PRESS RELEASE: SDC is a commercial, off-the-shelf software product built on harnessing RPM's scheduling solution XPAC.

Mining is a dynamic process and many factors contribute to the complexity of mine planning. With its SDC solution, RPM said, it is now possible to maximise productivity and coal recovery from steeply dipping coal seams.

Steeply dipping coal mines use the terrace mining method due to the nature of the coal seams within the deposit. These mines can be geologically complex, involve many thin seams and involve intricate coal mining methods. Therefore they present a number of challenges not encountered with traditional open-pit mines.

Despite this complex geology, SDC allows users to visualise the location and shape of every coal seam that intersects every bench, making schedules more practical and easier to communicate. The opportunities for backfilling in worked-out sections of the mine are considerable and the maintenance of adequate backfill space is essential when maximising haulage efficiency. Such situations require a more dynamic and flexible approach to the design of the mine.

RPM's CEO and managing director Richard Mathews commented: "XPAC is the industry standard for mine planning and scheduling and has been for 40+ years. Our Steeply Dipping Coal Solution is the 10th commodity-specific solution we have released. Consistent with our other solutions SDC was developed in collaboration with our key customers and strategic partners to ensure we were able to deliver a solution that the industry can benefit from immediately."

Built on XPAC's scheduling platform, the SDC process-driven solution has been designed to optimise how dynamic haulage can be used to model and provide accurate, cost-effective, alternative routes to both the worked-out areas and the conventional external pit dumps within a mine.

Mathews adeed: "The advanced scheduling platform handles the large data sets generated by today's mining operations, meaning that users aren't required to split their operation into many separate models in order to generate a working schedule. The scheduling platform also performs all scheduling functions in a single process rather than sequential scheduling steps. This is something no other scheduling application can deliver and a key advantage of the XPAC scheduling platform that delivers real value for users.

"The reserve model compatibilities in SDC are a game-changer. Previously if one reserving model changed, users would have to manually change every other model. As with all of RPM's XPAC Solutions, SDC users now have the ability to incorporate multiple reserving models together, regardless of what activities, fields or codes were originally used. This particularly benefits larger companies as it removes the painstaking and unproductive task of updating every model. Also, as the reserves or the underlying design change, the resultant changes to the schedule are automatically reflected."

Mathews concluded by saying: "Being able to simultaneously optimise coal production, waste placement, haulage and product processing is incredibly powerful and enables mine schedulers to compare and optimise complex options around coal recover, dump constraints and haulage requirements. This ensures end users are able to make the optimal mining decisions around the most cost-effective scheduling and extraction sequence."