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Table of Contents

Overview

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The Product Specifications step allows the user to define the rules of the optimisation. Each rule becomes a new row in the Calendar. Values for the rule are specified in Schedule > Calendar > Product Specifications.

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Adding Product Specification

  1. To add the optimisation rule, press the Add Product Specification button and select a type from the dropdown.

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2. Name the rule clearly.

  • Avoid using commas in the Product Specification rule name, otherwise you will get an error message preventing you from going past this step:

<The name of product specification (…), is invalid because it contains invalid characters>.

3. Toggle the Use Spec flag to enable or disable usage of the Product Specification rule.

4. Click the field in the Configuration column to customise the optimisation rule. Once completed, the configuration field will list all of the populated fields.

Product Specification types

Product Specifications are used to determine the best destination for material at each time step. The best destination is defined as the one yielding the highest positive cash flow, where the Cash Flow is the sum of all Rewards and Penalties.

Product Specification type

Usage

Cash Flow

Reward (or penalty) to send material to a destination.

Blend Target

Penalty for failing to meet blend ratios.

Grade Target

Penalty for failing for meet grade specs.

Detailed description of each Product Specification type and their impact on the optimisation process see below.

Cash Flows

Tip

Cash Flows allow the user to specify an incremental Reward or Penalty for each tonne/cubic meter/ounce of material sent to a Destination.

Cash Flows help the user to have better control over the fleet allocation, prioritising more profitable movements.

If two rules satisfy the same condition, then the cash flow is the sum of values in each rule.

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Item

Description

Example

Specify Min

Limits minimum ratio of the material fed from the Source to the Destination.

Note

Crusher feed will be zero if it cannot satisfy a Minimum blend ratio. Make sure there is material available before setting a minimum feed ratio. 

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Specify Max

Limits maximum ratio of the material fed from the Source to the Destination.

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  • Minimum and Maximum are hard limits, “Actual” values cannot be outside of these boundaries.

    • If Minimum limit cannot be satisfied, the optimiser returns zero.

    • If Maximum limit is reached, no more material can be sent to the specified destination.

  • Note that when setting ratios for multiple plant components, their “Actual” values must add up to 1.

Specify Target

Specifying target also introduces “Content Deviation Penalty” input row in the Calendar.

The difference between the Actual and the Target blend is subject to this Penalty multiplier specified by the user.

The Penalty is summed with the Cash Flows to determine the reward or cost of blending materials into each Destination.

The higher the deviation penalty, the better the optimizer will try to meet the target, but it may not be achieved due to other cash flows and objectives.

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Show Tram Lines

Displaying additional guidance lines rows for the optimisation rule in the Calendar.

Used for visual purposes only to change the color of values in the “Actuals” field, ie i.e. if it goes out of range by more than 0.0001 it goes red, less than orange, otherwise it's black. TBA

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Numerator and Denominator

Blend ratios are calculated using a Numerator and Denominator, as such the setup requires both to be populated.

Note

Never configure the Denominator in a way that could return a zero. If the ratio returns a "divide by zero", then crusher feed will be zero.

Destinations

The Destination(s) to which the blend target is applied.

Quantity Field

The field to which the blend target is applied.

Tip

As a general rule, the Numerator and Denominator should use the same units (either dry tonnes for the strict ratio, or wet tonnes for the weightometer ratio).

Sources

The Source(s) for Numerator and Denominator to which the blend target is applied.

View Database

Use the View Database button to open the Choose Records window, where you can graphically select and review the Sources.

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Tip

Use the Cash Flows to prioritise hitting limits and targets over certain periods.

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Grade Targets

Tip

Grade targets allow the user to specify a strict grade range, and place penalty multipliers on deviation from the

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Target.

Different

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Destinations may have different

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Grade targets.

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Grade Fields

Grade specifications can be set to reference any field in the database.

Type

Example Field

Application

Note

Insitu Fields

mining_grades_fe

Insitu Grade/Head Grade

Use these fields on Stockpiles and Crushers when targeting a head grade.

Process Streams Fields

mining_ProcessStreams_dry_rail_SubProducts_fines_grades_fe

Fines product grade, through the "dry" plant, at the "rail" point

Use these fields to target product grades on Stockpiles.

Since the software does not know what Crusher the Stockpile will feed into, the user is required to specify the Processing Stream of the quantity fields.

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To configure the dry/wet, rail/ship, lump/fine process stream options, see Setup > Processing Paths.

mining_ProcessStreams_dry_rail_grades_fe

Total (Lump + Fines) product grade, through the "dry" plant, at the "rail" point

Output Fields

Output>rail_SubProducts_fines_grades_fe

Fines product grade, through the (wildcard) plant, at the "rail" point

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Insitu Fields

Use these fields

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Process Streams Fields

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to target product grades

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Output Fields

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through Crushers.

Since the software knows the

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Processing Stream for each

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Crusher, the “Output” fields act as a wildcard to automatically select the corresponding grade fields.

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Grade Limits and Targets are explained in the table below.

Input

Description

Notes

Grade Lower Limit

The final weighted average grade cannot be below this value.

  • Individual feed blocks can be lower than the minimum.

  • If multiple destinations are listed, individual destinations can be lower than the minimum.

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Grade Limits applied to Product Specifications > StockpileGradeTarget are the weight average of the material added to the Stockpile over a Period. They are not equal to the grades of the stockpile closing balance.

Grade Upper Limit

The final weighted average grade cannot be above this value.

  • Individual feed blocks can be higher than the maximum.

  • If multiple destinations are listed, individual destinations can be higher than the maximum.

Grade Target

The difference between the

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Actual grade and the

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Target grade is subject to a penalty multiplier specified by the user.

Net grade penalty = (Content Deviation Penalty) * (actual grade - target grade) * 100 * (total tonnes)

If Crusher A and Crusher B have different grade targets, then a single block will incur a different penalty depending on the destination. This penalty is summed with the Cash Flows to determine the reward or cost of blending materials into each destination.

Content Deviation Penalties

The value of the content deviation penalty should be considered relative to other grades, and relative to the Cash Flow values.

  • If the net grade penalty is greater than the crusher cash flow, then the crusher won't feed.

  • If the Fe grade penalty is greater than the Al grade penalty, then the optimiser may blow out Alumina to keep Iron on spec. This is because the penalty of dirtying Al is lower than the penalty of dirtying Fe

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Notes

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