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

Native copper is an element and a mineral. It is found in the oxidized zones of copper deposits; in hydrothermal veins; in the cavities of basalt that have been in contact with hydrothermal solutions; and as pore fillings and replacements in conglomerates that have been in contact with hydrothermal solutions. It is rarely found in large quantities, thus it is seldom the primary target of a mining operation. Most copper produced is extracted from sulfide deposits - "Geology.com"

For those of you who weren't able to install Deon's blasting programme on your computer, have a look at his YouTube video. It illustrates what you can expect from the programme, which is a portion of the information from the blasting ticket curriculum, on your very own computer... To install the programme, kindly click on the link below... "https://drive.google.com/open?id=1xD-rPlftR-fHcGAYT2wegI5LVtdCSA_3" Alternatively send Deon a mail: deondupreez079@gmail.com He's a super friendly chap and makes the best coffee in the west!!

Cortez gold mine located 100km south-west of Elko, in Lander County, Nevada, US, is currently the ninth largest gold mine in the world. The mine contains a gold reserve of 15.1Moz (306.19Mt grading 0.049oz/t gold), including 2.089Moz of proven and 12.969Moz of probable gold reserves. Cortez gold mine is owned and operated by Barrick Gold. Gold production from Cortez started in 1969. The mine employs both open-pit and underground mining methods. Gold from Cortez open pit, Pipeline and South Pipeline deposits are extracted through conventional open-pit methods. The Cortez Hills underground mine is operated by twin declines. Underhand cut and fill mining method is used to exploit the breccia or

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

Ever struggled to predict what your deposit's production throughput will be, without having mine designs, Whittle shells or a schedule? If you have the deposit's tonnes, mr Taylor might be of assistance... H. K. Taylor, a mining engineer working with Placer Development Limited, proposed "Taylor's Law" at a mine valuation and feasibility study seminar in Spokane, Washington in 1976. This rule was then published in 1977. Taylor based the empirical rule off of nearly 30 mining projects, mostly young mines. Subsequently the rule has been refined for particular mining applications as can be seen in the illustration; however most scoping studies start off with the "unknown" or original parameters

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 Terex MT 5500AC, also known as the Unit Rig MT 5500AC, ranks as the seventh biggest mining dump truck in the world. The 360t payload capacity vehicle is used for high volume surface mining. The maximum gross vehicle weight of Terex MT 5500AC is 598t. The overall length is 14.87m, while the width and loading height are 9.05m and 7.67m respectively. The vehicle is powered by a four-stroke Diesel engine rated at 3,000HP with 16 cylinders. The vehicle uses AC electric drive system and travels at a maximum speed of 64km/h - 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:/

This illustration from Caterpillar shows typical haul road design considerations for a dual-carriage road. What's your mines standard for haul road width in terms of dual-carriage roads?

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!

Zoisite and clinozoisite are minerals that form during the regional metamorphism and hydrothermal alteration of igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary rocks. In those environments they are found in massive form and as prismatic crystals in veins that cut schists and marbles. They are also found as crystals in pegmatites that form on the margins of igneous bodies. The two minerals are dimorphs - they share the same chemical composition but have a different crystal structure. Zoisite is the orthorhombic form of Ca2Al3(SiO4)(Si2O7)O(OH) and clinozoisite is the monoclinic form. The minerals have extremely similar physical properties and can be very difficult to tell apart in hand specimens unless

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

Mponeng gold mine located near the town of Carletonville, South Africa, ranks as the tenth largest gold mine in the world. The contained gold reserve of Mponeng was estimated to be 13.81Moz (42.52Mt grading 10.10g/t gold), as of December 2012. Mponeng is owned and operated by AngloGold Ashanti. The underground gold mine is also currently the deepest mine in the world with a depth of more than four kilometres below the surface. The Mponeng gold mine produced 405,000oz of gold in 2012. The mine uses a sequential grid mining method. The gold plant complex and the shafts at Mponeng were commissioned in 1986 - Mining Technology. To view the mine in Google Earth, kindly click on the link below: “h

We all know what a mining truck looks like in its natural habitat - an open pit. Ever wondered if you release that truck into our urban environment, what that would look like...? Or what would it look like if your spouse and kids stood next to it, posing for a picture...? With the help of my good friend Deon we created a mobile app where you can do just that - explore the splendour of a heavy mining truck, right in your back yard, or anywhere for that matter. The ANDROID version can be download for free from the Google Play Store: "https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.schoolofrock.MineTruckAR&hl=en" The iOS version is on its way!

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...

The Belaz 75600 is currently the eighth largest mining dump truck in the world. It is the first generation model of Belaz’s 7560 class mining trucks designed for transporting rock-mass at deep open-pit mines under different climate conditions. The haul truck offers a payload capacity of 352t. The maximum gross weight of Belaz 75600 is 617t. The overall length, width and loading height are 14.9m, 9.6m and 7.47m respectively. The vehicle is powered by a four-cycle turbocharged diesel engine with 18 v-type cylinders. The gross power output of the engine is 3,500HP. The traction alternator for the vehicle is provided by Kato and the traction motors are provided by Siemens. Maximum travel speed o

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:/

Doing a pit optimisation for a client, I realised you can utilise 2 different beneficiation plants by cleverly setting up the expressions. The material above the higher cut-off grade (COG) gets "dispatched" first and committed to that plant. That material is then taken care of. The remaining material above the lower COG is then "dispatched" to the other plant, leaving the remaining material as waste. The beauty comes in the reporting where Whittle clearly shows you the tonnes moved to the different plants, the grades from the 2 plants, the yields, the associated costs as well as revenues...

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