PURPOSE

This manual documents the methods for generating stope-shapes using Version-2 of the Stope Shape Optimiser developed by Alford Mining Systems.

The Stope Shape Optimiser engine (also referred to as "SSO" in this manual) is available in commercial products that are marketed and supported by the following mining software suppliers: CAE Mining, Maptek and Deswik. The look and feel of the Stope Shape Optimiser product on each vendor platform will conform to the interface standards and functionality available in each environment. Additional capabilities may have been added by the vendor to fully integrate the Stope Shape Optimiser with the proprietary platform.

This manual does not describe the user interface, data conventions, proprietary input and output file formats, or mechanisms for maintaining scenarios and processing capabilities for single or multiple scenario execution. For further information on these supplier package specific topics, please consult the User and/or Training manuals supplied by your preferred vendor.

This reference manual aims to explain the optimisation techniques and clarify the input parameters for the optimisation methods, and provide guidelines for effective and efficient processing of data sets.