{"id":3370,"date":"2018-08-09T12:00:47","date_gmt":"2018-08-09T16:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hgnminingblog.wpengine.com\/?p=3370"},"modified":"2019-07-30T13:57:25","modified_gmt":"2019-07-30T17:57:25","slug":"its-only-rock-and-roll-but-i-like-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.hexagonmining.com\/en\/its-only-rock-and-roll-but-i-like-it\/","title":{"rendered":"It\u2019s only rock and roll, but I like it"},"content":{"rendered":"

In my youth, one of my favorite MTV videos (back when MTV played videos) was Run-D.M.C. and Aerosmith\u2019s \u201cWalk this Way,\u201d with its iconic scene of taking a sledge hammer to the differences between rap and rock n\u2019 roll. Both genres originated from the blues music of the Mississippi delta but diverged into distinct groups. Over the course of 50 years, they became separate scenes. This video showed, at the end of the day, it\u2019s all music.<\/p>\n

In much the same vein, short-term planning and operational execution diverged the same way. After taking the plan for the period (year, quarter, etc.) mines used to plan for the shift, execute, then plan for the next shift, all in one (albeit manual) process. Many small and medium-sized mines still operate this way.<\/p>\n

Technology allowed us to optimize those two separate processes. Planning software gave better plans for which bench to push back, in what sequence, to develop the mine, get the haulage roads in place, and execute the sequence of mining optimally. Mintec and its MineSight software (now HxGN MinePlan) began solving these very problems in 1970.<\/p>\n

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HxGN MinePlan software and its predecessor, MineSight, has been assisting companies with mine planning since 1970.<\/p><\/div>\n

Simultaneously, modern fleet management systems began to more optimally execute the load and haul process in ever more sophisticated ways. Dynamic assignments of trucks to shovels, optimized fueling and auxiliary assignments all built the operational task of mine control into a discipline all its own. Thus, planning and operations became two separate groups, one chucking a plan over a wall, the other chucking actuals back.<\/p>\n

However, forward-thinking mines don\u2019t just \u201cWalk this Way,\u201d they are beginning to \u201cTalk this Way\u201d (try reading that without Steven Tyler\u2019s voice in your head). Real-time action is driven by real-time planning. That real-time action is updating the real-time plan, to execute the next round even better. All this then updates the medium and long-term plan, which is sometimes called life-of-mine digital execution.<\/p>\n

In the underground mining space, the similar phrase \u201cshort interval control\u201d (SIC) is increasingly used. It\u2019s apt given the implicit clunkiness of shift changes, the persistent lack of communications, and the focus on a sequence of tasks, not a cycle of material movement. (I\u2019ll cover that another day.)<\/p>\n

Effectively, this looks like:<\/p>\n

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In this vein, the real-time executive is updating all the way back to the long-term life-of-mine plan. Every phase of mine planning and execution update each other, subject to the constraints of the feasible solutions and actual actions.<\/p>\n

Examples of this could be:<\/p>\n