Gemcom Software International, the largest global supplier of specialised mining productivity solutions, today announced that it has released Gemcom Whittle™ 4.3, the latest version of its industry-leading strategic mine planning software for open pit mines. When exploration and mining companies need to evaluate the financial viability and the optimal mine strategy for a deposit, they turn to Whittle because it enables them to determine their investment strategy and to deliver robust mine plans that maximise profitability by taking into account real mining constraints.
“The development of robust mine plans that withstand the volatility of prices, costs and demand is more important than ever and the re-evaluation of mine plans in today’s market is a necessity,” said Cindy Tonkin, technical product manager - scheduling and optimisation at Gemcom.
“For sound decision-making, you need straightforward tools that allow you to analyse different alternatives and which produce trusted results. This means that all physical and economic information must be available for easy review and that users must have the ability to ask questions about their input sensitivities and carry out what-if or scenario analyses. Whittle allows such analyses to be run easily and quickly, which helps save costs and drive mine value through the selection of a good planning strategy.”
“Whittle helped us extend our bench across our orebody at our Youga Mine in Burkina Faso and come up with new cash flows. We have increased our ore reserves by more than 1.2 million tonnes in six months, and we expect extra years of production from the mine. In addition, by merging actual numbers and operational parameters from our block models into Whittle, pit optimisations onsite has mitigated the need to hire additional consultants. Creating one or two pit shapes and the associated reports would otherwise cost about $30,000 in consulting fees,” said Samuel Takyi, senior mine planning engineer, Etruscan Resources, commenting on the benefits Whittle has delivered to his organisation.
To assist mine planners in producing robust mine plans, Whittle has been designed for mine optimisation, which enables significant increases in project value over and above pit optimisation. The software incorporates the strategic mine planning capabilities needed to achieve mine optimisation: strategic scheduling; detailed cost, price and recovery modelling; stockpiles; multiple mines; blending; and cut-off optimisation.
New for Whittle 4.3 is the NPV Practical Push Backs module, which provides a single-step process for creating push backs that address both maximum NPV and minimum mining width requirements. For all deposits where minimum mining width needs to be maintained, or the creation of push backs is an option, NPV Practical Push Backs is recommended to add value to the decision-making process by providing a more accurate NPV for each project. NPV Practical Push Backs provides new methods for fast, effective push back creation that enable practical schedules to become a standard part of the mine planning decision-making process, allowing the full potential value of the deposit to be realised.
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