News

Vulcan worldwide (June 2008)

Ambre Energy Pty Ltd, a coal-to-liquids specialist based in Brisbane, Queensland, has acquired Vulcan for geological modelling.

Farallon Resources Ltd, a Canadian company with a zinc-rich polymetallic asset in Guerrero state, Mexico, has purchased Vulcan for modelling, surveying and visualising the underground operation.

General Moly, Inc. a molybdenum mineral development, exploration and mining company, has purchased Vulcan for exploration of sites in Nevada.

Gold Corp Inc. has selected Vulcan for its Éléonore Property, a major new gold discovery in Northern Québec, Canada. Vulcan will be used for resource estimation.

Golden Phoenix Minerals Inc. Ashdown Project has leased Vulcan for its Sylvia Mine, a molybdenum operation in Nevada. The software will be used for geological modelling and underground mine design.

Golden Predator Mines Inc. has purchased Vulcan for its Springer Mine in Nevada. The company will use Vulcan for mine planning, design and scheduling of open pit and underground operations.

Hybrid Energy South Australia, a subsidiary of Strike Oil Australia, has purchased Vulcan Enviewer for presentations to internal and external stakeholders. Hybrid Energy holds petroleum and mineral exploration licences over large lignite deposits on the northern edge of the Otway Basin near Kingston in the southeast of the state.

John Holland Mining, an Australian mining and engineering contractor has purchased Vulcan for its Werris Creek Project. Vulcan will be used in this challenging steeply dipping multi-seam operation for detailed mine design (including drill & blast) and reserving for input into the short-term scheduling package. Vulcan has also been purchased for corporate Head Office, to provide a mine planning service for clients and to support the project teams as required.

Leyton Consulting has purchased Vulcan for geostatistics applications. Leyton works across a wide range of industrial markets including mining, defence and engineering in Australia and Europe.

Meridian Mining Services, Queensland has acquired Vulcan for mine modelling, survey and drill & blast applications.

Moultrie Group, which provides contracting and consulting services for mines in eastern Australia, will use Vulcan for geological modelling.

Nautilus Minerals Inc. has purchased Vulcan for mine planning of its high grade sea-floor massive sulphide (SMS) deposit of copper, zinc, gold and silver. The world’s first potential sea-floor copper gold mine is 1,500 metres below the surface at the Solwara 1 project in the Bismarck Sea off Papua New Guinea.

Orelogy, an innovative mine planning consultancy based in Western Australia has purchased Vulcan for geological modelling.

Oro Silver Resources Ltd, based in Zacatecas State, Mexico, one of the world’s largest historic silver districts, has acquired Vulcan for underground modelling, open pit mine design, pit optimisation and ventilation design.

QCoal Pty Ltd, headquartered in Brisbane, has acquired Vulcan for modelling and reserving for the joint venture development of the Sonoma Coal Mine in Queensland’s Bowen Basin.

Sweetman Earthmoving, contractors based in the coal mining area around Moranbah, Queensland, will use Vulcan for mine design and reconciliation.

Teck Cominco will use Vulcan for underground mine design and scheduling at the Pogo gold mine in Alaska.

Troy Resources NL has purchased Vulcan for resource estimation for leases in the Andorinhas Gold Project in north central Brazil and greenfields gold exploration in the sandstone belt in southwest Western Australia.

Vale-Inco Limited, a leading producer of nickel, copper, cobalt and precious metals, has purchased more than 50 Vulcan licences for use at T1, Birchtree and T3 mines in Thompson, Manitoba. Vulcan will be used for underground mine design, scheduling, geological modelling, survey, ventilation design, drill & blast, haulage and grade control.

Xstrata Frieda River, a copper-gold project near the border of the Sandaun and East Sepik Provinces of northwestern Papua New Guinea, will use Vulcan for geology, geostatistics and resource estimation.

Training tomorrows's mining engineers (June 2008)

Maptek conducted a Vulcan training session for professors at the University of Chihuahua, Mexico, in April 2008.

The professors appreciated the chance to become familiar with the Vulcan tools that they will pass onto their students. Professor Angelica Mena, head of the Geology Laboratory, was impressed with Vulcan’s ease of use, workflow setup, data access and reporting tools.

Definitely what I liked most were the visualisation tools and being able to create presentations in animation or ‘walk through’ mode. Having software such as Vulcan for geological modelling and resource estimation positions the University’s Engineering Faculty among the top schools. Professor Angelica Mena

After the introductory training, Mining and Metallurgical Engineering Career Coordinator, J. Alfredo Márquez, commented that ‘giving students the opportunity to access the best technology available shows we are concerned about providing excellence in academic programming’.

‘We are committed to developing the capabilities of our professors, and we understand the importance of Vulcan in the formation of competent mining professionals,’ Ing. Márquez added.

Maptek has supplied more than 500 academic licences of Vulcan software to premier universities around the world. Installing Vulcan in the learning environment benefits both students and their future employers. Graduate mining engineers and geologists can apply the knowledge gained and effectively hit the ground running when handed a task.

Eric Gonzalez, Maptek (centre) and University of Chihuahua staff

Vulcan worldwide (March 2008)

Agrium Inc. has purchased Vulcan for their potash mine in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Agrium will use Vulcan for scheduling.

Beadell Resources Ltd, a gold-focused exploration company with a portfolio of advanced and greenfields projects in Australia and Brazil,
will be renting Vulcan for geological modelling.

BHP Billiton has purchased Vulcan MineModeller for evaluating the potential of converting the existing underground Cannington base metal mine in Queensland into an open pit operation.
Vulcan was a logical choice when deciding on the software to be used, as most of BHP Billiton’s open pit mines are using Vulcan for planning - from short to long-term. We will have access to a number of engineers and geologists with the necessary experience. Another bonus is that a fair amount of customisation has been done at the various BHP Billiton Vulcan sites and we will be able to tap into and build on that in the future.

Carborough Downs Coal, an underground coal mine located in central Queensland east of Moranbah will rent Vulcan GeoModeller.

Global Nickel Investments, based in Western Australia, has purchased a Vulcan Explorer licence for a project in New Zealand. The company explores and develops platinum, nickel and gold resources.

Oceanic Coal has rented Vulcan for geological and mine modelling of
the Westside Mine on the outskirts of Newcastle in New South Wales.

Rex Minerals, an exploration company focusing on copper-gold projects in South Australia and gold projects in Victoria, uses Vulcan Explorer and Enviewer for planning and managing exploration activities.

Romarco Minerals has secured a short-term rental of Vulcan for the Haile Gold Mine located in South Carolina. They will be using the software for geomodelling of their mine which produced gold during the Civil War.

Xstrata Coal has purchased multiple Vulcan licences for mine modelling for the new Glendell project northwest of Singleton in New South Wales.

Advanced Design Center opens at South Dakota School of Mines & Technology (March 2008)

The Maptek™ sponsored Advanced Mine Design Center was opened at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology in Rapid City on February 15, 2008.

The Mining Engineering and Management Department at the School of Mines is a leading institution that has focused heavily on mine design by leveraging Maptek Vulcan software. With student numbers climbing to 80, they recognised the need for a state-of-the-art mine design lab to accommodate 25 computer stations and a global communications center.

Maptek sponsored the remodelling of 2 rooms to create the newly designed lab, which is also used for geomechanics design activities. Features of the new center include video conferencing facilities, a plasma screen, and a projector networked to tablet PCs and desktops.

The Maptek Advanced Mine Design Center has been a great way for Maptek to support the mining industry. We have had a long relationship with the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology and see this as an investment in our continued partnership and in the quality education of future mining industry professionals.
Jon Larson, General Manager
Maptek North American Operations

South Dakota School of Mines and Technology welcomes Maptek		Jon Larson, General Manager of Maptek North America, and President Charles Ruch, SDSM&T, at the ribbon-cutting ceremony		L-R: Steve Uecker, Vulcan Global Product Manager (Maptek), Bradley Johnson, President (SDSM&T Foundation), Charles Ruch, President (SDSM&T), Dr Zbigniew Hladysz, Professor (SDSM&T), Fernando Rodrigues, Technical Services Business Unit Director (Maptek), Shashi Kanth, Director/Instructor (SDSM&T), Dr Charles Kliche, Professor (SDSM&T)		Students at the Advanced Mine Design Center

Maptek sponsors AMIRA optimisation research project (March 2008)

Maptek has joined other suppliers in co-sponsoring an AMIRA research project looking at underground mine design and schedule optimisation tools. AMIRA International Ltd is an independent association of minerals companies which facilitates research projects addressing industry issues, and fosters the development of a stronger industry research base.

Maptek will provide Maptek Vulcan licences, training and support to the Planning and Rapid Integrated Mine Optimisation project, which will focus on developing more efficient computational methods when complex infrastructure branching is needed for distributed ore zones.

Australian Sales Manager for Vulcan, Steve Sullivan, who conducted training in Vulcan’s underground functionality for University of Melbourne and Alford Mining Systems researchers recently in Melbourne, Victoria, said that Maptek is pleased to be involved in the project. ‘We have always invested heavily in R&D and we see this as another way to continue to add value to our products.’
Key researchers involved in the project are MIRARCO Mining Innovation, Alford Mining Systems, AMC Consultants and Melbourne University.

Sponsors Barrick, Rio Tinto, CVRD Inco, Xstrata, Oxiana and BHP Billiton are joined by supplier sponsors Maptek, GijimaAST, Datamine and AMC Consultants. More information about Project 884 can be found at www.amira.com.au under current projects.

When the results of the research are commercialised our customers will be among those who will benefit
from this.
Steve Sullivan, Vulcan Sales Manager, Australia

Maptek joins Australian mining research project (February 2008)

Maptek™ has joined other suppliers in co-sponsoring an AMIRA research project looking at mine design and schedule optimisation tools.

AMIRA International Ltd is an independent association of minerals companies which facilitates collaborative research projects addressing industry issues and fosters the development of a stronger industry research base.

Maptek will provide Maptek Vulcan™ licences, training and support to the Planning and Rapid Integrated Mine Optimisation project, which will focus on developing more efficient computational methods when complex infrastructure branching is needed for distributed ore zones.

 Australian Sales Manager for Vulcan, Steve Sullivan who conducted training for researchers recently in Melbourne, Victoria, said that Maptek is pleased to be involved in the project.

 ‘We have always invested heavily in R&D and we see this as another way to continue to add value to our products.’

 ‘When the results of the research are commercialised our customers will be among those who will benefit from this.’

 Key researchers involved in the project are MIRARCO Mining Innovation, Alford Mining Systems, AMC Consultants and Melbourne University. Sponsors Barrick, Rio Tinto, CVRD Inco, Xstrata, Oxiana and BHP Billiton are joined by supplier sponsors Maptek, GijimaAST, Datamine and AMC Consultants.

More information about Project 884 can be found at www.amira.com.au under current projects.

Maptek Vulcan™ 7.5 released (December 2007)

Vulcan Version 7.5 allows straight lines, polygons and curved lines to be used in the blocking out process

Maptek Vulcan™ Version 7.5 provides customers with innovative functionality to improve daily productivity.

Vulcan 7.5 features a new module for oil sands operations, upgrades to open pit, coal and underground design menus, direct import/export of DWG and DGN files, enhanced capacity to store metadata with design objects. Performance and usability have been improved. Vulcan 7.5 is compatible with the Microsoft® Vista operating system.

The stratigraphic development team has focused on improving Vulcan’s capability to handle greater data complexity and size, rationalising workflow, maintaining flexibility and enhancing viewing.

The Oil Sands Module calculates total inground bitumen, either within a specific area or over the entire block model. Block Area Averaging gives users a choice of methods to select an area and then display points that represent blocks in that area. Dilution Modelling estimates diluted grades along the bitumen/waste contacts as determined by the Total Volume of Material:Bitumen Volume-In-Place ratio. Specification files can be saved for different ratios. This helps users to ensure they are running the correct specifications. Other stratigraphic operations can take advantage of the new block compositing tools.

Users can now design open pits with better transition between batter and berm changes and automatic blending between varying road widths. Different road widths and grades are catered for within the same polygon and within slot cuts.

Underground, the Automatic Ramp Generator allows users to design decline or spiral ramps by nominating a start and end point and gradient. User-defined constraints include maximum grade for turns and straight sections, and optional transition grade at start and finish. Users can build accurate solutions based on block model variables such as development cost and ore values (top left).

Vulcan worldwide (December 2007)

BC Gold, which is located in Vancouver, British Columbia, has leased Vulcan for modelling several different sites.

BHP Billiton in Suriname has purchased Vulcan for geological modelling, resource estimation, mine design and road design.

BHP Billiton, UK office, has purchased a Vulcan Explorer licence.

BHP Billiton Escondida, in Antofagasta, Chile, has purchased Vulcan for resource estimation, including simulation tools and geotechnical toolbox with downhole televiewer interface for its open pit copper mine.

Cía. Minera San Gerónimo in La Serena, Chile, has purchased Vulcan for geological modelling, resource estimation and mine design of its underground copper mine and future open pit extension.

Codelco Andina in Los Andes, Chile, has purchased Vulcan Chronos Scheduling and Haulage Profile modules for long-term scheduling and optimising truck requirements in the open pit copper mine.

CP Mining Management, a subsidiary of CITIC Pacific Ltd, operates the greenfields Cape Preston Iron Ore operation in northern Western Australia. CP Mining has purchased multiple MineModeller licences with Drill & Blast and Surveying Upgrade modules.

Denison Mines, Denver, Colorado, has 7 active uranium mines in North America and has purchased Vulcan for use throughout their properties.

Geovectra, a specialist geological consulting firm in Santiago, Chile, has purchased Vulcan GeoStatModeller.

Haldeman Mining Company (HMC), Iquique, Chile, has purchased Vulcan for geological modelling, resource estimation and mine design.

Heathgate Resources, the owner and operator of the Beverley Uranium Mine in northern South Australia, has purchased Vulcan GeoModeller with Tetra Modelling for resource estimation at its insitu leach mine.

Holcim Ecuador located in Guayaquil, Ecuador, has purchased Vulcan NGRAIN interfaces to optimise Microsoft Office® connectivity for visualising Vulcan models in presentations and reports.

Keegan Resources, located in Vancouver, British Columbia, has several properties including gold projects in Ghana, West Africa. They will use Vulcan for geological modelling of deposits.

Kinross - Rio Paracatu Mineração has purchased a GeoStatModeller with Geotechnical and Mine Design upgrades for its open pit gold operations at Paracatu, in Minas Gerais, Brazil.

Mineral Resources Services, Reno, Nevada, has purchased Vulcan for geological modelling.

Newcrest Mining Limited has chosen Vulcan for its Cadia East project in New South Wales. GeoModeller licences with Geotechnical upgrades will be implemented for the proposed development of a large open pit and underground gold-copper mine.

Renison Consolidated Mines will use Vulcan for resource calculations, modelling and interpretation of their Agate Creek Gold Project in northern Queensland, as well as coal projects in NSW.

Rio Tinto Iron Ore, UK, has purchased 2 Vulcan GeoModeller licences for use in Guinea in West Africa.

Rio Tinto, La Granja project in Perú, has purchased Vulcan for geological modelling, resource estimation and mine design for open pit operations.

San Anton de las Minas S.A. de C.V. (SAM) has purchased Vulcan for exploration of the Cerro del Gallo gold-silver deposit in a historic mining district in Guanajuato State in central Mexico.

SideScope Consulting – Sacrison, located in Elko, Nevada, has rented Vulcan for geological modelling.

Maptek Users Conference brings customers and staff together
(November 2007)

The Maptek 2007 Users Conference took place October 29-31 at The Inverness Hotel in Englewood, Colorado.

More than 60 people from various mining companies joined Maptek staff for the 3-day users conference held at the Inverness Center in Engelwood, Colorado, at the end of October.

Engineers, geologists, consultants and educators attended, from Albian Sands Energy Inc., Barrick Gold Corporation, BHP Billiton Ekati, Bureau of Land Management, Chevron Mining Inc., Cleveland Cliffs (Michigan, Northshore, United Taconite, Cliffs Mining Services, Hibbing-Taconite, Wabush/Scully sites), Iron Ore Company of Canada, McIntosh Engineering, Newmont Mining, Peabody Engineering, Petro-Canada, Phelps Dodge, Queenstake Resources Ltd, Rio Tinto Minerals (London, Denver, Perth), Somincor, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, SRK Consulting, Stillwater Mining Company (Nye, East Boulder mines), Thiess Australia, Kennecott Exploration, Minera Los Pelambres, Peabody Energy (PRCC), Thiess Pty Ltd and The University of Utah.

The program catered for engineers on Day 1 with Maptek Vulcan case studies covering haulage profile, Chronos and IDS scheduling, pit optimisation, ore blending, tailings dam design and Maptek I-Site for underground surveying.

Day 2 focused on new technology and customer feedback, with sessions run by Marketing Director, Matt Pesce, and Vulcan Product Manager, Steve Uecker, as well as new software developments introduced by Fernando Rodrigues, leader of Vulcan Technical Services in Denver.

Day 3 featured geology-focused talks covering grade control, block modelling, geological modelling and tetra modelling, as well as surveying and mine planning applications featuring I-Site.

The event was a great chance for networking between Maptek customers and staff. Client ideas, such as the interactive editing tool for underground ramps, which displays grades dynamically while maintaining control on operational constraints, were incorporated into the Vulcan Version 7.5 release.

The Vulcan Olympics brought out the competitive streak in users, with finalists Andy Connell, Paul Jones, Ryan Barnett, Luis Sierra, Allan Schappert, Chris Hunter and Ziggy Hladysz losing out to winner Michael Wilkins (top right).

The success of Maptek’s recent Users Conference represented the culmination of hard work and dedication on the part of our clients, business partners and Maptek staff from all parts of the world. Maptek employees from Australia, Europe, South America and North America provided attendees with access to a wide range of skills, knowledge and expertise.
.
Maptek was able to deliver the breadth and quality of content offered during the conference with the input of our customers who provided outstanding presentations detailing how they use Maptek products to achieve best practices in their work. I offer my thanks to each and every attendee in making this the finest Maptek Users Conference to date.
Barry Henderson, CEO

The 2007 Users Conference attracted clients from hard rock and coal operations, and open pit and underground mines. I am sure everyone was able to take away something useful; we certainly look forward to seeing our clients again at the next conference.
Tony Peterson, Technical Services Manager, Denver

XI Maptek Users Conference in South America (September 2007)

Official photograph Maptek customers from Chile, Brazil and Ecuador plus staff and students from the universities of Antofagasta, Santiago, La Serena, Catolica del Norte and Chile attended the highly successful XI Maptek Users Conference in Viña del Mar in August. These 60 participants joined Maptek staff from Brazil, Chile, USA and Australia. Presentations from Maptek Vulcan users highlighted the range of applications for our products from mine planning, grade control, geotechnical studies, grade estimation through to pit optimisation. Maptek I-Site presentations proved how Maptek’s latest laser scan data software tools provide simple and accurate solutions to real mining situations. Customers gained new insights into how to derive maximum benefit from Vulcan and I-Site by listening to expert Maptek staff. At the conference dinner, Maptek Sudamérica Senior Vice-President Marcelo Arancibia presented an award to long-standing Maptek customer, Hugo Urrutia (right), who has been using Vulcan for 10 years. Mr Urrutia has more than 40 years experience in mining and is a qualified Civil Mining Engineer and Member of the Mining Engineers Institute of Chile, with a Diploma in Strategic Contract Management. He has worked for Pelambres Mining Company since 1998, and is currently Long Term Planning Senior Engineer in the Planning and Development Management Office. This was one of the most successful conferences that I have experienced since joining Maptek. It exceeded our expectations in both support and the content of users papers. The customer focus group was excellent, allowing us not only to see what we are doing well but also to identify how we could do better. We will continue to improve, and to differentiate ourselves based on the high quality application support we provide to our customers. Marcelo Arancibia		Team bowling social night Conference dinner Maptek staff

Vulcan worldwide (September 2007)

Brockman Solutions, a geology consulting firm in Western Australia, has acquired Vulcan GeoModeller with Geotechnical tools.

Canning Services (Rio Tinto) in Victoria has acquired Vulcan GeoModeller with Geotechnical tools for evaluating the Kintyre uranium project in northwest Western Australia.

CP Mining Management, which is based in Perth, WA, and manages and coordinates the construction and operation of iron ore projects, has purchased a Vulcan Enviewer licence.

Creative Mined Enterprises, which undertakes project consulting specialising in mine optimisation, design and scheduling from its base in Fremantle, WA, has acquired Vulcan on short-term rental.

CVRD, Itabira, has acquired Vulcan GeoStatModeller for use at their operations in Minais Gerais state, Brazil.

Dart Mining, a gold and base-metals exploration and development company based in Melbourne, Victoria, has purchased Vulcan Explorer. Dart will initially focus on prospects in the Lachlan Fold Belt in northeastern Victoria and southeastern New South Wales.

LARCO in Greece has purchased Vulcan GeoStatModeller with Open Pit Mine Design, Vulcan Interactive Road Design, Lersch Grossman Optimisation and Floating Cone Optimisation for their operations.

Leighton Contractors is responsible for bulk excavation and selective coal mining operations at the new Sonoma Coal project, situated in the Bowen Basin, 200 kilometres northwest of Mackay, Queensland. Leighton has purchased Vulcan MineModeller with Surveying, Drill & Blast and Interactive Road Design modules for the project.

MDL Senegal in Tanzania has purchased Vulcan MineModeller with Geology and Haulage Profile tools, as well as Vulcan GeoStatModeller and Survey module for the Sabodala gold project, 650 km from Dakar.

Newcrest Mining Limited in Melbourne has purchased a Vulcan GeoStatModeller licence with Gaussian Simulation and Cokriging for use by the technical group overseeing their Australasian operations.

Applied Geostatistics course (August 2007)

The 6th Citation Program in Applied Geostatistics was held in the Maptek Denver office from July 9 to August 3. The accredited course combined academic knowledge of modern geostatistical tools with industry experience, focusing on mining. The course was attended by a wide range of mining professionals, from those running grade estimations to experienced users who needed a deeper knowledge of the theory and practice of geostatistics.

Instructors were Dr Clayton Deutsch, Professor and Director of the School of Mining and Petroleum Engineering at the University of Alberta, and Eric Gonzalez, Regional Manager for Maptek Mexico and the Caribbean. Dr Deutsch teaches and conducts research in geostatistical methods applied to resource estimation and grade control. Eric is a Mining Engineer who has been using Vulcan software since 1996, specialising in the Geostatistics package. He completed the Geostatistics Citation in 2003.

Applied Geostatistics courses are also conducted by Maptek in Chile and Perth, Australia.

BHP Billiton adopts Vulcan for Olympic Dam expansion (June 2007)

BHP Billiton has adopted Vulcan for the Olympic Dam Expansion project (ODX) in South Australia’s far north. This project will be the largest open pit mining operation in Australia, rivalling BHP Billiton’s giant Escondida copper mine in northern Chile, which also uses Vulcan.
Read more - download case study (pdf 144 KB)

Intensive course in Mining Geostatistics (June 2007)

Maptek South America was pleased to present certificates to students on completion of the 5th Intensive Course in the Application of Mining Geostatistics. The course, which required attendance for four weeks over a two-month period, involved theoretical and practical aspects, with the objective of providing knowledge in the theory and use of modern geostatistical tools, with an emphasis on mining.

This year 19 students came from different companies throughout South America: Alessandro Medeiros Silva, Cecilia Germano Porto, Anderson Goncalves Candido, Paulo de Tarso Ferreira and Fernando Rosa Guimaraes from AngloGold, Brazil; Viviana Scavuzzo, Cerro Vanguardia, Argentina; Jorge Artal, Antofagasta Minerals, Chile; Fernando Saez, Xstrata Tintaya, Perú; Carlos Medrano, Poderosa, Perú; Leonardo Hiram, Serra Grande, Brazil; Emerson Ricardo, Yamana, Brazil; Yuan Tay, Collahuasi, Chile; Jose Bertini, Golder, Chile; Carolina Vasquez, Chile; Antonio Magri, Chile; Fernando Didona, Cerro Colorado, Chile; John Estaño, Xstrata Copper, Perú; Giovanny Ortiz, Angostura Project, Colombia; and Marcelo Tapia, Cerro Colorado, Chile.

Presenters Dr Clayton Deutsch, University of Alberta and Dr Eduardo Magri, University of Chile, with course graduates

Vulcan worldwide (June 2007)

Buhlmann & Associates, a consulting firm located in Flin Flon, Manitoba, has purchased Vulcan for geomodelling applications.

CBH Resources has purchased a Vulcan MineModeller for use in the development of their new Rasp Mine at Broken Hill, NSW.

Energy Resources of Australia has purchased Vulcan GeoStatModeller licences for geological and resource modelling of uranium mineralisation in the Ranger deposit, Northern Territory.

Iluka Resources, Hamilton, Victoria has purchased a prepaid Vulcan MineModeller for mine design of open cut mineral sands operations.

International Enexco has purchased Vulcan for underground design of the Mann Lake Project, a copper mine located in the Athabasca Basin, Saskatchewan.

Jubilee Mines in Western Australia has purchased multiple Vulcan licences for geological modelling and underground mine design for the Cosmos, Sinclair and Perth operations.

Kings Minerals in Brisbane has installed GeoStatModeller licences with Geotechnical tools for modelling and analysis of their sites in Queensland.

La Mancha Resources has purchased Vulcan for geology and mine planning at its Frog’s Leg gold operation west of Kalgoorlie in WA.

Measured Resources in Brisbane, Queensland has purchased a prepaid Vulcan GeoModeller for their new geological consultancy.

MiningOne Pty Ltd based in Victoria, has acquired a long-term Vulcan rental licence for underground mine modelling consultancy work.

Oxiana Limited in Melbourne, Victoria has purchased Vulcan for use in strategic mine design work for Oxiana group operations.

Peabody Pacific will use Vulcan for modelling and mine design in the head office in Brisbane, Queensland. Peabody Pacific’s Wilpinjong Mine in New South Wales is implementing Vulcan for mine design and resource calculations.

Rio Tinto’s Canning Resources has purchased a GeoModeller with Geotechnical tools for evaluation of their Kintyre uranium project in Western Australia.

Roche Mining has purchased a MineModeller licence for daily mine design tasks at the Boggabri coal mine in New South Wales.

Scorpio Mining Corporation has acquired Vulcan for exploration, geological modelling and resource estimation for the Nuestra Senora Project, an underground polymetallic deposit near the town of Cosala in Sinaloa State, Mexico.

View Resources has acquired Vulcan on long-term rental for under-ground design at the revitalisation of the Bronzewing gold mine operations about 400 km north of Kalgoorlie in Western Australia.

Version 7 released (March 2007)

Vulcan Version 7 has been released to clients following a comprehensive development phase and rigorous software testing.

Version 7 includes major enhancements for coal customers and Chronos users. New tools have been added to CAD, Open Pit, Dump Design and Statistics menus. Improvements to existing tools in Survey, Geotech, Pit Layout, Bench & Batters, Progress Maps, Image Registration, Ring Design, Drill & Blast, Grade Control, Pit Optimiser, Grade Shells, Geophysics and Intelligent Objects are supported by a further 1000 smaller enhancements and fixes.

For more information on all of the new features (530KB pdf)

 'Global customer input has been important in establishing this version as the most stable, relevant, easy to use mine planning and geological modelling software on the market.' Steve Uecker, Global Product Manager

Vulcan worldwide (March 2007)

BHP Billiton World Exploration has purchased Vulcan Explorer for evaluating local and international iron ore projects.

Bullion River, French Gulch Mine has purchased Vulcan for survey and mine design on a project in Redding, California.

Cameco Corporation has purchased Vulcan and Enviewer licences for Corporate offices in Saskatoon, as well as Cigar Lake, McArthur River and Rabbit Lake mines. Cameco is the world’s largest uranium producer, supplying 20% of the world’s low-cost uranium. Vulcan will be used extensively for modelling, design and scheduling.

Cape Lambert Iron Ore Ltd is using Vulcan for resource estimation of a large magnetite deposit in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.

Cemento de El Salvador S.A., CESSA, has bought Vulcan open pit and blast design and sectional resources for the cement plant in Metapan, northeastern El Salvador. Part of the Swiss Holcim Group, CESSA is a leading cement manufacturer and the market leader in El Salvador.

Edward Boulton Pty Ltd, mine planning consultants in Mackay, Queensland, have adopted Vulcan for use in open pit coal operations. Graynic Metals Ltd is implementing Vulcan for geological modelling in their Australia-wide exploration for base metals.

Idemitsu Boggabri Coal has purchased Vulcan for geological modelling and mine design for their central NSW open cut coal operations; and Idemitsu Coal has purchased Vulcan with MultiElement Pit Optimiser and Chronos scheduler for use in their Brisbane long-term planning office.

Millennium Coal has bought Vulcan for open cut design at their new coal operations in central Queensland. Minera Ecuacorriente in Ecuador has acquired Vulcan with Iroads and Haulage Profile for their open pit project.

Minera Florida, an underground gold mine in Alhue near Santiago, has acquired Vulcan for geological and engineering studies. Minera Florida is part of the Meridian Gold group.

Petro-Canada has acquired Vulcan for geological modelling and mine planning at the Fort Hills oil sands mine in Athabasca Oil Sands Basin, northeastern Alberta. The project has an expected life in excess of 40 years.

PT Kalteng Coal has purchased multiple Vulcan licences for a new BHP Billiton coal mine in Indonesia. They will use Vulcan for survey, geological modelling and open cut mine design, and Chronos for reserving.

Queen’s University, located in Kingston, Ontario has purchased an educational licence for use in education and research.

Rio Tinto Minerals, located in Denver, has acquired Vulcan for strategic mine planning work in the Minerals Group.

Stonehenge Metals Ltd has commenced a lease-to-purchase of Vulcan for evaluation of tin, nickel and base metal projects in Tasmania.

TafeSA has incorporated Vulcan into geology courses at the O’Halloran Hill campus, with training and ongoing support from Maptek Adelaide.

Universidad Autónoma de Chihuahua has acquired five underground modelling licences for teaching mine engineering students. The University is located in the mining zone of Chihuahua State in the north of Mexico.

Western Mesquite Mine, owned by Western Goldfields, has purchased Vulcan for modelling and design of its open pit mine in Yuma, California.

Maptek Sponsors Computer Lab at South Dakota School of Mines (January 2007)

Maptek has announced that it will be sponsoring a state-of-the-art computer lab and global communications centre at the South Dakota School of Mines Department of Mining Engineering and Management.

The Maptek Advanced Mine Design Centre will begin construction immediately and should be ready for students by the fall of 2007. Additional enhancements will be made over the next three years with expected completion by 2010.

This new centre will enhance the faculty’s ability to promote and teach the technical aspects of the mining industry. Due mainly to South Dakota’s recent enhancement of the curriculum to include mining business and management and the resulting increase in enrollment, students are forced to share computers in a cramped classroom. The new facility will be twice the size and will enable 25 students access to computers. Other features of the new centre include:

• Video conferencing capabilities for distance education and global communications
• Dedicated wall space for both a large plasma screen and blackboard
• A ceiling mounted air projector that is networked to all tablet PCs and desktops
• Ergonomic seating and new equipment furniture
• New flooring and improved lighting
• Air conditioning and updated heating and ventilation

South Dakota’s mining program is the fifth largest in the nation with a current enrollment of 60 students and expected enrollment of 80 students in 2008. This new centre will help the school continue to produce high quality, trained engineers for the mining industry.

Established 25 years ago, Maptek offers a range of cutting edge software and hardware technologies. Vulcan software, a 3D geological modelling system, is currently used for modelling and mine planning at more than 600 sites worldwide. It will also be used as a teaching tool at the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology.

past news >>