PRESS RELEASE: The latest version of the Vulcan 3-D geological modelling, mine design and production planning solution offers new and enhanced features, catering to Maptek's 19,000 Vulcan users.
Announcing the Vulcan 11 global release, Maptek managing director Peter Johnson said the software company has made its mark with practical, intuitive solutions around aspects of technology that are important to mining stakeholders.
"We've racked up 37 years of feature-packed Vulcan releases and we're not stopping anytime soon.
"Alongside new functionality, we have built exceptional visualisation tools to help users analyse their data. The insights gained translate into better business decisions."
Vulcan 11 comes with new functionality in Vulcan Data Analyser and the introduction of Kriging Neighbourhood Analysis (KNA) in the grade estimation workflow. According to Maptek, KNA is fast and intuitive to set up and run, and the optimised KNA settings can be fed directly into a grade estimation run.
Resource geologists will be able to adopt these new options to automate workflows for estimation and simulation.
Mine planning updates in Vulcan 11 focus heavily on greater efficiency in reserving and preparing data for scheduling. Engineers can take advantage of improved flexibility in ramp design when creating highwall templates, including the ability to incorporate multiple ramps.
Open Pit Solids and Mining Block Generation enhancements tighten the connectivity between mine planning and scheduling. The workflow-based approach for strip mines ensures reliable output applicable to all Maptek mine planning and scheduling solutions.
Mining block generation employs a simple, repeatable process, while maintaining flexibility for easy updating when running calculations. Users can select any accumulation variable, such as in-situ metals or volume, to apply as a target.
Maptek said customers are experiencing dramatic improvements in outcomes due to increased speed for resolving samples in grade control and the ability to use Perl and Python scripts in grade estimation.
Grade Control Optimiser, released in 2017, includes improvements to the core optimisation engine, which guarantees locally optimal results.
Vulcan 11 also introduces an automated panel caving design process for creating 3-D CAD level production and sink level mining designs. The option takes into account geometric, technical and operational parameters. Speed of design and generation of alternative scenarios for evaluation are features of the new tool that also feeds into the strategic Maptek CaveLogic application.
