GEOVIA Whittle is a strategic mine-planning software used in surface mines.
Mining Engineers use GEOVIA Whittle for:
- Pit Optimization
- Sensitivity Analysis
- Strategy options
- Life of Mine Schedule.
Learn how to create and view the Excel reports from Simultaneous Optimization (SIMO) in GEOVIA Whittle.
SIMO is a GEOVIA Whittle advanced strategic scheduling tool used to optimize inputs simultaneously over the life of mine and unlock the hidden Net Present Value (NPV). SIMO concurrently optimizes schedule, cut-off, stockpile and blend as shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1: Simultaneous Optimization process
Before running SIMO, users must determine the final pit shell and the intermediate pit shells to which they will mine.
SIMO benefits include:
- Processing high-grade material at the early stages over the life of mine
- Mining companies can deploy equipment and workers to mine at a higher rate in specific periods when they are needed
- SIMO can return a high NPV because it uses cut-off optimization. In the process of cut-off optimization, the processing limit stays constant and the cut-off raises in specific periods (usually the early periods)
- SIMO sends the material that is below the cut-off to either a stockpile or the waste dump.
After running SIMO, it is recommended to view the results. These results are presented in a multi-tabbed Microsoft Excel reports.
To view the results, users should:
- Right-click the SIMO node then select View Simo Report as shown in Figure 2.
Figure 2: Process to view SIMO reports
Microsoft Excel starts and displays the Whittle SIMO Output Reporting page.
Note: Microsoft Excel may take some time to open the page if users are running large projects.
- If necessary, enable the macros so that the Excel reports can be processed as shown in Figure 3.
Figure 3: Enable the macros
A list of Excel reports is displayed as shown in Figure 4.
Figure 4: List of Excel reports
To view a report, users have to click a tab or one of the report hyperlinks as shown in Figure 5.
Figure 5: How to view a report
Figures 6 and 7 show the summary-Cash flow and the Summary-Material reports respectively.
Figure 6: Summary Cash flow report
Figure 7: Summary Material report
Note: The processed Excel file will be saved in the working directory with the name “node name’’_SimoReport.xlsb as shown in Figure 8 and 9.
Figure 8: Node name in Whittle
Figure 9: SIMO Report name in any folder of choice for additional processing/use
Note: When clicking on View Simo Report from the SIMO node for the second time, the report opens faster than the first time.
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Possessing a Mine Engineering background, Stacy is currently based out of the Dassault Systèmes office in Johannesburg, South Africa. He speaks both English and French and specializes in Mine Planning and optimization in open-pit mines. He is a highly experienced user of GEOVIA mining software including Surpac, MineSched and Whittle.