AMS was most recently Project Manager and lead researcher for two large international research projects coordinated by AMIRA International to develop tools for stope design and strategic life of mine optimization for underground mine design. The two projects concluded in 2015 and negotiation is now underway to further develop the research outcomes they delivered.
P1037 - Stope Optimisation and Stope Layout
This project sought to develop a complete solution for the optimisation of stope design and stope layout, covering strategic, tactical and operational planning. The goal was to provide for greater levels of detail and improved stope design solutions for medium and short term planning.
P1043 - Framework for Rapid Automated Underground Mine Optimisation
This project brought together a team of applied researchers, industry consultants and software suppliers to deliver an integrated set of tools for rapid, automated optimisation of underground mining projects, with the goal to evaluate hundreds of scenarios and identify the best set of design criteria and parameters in a strategy optimisation project.
Value of AMS research
It was the AMIRA International research project (PRIMO) that took a prototype developed in 2005 to the commercial product, Mineable Shape Optimiser (MSO). MSO has revolutionised the way mining engineers design stopes, automating what had been a cumbersome and time consuming task.
Benefits to industry sponsors
Benefits are: participation in case studies; customisation of commercial software to project requirements; early adoption of new design and optimisation software, techniques, and methodology; and technology transfer to personnel during the course of the project.
Benefits to software supplier sponsors
AMS has a demonstrated capability of producing software that is both highly desirable and commercial. All three of the software suppliers who partnered with AMS on the PRIMO project released a commercial product that enjoys strong demand from the mining industry.
Our industry sponsors
- Barrick Gold Corporation
- BHP Billiton
- Boliden Minerals AB
- Glencore Canada
- Minerals and Metals Group Ltd (MMG)
- Newmont Mining Corporation
- VALE Canada Ltd
Our software supplier sponsors
- Datamine
- Deswik Mining Consultants Pty Ltd
- Maptek Pty Ltd
- MineRP (Australia) Pty Limited