For a sneak peek, have a look at the video below... Watch this space!

Last week my good friend Deon shared a video clip of his demo 3D Blasting Ticket programme. Following a huge demand for exploring the programme, Deon has graciously decided to make his demo programme available to anyone who wishes to experience this new way of learning on their own computer. It's as simple as clicking on the download link below, reading the instructions file, and literally bringing the mine to your very own computer. The clatter of the jack hammers is a nice touch Deon! "https://drive.google.com/open?id=1xD-rPlftR-fHcGAYT2wegI5LVtdCSA_3"

Battling with the software to set up a mining schedule? We all know the feeling... when you're losing precious time because of fighting the software instead of running iterations and scenarios... You will never have confidence in your schedule if you do not have 2 or 3 scenarios to test the flex of your system. Your superiors want a number of options, not just one answer. RPMGlobal's XPAC Solutions products allows you to do just that - run scenarios instead of suffering in silence. Allow me to help your suffering. "info@schoolofrockmining.com"

Calcite is a rock-forming mineral with a chemical formula of CaCO3. It is extremely common and found throughout the world in sedimentary, metamorphic, and igneous rocks. Some geologists consider it to be a "ubiquitous mineral" - one that is found everywhere. Calcite is the principal constituent of limestone and marble. These rocks are extremely common and make up a significant portion of Earth's crust. They serve as one of the largest carbon repositories on our planet. The properties of calcite make it one of the most widely used minerals. It is used as a construction material, abrasive, agricultural soil treatment, construction aggregate, pigment, pharmaceutical and more. It has more uses t

Don't have a university degree or diploma, but want to further your career in mining and hit that next promotion...? Don't have the means to travel to a far-off location to complete a mining course...? Or maybe you're a scholar and want to study Mining one day, but you have no clue what Mining is about...? Then consider the Mining for Non-miners course. The course was developed by the friendly people at RPMGlobal, one of the global leaders in mine planning software. The guys at RPMGlobal used their incredible breadth of knowledge to develop an on-line course, that is available for 365 days once downloaded. The course covers the whole mining industry spectrum from geology, mine planning, min

Cerro Verde copper mine, located 20 miles south-west of Arequipa in Peru, is the seventh largest copper mine in the world. The open-pit mine was estimated to contain 12.9Mt of recoverable copper at the end of 2012. It produced 270,000t of copper in 2012. The Cerro Verde copper mining complex includes a concentrator facility with ore milling capacity of 120,000tpd and a solvent extraction and electro-winning (SXEW) facility. A large-scale expansion plan is underway to raise the concentrator capacity up to 360,000tpd by 2016. Cerro Verde has been operational since 1976. Freeport-McMoRan (FCX), holding a 53.56% interest, is the operator of Cerro Verde. Other stakeholders of the mine include SMM

Last week my good friend Deon shared a video clip of his demo 3D Blasting Ticket programme. Following a huge demand for exploring the programme, Deon has graciously decided to make his demo programme available to anyone who wishes to experience this new way of learning on their own computer. It's as simple as clicking on the download link below, reading the instructions file, and literally bringing the mine to your very own computer. The clatter of the jack hammers is a nice touch Deon! "https://drive.google.com/open?id=1xD-rPlftR-fHcGAYT2wegI5LVtdCSA_3"

The pic is a screenshot from the MinePresentAR app. If you were the planning manager, would you accept the pit design? Are the design results close enough to the shell results, or do you feel there is still more value on the table, or shall I say in the ground...

Remember that Geotech plays a significant role in your mine design, and has a huge influence on your mine's economics! The more competent your host rock, the steeper the overall slope angle should be, and the lower the strip ratio.

Ever wondered if you have the correct truck fleet for your loaders? If you widened that single carriage portions of road to dual carriage, is the investment worth it? What effect will decreasing max speeds have on the system's throughput? Using RPMGlobal's HAULSIM tool, the School of Rock can run a simulation study for your mine, answering these typical questions. Kindly send me a mail at: info@schoolofrockmining.com and I'll gladly assist.

The CAT 994H, the newest model in Caterpillar’s 994 class wheel loaders, is fitted with a 14m³ to 36m³ bucket and a 1,463hp (1,078kw) engine, as well as offers a rated payload of 34,473kg at standard lift. This makes it the 5th largest front-end loader in the world. The operating weight of the wheel loader is 195t. The Cat 994H loader equipped with super-high lift boom configuration offering a 22.2ft dump clearance and 10.5ft dumping reach. It can be used for centre-loading of Cat 785, 789 and 793 haulage trucks of rated payload capacities ranging between 136t and 226t - Mining Technology.

My good friend Deon has created this demo video of how blasting ticket examinations can be conducted using 3D technology. The idea is that students complete an oral examination using his computer programme, so while you're walking down the haulage you describe how you will test for ventilation, and inspect explosives boxes etc. So instead of going to a mine for the test, let the mine come to you! Give Deon a call for more details: +27 79 517 2000, or send him a mail at: deondupreez079@gmail.com

A big congratulations to Arinao, Nkiyasi, Zander and Ntsako for completing the Basic Mine Design & Mine Scheduling courses this week. These guys were extremely impressive in the gusto they showed, especially this time of year. The 2 groups were very competitive to win the prizes, and in the end, it was team AZ that had the best mine design and LoM schedule. I wish these awesome individuals all the best in their careers!!

Bornite is a copper iron sulfide mineral with a chemical composition of Cu5FeS4. It occurs in igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary rocks. Minable concentrations of bornite occur in hydrothermal veins, contact metamorphic zones, and in the enriched zone of many sulfide mineral deposits. Chalcopyrite, marcasite, and pyrite are other sulfide minerals commonly associated with bornite. Small amounts of bornite are also found disseminated through mafic igneous rocks and carbonaceous shales - "Geology.com"

The Radomiro Tomic copper mine is located in the Atacama Desert of Northern Chile and is the eighth largest copper mine in the world. The open-pit mine was estimated to contain 12.1Mt of fine copper (2,567Mt of ore reserve grading 0.47% copper) at the beginning of 2013. The porphyry copper deposit was discovered in 1952 and has been operational since 1998. It is the first mine to be developed entirely by the state-owned Codelco and produced 427,791t of copper and molybdenum in 2012. Construction work for the Radomiro Tomic Copper Sulphide Mine – Phase I was completed in June 2010 with an investment of $370m. A crushing system was installed as part of this phase, to haul up to 100,000t of sul

MinePresentAR is a unique Augmented Reality demonstration app designed specifically for the mining industry. It showcases a brand-new way of communicating a mining project to the local mining community. The app takes the viewer from the current landscape, to the geology, to the pit optimisation, to the surface infrastructure, and finally to the very end of the LoM schedule. This app serves as an example of how the School of Rock can help you promote communication of your mining project. To download the app, simply click on the link below from your mobile device: ANDROID (Samsung8 or newer): "https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.SchoolofRock.MinePresentAR" iOS (Iphone 6 or newer)

When up-blocking to a specified SMU (smallest mining unit) size, I always tend to forget which parameter to use for weighted averages (WA). A friend of mine reminded me to use the diagram as illustrated below: you work with the bottom variables to do the weighting. So if you want to calc the WA of relative density (RD), you use Volume as the WA. Volume and Mass however are additive variables, so you just add them to calc your new up-blocked Volume and Mass. Likewise for Yield, you calc the WA by using the Run-of-Mine mass (RoM). The qualities are a bit easier: for Run-of-Mine (RoM) qualities, you use RoM mass as the WA. For Product qualities, you use Product Mass as your WA.

Joy Global’s P&H L-1150 wheel loader is ranked as the 6th largest front-end loader in the world. It was originally introduced by LeTourneau in 2008, and is equipped with a 23m3 bucket and 1,205hp (899kW) engine. The payload offered by the front-end loader at standard lift is 34,473kg. The loader’s operating weight is 140t. P&H L-1150 offers up to 20.7ft dump clearance and 9.5ft of dumping reach. It is targeted for loading operations into 136t to 181t capacity haulage trucks - Mining Technology.

This educational clip from Flocabulary explains how igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks are formed, how to identify a rock’s type and how the rock cycle can change one type of rock into another. Mine planning is after all about getting the rocks out, so might as well understand them a bit better... This clip is also featured in the Mining for Non-miners online course offered by RPMGlobal. Kindly click on the link below for more details: "https://www.schoolofrockmining.com/online-courses"

Biotite is a name used for a large group of black mica minerals that are commonly found in igneous and metamorphic rocks. These include annite, phlogopite, siderophyllite, fluorophlogopite, fluorannite, eastonite, and many others. These micas vary in chemical composition but are all sheet silicate minerals with very similar physical properties. A generalized chemical composition for the biotite group is: K(Mg,Fe)2-3Al1-2Si2-3O10(OH,F)2 The name "biotite" is used in the field and in entry-level geology courses because these minerals generally cannot be distinguished without optical, chemical, or x-ray analysis - "Geology.com"