MineSight Haulage Overview

MineSight® Haulage Overview

Introduction
Trucks and shovels are integral assets of any mine operation, and the routes they take have an impact on the economics
of any project. Since MineSight Haulage (MSHaulage) provides a tool for evaluating haul networks, this paper will
explore design considerations, network profile creation, and route control using availability to generate cycle time
reports for long term engineers. Then it will delve into the short term workflow to show how cuts generated using
MineSight Interactive Planner (MSIP) are routed to proper destinations and how to control the haulage network using
database attribution to produce material routing reports which calculate equipment requirements.

The MineSight Planning Database (MSPD)

MSHaulage has its own set of tables within the MSPD and requires an MSPD connection. All database management
can be performed in MineSight 3D (MS3D) using the MineSight Database Manager (Utilities | MSPD | MSPD
Manager). Within the MineSight Database Manager you can create a new MSPD and an ODBC connection to the
MSPD. To create MSHaulage- compatible databases, Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express or greater is required.
Along with MSHaulage, the database is used by MSIP and MineSight Schedule Optimizer (MSSO). Cuts from MSIP
can be scheduled with MSSO, which produces the optimal cut mining sequence using a linear programming engine.
Material routing of MSIP cuts can be done within MSHaulage. MSIP and MSSO attributes can be used to control the
routing. The equipment repository will store loading and hauling equipment along with their capabilities (speed
bins, burn rates, bucket capacities, and more). The equipment repository allows for quick insertion of additional
equipment capabilities into a new haulage plan.
MSHaulage is activated from MS3D | OP Eng Tools | MSHaulage.

Haul Network Design Considerations

Building the haulage network can be one of the more challenging tasks when it comes to managing a haulage
system, because haulage routes will surely change over the course of time for any mine. In-pit ramps get
chopped off with new phase pushbacks. Surface roads and infrastructure need to consider the pit limits. It may
prove easy to modify surface routes, but changing the location of the mill after it has been built halfway through
the life of the mine has serious consequences. Capacities of waste dumps will be reached and multiple lifts and
dumps must be anticipated. The number of trips trucks make as they move material to various destinations also
needs to be considered.

Haul Nodes
MSHaulage uses attributed points (digitized as markers) to define sources and destinations. There are four types
of nodes: source, destination, stockpile, and tie. Additionally, points (markers) should be digitized at the start and
end points of each polyline. These are referred to as location nodes.
Points representing destination nodes for mills and dumps should be digitized and attributed (Figure 1). Source
points along the haul route within the pit on each elevation are also digitized or defined using the MSHaulage
Network Editor. Stockpiles can act as both a source and a destination, so routes from source points to the stockpile
(stockpile acting as a destination) and from the stockpile to the mill (stockpile acting as a source) need to be
defined. There are also tie nodes which should be placed at most intersections. In some cases, an intersection

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point might be located at a source elevation as well. These nodes should be assigned as a source type since this
type can act as both a source and a tie node.

Figure 1. Attributed points digitized at

destinations.

Route Segments
MSHaulage uses polylines to define roads. The distances and grades of these polylines directly affect the cycle
times. Building a detailed haul network will ensure that you generate the most complete solution. Several MS3D
tricks make building the haul network easier. For example, you can save time by using polylines created from
previous operations as roads. Such polylines might include those used when designing cut and fill roads by attaching
templates to polylines (Surface | Create | Attach Template along Polyline) or centerlines generated when building
a working pit using the Pit Expansion Tool (Advanced | Create ramp centerlines) as shown in Figure 2. Another tip
is to attribute the route segments using the Element | Attribute Tool. By attributing the routes you can display the
route’s element name and quickly identify troublesome segments.

Figure 2. Use the Create ramp centerlines option in the Pit

Expansion Tool to generate the ramp route polyline for the
haulage network.

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Combined Node-Route Network

The roads should be continuous between nodes of your haul network with no location nodes (those digitized at
the polyline start and end points) in between. If there are breaks in the route segments, they should be joined
together. In some cases an existing route polyline will need to be joined to the network using a tie node. In other
cases it may be beneficial to construct a polyline that spans several tie node intersections to reach a destination.
After digitizing lengthy segments they should be split (Polyline | Split at node) at the tie node intersections to
create the individual segments (Figure 3). For haulage plans that span several phases, the road network should
be tied together (also Figure 3). The connection of routes between phases allows other possible route solutions
that use a combination of roads from different phases. In all cases, when creating a route polyline it is strongly
recommended that the end points are digitized to the location nodes using Snap | Point Snap. Snapping is also
recommended when adding a node at an intersection.

Figure 3. Splitting the ramp polyline between location nodes

T21 and 04S02. Subsequent splits would be necessary at T24
and T25. Here we tie phase 4 to the previous phase 3.

Setup
Several tabs in the MSHaulage dialog need to be filled out before reports can be generated.
The first tab is the Haul tab. Here you specify period, period lengths, and phase structure for your schedule. At
least one period and one phase need to be specified. Phase and period groups can also be defined, allowing a
single route to be used in multiple phases or periods.
The second tab is Location Nodes where you can add the location nodes to the haul plan. Click the Add button
then select the markers representing the location nodes in the viewer. The attributed names of the markers, which
are now location nodes, will be displayed in the table along with coordinate information. By default, the nodes are
imported as tie type nodes and their type (i.e., source, destination, stockpile, or tie) can be edited in the table. The
node type can be automatically set on import by adding the following suffixes to the marker’s attributed name:
_STK (stockpile), _SRC (source) and _DST (destination).
On the Route Segments tab, add the segments by clicking the Add button then selecting the route polylines in
the viewer. If the routes are attributed their name will be displayed. Otherwise they will be given a default name.
Finally, the Equip (Load/Haul) tab (Figure 4) contains all the equipment information.

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Figure 4. The new layout of the Equip (Load/Haul) tab.

Hauling and loading equipment must be specified for each haul plan and a minimum of one Equipment Set is
required. You can add user-defined attributes to any piece of Equipment or to the Equipment Sets. Equipment from
a haul plan can be added to the Equipment Repository for use in other plans. You can also export equipment to a
portable Haulage Equipment File (.HEQ) file to share equipment definitions between different MSPD databases.
For hauling equipment there is a new graphical display that will store speed-grade curves, fuel burn rate curves,
braking curves, and rimpull curves (Figure 5). To activate the display, the Equipment Attribute must have Units of
Curve. Then click on the attribute’s Value to display the curve.

Figure 5. Rimpull curve for a truck.

Reporting
MSHaulage does three types of reporting: Profile, Cycle Time, and Material Routing. Material Routing reports
require more setup and will be discussed separately.
The reporting options are found in the Report menu in MSHaulage dialog.

Profile Reports
The profile report will output the route node XYZ coordinates for the best haulage route (shortest cycle time)
between each source and destination pair. These ASCII point files can be imported into most software packages
where the road data can be transferred to surveyors and other designers or used in creating drive diagrams.

Cycle Time Reports

Cycle time reports can be created in two formats. MineSight Strategic Planner (MSSP) compatible and a more
detailed MSHaulage report containing additional information on subzones.

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You can generate cycle times with MSHaulage that can be used directly in MSSP, a long term planning tool. There
are three considerations to be addressed when generating the cycle time file for MSSP:
1. The names of the destinations must be restricted to five characters.
2. Load times should be omitted in MSHaulage since they must be set in MSSP. Otherwise the load times
will be double counted.
3. Cycle times need to be generated from each source elevation to each destination for each phase, or else
the reserves in the schedule files (.scd) will take the default cycle time specified in MSSP.
Also note that to get cycle times up to the highest elevation, a route needs to be digitized up to the top elevation
for that phase. Therefore, digitize a ramp that would travel through the phase up to the highest level honoring
your road grade.
An example is illustrated in Figure 6 where the pit extends above the pit ramp route.

Figure 6. The pit extends above the

in-pit ramp; therefore, a road to access
the highest source elevations needs to
be digitized.
Once the ramps are digitized from the bottom of the pit to the highest source, then source nodes need to be
created on each bench mined in that phase. The Divide Offset function of the Network Editor tab facilitates this.
To create the source nodes on each bench of a pit ramp, click SELECT and then pick the ramp in the viewer. Next,
click Div Offset to divide the ramp into route segments which will be tied together with the node type you select; in
this case, choose source nodes. This will give you cycle times for all elevations of the phase. These considerations
should be made for each phase to ensure full cycle time modeling for the haul network.

Material Routing
The last type of reporting is Material Routing which has a more involved setup.
MSHaulage works in conjunction with MSIP to route material. In MSIP, sections of the mine are divided into cuts
(Figure 7). Cuts can be created as polygons or solids. When using solid cuts, it is strongly recommended to use a
custom MSIP attribute indicating the cut elevation or source node to which the solid cut gets routed. MSHaulage
will then use the bottom point of the solid and access the haul network on the elevation specified by the attribute.
The cuts can be any shape and size. Although MSIP is a powerful tool to calculate and report reserves, for the
purposes of this paper we will focus on how MSIP interacts with MSHaulage.

Figure 7. Cuts made on a bench plan for Phase 3.

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MSIP and MSHaulage plans must be stored in the same MSPD to be used together. When cuts are made or imported
into MSIP they are saved to the MSPD with the grade information and binning set up for that plan (grades originate
in the block model). This division of material by cuts becomes the atomic reserves in the database. The cuts can
be assigned a number of custom attributes depending on what is tracked in the project. These attributes are
populated cut-by-cut (e.g., to mine the cut requires a certain type of equipment or the cut must be mined in a
certain period). These additional custom attributes give you more control over the cut routing in MSHaulage.

Advanced Routing Controls

MSHaulage allows you to control the routing several different ways. The most control comes from MSIP attribute
mapping using the Defaults/Overrides option (button in the bottom-left corner of dialog). The Defaults/Overrides
dialog is shown in Figure 8. Using cut attributes you can control the equipment set, destination, network source,
phase, period, elevation, bench routing distance, and order.

Figure 8. IP overrides allow you to control routing by using cut attributes.

If the cuts contain the standard grade information with no extra attribute designations, then material assignment
should be done via the Material Destinations tab (Figure 9). From here you can import the cutoff binning from an
MSIP material set by using Imp Mat IP. Specify the destination type and then map grade cutoff bins to the different
destination types.

Figure 9. Material Destinations tab with all the cutoffs.

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After destination types are added and the cutoff strategy has been mapped, the various destination nodes (on
the Location Nodes tab) can be assigned the corresponding destination type. Up to ten destination types can be
assigned to a destination node. This allows a single material to be routed to multiple destination types (schedule
material types) based on a destination’s capacity and the time it takes to get to the destination.
Click on Material Routing in the Reports menu to populate the Report Editor tab where material routing results
are tabulated and can be viewed and edited interactively. This allows you to directly change the decisions made by
MSHaulage before committing the plan as designed. For example, if a cut is going to a dump that is not available
that period, you have the option to change it in the editor, allowing the tool to recalculate the data instead of going
through the setup to make the dump unavailable and rerunning the report. The Show Route feature highlights the
best available route used to route a cut’s material. This highlight is useful in cut routing auditing.
MSHaulage can control exactly which source nodes are accessed by the cuts. When searching for a source node,
MSHaulage will first check the MSIP attribute overrides. If none are specified then it will check for sources on the
same elevation. Again, if none are found it will search for the nearest haul route containing a source node which
crosses the elevation of the cut. If none are found it will send the cut to the default source specified in Defaults/
Override section. Finally, if no default is specified it will send the cut to the first source node in the list.
For all types of reporting, route availability can be controlled by period, phase, direction (inbound/outbound), or
directly with an available/unavailable toggle. The option for Must Go is also provided to force MSHaulage to take
a certain route if it is presented with a choice. When a cut is routed it uses the closest available source node on
the cut’s elevation to access the road network from which the best route is determined. A natural example would
be multiple pushbacks having common benches. In this case, multiple source nodes would exist on the same
elevation. Setting in-pit ramp availability to the appropriate phase or period allows you to control which ramps get
accessed as shown in Figures 10 and 11 where the route used is highlighted in pink.

Figure 10. Without route availability control, the IP cut

gets routed to Phase 2 in-pit ramp which is inaccessible for
the Phase 3 cuts that are to be routed. It is routed due to
source node proximity.

Figure 11. Using phase availability to match the Phase

3 cuts with the Phase 3 in-pit route segments, the cut is
routed to the proper ramp.

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These Material Routing results can be output to a CSV ASCII file or they can be dumped to FPC reports which
increase the interoperability of MSHaulage with other applications. They can also be saved in the MSPD using Save
MSPD.

Other Considerations
MSHaulage allows you to clone a haul plan from the File menu. Some haulage networks become very complex
during inter-phase design. In this case, you could choose to manage the network by each phase. Cloning allows you
to easily create a copy of one phase plan to be used as a base for successive phase plans.

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