LVA’s Telltale software program imports telltale data from a spreadsheet into a format that allows users to pull up any mine, roadway and date and see a list of telltale data for any point.

Historical mine data spreadsheets can easily be imported into the LVA software, making it possible to quickly build up a complete picture of roof movements throughout the life of mine almost immediately after installation.

Storing the telltale data in this fashion gives geotechnicians the necessary tools to trace back data for the life of the mine to clearly see trends, or look at one weeks worth of data on a single screen for a more immediate “snapshot” of mine conditions.

Users can install multiple copies of the software throughout the network, making it possible for everyone who needs the telltale data to access it from their own computer.

A quick “fill rest of week” button can automatically complete a week’s worth of data based on the first entry. According to LVA, this really speeds up data entry for telltales that don’t change values.

The software also features an alarm system to alert the user to roof movements. Different road types can have different preset alarm levels. Geotechnicians can create reports based on the alarms and graph the information. Alarms can also be placed onto a data exchange file (dxf) mine map.

According to LVA’s Dr David Hoyer, the telltale software can save operations time and ultimately money as it can help better identify roof movement as well as making the data entry task many times faster and much more accurate.

The software was released to market in July and has already been installed at one leading Central Queensland mine.