Measuring “optimisation” software utilisation in the South African mining industry

Abstract

This paper discusses a new methodology to define and measure utilisation of mine planning software. An initial data set compiled in 2012 in an online database was updated in 2014 with additional and new information for software utilised in the South African mining industry. However, the online database only serves as a data repository and presentation platform. A methodology was required to analyse the data in the database to infer extent of utilisation of the software to enable better decision-making strategies by various stakeholders that include mining companies, software providers, consulting companies and educational institutions. The new methodology uses three variables, namely commodity, functionality and time stamp. In this paper, only one of the six mine planning software functionalities called the ‘Optimisation’ functionality is applied on five selected commodities, using the 2012 and 2014 time stamps. The work presented in this paper is part of a PhD research study in the School of Mining Engineering at the University of the Witwatersrand.