Mining Planning System Integrating Disparate Data
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Solution Overview
Problem
Modern mining operations face challenges in synchronizing and optimizing mining technical activities due to the disparate nature of mining technical and support activities, leading to inefficiencies in responding to changes in the logical status and physical state of mineral ore bodies, and existing systems fail to effectively integrate mining technical data for comprehensive visualization and analysis.
Innovation Solution
A computer-assisted system and method that integrates geometries and attributes from disparate expert systems to provide a collective technical perspective of a mineral resource or reserve, automatically creating, ranking, and implementing mine plans within a job scheduler, using a variational engine and libraries of standard operating procedures, relationships, and three-dimensional trajectories to optimize mining operations.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If manual planning and synchronization of mining activities is used, then flexibility in decision-making is maintained, but operational efficiency and response time to changes in ore body status deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a centralized data warehouse as an intermediary layer that collects, integrates, and standardizes data from multiple disparate mining systems (geological surveys, sensor networks, production systems). This mediator enables automated decision-making without requiring direct integration between all individual systems, thus improving operational efficiency while managing complexity through a single integration point.
Solution Approach 2:
The system creates a universal planning platform that handles multiple mining operations, resource types, and decision-making functions through a single integrated system. This multi-functional approach allows the system to manage diverse mining activities (extraction, processing, transportation) and various resource types (minerals, ores, aggregates) using common algorithms and data structures, improving productivity without proportionally increasing system complexity.
2Loss of information
If disparate expert systems are used for different mining disciplines, then specialized functionality is maintained, but data integration and comprehensive analysis capability deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the integrated system into distinct modular components, each handling specific mining disciplines (geology, production, processing, environmental monitoring). These segmented modules communicate through standardized data interfaces to the central data warehouse, ensuring that specialized functionality is preserved while enabling comprehensive data integration and analysis across all disciplines.
Solution Approach 2:
The system transforms data from various mining disciplines into standardized parameters and formats within the data warehouse. By changing the parameter representation of diverse data types (geological surveys, sensor readings, production metrics) into a common framework, the system achieves complete data integration while maintaining the ability to adapt to different mining contexts through parameter customization.
3Productivity
If traditional mine planning methods are used, then simplicity of implementation is maintained, but ability to optimize complex multi-facet mining activities deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by pre-processing and standardizing data from all mining disciplines before planning activities begin. The data warehouse pre-integrates geological, operational, and environmental data, and the system pre-calculates optimization parameters and constraints. This preliminary preparation enables rapid plan creation and adjustment without time-consuming data collection and processing during actual planning operations.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces traditional manual mechanical planning methods with automated computer-based optimization algorithms. These algorithms automatically analyze integrated data, evaluate multiple planning scenarios, and generate optimized mine plans without manual intervention. This substitution dramatically improves optimization capability for complex multi-facet mining activities while reducing the time required for plan creation through automation.
Data Source
AI summary
Automated, computer-assisted system for a mining and production process of natural resource and reserve with mining technical equipment on a commercial basis, the system comprising multiple sub-systems. The first sub-system is for use with disparate expert technical systems and applications to integrate the geometries and attributes at any specific spatial location in such natural resource or reserve to reasonably describe a collective, multi-disciplinary technical perspective of the resource or reserve in relation to such spatial location and allow tracking over time of changes in the logical status or physical state of the resource or reserve at that location. The second sub-system is for creating and exploring extraction plans for a given information about a specific resource or reserve automatically and within a job scheduler. The second sub-system having means for automatically creating possible extraction plans based on a specific resource or reserve; means for automatically ranking the plans within a specific extraction operational context; means for automatically integrating the ranked plans as an essential part of the technical mining and production; and means for automatically implementing such plans as an essential, intermediate and integrated part of the mining and production process with the use of associated mining technical equipment. The third sub-system is for planning, controlling and executing multi-facet technical activities over extended time periods, during life of site from concept and pre-feasibility assessment to closure of operation, and enterprise support processes, such as costs, concurrently with such activities, in a direct substantially real-time manner, based on such ranked and integrated extraction plans.