Vulcan version 5, which is currently going through quality accreditation procedures with Maptek’s global technical service and product development groups, has been touted as one of the most advanced 3D generic modelling programs ever developed. According to the company, it will enable users to significantly improve the productivity of their operations through its ease of use, depth of functionality and ability to streamline technical data and process workflows.
Heading the list of new features are the major improvements that have been made to the underground ring design and blast package. “Building on the advice and suggestions from underground customers around the world, Maptek engineers and programmers are adding new features and upgrading current options to create software that will allow mining engineers to design blast patterns faster and more accurately than by any other method,” the company said.
Using Vulcan 5, engineers will be able to specify drill bit sizes, capping information and explosive properties when designing blast patterns. In addition, easily recognisable graphics will be used to distinguish between different explosive products, and blast holes will be assigned circular “primitives” so that true hole diameters can be shown. Users will also have five different algorithms from which to select the method of measuring the distance between holes that best suits them.
Maptek said Vulcan 5 would be able to create entire blasts extremely quickly thanks to a new template copy feature. “Once a ring has been designed the user will be able to copy some or all the holes from that ring into as many other rings as needed simply by clicking on the destination rings,” it said. “This option will allow copying between unevenly spaced sections and can follow the pattern around corners. The reporting of hole locations, their explosive content (including the handling of decoupled charges) and plotting some or all the rings, will be accomplished with a few mouse clicks.”
Vulcan 5’s enhanced grade control function will facilitate the use of solid models of the blast, which are said to achieve more accurate volume calculations than bench polygons. Once grade boundaries have been digitised, the grade control process can then cut the blast solid into individual blocks for the purpose of ore-waste delineation.
The updated program will also include several advanced features for reblocking and partial reblocking of a blast. Blockouts can also be performed on block models rather than samples for reconciliation purposes. According to Maptek, further enhancements enable generation of block models “on-the-fly” for use with more complex estimation techniques.
The new grade control option provides data storage of all elements associated with the blast and blocking process in one database, eliminating duplication of data and providing a more seamless interface. Coupled with automated loading of data, this will enable mine geologists to spend more time delineating grade boundaries and less time manipulating data.
Vulcan 5 also has the ability to control the width of the downhole display in order to visually enhance particular lithologies or quality attributes. This will aid geological interpretation of grade/lithology domains by allowing easier differentiation of the zones of interest.
Other improvements incorporated into Vulcan 5 include a mine ventilation module, an enhanced user interface, customised tools, integrated plotting, powerful lava scripting and more efficient access to external databases.
Australia’s Mining Monthly
