Mine Planning Surface Operations

23rd
Annual
Seminar Mine Planning Surface Operations
This workshop will demonstrate most of the key surface operations and tools excluding
pit design and the linker tool (see other workshops). This will be accomplished by showing
examples of designing dumps and dykes.
1. Top-Down Dump at a Target Volume – tools | drape, extrude, calculate
volume, undo
For a top-down dump, the dump crest is digitized and draped to the desired elevation
using Tools | Drape Tool (see Figures 1a and 1b). Note that a specific elevation/level is
specified and that the original crest is moved and kept in the source object.

Figure 1a—Drape Tool first dialog Figure 1b—Drape Tool second dialog

The crest is then extruded at the required slope and clipped at the appropriate surface
using Tools | Extrude/Expand Tool (see Figures 2a and 2b). The Extrude Mode can
be selected in several ways to get the same result. In this case, a distance and a slope are
used. The distance is always in the direction of the vector (in this case 0 azimuth and -90
dip). If an offset is used, then it will be perpendicular to the vector. A distance of 100, with
an offset of 200, would give the same result as a slope of 26.6 (ie: 2:1). An elevation of 340
would also result in the same result as a distance of 100. To get a proper dump surface, the
polylines need to be connected and the top of the dump needs to be closed.
For Figure 2b, usually the orientation of the polygons is ignored and then a positive
value makes a larger extrude. If the extrude is a multi-step extrude, then the individual
components should be combined into a single element using the Combine Rings on exit
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option. In this case, the dump above the limiting surface is required so the limiting surface 23rd
is selected and the fill is kept. The results are moved to the selection buffer so that the
dump can be undone without reselecting it. Lastly, self-intersections should be removed to
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give a “clean” surface. Seminar

Figure 2a—Extrude Tool first dialog Figure 2b—Extrude Tool second dialog

After previewing and applying, a volume of the dump can be calculated using Surface
| Calculate Volume (see Figure 3). The start surface will be the same as the limiting
surface and the end surface will be the dump. The fill volume of the dump is reported
in the messenger window. If the dump doesn’t match the target, then the extrude can be
undone using Selection | Undo and points can be moved using Point | Move (locked
Z). The Extrude Tool can then be re-started and an Apply hit directly as the Extrude Tool
settings are automatically saved and re-used. After the Extrude Apply, the Calculate
Volume Tool can be re-started and an Apply hit directly as well. This process can be
repeated until the target volume is matched.

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23rd
Annual
Seminar

Figure 3—Calculate dump volume

2. Bottom-Up Dump with Offset from Pit Crest at a Target Volume – tools
| drape, scaleable cursor, face snap, extrude, calculate volume with
grid set, convert transient to actual
A bottom-up dump can be done in one of two ways depending upon the starting
surface. If the starting surface has only gradual elevations changes, then the toe can be
digitized at any elevation, draped to the starting surface using Tools | Drape Tool, and
extruded upward using Tools | Extrude/Expand Tool.
If the starting surface has abrupt elevation changes, then the preferred method is to
digitize the dump toe using Face Snap and extruding it upward and then back down.
The scaleable cursor can be used when digitizing the toe to offset it appropriately (e.g.,
from a pit crest as in this example). The toe polygon is extruded up to the target elevation
using Tools | Extrude/Expand Tool. The polylines are not connected as the desired
result is another polygon at the target start elevation that can then be extruded downward.
(see Figure 4). The slope for the upward extrude will be a negative value. After the toe
is extruded up, the Extrude Tool is closed and re-started and the new dump crest is
extruded downwards as in the first example.
The second method works better on surfaces with abrupt elevation changes as these
changes can result in sharp elevation changes on adjacent, close toe points. This can then
cause problems in the Extrude Tool resulting in the following message: String has
an edge that is too steep to extrude. String will not be extruded.
Failed to extrude 1 string(s).

Figure 4—Extrude dump toe upward to crest

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The volume can be reported bottom-up by lift/elevation using Surface | Calculate 23rd
Volume with a 1m plan grid set in the Levels field. (see Figure 5). The target elevation
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can then be determined by viewing the volume report to see the matching elevation at
the target volume. Note that the elevations on the report are the toe elevations so a target Seminar
volume of 100M would be a crest elevation of 408. Once this is determined, the dump can
be viewed in 2-D plan view at that elevation and the sliced dump string converted using
Element | Convert Transient to Actual. The converted string can then be selected and
extruded in the usual way.

Figure 5—Calculate dump volume by lift

3. Constant Slope Dyke with Extrude – tools | polyline offset, extrude

A constant slope dyke can be designed by digitizing the centerline, offsetting it each
way and closing it using Polyline | Offset Polyline, and then extruding it using the
Tools | Extrude/Expand Tool (see Figure 6 for polyline offset and first dump example
for extrude). A good method for digitizing the centerline is to install a plan plane at the
appropriate elevation onto the viewer, flip into 2-D, and digitize it. The centerline is then
offset and extruded to the limiting surface. The advantage of this method over the attach
template method is that the dyke gets clipped in one step.

Figure 6—Offset dyke centerline to closed crest polygon

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23rd 4. Constant Slope Dyke using Attach Template – tools | template editor,
Annual attach template
Seminar A constant slope dyke can also be designed by digitizing the centerline and attaching
a template. The template shape is setup by Tools -> Template Editor (see Figure 7).
Note that the top of the template must be attached as it is a fill object. The template is then
attached to the centerline polyline using Surface | Create Solid | Attach Template
along Polyline (also see Figure 7).

Figure 7—Attach fill template

5. Dyke with Different Upstream and Downstream Slopes – tools |

extrude, merge selected
A dyke with a different slope on each side can be designed by digitizing the centerline,
extruding one side, re-starting the extrude tool, and extruding the other side. The two
components can then be merged using Surface | Merge Selected.
The first side is extruded by doing a Distance + Offset with a distance of 0 and an
offset of half the dyke crest width, followed by a Distance + Slope (or Offset or whatever
combination). After applying, the Extrude Tool is shutdown and re-started. For this pass,
the offset in the first step is a negative of half the dyke width and the slope is a negative
value. After applying, the second set of extrudes, the two elements are merged into one
with Surface | Merge Selected.

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6. Dyke with Variable Slopes – tools | lots of polyline functions, element 23rd
attribute, triangulate Annual
A dyke with variable slopes along the sides can be designed by digitizing the centerline, Seminar
offsetting it each way, splitting the offset polyline(s), extruding all the pieces, joining them,
and triangulating them.
The centerline is offset both directions to get the two dyke crests using Polyline |
Offset Polyline. The crest(s) are then split at the point where the slope change is to occur
using Polyline | Split/Splice | Split or Split at Node. Each piece is then extruded
with the appropriate option and parameters to a constant elevation without connecting
polylines. This results in a number of pieces of polylines that can be trimmed (using
Polyline | Line | Extend), joined (using Polyline | Join), appended to include the
crest points with the toe boundary (using Polyline | Append), closed (using Polyline |
Close) to give a toe and crest polygon.
The toe polyline must be converted from 2-D to 3-D using Polyline | Convert 2-D
to 3-D before appending to include the crest points. Otherwise, the crest points will be
projected back to the toe elevation to honor the planar toe polyline.
The toe polygon is then given a Boundary Material Type using Element | Attribute.
The Match Name with Material Name box must be ticked (see Figure 8). The polylines
are then triangulated using Surface | Triangulate Surface | Triangulate Surface
with Dialog or with Section in Plan.

Figure 8—Assigning Boundary material to toe polygon

7. Dyke using Variable Slope User Template – tools | point editor,

template editor, attach template
A variable slope dyke with one slope per side can be designed by attaching a user
template to a dyke centerline. The user template is setup by using Tools -> Point Editor
in a section view and creating the appropriate shape polyline. The user template is then
offset to match the centerline and attached using Surface -> Create Solid -> Attach
Template along Polyline (see Figure 9).

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23rd
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Seminar

Figure 9—Dyke using variable slope template

8. Pond Design – tools | surface intersector, triangulate inside polyline

boundary, calculate volume
Pond capacity can be determined by merging the dyke with the appropriate surface,
digitizing a polygon at the pond elevation, triangulating it, and calculating a volume
below it.
The surface intersector (SI) is a key tool for mine planning surface operations (see
Figure 10). (There is also detailed help through the MineSight® 3-D online help). It is a very
flexible tool allowing for all combinations of surface intersection. There’s two or three key
questions when using the SI. The first, is whether the result is going to involve keeping
parts of both surfaces or part of one. If the result is parts of both, then the merged section
of the dialog needs to be used. If the result is to keep only part of the primary surface, then
the primary section is to be used. Similarly for the secondary. All of the options on the
primary and secondary are the same. It is just a matter of which surface is the primary and
which is the secondary.
If using the merged option, then the second question is whether the result is going to be
limited by the combined extent of both surfaces (union), the extent of their common part
(int), or the original extent of the primary (diff).
The third question for the merged option is whether to keep the highest elevations (fill)
or the lowest elevations (cut).
If using the primary of secondary sections, then the second question is whether to keep
the part of the one that is above or below the other.
The SI also has the option to limit the intersection to a portion of either the primary
or secondary by picking a limiting polygon. The SI also allows for multiple surfaces to
be used for either the primary or secondary. In these cases, the type of merging (no, fill
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,cut) must be chosen for the group. Lastly, successive intersections can be done without 23rd
having to store intermediate results by using the On Apply make the result the active
primary Surface option.
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Seminar

Figure 10—Surface intersector tool for merging dyke into topo/pit

For determining the pond capacity, the dialog should be filled in as shown in Figure 10.
The resulting surface can then be used as the start surface for calculating the pond volume.
The pond can be designed by installing a plan plane at the pond elevation onto the
viewer, flipping to 2-D, and digitizing the pond outline. The outline needs to extend
into the dyke and into the wall of the pit surface. The polygon is then triangulated using
Surface | Triangulate Surface | Inside Polyline Boundary and a volume calculated
with the pit + dyke as the starting surface and the pond as the ending surface.
9. Intersect Multiple Surfaces, Check/Condition, Contour – tools | surface
intersector, check/condition, contour
The pit, dykes, pond, and dumps can be intersected into an original topography surface
and the results checked and contoured. The intersection is a multiple step intersection
with step one being original topography as primary, pit as secondary, keep cut diff with
the result becoming the new primary. The second step is to pick all the fill objects, set the
secondary surface to Fill Surface, and keep the fill diff.
The resulting surface can then be checked using Surface -> Check/Condition
Surfaces (see Figure 11). There will always be at least one opening on a surface, the
outside extent of it. If there are other problems, the Check/Condition Tool can be used
to fix them or the surface can be selected for editing and fixed one step at a time with the
Surface -> Duplicate Faces, Opening, and Self-intersecting options. This is often the
preferred method as you are working with the actual surface and it is easy to repeat steps
multiple times if need be.

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Figure 11—Check/condition surface

The resulting surface can be contoured using Polyline -> Contour Surface (see
Figure 12). If the surface being contoured has berms, then the Contour Coincident faces/
Edges should be ticked to ensure both the crest and toe of the berm are contoured. The
contours can be smoothed as they are generated or smoothed afterwards using Polyline
-> Smooth. An index contour can also be selected and the index contours will display
according to the Index Contour material.

Figure 12—Contour surface

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10. Isopach between Two Surfaces – tools | Isopach tool 23rd

A thickness map can be generated between any two surfaces using the Polyline - Annual
> Isopach (Thickness Contours) (see Figures 13a-d). The top and bottom surfaces and
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thickness contour start, end, and increment are input on the General tab. Where the
contours are placed is input on the Output tab. Draping the contours onto the bottom
surface makes for easier viewing of the contours and the bottom surface (as compared to
having them placed at an elevation that matches their thickness value).

Figure 13a—Isopach Tool first dialog Figure 13b—Isopach Tool second dialog

Figure 13c—Isopach Tool third dialog Figure 13b—Isopach Tool fourth dialog

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23rd Behind the scenes, the isopach tool dynamically grids the two surfaces, calculates a
gridded thickness, and then contours that thickness. The grid resolution is input on the
Annual Options tab as is the optional smoothing parameters.
Seminar Lastly, how the contours are names is input on the Naming tab. Using the actual
thickness as the element name makes for a good display of the thickness values.
11. Triangulation with ridges/gullies – tools | triangulation with dialog
Any data can be triangulated by selecting it into the selection buffer and using Surface
| Triangulate Surface | Triangulate Surface with Dialog or with Selection in
Plan. The Dialog option is preferred as it gives more control over the triangulation and
also allows a Preview. (For a more detailed explanation of the Triangulator, see the
MineSight® 3-D online help).
The Dialog allows for eliminating/minimizing flat spots as well as skinny triangles around
the edge. Figures 14a and 14b show a triangulation without and with these parameters.

Figure 14a—Triangulate without removing flat spots

Figure 14b—Triangulate with removing flat spots

Note the removal of the skinny triangles on the left and the removal of the flat spot on
the right. The flat faces parameter is important for honoring ridges and gullies. It is also
critical for many stockpiles.

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12. Triangulation of Large Point Data Sets – tools | import 3-D points/ 23rd
survey, triangulation Annual
More clients are dealing with large 3-D point data sets such as lidar. The recommended Seminar
approach is to import the points as polylines, assign a Point Material, and then
triangulate them. This greatly reduces the number of elements and thus the overhead
associated with the data set. When the import is done, one of the Polyline Splitting
options should be used (see Figure 15a). If the data is already sorted by easting or northing,
then use the appropriate one. If not, then just split every couple thousand points.

Figure 15a—Import points with splitting 15b—Properties for Point Materials

by northing
After the data has been imported, the Point Material can be assigned to it. The Point
Material should have a survey type of point and have the Polylines | Show lines off
and the Polylines | Show nodes on (see Figure 15b).

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