Hover over a label in the list pane to identify the movement arrow in the viewer. The associated arrow is highlighted with a white border.
Identify a label in the list pane by hovering over a movement arrow. The schedule in the list pane is highlighted in blue.
Select the Destination Type to be included in the view. To do this, click to open its drop-down list. The available selections are as follows:
- All
- Stockpile
- Sink
- Waste Dump
- Pit
- Legacy
To reset the destination type filter, click the button.

Using Historical Mode to review previous schedules

You can view past schedules by using historical mode. To do this, click on the drop-down box at the top-right of the viewer, here, you can choose between Latest Mode, or Historical Mode. When historical mode is selected, a time and calendar picker becomes available. You can select a specific date, shift, or period in the following ways:

Use and to return to or advance to the next time period.
Click in the time field to expand the list and select a period.
Click to open the calendar picker. to select a custom start and end date, as well as the start and end time. To accept the selection, click

Note: To return to the current shift, select Latest Mode from the Historical Mode / Latest Mode drop-down list.

Mine Plan Chart

The mine plan chart compares actual tonnage against the planned tonnage over a period of time. You can set your time by doing any of the following:

Use and to return to or advance to the next time period.
Click in the time field to expand the list and select a period.
Click to open the calendar picker. to select a custom start and end date, as well as the start and end time. To accept the selection, click

To choose which Schedules and Tasks to include in your chart, expand the schedule or task drop-down list and make your selection using the checkboxes.

Note: If either of the Schedule or Tasks fields are dimmed, there are no entries logged over that time period. Select a period containing scheduled activity.

To instantly query a sample point in the chart, hover over the plot to view the pop-up statistics box. In here, you can see the date, time, and the tonnage logged at that sample point.

Example:

Mine Plan Editor

The mine plan editor provides a tabular view of your schedules as shifts. Trips that occurred in that schedule are listed. To select which shifts to include in your query, use the Schedule id drop-down list and make your selection using the checkboxes.

When your shifts have been selected, the following columns of information are included in the mine plan editor:

Tip: The sort order of any column (other than Action) may be changed by clicking on the column header.

Creating , deleting, and editing a local schedule

Schedules created in the mine plan editor are called local schedules. To create a local schedule, do the following:

Click to open the Schedule dialog box.
Select the time, or shift using either method:
- Open the drop-down list and select a shift or preset time range.
- Use the calendar picker to select a custom time range, including a starting and ending time.

Select the source category from the available options in the Source Category drop-down list.
Select the source from the available options in the Source drop-down list.
Select the destination category from the available options in the Destination Category drop-down list.
Select the destination from the available options in the Destination drop-down list.
Enter the intended mass in the Mass field.
Click to add your local schedule to the mine plan editor list.

To edit or delete and existing local schedule, do of the following for either action:

Select a local schedule and click on in the Action column.
Select Edit () or Delete (). If you choose to delete a local schedule, the item is removed from list. If you choose to edit an existing schedule, the Schedule dialog box opens. You will need to complete all fields following the steps for creating a new local schedule.

If your list of schedules exceeds the Items per page setting, Use the arrows to go to the next page (), return to the previous page (), or jump to the start (), or end () of the list.

Tip: You can increase the number of items listed in the mine plan editor. To do this, click on the Items per page drop-down list and choose from 100, 1000, or 10000 entries.

Blend Plan Calculator

The blend plan calculator allows you to create target objectives based on the material properties that you assign to your blend plan. After configuring your blend plan, you can allocate which sources to use to satisfy the plan requirements, this includes setting the required quality grades to those assigned material properties.

You can create multiple blend plans for each blend target, enabling you to compare outcomes and develop a schedule that meets your production objectives. After a blend plan is saved you can upload it as a new local schedule.

Creating a blend target

Creating a blend target is the first stage in creating a blend plan. During this stage, you are defining the material properties that are needed. To create your blend target, follow these steps:

Select the Target tab.
Enter your target name in the Blend Target field. Then do either of the following:
1. Click on to save its name. You will see a red banner prompting you to add a property.
2. Proceed with step 3.
To add a property, click on to open the properties editor.
Use the Property drop-down list to select your first property.
Configure your Acceptable Value Ranges. To do this, click on to set your From and To value range. You can set up additional value ranges by clicking on and adding more valid range values. Click on to save your changes.
Configure your Marginal Value Ranges, following the same process in the previous step. Click on to save your changes.
Repeat steps 3 - 6 for each property you add to your blend target.

Managing blend plan targets

The buttons below perform the following actions:

	Blend target selection drop-down list: Use this drop-down list to select and existing blend target.
	Add a new blend target: Click this button to add new blend plan targets. For more information, follow the steps under Creating a blend target.
	Save blend target: Click this button to save a new blend target. If you are working on an existing blend target, a dialog with the message “This will overwrite the current target. Are you sure?”: You can select either: No, Save as New (you are prompted to enter a new name). Yes, Save and Overwrite (your existing blend target is updated).
	Save as new blend target: Click the button to save an open blend target as a new one. This button is only available when you have opened an existing blend target.
	Delete blend target: Click this button to remove your blend target from the list. A confirmation dialog appears before that item is deleted.
	Schedule blend plan: When this button is available, Click this button to add your blend plan as a local schedule. To see this button, select a plan from the Blend Plan drop-down list.
Note: These buttons are also available in the Plan tab.

Blend plans

A blend plan is where you select which sources are used to fulfil your blend target. You can view statistics of individual sources as well as the results achieved from your combined sources. You can experiment by changing which sources you use (such as stockpiles, zones, and polygons), and observe the results. You can also create and save multiple blend plans, then select from various contingencies to include as a local schedule. The topics that follow guide you through the blend plan process.

Creating a blend plan

To create a new blend plan, select the Plan tab, then, do the following:

In the Target tab, select the blend target you want to add the blend plan to. If you haven’t created a blend target, follow the steps for Creating a blend target.
Select the Plan tab to open its panel.
Enter the name of your blend plan in the Blend plan field and click on to save your changes.
From the Selected Sources section, click on and select from the following:
- Manual. Enter the name of the source (the default name is Manual), mass, and property values in each column field.
- Polygon. Create a polygon in the viewer over the source area. Material within your polygon is included in your plan.
- Stockpile. Click on a stockpile in the viewer to select it. Material within the stockpile is included in your plan.
- Zone. Click on a zone in the viewer to select it. Material within the zone is included in your plan.
Click on to save your blend plan.

After creating your blend plan, your blend plan sources are listed in the Selected Sources section. You may now do any of the following:

Add additional sources, using .
Select or deselect sources by clicking on the row or, on its checkbox.
Delete a source selection by clicking on .

Note

Selected Sources contain the following columns:

Selections: These are your source selections from which materials are to be taken.
Type: This is the source type, such as Manual, Polygon, Stockpile, and Zone. The coloured dot identifies the source type shown in the viewer.
Mass: This is the quantity of material available in the given source.
% of Total Mass: This is the percentage of that source material for the combined mass from all your sources.

Using Combined Sources to set your blend plan

When you have added your sources to your blend plan, you can review the information in the Combined Sources section. In here, do the following:

View the Combined Sources tonnage as a single bar graph, and material properties allocated to your plan.
Include or exclude materials from your selected sources as required.
Set your Mass target by entering values in the Min and Max fields.

You may also do the following in the combined sources section:

View material sources as gauges or histograms by selecting or respectively.
Select which sources to display using the Displaying x float properties drop-down list.

Tip: You can save your blend plan () when you are satisfied with your settings. The current blend plan can be overwritten, or it can be saved as a new blend plan.

Adding a blend plan as a local schedule

You can locally schedule your blend plan by doing the following:

Select the blend plan from the Blend plan drop-down list.
Click on to open the Schedule dialog box.
In the Time field, select the time or shift to add your schedule to. You can use the drop-down list to select a preset entry, or create a custom time using the calendar picker.

Note: When a day, shift, or range is selected. you can use the and buttons to jump to the previous or next time increment respectively.
In the Destination category field, select the destination type from the drop-down list.
In the Destination field, select the destination from the drop-down list.
Click on to close the dialog box. Your local schedule is added to the mine plan.

Reviewing remaining material

When a blend plan has been created, you can review what remains at all sources. This is shown in the Remaining Material section. To determine the remaining material from your currently selected sources, or from any other additional sources, use the Zones drop-down list.

Select any additional sources that you wish to include using the checkboxes. The chosen sources are listed in the Selections column. The remaining material is shown under the Mass column.

Note: Sources that you selected to create your blend plan are automatically selected and appear greyed-out in the drop-down list. They cannot be deselected.

You can also list sources by the stockpiles within the zones used in your blend plan, and your additional sources. To enable this, click on the Show by stockpile checkbox. Those stockpiles are added to the list.

Tip: By adding additional sources, you can quickly determine which sources can be used to produce suitable blend plans.