1.

Select Display – Display Block Model from the block model menu to
display the block model. Apply the following defaults:

If the block model displayed has already been constrained, select

Constraints – Remove All Graphical Constraints to show the entire
model.

2. Now constrain the model to only see the blocks that have a discount
attribute value of > -9999.00 (the default value). Select Constraints – New
Graphical Constraint and enter in the following constraint:

3. By colouring the blocks by the discount factors, we will be able to see what
blocks belong to each pit. Select Display – Colour Model By Attribute
and fill out the form as shown below:

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As can be seen by the following image, each block will be populated with the
discount value for the smallest pit that contains it:

Message Window

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If you look in the message window, it gives a summary of the net value for the
entire block model as the nested pits, from the highest sale price to the lowest
sale price, are generated. The report should appear as below:

More Discounting

This time we will generate six nested optimal pits to compare the results of
increasing discounting factors.

1. Reset graphics to remove the previous results.

2. Select Block Model – Pit Optimisation from the block model menu.
Select the pit optimisation parameters file that was used to generate the
nested pits above. This file should be called either gold_$unit.pop or
gold_$unit_ex1.pop.

3. Click on the Optimisation tab pane and enter in the following discounts
leaving all the other parameters the same:

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Results

The following pit shells will be displayed in the graphics viewport:

10 %
Discount

0%
Discount
60 %
Discount

50 %
Discount

40 %
Discount

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By examining these results carefully, the more discount applied, the smaller
the optimal pit and hence, the smaller the net value of the pit. This is also
shown by the report that is generated:

The above results can be graphed as follows:

35,000,000
30,000,000

25,000,000
Pit Value ($)

20,000,000

15,000,000
10,000,000

5,000,000
0
9.20 11.50 13.80 16.10 18.40 20.70 23.00
Sale Price ($/g)

Producing a series of nested pit shells as above can also be used as a guide
for the pit development (pushbacks) throughout the life of the mine.

Exercise
Objective

Use block maths to assign the net value of each block in the model based on
gold grade cutoffs. The cutoff and sale prices that will be used are shown in
the following table:

Gold Grade Range (g/t) Sale Price ($/t)

1 – 1.3 16
1.3 – 1.5 18
> 1.5 20

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In addition, the cost of extracting both ore and waste blocks is $5/t.

Generate an optimal pit where the maximum allowable slope angle is 30

degrees for the entire pit except for the southern region where the maximum
allowable slope is 40 degrees.

1. Open the block model gold.mdl if it is not already open.

2. A new attribute must be added to the model to store the net value for each
block. Select Attributes – New from the block model menu to create a
float attribute as follows:

The background value for the net value has been set to -5 to indicate that
the cost of mining a block (whether it is ore or waste) is $5/tonne.

3. Now we must save the model so that it remembers the new attribute. To
do this, select Block Model – Save from the block model menu.

4. The next step is to incorporate the sale price into the net_value attribute
for all the ore blocks in the model. To do this, we will use the Attributes –
Maths function.

The first mathematical assignment that will be assigned will be the sale
price of $16/t for any blocks with a gold grade between 1.0g – 1.3g. Enter
the following function into the Attributes – Maths form:

Press Apply on this form to display the block model constraints form. The
following constraints are to be applied:

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Press Apply on this form to assign the net value for all blocks with a gold
grade between 1.0g – 1.3g.

Select Block Model – Save to save the new net_value assignment. A

confirmation form will appear, press Yes to proceed.

To verify that the maths assignment worked, select Display – Display

Block Model from the block model menu and then select Constraints –
New Graphical Constraints and enter the following:

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Only the blocks with a gold grade range between 1.0g – 1.3g will be
displayed as these will be the only blocks that now have a net value of
greater than the default value of -5.

The reason why the constraint net_value > 0 was used above is because
when assigning net values, all ore blocks must have a positive net value
(profitable to mine) while waste blocks must have a negative net value
(cost incurred to mine).

The following image should be displayed on your screen:

For extra verification, lets colour the blocks to make sure only the blocks
within the gold grade range 1.0g – 1.3g is displayed in this constraint.
Select Display – Colour Model By Attribute from the block model menu
and enter in the following information:

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You should see by rotating the block model around that all the blocks
displayed should be coloured in blue. This is shown below:

Now we will assign the net value for any blocks with a gold grade range
between 1.3g – 1.5g. The sale price for these blocks is $18/t. Select
Attributes – Maths from the block model menu. Fill in the form as follows:

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Press Apply on this form to display the constraints form.

Now apply the following Attributes – Maths expression to assign the

Press Apply on the constraints form to perform the mathematical

operation.

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