Minemax Tutorial iGantt Optimizer for Open Pit

Version: 4 Updated: May 2013

Minemax Tutorial iGantt Optimizer for OP

Minemax 1998 2013

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COPYRIGHT NOTICE 2013

Copyright in this document is vested in Minemax Pty Ltd.

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Minemax 1998 2013

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1.
1.1

INTRODUCTION
Purpose

The purpose of this tutorial is to demonstrate the use and the functionality of iGantt Optimizer for short-term up to long-term detailed scheduling for Open Pit applications.

2.1

Prerequisites

The prerequisite knowledge for this tutorial is an intermediate level of proficiency using iGantt software to: Create an iGantt project (attributes, activity types, calendars, report items and reports) Load visualization from strings and triangulated surfaces and format the 3D view Import and map activities Create precedences for activities

3.1

Scenario

The scenario used for this tutorial is an open pit project for basic load and haul activity scheduling with locations within multiple pits, pushbacks, and benches down to the flitch level. The aim of this project is to generate a long-term schedule with 36 time periods by maximizing the profit of the project (Net Present Value) while satisfying all mining and processing capacity constraints. The total material mined has a fixed truck capacity constraint of 25,000 truck hours per month. The processing plant has a fixed capacity of 1.5M tonnes per month. The duration of the time periods varies over time with 1-month increments for the first year, 3-month increments for the following 3 years and yearly increments for the remaining time periods. Apart from the standard location and physical attributes such as ore tonnes, waste tonnes and grades, the revenue, mining and processing costs and truck hours are modelled in this scenario.

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2.

TUTORIAL STEPS

1. From your Windows Start menu, click All Programs iGantt Tutorials Tutorial Files Optimizer OpenPit to navigate to the tutorial file demotutorial_iGantt_Optimizer_OP.igt. Double-click on the file to load the project into iGantt displaying activities, 3D visualization and the default report on a single screen. TIP: If you are a Windows 8 user, right-click the Windows Start screen to view the bottom bar with the All Apps icon. Click on the All Apps icon and then click Tutorial Files Optimizer OpenPit to navigate to the tutorial file demotutorial_iGantt_Optimizer_OP.igt.

2. Click the Project menu and then select Project Attributes to view attributes previously defined for this project. Click the OK button to exit.

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3. Click the Project menu and then select Activity Types to view activity types previously defined. In this project, we are using one activity type LH (LoadHaul).

TIP: Other activity types such as Drilling or Blasting can be also modelled if desired.

4. Click the OK button to exit. 5. Click the Project menu and then select Edit Project Calendar to view the current project calendar. The iGantt Optimizer requires the default calendar 24 hours, 7 days with no non-default days.

6. Click the OK button to exit.

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TIP: If a non-default project calendar is detected by iGantt Optimizer, a warning message will appear with the option to remove all non-default days or times by clicking the Fix Schedule Automatically button. 7. Click the Resources menu and then Edit Resources to view the Resources window. In this project, no resources are set up as we will create an activity-based schedule.

8. Click the Close button to exit. 9. Click the Reports menu and then Define Reports to view details about the Summary report by selecting the Edit Report button. The Summary report includes summary items for Ore Tonnes, Au Grade, Waste Tonnes, Total Tonnes, Trucks and Financials per time period.

10. Click the OK button to exit.

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11. Click the Optimizer menu, select Options and then click the Time Periods submenu to specify the time periods for the optimization. 11.1. To add variable optimization periods, click the Edit in Advanced Mode button.

11.2. 11.3.

Change the start time to show 01/07/2013 and then enter the value 36 into the Number of Time Periods field. This will generate 36 time periods. Change the Increment value to month for the first period. Then click the Copy Forward button.

11.4.

Scroll down to Period 13 and change the Time Amount value to 3. Then click the Copy Forward button.

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11.5.

Scroll down to Period 21 and change the Time Amount value to 1 and the Increment value to year. Then click the Copy Forward button.

12. Click the Constraints sub-menu to add constraints for our project. In this scenario, we will constrain the milling process using the OreTonnes attribute and the mining process using the TruckHours attribute. TIP: If cycle times are not available for the truck hours calculation, the total tonnes can be also used to constrain the mining process. 12.1. Click the New button to add a new constraint. This will open up the Add Constraint window displaying the Details sub-menu.

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12.2.

Type the name of the constraint Milling in the Name field and select the constrained attribute OreTonnes from the drop-down menu.

12.3.

Click the Activity Types sub-menu to select the activity type that will be constrained. Click the LH (LoadHaul) activity on the left and move it across to the right area by clicking the > button. Then click the OK button.

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12.4.

This will create two entries for minimum and maximum milling constraints per time period. Enter the maximum value of 1,500,000 tonnes into the monthly time periods, 4,500,000 tonnes into the quarterly time periods and 18,000,000 tonnes into the yearly time periods.

TIP: Use the Copy Row Forward button to copy the required value to all subsequent time periods.

12.5. 12.6.

Repeat steps 12.1 to 12.4 to add the TruckHours constraint to the grid. This will create two entries for minimum and maximum truck hour constraints per time period. Enter the maximum value of 25,000 hours into the monthly time
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periods, 75,000 hours into the quarterly time periods and 300,000 hours into the yearly time periods.

13. Click the Options sub-menu to select the optimization strategy from the three available options:

Forward scheduling optimizes one period at a time, carrying results from one period forward to the subsequent period. This option provides a very fast result but doesnt guarantee finding the theoretically optimal schedule.

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Global scheduling considers all time periods together and can find the true optimal schedule. If a large number of blocks and time periods are used, global scheduling can be quite time consuming. Sliding window scheduling optimizes x time periods at once and then moves y time periods forward. The same process repeats in multiple interactions defined by the x + y combination where x represents a sliding window length value and y represents a sliding window step value. This gives a balance of solution time and solution optimality. Tick the Sliding window scheduling option. By default, the 2+1 option is selected. This means that two time periods are optimized at once. After completing an optimization phase, the result for the first time period is kept and the window is moved forward by one time period to optimize the next two time periods. This process repeats until the schedule for the last time period is found.

13.1.

13.2.

Confirm that the Reset rates to defaults option is ticked. This option will replace any manually added activity rates with the default rate which has been set for the activity type. Confirm that the Adjust rates to fit periods option is ticked. If your target is not reached within the time period set while using the default rates, this option will increase the rate to ensure the target value is reached within the specified time periods.

13.3.

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13.4.

Select the attribute Profit from the Value drop-down menu. By doing so, iGantt Optimizer will optimize the schedule by maximizing the profit of the project.

13.5. 13.6.

Click the OK button. The attribute Profit is a calculated attribute that has been previously defined under Project Attributes by selecting the Project menu.

TIP: Other attributes can be used as a Value parameter as required. For example, if Ore Tonnes are used, iGantt Optimizer will optimize the schedule by maximizing ore tonnes for the project.

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14. Click the Optimizer menu and then click Optimize. This will open up an Optimize window showing the first and last periods to optimize. The dates of the first and last time periods flow through from the Time Periods sub-menu set up previously.

TIP: Tick the Apply tick-box if you need to change the first or last period to optimize.

15. Click the Optimize button. This will activate the optimization showing a dialog window with the progress bar. The iGantt Optimizer uses a mixed integer linear programming (MILP) model to represent the mine and its production constraints using a branch and bound algorithm. 15.1. In the first step, the dialog window displays the Initializing message while iGantt Optimizer builds the mathematical model of constraints.

15.2.

In the second step, the dialog window displays the Periods 1-2: Still looking for result message. This means that the maximum upper value (bound value) within the first two time periods is being searched for.

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15.3.

In the next step, once the bound value is determined, iGantt Optimizer looks for all possible feasible solutions within the first sliding window and compares them against the bound value.

15.4.

The message Result found within 14.59% means that the best feasible solution so far is at most 14.59% from optimality. The iGantt Optimizer will keep looking for all other solutions until a solution within 1% is found.

15.5.

In the next step, the sliding window will move to the next period and repeat steps 15.2 to 15.3. When the best solution for the last optimization period is found, the dialog box will disappear.

TIP: It takes approx. 8 seconds to optimize the project using sliding window scheduling with the 2+1 option. The optimization time will vary based on the optimization method selected and the number of blocks and constraints in your project. 16. The Summary Report shows total values for each report item per time period. The Ore Tonnes and Truck Hours items meet the maximum constraint per time period set in the Optimizer menu.

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17. Click the Visualization menu and then select Set Object Colour Scheme. The Colour Scheme Chooser window will open up and display the default mode of Colour By Object Type.

17.1. 17.2. 17.3. 17.4.

Select Colour By Time Period from the drop down menu to change the colouring mode to time periods Tick the Repeat Colours tick-box to repeat the same colours every eighth time period Tick the Multi-Time Period Object Colouring tick-box to splits strings into the multiple coloured sections Tick the Show in Summary Report tick-box to show the colouring code in the Summary report

17.5.

Click the OK button. This will display the colouring mode in the visualization as well as in the reports.

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18. Click the Visualization menu and then select View Schedule to validate the schedule using an animation. 18.1. 18.2. 18.3. Tick the Show Remaining tick-box to step through the remaining reserve. Select the viewing date of 01/07/2013 Select the time interval of 256 ms and then click the Run button

19. The animation steps show the progress of load and haul activities by showing the remaining reserve for the date of 12/12/2016.

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20. The animation shows some remaining material that has not been scheduled within the optimization periods due to economics and precedences included in this scenario.

. 21. Load the iGantt file demotutorial_iGantt_Optimizer_OP_optimised to compare your results.

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3.

SUMMARY

This tutorial has shown you the necessary steps to develop a long-term schedule using iGantt Optimizer. In the first steps, we reviewed project attributes, activity types and reports previously set up in the iGantt project provided. Secondly, we showed you how to set up 36 time periods of variable lengths to be used for setting constraints and optimizing. In the next step, we showed you how to set up a processing constraint using ore tonnes and a mining constraint using truck hours for each time period. In the following step, we discussed optimization options and showed you how to set up the value parameter that is used for optimizing. In this scenario, we were maximizing the Net Present Profit value of the entire project. Once the optimization was completed, we also showed you how to set the object colour scheme per time period and analyze results using reports and animations.

Congratulations on completing the iGantt Optimizer tutorial for Open Pit applications. Please contact our Minemax experts on support@minemax.com for additional information about iGantt Optimizer.

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