TECHNOLOGY

MICROMINE HAS EXPANDED BEYOND WHAT WAS IMAGINED YEARS AGO.

MICROMINE TAKES MASSIVE LEAPS INTO MINE DESIGN

HAVING ACQUIRED TWO LEADING TECHNOLOGIES BEFORE RESTRUCTURING ITS SUITE, SOFTWARE COMPANY MICROMINE NOW COVERS ALL BASES IN GEOLOGY, MINE PLANNING, DESIGN AND SCHEDULING, WITH PLENTY MORE TO COME.

Micromine began 2021 in a big way, revealing significant enhancements to its software which streamlined the complex process of geological modelling, mine planning and design.

A year later, the company has expanded into seven separate products in an end-to-end digital ecosystem headlined by Micromine Origin and Micromine Beyond.

The former is an exploration and 3D modelling solution that integrates and interprets exploration data, while the latter controls the continuation of the development of the mining asset – the actual planning and mining of a resource.

Micromine Origin entails all of the technologies the company has always been known for in the exploration space, making it as easy as possible for new assets to be found, understood and acted upon.

But the company was hungry to serve more than this initial exploration phase.

Micromine product strategy manager Jeremy Hanrahan joined the company in the middle of 2021 and recognised a company that was on its way up.

“The really exciting thing for me as I joined Micromine was that they acknowledge where the opportunity for growth is and are striving to take a leading position in mine planning and operations,” Hanrahan told Australian Mining.

Having worked as an electronic engineer and a mining engineer for the past 20 years, Hanrahan has seen the best and worst in mine design technology.

While Micromine’s competition is tough on a global scale, it has what it takes to grasp a significant chunk of the market in Australia and abroad, according to Hanrahan.

“There aren’t many companies that work at both ends of the process, in terms of geological assessment and in the mining operations. So that certainly sets Micromine apart,” he said.

“As far as the lifecycle of a resource – from seeking out a new resource deposit, proving there’s something there, creating and valuing a model, taking it to market, building and designing an operation and then operating on that asset – Micromine is one of few who have that end-toend offering.”

Rounding out this complete suite was Micromine’s 2021 acquisitions of Spry and Alastri in June and September, respectively.

Both technologies came with their own respected reputations – Spry is recognised as a leader in scheduling and simulation for soft-rock operations, while Alastri specialises in intuitive mine planning and production scheduling with a clear strength in open-pit hard-rock operations.

After years of doing these jobs “by hand”, Hanrahan was equally excited and exasperated by the capabilities of these technologies.

“I used to see problems and get frustrated that something would take me two days,” he said. “So it was amazing when I learned about Alastri because it took maybe 10 seconds to reprocess a block model of reserves. I thought, ‘if only I had this years ago’.

“Equally, all that you wanted to see happen, all the tools you wished you had back in the day have been filled by Spry.

“It’s evolved in a collaborative and cooperative way from people being on-site and learning from all the experiences, products and scheduling approaches that have come before it.”

Micromine Beyond was then released in November as the wider suite was unveiled. That suite now includes Micromine Nexus, Geobank, Origin, Beyond, Alastri, Spry, and Pitram, each with their own place in a mine’s lifecycle.

And while there is some crossover in their capabilities, Hanrahan said the Micromine suite was an evolution of sorts.

“The fact we have multiple options has opened some interesting opportunities for us and our customers,” he said.

“Micromine Beyond is very much the crossover point between geology, mine design and the initial sequence that guides a mine schedule.

“This is the natural strength that it has to compliment products like Spry and Alastri and why we are interested in further integrating with them to offer each of their best bits.”

And, of course, not all Micromine customers will be suited to all Micromine products.

One business specialising in the discovery and modelling of undeveloped mineral resources, for example, won’t be particularly interested in the haulage scheduling of Spry. And an active mine operator may not have much use for the explorative strengths of Origin.

Hanrahan explained the process of matching customers with Micromine products.

“A key part of the deployment for these tools is the hands-on experience, where the software and mining engineers can tailor the program to the customer and hand it straight to the customer,” he said. “This allows the workflow to fit as well as possible to the customer’s site’s needs.”

And in the unlikely case that a customer’s needs reveal a gap in the Micromine ecosystem, Hanrahan teased that such occurrences were in constant consideration as the company investigated opportunities to expand.

“This will be a continually expanding portfolio which will involve acquiring, developing and incorporating further technologies,” he said.

“We’ve made an active commitment to improve our capabilities in the mining space compared to our proven strength in geological modelling.” AM