The ‘RESERVE-O-MATIC’ of open pit design

Early in my Maptek career I did some Vulcan training on the east coast with a client. During our meeting I noticed that he had a small sticky note on his monitor that read ‘RESERVE-O-MATIC’.

After a few hours my curiosity got the better of me and I asked him what it meant.

‘That’s the magic button I push whenever the bosses come in and want the latest reserve numbers. They think it’s that easy,’ he replied sarcastically.

I still remember that episode 15 years later, and the message I brought away from it. Customers need tools that make their lives easy, allow them to do their tasks quickly and efficiently, and generate accurate results. They all would like that ‘magic button’.

We have yet to create a ‘magic button’, but we have come closer to making the job much easier with each new release. In November, Maptek is releasing Vulcan 8.2, which will include a new option for Rapid Pit Design.

This tool allows users to generate strategic pit and dump designs fast and easy, using one set of tools. Using mid-bench based projections, automatic clipping routines and predefined reserves reporting, pit design has never been more straightforward. Internal studies have shown that up to eight times as many pit designs can be created with this new tool compared to existing methods.

All too often in the mining industry, due to time and people constraints, analysing pit designs does not get the attention it deserves. Poor mine design can lead to millions of dollars in extra costs over the life of a mine.

As a software provider to the mining industry, it is our job to continue to be innovative and deliver new options in the continual quest to develop the ‘RESERVE-O-MATIC’ tools of mining software. The new Vulcan 8.2 open pit mine design tool is a big step in the right direction, and in my opinion a magic button in its own right.

Watch a video about Rapid Pit Design here: https://www.maptek.com/wordpress/video/rapid-pit-design/