Surface Production Timing
Function
This command is used for production based timing of a mineplan to see
the mine progress when defining production by time period. It is
sometimes referred to a pre-scheduler, prior to running Surface
Equipment Timing to get an estimate of mine progression. There are 3
steps needed to prepare for Production Timing as shown in the flow
chart below. First, the mining model needs to be set up in the
PreCalculated Grids file (PRE). This could also be the geologic model.
Next, there must be named, Carlson pit
polylines representing the mine plan. Finally, the pits lines must have
direction assigned for mining. Once these 3 items are created, the
command may be run. This command does not use highwall angles or
laybacks. It loads the mining model and vertically intersects it with
the directioned pits to obtain timing blocks.
The
first step is to choose the PreCalc file to process. After it is
selected, the first dialog box appears for some initial settings. The
Key Strata Recovery can be entered in the window with Set Value, or can
be set By Strata Definitions, where it will refer to the Strata
Definition File created with the Define Strata command. There, each
strata can have it's own recovery. The Key Strata Density is set
in the same way. Either by entering it here, or as defined in the SDF
file. The units are either pounds/cubic foot or kg/cubic meter,
depending on US units or metric units in the drawing. Finally, the
Source of Bottom Surface Model can be set here. If Strata Model is
chosen, then the routine will use all seams from the surface topography
down to the lowest strata grid elevation in the PreCalc file. If Grid
File is selected, then volumes will only be calculated from the
topography down to that bottom surface grid file, which could be a flat
bench elevation for example. A file-select window will appear next, to
choose the grid if that option is used.
Next, after selecting the pits and the mining project file, the Surface
Production Timing window appears as follows.
The first step is to select pits and move them over to the Assignment
box on the left with the Assign button. Following is a detailed
description of each item in the dialog box.
- Do Earlier / Do Later: These buttons move the pits up or down in the Assignment window.
- Remove, Remove All: These
buttons will move either the selected pit, or all pits from the
Assignment window to the Unassigned Pits window
- Assign: This button will
move the highlighted pits from the Unassigned window to the Assignment
window.
- Select All: This is a
quick way to highlight all pits in the Unassigned Pits.
- Inverse sorting: If this
is checked, then the pits will appear in reverse order in the
Unassigned Pits window, otherwise they are in alphabetical and numeric
order.
- Screen Pick: Allows for
manual selection of pits in plan view with a cross-hairs. Simply place
the cursor in the pits and pick in the order to mine. Hit enter when
done. The selected pits should appear in the Assignment window in
the order they were picked.
- Report pits on one row: This
option is for report formatting. If this is checked, the report will
have one row per time period and all strata quantities and qualities
will follow on that row, each in their own column. If this is not
checked, then each strata will be in its own row in the report, with
its quality to follow. This is option is usually not selected.
- Use property boundaries: There
must be named property boundaries on screen for this option. Production
timing will automatically detect them and break out the production by
owner and property if desired.
- Draw timing blocks: One
of the main items of output from this command. It draws the periods as
blocks of solid fill or any hatch pattern inside the pits in plan view.
They are colored by period. As they are being drawn, the direction and
progress of the mineplan can be seen for review.
- Draw distinct outline: This
is very similar to the timing blocks, except that they are just closed
polylines with no fill or hatch. They are in their own color, and
optionally, layer. They can be used later for further reserve
calculations, or to save the mineplan without hatch or fill.
- Draw labels: This option
places the period name in the block or outline. It is either the user
defined label, or will just use "Period1", "Period2" etc.
- Text autosize: If this is
selected, the text will be automatically sized to fit the size of the
block outline. Otherwise, the text might be too large for some of the
smaller blocks.
- Draw labels length-wise:
Selecting this option orients the text lengthwise to the long axis of
the block outline. Otherwise it will be placed horizontally.
- Text Size: Enter in the
text size for labels. It will use this if Text Autosize is not
selected.
- Text Style: Enter the
AutoCAD Text Style for labels and legend.
- Draw Legend: Select this
option to draw a legend of the timing blocks showing the color and the
name of the period. It will ask to pick the legend position.
- Legend Scale: Enter in a
legend scale size to size the legend.
- Layers by Period: This
option will create a new layer for each time period and draw the blocks
and outlines in those layers.
- Production Table Type: This
is a very important setting that needs to be selected for the target
material. There are 10 choices to use for production targeting. Most
common are Key Tons and Overburden Volume, but others are
available. Total Tons converts all strata to tonnages and mines
them accordingly. The NonKey tons are set in a window that appears as
soon as Run is selected. Key Tons are tons of the combined key
material, which name is set in Configure /Mining. Waste Tons
will combine all NonKey strata, calculate the tons for it and target
that tonnage for production. Mined Area will target a defined area in
square feet or meters for production. Total Volume will combine all
strata, both Key and NonKey and target the total CY or CM. Key Volume
or Coal Volume will target the CY or CM of all Key strata in the
selected PreCalc file. Waste Volume combines all NonKey strata and
targets the CY or CM of them. User Grid will take any grid and target
total quantities for production. An example of this would be a power
plant that wants to target total BTU. The grid to select would be total
BTU/area. Finally, the Overburden Volume will take just the first
NonKey strata in the PreCalc and target that, but still report any
additional NonKey seams below it.
- Stop at Last Period: If
this is checked, then the routine will stop after the last period
entered in the Production Table. If it is not checked, then it will
continue with the last target amount all the way through the last
selected
pit polyline.
- Production Table: This is
the screen to set the production amount and time period or date. The
first column is the amount to target. This is what you have selected
under Production Table Type. The second column is the color for that
period. The next column is the hatch pattern for the block. If it is a
hatch pattern other than SOLID, then it must have a scale factor, set
in the next column. the AutoCAD Layer is set in the next column and
finally, the Label is set in the last column. This can be anything from
dates, to owners and areas. If the Labels are left blank, then it will
fill in labels such as Period3, Period4, etc. The Clear button will
clear the entire screen. There are Save and Load buttons for easy
retrieval of the CQT files.
- Undo: This will undo a
previous run, removing the colored blocks and outlines.
- Run: This is the button
to start the actual timing and sequencing of the pits. After the
Production Table and all the settings are good, then choose Run.
- Finish: After the blocks
are drawn and the Surface Production Timing window comes back,
selecting the Finish button will start the calculations and generate
the quantities and qualities in the Report Formatter. Here items are
selected to appear in the report and exported to a file, such as Excel
or Access.
A finished map with the blocks drawn on it and the
corresponding report are shown here. In this example, the amount was set to
500,000 tons. In the report, notice the accuracy of the tons. Most are
within a couple of hundred tons, with a target of a million.
Pulldown Menu Location: Surface
Keyboard Command: calcplan
Prerequisite: Timing pit polylines
File Names: \lsp\makegrid.arx, \lsp\mineutil.lsp