Underground Design and Scheduling

Underground Design and Scheduling

This paper presents a process by which you can adapt your particular situation to
complete a MineSight® Activity Planner (MSAP) project. Detailed step-by-step directions
are given so you will be able incorporate these steps into your project. The project to be
completed looks like this:

Mintec, Inc.
Global
Mining Figure 1. General situation.

Software The ore zone is shown in the tan. There are two levels, which are 300 feet apart. What
Solutions needs to happen is for a ramp to be driven between these two levels. The centerline of the
Since ramp is shown in cyan. The ore zone then has to be accessed at even vertical intervals for
1970 the production drilling. The proposal is to establish regular intervals so the drill distance
is no more than 40 feet from the back to the sill above. Haulage is to be done from draw
points on the lower established level.

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Underground Design and Scheduling

Figure 2. Various development details.

Figure 2 shows all the necessary development required for this project. The development
includes a number of ventilation raises and some secondary draw points on the second sub
level. Mintec, Inc.
To do this, the development would be laid out as centerlines for the various development Global
headings. Using MineSight 3-D (MS3D) tools such as the Ramp Editor, the grade of each Mining
heading is controlled to a maximum of 10%. The distance to the ore zone is kept to a Software
minimum using the Nearest Element dialog. The various levels can be digitized by placing Solutions
the Edit Grid at the appropriate elevation and setting the volume controller to a small Since
distance, then simply tracing out the midpoints of the ore zone while keeping the Snap 1970
mode set to the plane. Each centerline, as it is digitized, is given a name that can be related
back to some logical sequence. The ramp and major headings are also further broken down
into segments and are named appropriately. The ore zone drifts are broken into East and
West segments relative to their position to the access crosscut. All of these various headings
can be considered as potential locations for simultaneous development. The East and West
headings could be driven at the same time. The key is to maintain close attention to how the

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 Underground Design and Scheduling

headings will be driven and to how you might want to see the various segments broken out
in a schedule.
The next step is to attach the solids to the centerlines to represent the respective headings.
All haulages and crosscuts will have a 10’ x 9’ arch shape. All drawpoints will have a 10’ x 8’
arch shape. All ventilation raises will have a 6’ x 6’ square shape. All ramps will have a 15’ x
12’ arch shape.
When these solids are attached, they can be named in a manner that will allow us to
transfer lengths into MineSight Interactive Planner (MSIP), and eventually MSAP. For
this project, all of the centerlines were attributed with element names that described the
heading represented. This allowed the use of the following naming scheme for the attach
template tool:

Figure 3. Setup for including the polyline length in the element name
for the solid.

This created a format for naming that would display the original heading name, followed by
a colon and the length of the polyline. For example, a line with the attributed name 15 + 275
sub W and a length of 152.33’ would have the name “15 + 275 sub W :152:33”, as shown in
the figure below.

Mintec, Inc.
Global
Mining
Software
Solutions
Since
1970

Figure 4. All polylines have had the appropriate solid attached, and have been named according to the original element name
and the length of the centerline.

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Underground Design and Scheduling

Now that we have attached solids to the polylines, we can import the solids into MSIP. The
Area and Material Set tabs should be set up appropriately for the site; any setup should
work fine for this example. Under Design Cuts, import the cuts into MSIP using the Import
Multiple option, and select all of the solids that were generated. This will bring all of the
cuts into MSIP, with the previously attributed name containing the heading name and the
length, as shown in the picture below:

Figure 5. Once the cuts have been imported into MSIP, they will retain the element name as the cut name by default. These
segments can later be broken apart, allowing us to have individual attributes for each.

The next step is to create an attribute to hold the length value, as well as some other
attributes that will be useful to us down the line. To create attributes, go to the Attributes
tab, and select Create/Edit. This will bring up the dialog shown below, which allows us to
create new attributes and edit old ones.
Mintec, Inc.
Global
Mining
Software
Solutions
Since
1970

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 Underground Design and Scheduling

Figure 6. The Create/Edit

attribute dialog.

We will want to create three attributes here: Start, End, and Length. Start and End are
attributes that will hold the starting and ending of mining for a particular cut, to be assigned
later in MSAP. For these attributes, select the appropriate name and select Date as the Attr
Type, then click Add/Change to add each one. For the Length attribute, we want to specify
“Length” as the name and “Real” as the type. It is vital that this attribute is entered as name
“Length” (case sensitive), because this attribute name is hard wired into the script we will
use to populate the attribute.
We will also need to activate these three attributes for the cuts in question. To do this, close
the Create/Edit attribute dialog. Under the attribute tab in MSIP, select Add. Check the
boxes next to all three attributes that we created (Start, End, and Length), and hit Add.
Now, all of the cuts under the Cuts tab will have these attributes associated with them.

Mintec, Inc. Now, we will want to run the script updateAttribFromCutname.py from the Scripts
tab. Upon running, this script will cut the :length value from the end of each cut name, and
Global
assign this value to the Length attribute. See the picture below to see how the Cut Name
Mining and Length attributes have changed:
Software
Solutions
Since
1970

Figure 7. The :length at the end of the Cut Name has been removed,
and used to populate the Length attribute.

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Underground Design and Scheduling

Once this information has been prepared from your mining plan, you are ready to set
up your MSAP project. To start MSAP, go to the MineSight menu and select the Activity
Planner item.

Figure 8. Starting MSAP from within MS3D.

Once MSAP has started, you will need to select the resource types in the Dictionary, or click
on the resource types icon on the bottom line.

Mintec, Inc.
Global
Mining
Software
Solutions
Since
1970

Figure 9. Opening the

Resource Types dialog
in MSAP.

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 Underground Design and Scheduling

For this particular project, we will define four resource types.

Headings—these are the mining headings that were planned out in MS3D in the
earlier steps.
Lateral Development—a category that defines horizontal development headings
(drifts).
Vertical Development—a category that defines vertical development headings
(raises).
Inclined Development—a category that defines other headings (ramps).
All that is needed is to type in the name and click the Add button.

Figure 10. Example of defined Resource Types in

MSAP.

When completed you will have a list similar to the picture above. The resources should all
be 0 at this point.
The next step is to define the units that you will be using in the project. Units like feet per
day for drift advance and total feet for length of headings. In the dictionary section, click the
attributes, or click the button on the bottom line.

Mintec, Inc.
Global
Mining
Software
Solutions
Since
1970

Figure 11. Opening the

Attributes dialog in
MSAP.

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Underground Design and Scheduling

For this project, LENGTH has been defined as a size attribute using units of feet. Three
different development attributes have been defined; these are all rate type in feet per day.
LOCATION has been defined as a string; this would be a name label for the name of the
development heading.
It is now time to define the association of the resource types (categories) and the units
(attributes). This is done in the dictionary section where the attributes are assigned, or by
clicking the icon on the bottom line.

Figure 12. Opening the Assign Attributes dialog in MSAP.

Here is how the Attributes are assigned:

Resource Type Attributes Type Mintec, Inc.
Headings Length Location SIZE Global
Lateral Development Level development RATE Mining
Vertical Development Raise development RATE Software
Inclined development Ramp development RATE Solutions
Since
1970

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 Underground Design and Scheduling

An Example of a RATE attribute assignment is shown in the picture below:

Figure 13. Assigning attributes to

Resource Types in MSAP.

Now, we have to create physical activity types from the resource types and attributes. This
is done from the Dictionary menu, or by clicking the icon on the bottom line.

Mintec, Inc.
Global
Mining
Software
Solutions
Since
1970

Figure 14. Opening the Activity Types

dialog in MSAP.

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Underground Design and Scheduling

For example, the activity type DRIFTING has a resource type of Lateral Development and
an attribute of the rate for level development. Each of the activity types has the resource
type HEADINGS included in its definition.
Activity Type Resource type Attributes
DRIFTING Lateral Development Length, Location, Level
development
RAISING Vertical Development Length, Location, Raise
development
RAMPING Inclined Development Length, Location, Ramp
development
The next action is to prepare the schedule of activities. First up are the resource types. The
resource type is different from the dictionary resources; these resource types have specific
rates (feet per day) that are used to compute the duration of the mining activities.
To add resources, select the Add Resource item from the Schedule menu, or click the icon
on the bottom line.

Mintec, Inc.
Global
Mining
Software
Solutions
Figure 15. Opening the Add New Resource dialog in MSAP.
Since
This example shows where the inclined development type has been selected. It has been 1970
given an obvious name of Main Ramp, from the previously assigned attributes of ramp
development. In this dialog, there is a place to assign a development rate of 20 feet per day
to the main ramp.

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 Underground Design and Scheduling

The other resources are set up as listed in the following table.

Resource Type Resource Name Values
Inclined Development Main Ramp 20 feet per day
Vertical Development Raises 6 feet per day
Lateral Development Crosscuts 15 feet per day
Lateral Development Level Undercuts 10 feet per day
You can see how the Lateral Development is broken up into two different Resource
names with different rates. In this way, you can build quite a bit of flexibility into your
scheduling with some basic resource definitions.
Now, we are ready to import our headings from MSIP into the MSAP project to create the
activities we are going to schedule. Using the steps below, cuts can be imported from MSIP
into MSAP:
1. Open the Import Resources dialog from the Schedule | Import Resources | Add/
Edit/Delete menu

Figure 16. Opening the Import

Resources dialog in MSAP.

2. Select SQL Server as the Type, and check the Import from MSIP checkbox.

Figure 17. Defining the import method for importing resources into MSAP.

3. Choose the SQL Server containing the SQL database you wish to import from, and
Mintec, Inc. enter any authentication information.
Global
Mining
Software
Solutions
Since
Figure 18. Selecting the SQL server and authentication method for importing resources.
1970
4. Use the dropdown menus to select the database you wish to import from, and then
the MSIP set you wish to import from.

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Underground Design and Scheduling

Figure 19. Defining the database and MSIP plan from which to import resources.

5. Select the materials and cutoffs you wish to import. For the purpose of this
example, we will be importing all materials and cutoffs.

Figure 20. Selecting materials and cutoff grades to import from the MSIP plan.

6. Navigate to the Field Mapping tab on the Import Resources dialog. Here we
will map MSIP attributes to the corresponding MSAP attribute. Begin by selecting
HEADINGS as the Resource Type, then map the fields as shown in the figure
below:

Mintec, Inc.
Global
Mining
Software
Solutions
Since
1970

Figure 21. Mapping attributes from imported MSIP cuts to attributes in MSAP.

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 Underground Design and Scheduling

7. To import the attributes as mapped, click the Import button and select the Import
and Create New Plan option. Save the plan with a given name so that these input
parameters can be restored at a later time if necessary. We will need this plan saved
for when we export dates back to MSIP following scheduling.

Figure 22. Importing the resources and saving the import plan.

Once this is done, click the planning board button, and from the pull down select
HEADINGS and you should see the list of headings in the resource column.

Mintec, Inc.
Global
Mining
Software
Solutions
Since
1970
Figure 23. MSAP planning board with heading imported.

The next step will be to add activities to our schedule using the resources we have imported
and the resource activity types we defined in the dictionary steps.
First, highlight one of the headings in the resource list. Next, go to Schedule | Add Activity
or click the icon on the bottom line, and select the activity type that suits the development

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Underground Design and Scheduling

heading you selected. In the example case, the 15 +157 West drift was selected, so the
obvious activity type would be drifting.

Figure 24. Adding a new activity in MSAP.

Once this is done, the Add New Activity dialog opens. On the Schedule tab you may select
a starting date for this activity. If you don’t know the date, don’t worry you can adjust the
dates very easily in the MSAP planning board later on. Clicking on the Start Date brings up
a handy calendar.

Mintec, Inc.
Global
Mining
Software
Solutions
Since
1970

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 Underground Design and Scheduling

Figure 25. The Add New Activity dialog, with calendar shown.

Next, we must define the resources associated with the activity. Navigate to the Resources
tab, and select HEADINGS from the dropdown list. A list of the imported headings will fill
up the selection window. In this example, we are working with the 15 + 157 West drift, so
put a check mark in the box next to this heading. Click the check box where it says Specify
Consumed Size, and then click the Add to Activity button.
In the field below, a heading with a consumed size will pop in the list. The consumed size is
the length of the heading that was exported from MSIP.

Mintec, Inc.
Global
Mining
Software
Solutions
Since
1970

Figure 26. In the Add

New Activity dialog, a
drift is associated with
the particular activity.

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Underground Design and Scheduling

Next select LATERAL DEVELOPMENT from the dropdown list. Here, we will associate the
selected heading with one of the mining rates that was defined previously.

Figure 27. In the Add New Activity dialog, a development type is associated with the activity.

Check next to Level Undercuts (one of the previously defined rates). Next, check the
box for Compute Duration. Also, fill in a descriptive name in the Name box; this would
probably be the name of the heading. Clicking the Add To Activity button will add this line
to the bottom panel, and the duration of the task is calculated based on the size and rate of
the drifting.

Mintec, Inc.
Global
Mining
Software
Solutions
Since
1970

Figure 28. In the Add New Activity dialog, a duration is calculated for mining.

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 Underground Design and Scheduling

Now click the Add button on the bottom of the panel, then click the Done button.
You should now see an activity in the planning board view of MSAP.

Figure 29. The new activity is displayed as a bar on the planning board.

Now it is a matter of repeating the above steps for the rest of your imported resources.
Apply the appropriate development rate and activity type to each.
When you have completed adding all of the activities your planning board should look like
this:

Mintec, Inc.
Global
Mining
Software
Solutions
Since
1970 Figure 30. The MSAP planning board after all activities have been scheduled for this project.

The order in which the various activities appear may not be suitable to what you want to
show in your schedule. To move an activity, highlight the name in the resource column and
click the up or down arrows to move the activity to the desired position.

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Underground Design and Scheduling

Figure 31. Resources can be moved up and down by clicking the arrows.

To adjust the position of the activity date, simply highlight the activity bar, hold down your
left mouse button and slide the activity left or right.

Mintec, Inc.
Global
Mining
Software
Solutions
Figure 32. The position of resources in time can be adjusted by a left-click drag to the left or right.
Since
Notice when sliding the activities left and right, a light blue line occasionally appears. This 1970
line occurs when the end of an activity coincides with the beginning of the activity you are
moving. As you move your activities, watch for the blue line to appear, then release the
mouse button. Your activities are now aligned correctly so there is no overlap between them.

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 Underground Design and Scheduling

Figure 33. A blue bar indicates the end of a previous activity.

Now we will check out some of the options in the schedule. Go to the Edit dropdown menu,
and select the Work Calendar item. A calendar will appear; by default, all of the days in
the calendar are working days. An operation may have non-working days defined. In this
example, Sunday is a non-working day.

Mintec, Inc.
Global
Mining
Software
Solutions
Since
1970

Figure 34. The work calendar can be defined depending on the mine’s operating schedule.

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Underground Design and Scheduling

To set Sunday (or any other day) as a non-working day, highlight the first S in the calendar,
and then click the radio button Nonworking time. Now every Sunday will be a non-
working day. The length of the activities on the Planning Board will be adjusted to reflect
this change.

Figure 35. Nonworking days can be specified by day of the week.

The other thing you might want to do with your calendar is set aside certain days as
designated holidays. For example, let’s say you decided that February 14 should be a holiday.
Click on the specific day on the calendar and then click the radio button Nonworking time.
This will assign that specific day as a holiday.

Mintec, Inc.
Global
Mining
Software
Solutions
Since
1970

Figure 36. Nonworking days can also be specified by a specific date.

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 Underground Design and Scheduling

Now that you have a reasonable schedule created, you may create a large wall print-out of
the schedule using your plotter. There are various reports that can be generated listing dates
and times that various headings will be developed.
Another useful tool that MSAP has is a chart of the daily development rates. To set up the
chart summary, click on the Chart Summary button, and select an activity type. You should
now see a view similar to the one in the picture below.
This view contains a daily summary of level development with your scheduled activities.
The average advance is 10 feet per day, but you can see in June there is a peak of 26 feet per
day. This shows that you may have a possible schedule conflict with too much development
proposed for that period. You may not have the equipment or resources at you disposal to
achieve that rate and scheduled activities.

Figure 37. The Chart Summary view in MSAP.

You can easily solve the problem by moving activities in the chart and watching the
resulting graphical display in the bottom portion of the schedule. To solve this particular
Mintec, Inc. problem, the 15 + 45 East drift will be moved to a couple weeks later in June or early July.
Global To do this, select the green activity bar with your mouse (left click) and slide it to the right.
Watch the bar graph at the bottom to see if this schedule adjustment will correct the daily
Mining
advance rate.
Software
Solutions
Since
1970

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Underground Design and Scheduling

Figure 38. The Chart Summary view can be used to normalize planned mining rates.

The daily rate has now been reduced to a manageable 15 feet advance per day by simply
adjusting one of the headings by two weeks.
Once the schedule has been completely set up, we can export starting and ending date
information from MSAP back into the MSIP attributes we created earlier.
This can be done using the following steps:
1. Select the Export Dates to MSIP option under the Schedule menu.

Figure 39. Opening the Export Dates to MSIP dialog.

Mintec, Inc.
2. Under Import Plan, select the plan saved when importing data from MSIP.
Global
Mining
Software
Solutions
Since
1970

Figure 40. Selecting the import plan to use for

exporting dates to MSIP.

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 Underground Design and Scheduling

3. For activity type, select All. We will also need to map the Activity Start and
Activity End fields to MSIP attributes as shown below.

Figure 41. You can specify which types of activities

to export dates for, and which attributes to map the
activity start and end dates to.

4. Once this is done, select Export to export the dates back to MSIP. This should
automatically update the attributes for the scheduled cuts, as shown below from
MSIP:

Figure 42. Once the dates have been exported back to MSIP, they are visible from the Cuts tab in the Design Cuts dialog.

Once the start and end dates are exported back to MSIP, we can use a Geometry View to
show a color coded view of cuts based on the month in which development starts or ends.
To do this, create a new Geometry View object specifying the MSIP set with which you are
working. Once the view has been created, right click on the object in the Data Manager, and
go to properties. Here, select style by Material, and use End as the attribute. Set up cutoffs,
and click OK.

Mintec, Inc.
Global
Mining
Software
Solutions
Since
1970

Figure 43. Setting up the Geometry View

properties to display by a specified cutoff.

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Underground Design and Scheduling

Now, you should have each cut colored depending on when it is mined, similar to the image
below:

Figure 44. Screen capture of a Geometry View object with cutoff by length.

Mintec, Inc.
Global
Mining
Software
Solutions
Since
1970

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