Whittle Interface

Table of Contents

Overview

 What You'll Learn

 Who uses Whittle? What is Whittle? Why would you use Whittle?
 Who Needs Pit Optimisation?
 Exploration Geologists
 Project Financiers
 Mining Engineers
 The Whittle Interface
 Review
 Where To Next

Overview

A direct interface has been developed within the Surpac block model to Whittle Programming's suite of optimisation
products.

What You'll Learn

This section gives a brief overview of the Whittle interface

Who uses Whittle? What is Whittle? Why would you use Whittle?

The abstract below was written by Nick Journet, Principal Mining Engineer of Windrush Mining Technology in Perth,
WA. Nick is a specialist in pit optimisation and carries out optimisation studies on 30 different mineral deposits each
year. Deposits covered range from gold through base metals to diverse industrial minerals.

Who Needs Pit Optimisation?

These days when we think of pit optimisation software, we think of Whittle. Whittle Programming produce the World-
renowned pit optimisation packages called Three-D, Four-D and Four-X. Four-X differs from Four-D in that it can
optimise multi-element deposits.

Briefly, if a resource model is optimised for a given set of economic parameters, mining and metallurgical recoveries,
and pit wall angles; the result will be a single optimal pit outline. Three-D optimises cash flow which is usually
adequate for limited life projects. Four-D and Four-X introduce the fourth dimension, which is time. Both Four-D and
Four-X packages will optimise net present value of an open pit for a given set of production and discount rates.

Exploration Geologists

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As development capital becomes harder and harder to raise, companies are becoming smarter with the way they
spend their exploration budgets. One way that this can be done is to drive an exploration program with pit
optimisation.

In attempting to prove up an open pit reserve, it would be pointless to sink holes to extend the known depth of the
deposit beyond the economic limit of an open pit. A well organised exploration program could update a simplistic
resource model ``on-the-fly'' as new drillhole results become available. Using conceptual economic parameters, the
resource model could be regularly re-optimised. There are even techniques to test the blue sky potential of a deposit
by artificially extending the depth of mineralised blocks.

Two or more mineralised zones can often co-operate to mine the same portion of waste. Such an excavation can
result in a saddle-back. The question is often asked once mining is well underway, ``is the saddle-back barren?'' By
employing pit optimisation techniques at an early stage, the explorationist can identify and confirm whether the
saddle-back is real or perhaps caused by shortage of data.

Project Financiers

Today pit optimisation is a prerequisite before any new open pit project is given approval and allowed to get off the
ground. The Whittle range of optimisation products are recognised as world leaders. In simple terms, bankers and
mining executives trust Whittle software can help them meet their objectives which are to:
 maximise return on investment
 minimise risk
 ensure all corporate objectives are met

Traditionally, Four-D and lately Four-X, have been used to optimise net present value. In today's corporate climate
where many mines use sophisticated hedging techniques to forward sell production thereby guaranteeing their
revenues, it is often not appropriate to optimise an operation on net present value alone. For instance if a company
has locked into a high forward sales price, the average cash operating cost of the optimal net present value pit may
indeed be higher than the spot metal price. If this were the case, the company would trade more profitably, and with
less risk, if it ceased mining and became a metals trader instead. The trick is to choose a pit outline and mining
sequence where the marginal operating cost per unit of metal (say for gold $/oz), is always less than the metal's spot
market price. Adopting this approach, the company will maximise benefit from its forward sales policy.

If there are uncertainties in metal price, operating costs and recoveries, it becomes a relatively trivial exercise to run a
sensitivity analysis on these parameters. With Four-D and Four-X, it is possible to quantify and develop a risk profile
for project within hours. Experience has shown that nine times out of ten, a project is more sensitive to changes in
grade than anything else. Therefore, if the resource model is inaccurate, sensitivity to changes in other parameters
becomes irrelevant.

Mining Engineers

An optimisation using Four-D and Four-X, generally produces between 40 and 99 nested pit shells. Each shell
represents the optimal pit outline for a given metal price or mining cost (all other parameters remaining constant). If
the smallest shell is evaluated with a realistic metal price and mining cost, it will provide the fastest return.

Mining engineers can use this to identify the correct position for a ``starter pit''. For larger projects, subsequent pit
shells are used to prepare an orderly (and optimal) mine development schedule. The pit's push-back sequence can be
guided by nominating specific pit shells. The analysis programs will calculate net present value for:

 the worst case schedule which is flat bench mining to the ultimate pit limit
 the best case schedule which is mining incremental shells and is usually not practical, and finally
 the specified push back schedule which aims to simulate the actual situation

With the advent of the Whittle Interface to the Block Model, engineers now have a sensational tool to calculate mining
and processing costs for individual blocks and rock types using the powerful constraints engine. Traditionally, a project
is optimised during the feasibility study stage. Some mines are becoming more sophisticated and optimise each year
to define their ore reserve statement. The block model becomes an ideal storage medium for operating cost data as
well as grades, rock type and bulk density information. If this data is kept up date, automated re-optimisation can be a
macro and a few mouse clicks away. Incredible, imagine being able to use pit optimisation to guide short term as well
as long term planning projects.

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Used in conjunction with the Surpac block model, the Whittle pit shell outlines, have never been presented better.
Using all the sophisticated block model query tools at your disposal, you can calculate isopachs which show the
difference between an optimal pit shell and the current topography or another pit design. Results, when visualised
with Surpac's rendering and colourisation tools will leave you stunned.

For more advice on pit optimisation and its use with Surpac, contact Nick Journet, the Principal Engineer for Windrush
Mining Technology, Perth, WA. Nick can be reached though e-mail at windrush@iinet.net.au or through your local SSI
support centre.

The Whittle Interface

The Whittle interface is accessed on the Block modelling menu bar under Block model - Export - To Whittle

The form shown below is the only form to complete (other than the constraints form, if constraints are to be applied to
the export).

The cost adjustment factors are stored as attributes in the model. Therefore adding these to your block model is an
important part of the pre-processing, and this will generally be performed using the block maths function.

The results from the Export to Whittle 4D are two files, the Whittle model file and the Whittle parameters file.

The form below is completed as would be typical when performing an export from the block model to Whittle 4D. As
you can see, the interface itself is very straightforward. The `work' involved is all in ensuring your model is valid.

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Upon applying this form, the function will start processing. The processing feedback scroll bar will go across once,
from 0 to 100%, which gives excellent feedback as to how long the process will take. Also, the function line reads
``Exporting Whittle file filename.mod''.

The result is a valid Whittle model file and parameters file.

After running the Whittle pit optimisation, to bring the results back into Surpac2000, when prompted for a model to
load, simply choose the Whittle file. This will either have a .mod, .eco or .res extension.

A specific example is available in the dem\examples\whittle directory of our demonstration data distributed
with Surpac.
The data used in this demonstration is the Simba Mining Corporation data also referred to in the Online Reference
Manual. It has been converted to be used in conjuction with the Block Model interface.

Review

This section gives a broad overview of the concepts of Whittle model import and export using the Surpac Block Model.

Where To Next

The next section covers some of the column filling functions of the Surpac Block Model with emphasis on their use in
economic modelling.

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