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. With almost a decade of open pit scheduling experience allow me to help you create options for your company, so you can make informed decisions, and understand the risks with confidence!

Chromite is an oxide mineral composed of chromium, iron, and oxygen (FeCr2O4). It is dark gray to black in color with a metallic to submetallic luster and a high specific gravity. It occurs in basic and ultrabasic igneous rocks and in the metamorphic and sedimentary rocks that are produced when chromite-bearing rocks are altered by heat or weathering. Chromite is important because it is the only economic ore of chromium, an essential element for a wide variety of metal, chemical, and manufactured products. Many other minerals contain chromium, but none of them are found in deposits that can be economically mined to produce chromium - "Geology.com".

How sure are you that your mine designs have the minimum number of switchbacks? Have you tested the impact of having one switchback less, how that reduces your strip ratio and down-the-line costs, not to mention the health & safety of your employees ...? What about your benches & stacks, do they honour the geotechnical slope angles to prevent slope failure...? Your ramp systems on your interim high-walls - do they tie up with your final design and serve as dual access for that rainy day when you need it most...? Difficult questions I know, but prevention is better than cure as they say. Using state-of-the-art mine design software and almost a decade of design experience, I can help you sleep

Collahuasi copper mine 180km south-east of the port of Iquique in northern Chile ranks as the third largest copper mine in the world. Proven and probable copper reserves of the open-pit mine as of December 2012 stood at 25.895Mt. The mine produced 282,096t of copper in 2012, accounting for 5.1% of Chile’s total copper output. Collahuasi copper mine is owned and operated by Compañía Minera Doña Inés de Collahuasi, a joint venture between Anglo American (44%), Xstrata (44%) and a consortium of Japanese companies led by Mitsui (12%). The mine produced 245,288t of copper concentrates and 36,808t of copper cathodes in 2012. It has been in operation since 1999. It exploits three mineral deposits,

Slightly behind already on this year’s budgeted tonnes…? You have catch-up strategies in place, but your team is not convinced that it will work…? One of the strategies might be pulling in that spare excavator, but will your truck fleet cope with the additional loading capacity…? With years of experience with RPMGlobal’s HAULSIM package, allow me to help you run a calibrated simulation of your mine’s actual loader fleet, truck fleet, road network, infrastructure, maintenance strategy, and irregular stoppages. HAULSIM allows you to run scenarios and make an informed decision based on facts, and not just hoping for the best…

The mining industry is notorious for its volatile nature as commodity prices fluctuate. History shows that it's the companies that can adjust to the market changes the quickest that lead the pack. Mining on a 5-year old mine design that was based on a Whittle shell all those years ago can mean you're either leaving value in the ground, or more detrimental, you're now mining in areas where profitability is going South... With almost a decade of Whittle open pit optimisation experience I can help you dust off that old Whittle model, and make sure your mine is set up to run at maximum profitability under current economic conditions... Doesn't hurt to make sure now does it...

Joy Global’s P&H L-2350 has a 40.52m³ capacity shovel bucket and offers a payload of 72,574kg and is the world's biggest front-end loader. Powered by a 2,300hp (1,715kW) engine, the rubber tired giant loader, with 272t operating weight, up to 26.4ft dump clearance and 11.5ft reach at full lift, is designed for centre loading of ultra-class haul trucks of 363t or higher payload capacity. The front-end loader, originally designed and developed by LeTourneau Technologies, a subsidiary of the Rowan Companies based in the US, was introduced in October 2000. Joy Global acquired LeTourneau Technologies from Rowan Companies for $1.1bn in May 2011 - Mining Technology.

These days we live in an age where almost every job is carried out with the aid of a computer software programme. Companies require job applicants to have software experience, and the mining industry is no different. But how do you apply for a position if you don't have any software experience? The mine planning courses offered by the School of Rock focuses specifically on exposing you to mining industry software, while learning the basics in a creative and stimulating way. During the courses you create a mine design as well as a mining schedule, something that comes in handy during that long-awaited job interview. For more information on the courses, kindly click on the link below: "https:/

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

"Chlorite" is the name of a group of common sheet silicate minerals that form during the early stages of metamorphism. Most chlorite minerals are green in color, have a foliated appearance, perfect cleavage, and an oily to soapy feel. They are found in igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary rocks. Chlorite minerals are found in rocks altered during deep burial, plate collisions, hydrothermal activity, or contact metamorphism. They are also found as retrograde minerals in igneous and metamorphic rocks that have been weathered. Rocks that commonly contain abundant chlorite include greenschist, phyllite, chlorite schist, and greenstone - "Geology.com"

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"

Located 80km north-east of Santiago in northern Chile, the Andina copper mine is the fourth biggest copper mine in the world by reserve. The mine was estimated to contain 18.8Mt of fine copper (2,551Mt of ore grading 0.74% copper) at the beginning of 2013. Andina is owned and operated by Chile’s state-owned Codelco (Corporacion Nacional del Cobre de Chile), the largest copper producing company in the world. The copper deposit was discovered in 1920 and mining operations began in 1970. The Andina mining operation consists of Río Blanco underground mine and the Sur open pit mine exploiting the Río Blanco deposit. The mine produced 249,861t of fine copper and molybdenum in 2012 - Mining Technol

A few weeks ago, 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! Deon's email address: deondupreez079@gmail.com Download link: "https://drive.google.com/open?id=1xD-rPlftR-fHcGAYT2wegI5LVtdCSA_3"

The P&H L-1850 front-end wheel loader, also from Joy Global, comes with 30.58m³ bucket and 2,000hp (1,491kW) engine, and is capable of scooping 54,431kg of load in standard lift configuration, and is the world's second largest front-end loader. The L-1850 wheel loader has an operating weight of 246t and provides up to 24.3ft of dump clearance and 10.7ft reach at full lift. It is ideal for centre-loading of haul trucks with rated payloads of between 218t and 327t - Mining Technology.

Stratification, the layering that occurs in most sedimentary rocks and in those igneous rocks formed at the Earth’s surface, as from lava flows and volcanic fragmental deposits. The layers range from several millimetres to many metres in thickness and vary greatly in shape. Strata may range from thin sheets that cover many square kilometres to thick lens-like bodies that extend only a few metres laterally - Encyclopaedia Britannica.

So, you had a consultant do mine planning work on your project - great. The consultant used a variety of specialised software packages to do e.g. a Pit Optimisation, Mine Designs and a Mining Schedule - great. The consultant gave you Excel spreadsheets, a PowerPoint presentation with screenshots and a Word document of the work - great. The consultant also showed you on his/her computer what the work looks like in the software - great. But eventually the friendly consultant leaves and you don't have the software to open the work and look again. What if the screenshots don't reveal the ramp you need to see? Or you need to show your colleague all the great work quickly and efficiently, without

Chalcopyrite is a brass-yellow mineral with a chemical composition of CuFeS2. It occurs in most sulfide mineral deposits throughout the world and has been the most important ore of copper for thousands of years. The surface of chalcopyrite loses its metallic lustre and brass-yellow colour upon weathering. It tarnishes to a dull, gray-green color, but in the presence of acids the tarnish can develop a red to blue to purple iridescence. The iridescent colours of weathered chalcopyrite attract attention. Some souvenir shops sell chalcopyrite that has been treated with acid as "peacock ore." But, "peacock ore" is a more appropriate name for the mineral bornite - "Geology.com"

The mining industry is notorious for its volatile nature as commodity prices fluctuate. History shows that it's the companies that can adjust to the market changes the quickest that lead the pack. Mining on a 5-year old mine design that was based on a Whittle shell all those years ago can mean you're either leaving value in the ground, or more detrimental, you're now mining in areas where profitability is going South... With almost a decade of Whittle open pit optimisation experience I can help you dust off that old Whittle model, and make sure your mine is set up to run at maximum profitability under current economic conditions... Doesn't hurt to make sure now does it...

Toquepala copper mine, situated 870km away from Lima in Southern Peru, ranks as the world’s fifth largest copper mine by reserve. The open-pit mine was estimated to contain 17.65Mt of copper reserve as of December 2012. Southern Copper Corporation (SCC), a subsidiary of Grupo Mexico, owns and operates the mine. Toquepala produced about 152,000t of copper in 2012, including 120,000t of copper concentrates and 32,000t of copper cathodes. Ore is extracted from the Toquepala porphyry copper deposit located in the southern-most Andes Mountains of Peru. The extracted ore is refined at an on-site concentrator with a milling capacity of 60,000tpd. The concentrate output is transported to the smelter

How sure are you that your mine designs have the minimum number of switchbacks? Have you tested the impact of having one switchback less, how that reduces your strip ratio and down-the-line costs, not to mention the health & safety of your employees ...? What about your benches & stacks, do they honour the geotechnical slope angles to prevent slope failure...? Your ramp systems on your interim high-walls - do they tie up with your final design and serve as dual access for that rainy day when you need it most...? Difficult questions I know, but prevention is better than cure as they say. Using state-of-the-art mine design software and almost a decade of design experience, I can help you sleep