MINP 201 – Open Pit Mine and Waste Dump Design GEOVIA Surpac - 5 days

MINP 202 – Open Pit Mine and Waste Dump Design GEOVIA GEMS - 4 days

Who Should Attend

Open Pit Mine Design is a two-day course designed for mine planners, mining engineers, and geologist who are responsible for activities that require them to design and manage pits, ramps, switchbacks, slots, and waste dumps. It is ideally suited to those from industry who wish to gain a more in depth knowledge of modern mine planning and design theory and software tools.

Course Description

Open Pit Mine and Waste Dump Design is a five-day course designed for mine planners, mining engineers, and geologist who are responsible for activities that require them to design and manage pits, ramps, switchbacks, slots, and waste dumps. It is ideally suited to those from industry who wish to gain a more in depth knowledge of modern mine planning and design theory and software tools.The participants will complete a pit-design project during the course. The course covers open pit design terminology, impact of loading and hauling equipment on pit and waste dump design, working bench and safety berm geometry, haul road parameters and geometric pit design. Prior to engaging in pit design, the course reviews principles and fundamental concepts in creating points, strings, and triangulations; generations of plans and sections and tools required in pit design. In addition, surface and solid modeling for the purpose of open pit design is reviewed and practiced. The course includes a project for top-down and bottomup pit design guided by year-end surfaces generated in a life-of-mine Whittle project. The project starts from the final optimal pit shell, intermediate pits shells, and the long-term schedule generated in Whittle. It covers topics on how to choose the required parameters such as berm width, variable pit slope angle, and batter angle to achieve a desired pit and dump design. The project continues with creating surface triangulations from the pit design, obtaining volumes, tonnages and grades reported by bench, rock type and grade range from the designed pit.
   

Outcomes of the course include:

    • Understand pit design parameters & components
    • Understand pit design theory
    • Use optimal pit shells in pit design
    • Select loading and hauling equipment
    • Define Bench geometry as a function of equipment specs
    • Understand haul road design
    • Design of toes, crests, ramps, switchbacks and slots
    • Define berm width, pit slope angle and batter angle
    • Create final pit designs and surfaces from the designs
    • Obtain volumes, tonnages and grades reported by bench
    • Design variable pit slopes • Handle multi-benching
    • Manage single-pit splitting to multi-pits
    • Design variable pit slopes based on rock-types
    • Carryout multi-benching
    • Design waste dumps
    •  Understand pit design parameters & components
    •  Understand pit design theory
    •  Create detailed pit and dump designs
    •  Use optimal pit shells in pit design
    •  Understand haul road design
    •  Use year-end surfaces in pit design
    •  Create road designs incorporating super-elevation
    •  Create road designs using vehicle velocities
    •  Create simple dam and dyke designs
    •  Gridding and contouring of surface data
    •  Generating bench plan views and reports
    •  Block model tonnage and grade calculations
    •  Cut and fill volume calculations
    •  Design based on loading and hauling equipment
    •  Define Bench geometry as a function of equipment specs
    •  Design of toes, crests, ramps, switchbacks and slots
    •  Define berm width, pit slope angle and batter angle
    •  Create final pit designs and surfaces from the designs
    •  Obtain volumes, tonnages and grades reported by bench
    •  Design variable pit slopes
    •  Handle multi-benching
    •  Manage single-pit splitting to multi-pits
    •  Design variable pit slopes based on rock-types
    •  Design waste dumps

Module 1

  • Introduction to SURPAC for pit design
  • SURPAC data types
  • Function-centric and data-centric operations
  • Strings
        o String data hierarchy
        o Description fields
        o Data numbering and ranges
        o String directions
        o String file structure
  • Planes
        o Active plane
        o Planes projection distance
        o Moving between planes
        o Moving between planes in reverse view
        o Changing the viewing corridor
  • Determine bearing and distance between two points
  • Select mode to break, join, and renumber segments
  • Use String/Object/Cloud mode to delete and clean strings
  • Use String/Object/Cloud to renumber a string
  • String tools
        o Create toe/crest line types/ user profiles
        o Create boundary polygons
        o Creating strings for pit design
  • The Move tool
        o Move data along an axis
        o Move data in a plane
        o Move data in three dimensions
• Create a simple pit design
       o Managing data in layers
       o Creating a boundary string between two DTM
       o Calculating cut and fill volume using DTM surfaces
       o Calculate a volume for a solid model
       o Clip data by a boundary
  • Produce a plot of a pit using Auto-plot

Module 2

  •  Pit Geometry
  •  Basic bench geometry
  •  The pit expansion process
  •  Pit slope geometry
  •  Final pit slope angles
  •  Plan representation of bench geometry
  •  Geometric sequencing
         o Frontal cuts
         o Drive-by cuts
         o Parallel cuts
         o Minimum required operating room for parallel cuts
         o Cut sequencing
  •  Open Pit Terminology & Calculations
         o Bench Face, Crest, Toe
         o Bench Height and Width
         o Berm, Batter Angel, Bank Width SURPAC Tools for Pit Design
•  Open Pit Design
         o How many benches?
         o Deepest bench?
         o Single pit splitting into multiple pits
  •  Pit design parameters
         o General design parameters
         o Define bench parameters
         o Define ramp slot parameters
  •  Display the mine design toolbar and menu bar
  •  Creating a simple pit
  •  Pit design data preparation
         o Create ore outlines
         o Import LG practical optimal push-backs
         o Import Whittle long-term mine plan
         o View Whittle outlines in the block model
         o Add slope values
  •  Pit design project set up
         o Modify toe/crest string profiles
         o Create new toe/crest strings
         o Define the starting string
         o Define the slope method
         o Define a new ramp entrance
         o Ramp generation and automated pit design
         o Expand by bench height and berm width
         o Expand single bench
         o Expand multiple benches
         o Edit a pit design
  •  Pit design methods
         o Bottom to top design
         o Top to bottom design
  •  Additional Pit Design Tools
         o Restart a pit design
         o Design a switchback
         o Create slot entrance & switchbacks
         o Create line for opposite ramping
  • Creating a DTM of a pit design
         o Clean pit design strings

Module 3

•  Life-of-mine pit design exercise
•  Waste Dump Design
        o General dump design parameters
        o Define bench parameters
        o Set current bench/toe
        o Create new toe/crest lines
        o Create ramp entrance
        o Expand single bench
        o Expand multiple benches
        o Design a waste dump
        o Calculate dump volume
 • Open Pit Terminology & Calculations
        o Bench Face, Crest, Toe
        o Bench Height and Width
        o Berm, Batter Angel, Bank Width
  • Selection of Loading & Hauling Equipment
        o Shovel size selection
        o Bucket capacity selection
        o Theoretical cycle time
        o Fill factor, efficiency, and availability
        o Determination of shovel geometry
        o Dumping radius and height
        o Shovel Selection from OEM literature
        o Haulage truck selection
  • Bench Geometry and Equipment Specifications
        o Shovel working range specifications
        o Haul truck OEM specifications
        o Working bench width calculations
        o Safety bench width calculations
  • Haul Road Design
       o Haul road design parameters
       o Haul road geometric design
       o Optimal and maximum sustained grades
       o Horizontal (longitudinal) alignment
       o Road width calculations
       o Curvature and switchbacks
       o Safety berms o Ditches and drainage
       o Estimating haul road rolling resistance
   • Polyline Tools
        o Advanced polyline tools
        o Create status line types/ user profiles
        o Digitize/edit and select polylines
        o Create boundary polygons
        o Multiline
        o Creating polylines for pit design
   • Pit Design Project Set Up
       o Create pit design project workspaces
       o Create/modify status line types
       o Create/modify bench profiles
    • Pit Design Parameters o General design parameters
       o Define bench parameters
       o Define ramp slot parameters
       o Define rock code parameters

Module 4

    • Import LG Optimal Pit Shells & Schedule
    • Open Pit Design
          o How many benches?
          o Deepest bench?
          o Top bench o Pit design steps
          o Bottom to top design tools
          o Top to bottom design tools
          o Set current bench/toe
          o Create new toe/crest lines
          o Automatic fix features
          o Activate feature
          o Create ramp entrance
          o Ramp generation and automated pit design
          o Expand single bench
          o Expand multiple benches
          o Create slot entrance & switchbacks
          o Create line for opposite ramping
          o Single pit splitting into multiple pits
          o Complete the design o Typical pit design issues and errors
    • Variable Pit Slopes
          o Defining geotechnical domains
          o Blending?
          o Defining slope domains for the pit
    • Multi-Benching
    • Creating a Surface from Pit Designs
          o Create TIN Surface
          o Create a pit surface
          o Combine the pit surface with topography
          o Surface Creation Errors
    • Calculating and Categorizing Volumes
          o Volumetric reports (tonnes/grades)
          o Volumetric settings
          o Volume between two surfaces
          o Volume by bench o Grades and tonnages
    • Dump Design o General dump design parameters
          o Define bench parameters
          o Set current bench/toe
          o Create new toe/crest lines
          o Create ramp entrance
          o Expand single bench
          o Expand multiple benches

Module 5

  •  Haul Road Design Concepts
  •  Haul road geometric design parameters
         o Design of a spiral road-inside the wall
         o Design of a spiral ramp - outside the wall
         o Design of a switchback
  •  The volume represented by a road
  • Road section design
  •  Straight segment design
  •  Curve design
  •  Conventional parallel berm design
  •  Median berm design
  •  Key road planning and alignment factors
  •  Haul truck stopping distance
  •  Sight distance and vertical curves
  •  Road Width for curves
  •  Turning circle of large haul trucks
  •  Super-Elevation
  •  Super-Elevation Runout
  •  Inflection point
  •  Spiral or transition curve
  •  Vertical curve
  •  Optimal and maximum sustained grades
  •  Road Geometrical Design Process
        o Integrating design methodology with mining plan
        o Including haul roads in the ultimate pit design
        o Integrating roads through the mine schedule
        o Safety berms, ditches and drainage
        o Intersection design
 •  Road Surface
       o Traction
      o Rolling resistance
      o Typical rolling resistance values
 •  Haul Road Design
 •  Designing roads using string editing tools
      o Design a road using CURVE END
      o Design a road using CURVE TANGENT
      o Design a road at a Constant Gradient Along Contours
      o Create a variable width road outline
 • Using the road design module
     o Create horizontal curves
     o Drape centreline over DTM
     o Create longitudinal profile
     o Create vertical inflection points
     o Create vertical curves
 •  Apply longitudinal profile
 •  Create road outline
 •  Calculating road design volumes
 •  Calculate road cut volume
 •  Calculate road fill volume