Underground Mine Design and Planning

LYNX Underground Engineering provides a 3D platform for interactive design, planning and production control. A range of design and planning options facilitate the creation, management and maintenance of complex excavation geometries for a wide variety of deposits, mining methods and design conditions.

Interactive 3D Design Tools

background displays for any combination of geological, geostatistical, excavation, mine development, or database information design viewplane orientation chosen independent of deposit model orientations database facilities to specify design units and component naming conventions, allowing wildcard sorting capabilities interactive boundary definition of excavation profiles and assignment of engineering parameters for planning template facilities for definition, positioning, scaling and rotation of excavation profiles 3D linking of boundaries to form excavation volumes interactive 3D editing of excavation boundaries into complex irregular shapes interactive sectioning at any viewplane orientation through designed volumes viewing tools in a wide range of display formats, with section or viewplane selection, scaling, zooming, coordinate tracking and snapping 3D perspective views in any orientation to assist in rapid visual appreciation of the spatial relationships of mine geometry digitizer interface to facilitate definition of large volumes of existing mine geometry information from existing plans and sections assembly features for replicating and positioning standard excavation units analysis tools such as an interactive analyze option for instant quick views of volumes and reserves during the design process export control for printer, plotter and plot file output of all screen displays, with export of plot files in industry standard formats precise reporting of mining reserves and development quantities at any stage

Mine Development Design Tools auto-generation of volume elements along centerlines ramp and tunnel design with variable grade, elevation and profiles interactive grade elevation design for precise centerline alignment development design via standard development components and multiple re-assignments at different locations CAD tools to honor grade and curvature constraints while maintaining necessary clearances geometric design tools such as curve, straight line and vertical functions profile definition for rectangular, arched and circular excavation profiles

 Production Survey Volumes

Developing mine production models representing "as mined" volumes based on surveyed excavation limits and in- situ grades is the basis to excavation control, reconciliation of production, and the means to an effective grade control process. The production control facility provides all the necessary tools needed to develop, maintain and manipulate 3D volumes representing production units. Such units can then be combined to represent production models. All design and planning options are available to be used with these production models.

Excavation Management
Excavation Survey Options
construction of 3D shapes use of XYZ survey data interactive definition of limits tie-back to existing excavation shapes generation of triangulated components to fill voids	full compatibility with all modeling functions automated conversion to 3D volumes handles irregular shapes/stopes surface handling facility auto-generation of components
Entering Excavation Data
digitizer entry of plans and sections import path for Total Station instruments	ASCII transfer of XYZ from survey reduction files input of section contours use of sill , floor, back or wall shots for triangulation

Production Grade Control
use of in-situ sample information grade entry via digitizer grade input direct via file transfer	development of production grade models use of 3D grid array manipulation analysis of grade variance and distribution
Production Reconciliation
development of as mined in-situ models export to ASCII files basis for short term scheduling	basis for comparative reporting catering for varying levels of detail alternative mining solutions

Mining Reserves Reporting

Precise mining reserves are determined by applying a slice integration process to intersecting volumes of excavation or geology. 3D geostatistical regions of influence are integrated with results to determine accurate volumes and weighted grade averages. Reports are produced using multi-variable grade averages and user specified cut-offs or recovery factors. Output options include direct transfer to external software via ASCII files.