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MineSight Schedule Optimizer: Latest and Greatest Features

MineSight Schedule Optimizer: Latest and Greatest FeaturesIntroduction:MineSight® offers a complete suite of software solutions for mine planning as shown in the MineSight Planning Spiral below.

Since the last user’s seminar, Mintec, Inc. has been working closely with many clients to improve the use and application MineSight Schedule Optimizer (MSSO). This workshop reviews the latest and greatest features in MSSO which include:

• Integration with MineSight.

• Reporting and Charting.

• Material Mapping & Stockpile Handling.

• Multiple Constraints and Multi-Period Scheduling.

• Haulage and Equipment Considerations.

• Miscellaneous.

Integration with MineSightA lot of effort has been put into making sure that a fully integrated software package is capable of completing most of the common short term mine planning tasks. For example, haul profiles and cut designs digitized in MineSight can be easily stored into the database from which MSSO can access the information. Therefore, importing/exporting data to ASCII and running macros to post process the information is no longer necessary. Similarly, data validation is highly minimized so considerable amounts of time can be saved by using MSSO. Thus, engineers can spend more time analyzing schedules instead of exporting/importing and validating data.


MSSO, MSIP, and MSH read/write information to the MineSight Planning Database (MSPD) which provides an integrated package in which the duplication of work or the validation of results from one tool to another one is minimal.

Cuts can be prepared in MineSight 3D (MS3D), imported into the MSPD and scheduled with MSSO. Depending on the level of detail required for the mine plan, cuts can be created manually or automatically. The picture below shows an example of cuts created manually.

There are tools within MineSight such as the “Autoslicer” which can target cuts based on distance, tons, volume, etc., while following a mining direction


Similarly, the cut generation tool allows you to create rectangular looking cuts for less detail plans.

Once the cuts are digitized, they can be imported dynamically into the MSPD via MSIP or through the importcutstomspd script. Similarly, the mssoDigline and the mssoDirection attributes are assigned to the cuts via the Digline generator. These attributes define and represent the cut mining sequence for an excavator.


The picture below shows the cuts displayed in MSIP after running the digline generator.

The importcutstomspd script, allows you to write cuts to the database while assigning cut attribute information.

The digline generator populates the mssoDigline and the mssoDirection attributes in the database.


Another important aspect of software integration is the generation of haul profiles. Once the user has digitized the road profiles, they can be imported into the database via MSHaulage. Any modifications to the haul network can be easily edited in MS3D and re-imported to the database. Therefore, importing/exporting data to ASCII and running macros to post process the information is no longer necessary. This saves time and reduces potential for mistakes. The picture below shows a typical haul network digitized in MS3D, imported to the database and used by MSSO.

One of the latest enhancements in MSSO includes the viewer integration, which allows displaying, filtering, animating and adding precedence for the cuts via the MS3D viewer. This option can be found on the main menu as shown below:

The filter cuts option brings up a dialog panel which allows the user to filter the cuts displayed in the viewer by period, mining area, level and phase.


The animate cuts option allows the user to display the cuts in MS3D and automatically create an animation that could reflect visually the cut mining sequence for the schedule. This option is best appreciated with a live demonstration.

One of the advantages of having the viewer integrated with MSSO is the ability to add cut precedence interactively from the viewer. This option will add a constraint in the schedule in which the selected cut will be mined after the preceding cuts have been mined out.


Graphical examination of the schedule can also be visualized in MS3D with the End-of-Period Map Tool.

The End-of-Period Map tool can be accessed from MSIP. This tool allows the user to create surfaces or solids based on a period or sequence attribute from the MSPD.


Reporting and ChartingScheduling results can be presented and summarized in the form of tables and charts. MSSO offers flexible and powerful reporting capabilities via the standard reports and the advanced reports. The standard reports have three main tabs (full, summary, stockpiles) on the right side. On the left side, the user can turn on/off the attributes that need to be displayed (cut name, level, phase, grades, etc.). This allows the user to build their reports a la carte. Once a report is built, the template can be saved and used later. The advanced reporting and charting allows the user to create quick pivot and detail reports based on the database attributes. In addition to that, the user can create new reporting fields which can be derived from calculations based on formulas and other attributes. Similar to the standard report, the advanced reports also allow the user to save templates for future use.

The table below shows a summary report by period:


Charts can be easily created with MSSO as shown below:

In addition to the standard reports and charts, MSSO has Advanced Reports which can be created interactively with pivot and calculated fields.

Gantt charts can be easily created in MSSO to examine activity based projects.


Activities start/end dates can be moved dynamically (as long as they do not violate any precedence constraints) to quickly evaluate its impact on the schedule.


The critical path can be displayed in the Gantt chart as shown below:

Material Mapping and Stockpile HandlingSchedule materials can be mapped to their corresponding destination. For manual mapping, the user can check on the corresponding schedule destination for the appropriate material type. Similarly, materials can be manually mapped in MSSO via the “advanced” button and one or more materials can be mapped by destination and period. If one material is mapped to multiple destinations (ex. low grade material can go to the plant or stockpile), the program selects the best economic destination. As for stockpile reclaiming, the user can specify manual reclaim or no reclaim by period. Otherwise, the program automatically reclaims the stockpile material if it is more beneficial than feeding the mill from the pit. Some of the latest enhancements on stockpile handling include opening balance, and additional options for reclaim types (Average, LIFO, FIFO, Any)

In the table below, Mineral Low and Med are mapped to the crusher only in period 9, while they can go to both crusher and stockpile in period 10.


In addition to that, the user can also take advantage of the advanced material mapping which provides a color scheme that identifies if material has been mapped completely, partially, distributed or not mapped.

Stockpile material can be automatically reclaimed to multiple destinations based on economics, or it can be manually reclaimed based on user defined input.


The stockpile report shows the stockpile balance, material reclaimed from the stockpile, and material sent to the stockpile as shown below.

Manual stockpile reclaim can be defined by period and controlled with upper and lower limit constraints.

Multiple Constraints and Multi-Period SchedulingSeveral types of constraints can be used with MSSO. Tonnage targets can be specified by period, by mining area, by phase. Similarly, clients had requested the ability to target on volume as well, and this is one of the latest features included in the program. In addition to that, the user can specify ratio constraints, equipment hour requirements, vertical advanced rate and min/max number of cuts mined per period.


In some cases it may be necessary to have detail control on the schedule. In response to that need, MSSO offers advanced controls that allow the user to mine, don’t mine, or mine completely cuts, diglines, levels, pushbacks, and mining area by period.

Once there are multiple constraints that need to be satisfied in one period or throughout the life of the mine, it is likely that the constraints could conflict with one another. At first the program will give a “no feasible solution found for period X” message. So, the user can review the reports and gain an understanding of what the conflict may be. However, if there are multiple phases and destinations, troubleshooting this manually make take some time and iterations. The great news is that with Multi-period scheduling the user can specify a period examination window and the program will make adjustments over multiple periods to find a solution. For example, if the conflict was that there is too much waste to get to the ore in period 5, the program will examine the stripping in the previous years and adjust as needed to find the best feasible solution. Thus, Multi-period scheduling allows the user to create faster and better schedules.

MSSO allows the user to solve multiple periods or period by period or a combination of both.

The multi-period window allows the user to specify how many periods can be solved together.

Multi-period scheduling helps the user create better schedules in less time.


Haulage and Equipment ConsiderationsMost of the scheduling tools available in the industry today solve the mining pattern and the equipment requirements as two separate problems. First a mining pattern that satisfies quantities/qualities is found, and then truck/shovel hours are calculated for that mining pattern to simulate the material movement. However, the calculated truck/shovel hours may exceed the amount available for a period. The opposite can be true as well; the calculated truck/shovel hours may be lower than the available hours. For example, the calculated number of trucks required to move the material is 29 trucks. But, there are only 25 trucks available, so adjustments to the mining pattern are needed. On the other hand, if the calculated number of trucks is 21, then we are not taking advantage of the other 4 trucks available. The current solution for this problem is to adjust the mining pattern and recalculate equipment until an acceptable solution is found. However, this process can be iterative and time consuming. In order to address this issue, MSSO formulates the mining pattern and the equipment requirements as one problem. So, once MSSO finds the best feasible solution, it would satisfy not only quantities and qualities but also equipment constraints.

However, for different types of scenarios MSSO offers the following options:

1) Schedule without equipment: The program will find a mining pattern to satisfy quantity/quality constraints without calculating or taking into consideration haulage hours.

2) Schedule then assign equipment: The program will find a mining pattern to satisfy quantity/quality constraints and the haulage hours will be calculated to satisfy that mining pattern. In the example below, the total tons per period are balanced at an average of 6,900 ktons per period approximately, but the truck requirements vary from 21 to 28 trucks.


3) Schedule with equipment: the program will find the best feasible mining pattern to satisfy both: quantity/quality requirements and equipment constraints. Notice that the truck hour’s constraint can be defined by the user by period, by phase, by destination.

In the example below, the total tons and the number of trucks are balanced to meet project constraints and ensure that the material movement is feasible with the available equipment.

Equipment requirements like truck hours are highly dependent on cycle times. Cycle times can be entered in MSSO as average cycle times, detail cycle times or both. For average cycle times, the user can specify the cycle time between a bench/phase and a destination/lift as shown below:


However, if detailed haul profiles are available, MSSO will use this information to calculate the truck hours. Also, MSSO could use a combination of both. For example, we could have detail haul profiles/detail cycle times for the first 5 periods, and average cycle times from period 6 forward.

MiscellaneousThere have been several enhancements that may go unnoticed, but that are worth mentioning. For example, there have been improvements in the program to speed up the cut loading process and the database update. Similarly, MSSO can now take advantage of 64-bit computers and CPLEX or Lindo 7 engines. In addition to that, some attention has been paid to small details that improve the workflow of the program. For example, the interface now has a project canvas which helps visualize with a diagram the scheduling routes.

Some of the windows are now dockable and can be organized by the user. Other features that are currently in development include solid scheduling, partial or percentage cut mining, bench lead/lag constraints, etc…

In addition to the standard report, the user can build advanced reports from previously saved templates and display multiple tables/charts in one document.


A convenient “archive/retrieve archive” feature is available to the users now and it is very helpful to exchange MSSO files with peers or for record keeping purposes.

Similarly, there is a new option for documenting project notes along with the MSSO files as shown below:

Conclusion• This workshop discussed some of the greatest and latest enhancements within MSSO such as

Integration with MineSight, Reporting and Charting, Material Mapping and Stockpile Handling, Multiple Constraints and Multi-Period Scheduling, Haulage and Equipment Considerations, and other miscellaneous features.

• These enhancements allow the users to create better schedules by using more powerful analysis tools such as the multi-period scheduling or the haulage integration. Similarly, the amount of time required to complete a mine plan is reduced which allows the engineer to evaluate other alternatives or produced more detailed plans.

• We hope that the information presented in this workshop was interesting and useful. If you would like to try some of our tools with your data, we will be glad to assist you, so you can take full advantage of the available tools within MineSight for Short Term Planning.

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cut attribute information