Mining Exploration Management | Exploration Planning

Exploration Planning, Scheduling, and Optimisation

The most significant asset of any mining company is the resources and reserves in the ground. The investment made facilitating the discovery process for new deposits and extending the life of deposits is enormous. To maintain the value of this spend, appropriate systems need to be in place that capture the exploration cycle from the earliest roots in the budgeting process. Allocation of expenditure, and subsequent planning, scheduling and execution of exploration drilling activities requires an integrated view to ensure the optimisation of resource allocation and the most efficient use of dollars spent per metre drilled. SolveIT Software's Advanced Planning and Scheduling (APS) system configured for exploration management provides an integrated planning environment with the ability to visualise, and analyse the impact of different scenarios for mining exploration.

SolveIT Software's APS system delivers the following capabilities:

• Centralises all exploration planning, scheduling and budgeting in one system for users in head office or on site.
• Enables a consistent platform and process for exploration planning, scheduling and budgeting.
• Streamlines the process of aggregating all exploration activities across all tenements/mines/locations.
• Ability to easily compare multiple plans/schedules/budgets against key performance indicators and targets i.e. metres, cost, strategic/growth/operational holes and objectives.
• Easily change configuration parameters to understand the impact of a change on the outcome.
• Replaces manual processes and spreadsheets.
• Assimilates cost and productivity data automatically.
• Optimises to assist decision support relating to demand and use of available supply. This includes decisions relating to what holes to drill to meet objectives such as metres, what holes to drill to maximise equipment utilisation etc.
• Enables dynamic what if scenario comparisons within the application.
• Models and optimises in 2D/3D rig routes across mines or dispersed exploration areas.

SolveIT Software's Advanced Planning and Scheduling (APS) system reduces the costs of budget and forecast compliance by improving the rigour of data management around scheduling and planning over long-term and short-term timeframes. The system improves the visibility of detailed plans and schedules and allows planners to quickly analyse and test the assumptions of different planning paradigms.