becomes

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Feature story

MINExpo 2012: New Technology

and New Software Releases
On September 24 26, we were thrilled to be a part of
MINExpo, the worlds largest mining tradeshow held once
every four years in Las Vegas. This years show was a
phenomenal success and over 50% bigger than in 2008.
+ Click here to read the full story (page 2)

customer story

Supporting a Global Customer Base with

A Gemcom Mine Design, Planning, and
Scheduling Solution

Working with a wide variety of customers on diverse projects, Canadian-based firm

Python Mining Consultants finds a major advantage with the use of Gemcom solutions.
+ Click here to read the full story (page 4)

P r o d u c t N e w s a n d Tip s

R e gi o n a l N e w s

Gemcom Surpac

Gemcom MineSched

+ AFRICA (page 5)

+ learn more (Page 13)

+ Learn more (page 18)

+ AUSTRALASIA (page 6)

Gemcom GEMS

Gemcom PCBC

+ EUROPE, MIDDLE EAST AND

NORTH AFRICA (page 8)

+ Learn more (page 14)

+ Learn more (page 19)

+ LATIN AMERICA (page 9)

Gemcom Minex

Gemcom Hub

+ NORTH AMERICA and

brazil (page 10 and 11)

+ Learn more (page 15)

+ Learn more (page 20)

+ Russia (page 12)

Gemcom Whittle

Gemcom InSite

+ Learn more (page 16)

+ Learn more (page 21)

Gemcom Services

+ Learn more (page 22)

Disclaimer and copyrights

This document gives only a general description of products and services and except where expressly provided otherwise shall not form part of any contract.
Changes may be made in products or services at any time without notice. Copyright 2012, Gemcom Software International Inc. Gemcom, the Gemcom logo,
combinations thereof, and Surpac, GEMS, Minex, MineSched, Gemcom InSite, Whittle, PCBC and Gemcom Hub are trademarks of Gemcom Software
International Inc. All other names are trademarks, registered trademarks, or service marks of their respective owners.

global events
calendar
+ see where
to find us
(page 23)

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Feature story
MINExpo 2012:
New Technology
and New Software
Releases
On September 24 26, we were
thrilled to be a part of MINExpo, the
worlds largest mining tradeshow held
once every four years in Las Vegas. This
years show was a phenomenal success
and over 50% bigger than 2008, with
approximately 60,000 attendees and
over 1,860 exhibitors in more than
860,000 sq. ft.
Our amazing 20 x 20 x 25 booth
made an unforgettable impression
on visitors, with three 112 HDTVs
overhead, a presentation theatre with
both product overview and featurespecific presentations occurring every
half hour, three product demo stations
and a self-serve video kiosk, and even
a meeting room for customer and press
meetings. In addition to the booth, our
presence at the show included the joint
conference presentation of a white
paper entitled Short Interval Control in
Todays Underground Mine, by Fiona
Carew, Strategic Account Manager for
GEOVIA, and Rick Howes, EVP and
COO at Dundee Precious Metals; and
also the participation of Iain McLean,
Vice President, North America and
Brazil, GEOVIA, in the Industry Leaders
Roundtable on The Future of Mining,
where GEOVIA was the only software
company represented.
During the show, we also held an
exclusive event, GEOVIAs Vision
for Mining with over 120 attendees
from 16 different countries including
CEOs, Presidents, CIOs, COOs, EVPs,
SVPs, VPs, and many more prominent
figures from across the mining industry.
The event featured speeches and
presentations by Bernard Charls,
President and CEO, Dassault Systmes,
Rick Moignard, CEO, GEOVIA, Rick
Howes, and Stephen Arndt, Principal
Geomechanics & 3D Modelling,
Coffey Mining.

The GEOVIA team pictured at the booth.

Rick Moignard, CEO, GEOVIA (Left) turns over the stage to Bernard Charls, President and CEO,
Dassault Systmes (Right) during the GEOVIAs Vision for Mining event.

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For us, the most exciting part of

the show was the opportunity to
demonstrate the new capabilities and
features that are coming soon in our
software, such as the Dynamic Shells
module for Surpac and GEMS and
the new stereoscopic 3D visualisation
technology in Surpac. During MINExpo
we announced new capabilities of
five new products, Gemcom Surpac
6.4, Gemcom GEMS 6.5, Gemcom
InSite 4.2, Gemcom Whittle 4.5 and
Gemcom MineSched 8.0.
Three of those products have now been
released; Whittle 4.5 and InSite 4.2 are
both immediately available. Whittle 4.5
helps users develop pit designs that
are more practical to mine with a new
mining direction feature. For the full
list of enhancements, read the Whittle
article and see the Whittle 4.5 Whats
New datasheet. InSite 4.2 provides
new features that give operations even
more confidence in their production
data, such as a completely rebuilt
custom reporting and analytics module.
For a full overview of enhancements,
read the InSite article and see the InSite
4.2 Whats New datasheet.

Bernard Charls, President and CEO, Dassault Systmes (Left) learns more about Dynamic Shells
from Brad Moore, Technical Product Manager (Right).

The recent release of MineSched 8.0

provides users with greatly enhanced
performance, allowing even operations
with complex schedules or large deposits
to create underground and open pit
schedules in a fraction of the time
compared to earlier versions. Read more
about the release in the MineSched
article and the MineSched 8.0 Whats
New datasheet.

Surpac 6.4 and GEMS 6.5 provide an

exciting new capability with the addition
of the Dynamic Shells feature. Dynamic
Shells is a new tool that provides an
implicit modelling capability to allow
users to interactively create 3D solids
and surfaces from geological data. It
allows for very fast interpretation of the
deposit, and for geologists to quickly
and easily model geological data for
visualisation.
In addition to Dynamic Shells, Surpac
6.4 also offers a new stereoscopic 3D
visualisation feature, and provides
increased memory handling capabilities
with the Windows 64-bit operating
system. Additional benefits of GEMS
6.5 include quicker, more robust solids/
surfaces repair, along with a new drillhole
planning tool. For a complete overview
of new features in Surpac 6.4 and GEMS
6.5, please read the Surpac and GEMS
articles and review the Coming Soon
datasheets.
We are looking forward to the upcoming
release of these exciting products, and
in particular to the introduction of the
Dynamic Shells, which has been released
in Surpac 6.3.2 now and includes limited
time pricing until December 31. Read
more in the Surpac section of Inside
Gemcom. For more information on
Dynamic Shells, please visit www.
gemcomsoftware.com/dynamicshells.

Jose Santos, Product Line Manager (Left), demonstrates Surpacs new stereoscopic 3D capability for
a visitor to the booth.

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CUSTOMER STORY
Supporting a Global Customer Base with A
Gemcom Mine Design, Planning, and
Scheduling Solution
Python Mining Consultants is a
Canadian-based firm specialising in
mine design, planning, and scheduling.
They work with North American and
global companies of all types and
sizes to produce long- and short-term
schedules for surface and underground
mining operations. With a wide
variety of different project types and
customers, working with software
from the largest global supplier of
mining productivity solutions is a major
advantage for them.
We chose Gemcoms Surpac and
MineSched solution due to its
widespread use in the mining industry
and for the ease of data movement
between the two applications. Further,
having all aspects of the design process
in one solution allows changes to any
one part quickly and easily, says
Martin Drennan, Technical Consultant,
Python Mining Consultants.

created by MineSched for use in the

final technical report. MineSched
has enabled us to accomplish
development and production
scheduling faster and with greater
ability to run sensitivities on different
options, comments Drennan.

About Python Mining Consultants

Headquarters:
Hamilton, Canada
Python Mining Consultants provides
all the engineering services necessary
to perform basic scoping studies, to
full feasibility work, and everything in
between.

An additional benefit of Gemcoms

software is how it helps us is in
solving optimisation problems by
creating various design options and
running many scheduling scenarios
quickly. By using standard financial
analysis in a MineSched template,
it is possible to quickly run multiple
options and see the resulting
economic values. Similarly, scheduling
issues can be dealt with by looking
at several competing designs and
performing various rate sensitivities
on them, he adds.

Website:
www.pythonminingconsultants.ca

Automation of tasks and workflows is

another aspect of Gemcoms software
that we appreciate. One of the most
useful features of Surpac is the ability
to create custom macros to automate
many processes, concludes Drennan.

Python Mining Consultants find

Gemcoms software particularly helpful
in many aspects of the technical
reports they produce, using the data
generated in Surpac and MineSched for
scoping, pre-feasibility, and feasibility
studies. A typical project will start
with drillhole data being imported
into Surpac, which they use to create
a block model using the softwares
geostatistics and block modelling
features. This block model can be used
along with costing data from the mine
site to create economic stope models.
Next, the mine is designed around
the stopes using Surpacs modelling
tools and then scheduled using
MineSched. The schedule can be run
using different scenarios to find a near
optimal solution. Once the schedule
is completed, outputs of data are

Stopes and development for an underground gold project.

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Regional News
LATIN
AMERICA
AFRICA

User Conferences
and Workshops
Unite the Gemcom
Client Community
Since the last edition of our newsletter,
Gemcom Africa has hosted User
Conferences and Product Workshops in
Lubumbashi, DRC and Kitwe, Zambia.
Both conferences were very well
attended, with some delegates also
taking the opportunity to participate
in our post-conference product
workshops, to learn how to further
enhance their use of Gemcom software
and add value to their operations.
The introduction of post-User
Conference Product Workshops has
been very well received. For a minimal
cost, delegates get an opportunity to
delve further into relevant areas of
their Gemcom product usage, learning
new skills, whilst also getting any
questions they may have answered by
an experienced facilitator, explained
Caryn Baard, Senior Account Manager,
Gemcom Africa.
Wed like to thank all delegates for their
valuable contribution and participation.

DRC User Conference attendees.

Zambia User Conference attendees.

Gemcom at the 3DEXPERIENCE

Forum held at the Sandton Convention

Centre in September, to learn more
about GEOVIA and the exciting
opportunities to transform technology
for the mining sector.

Forum
In case you missed it, back in July
Gemcom Software International was
acquired by Dassault Systmes, the
3DEXPERIENCE Company, world
leader in 3D design software, 3D
Digital Mock Up and Product Lifecycle
Management (PLM) solutions. Dassault
Systmes provides business and people
with virtual universes to imagine
sustainable innovations, with solutions
that transform the way products are
designed, produced, and supported.
As part of the acquisition, Dassault
Systmes has created a new brand,
GEOVIA, which Gemcom will become.
Caryn Baard (Left) awarding a prize to the winner
of the Drill & Win competition Brian Mkandawire
(Right) from Konkola Copper Mines.

The event was a great success, with

the morning session led by Dassault
Systmes and the afternoon consisting
of industry breakout sessions. Gemcom
clients had the opportunity to learn
more about Dassault Systmes 3D
solutions and also received an update
and new feature demonstrations for
Gemcoms upcoming product releases.
This was a great opportunity for our
clients to learn more about Dassault
Systmes first hand, and the exciting
possibilities for the mining industry,
as a result of the acquisition. We also
provided clients with a sneak preview

We recently invited our South African

clients to join us at the 3DEXPERIENCE

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Upcoming User Conferences and Workshops

Event

Region

Date

Burkina Faso User

Conference

Quagadougou, Burkina Faso

12 December 2012

Surpac 6.3 Geology

Workshop

Quagadougou, Burkina Faso

13 December 2012

GEMS Volumetrics
Workshop

Quagadougou, Burkina Faso

13 December 2012

Surpac 6.3 Engineering

Workshop

Quagadougou, Burkina Faso

14 December 2012

GEMS Block Modelling &

Ore Control Workshop

Quagadougou, Burkina Faso

14 December 2012

Services

events

of what they can expect in upcoming

product releases and the feedback
has been positive, said David Osborn,
Managing Director, Gemcom Africa.
Attendee Louis van Heerden, Resource
Manager, Platmin Limited, said We are
looking forward to the new products
and application developments within
GEOVIA as a consequence of this
merger with Dassault Systmes.
For more information or registration
enquiries, please contact Deshnee
Govender at dgovender@
gemcomsoftware.com (soon to be
deshnee.govender@3ds.com).

David Osborn (Right) speaking with clients

during lunch.

Delegates attending the Mining Industry breakout.

AUSTRALASIA

Hottest Ticket in
Town!
Gemcom Australia celebrated recent
product releases with same-day lunches
on both sides of the country. In Perth,
we treated a gathering of Strategic Mine
Planning Engineers to a three course lunch
at the UWA Club, while in Brisbane, a
broad range of Gemcom clients gathered
for a delicious meal at the Polo Club.
Its been a while since weve had a
gathering in Brisbane, so the local team
was very excited to host 45 Gemcom
clients and provide a variety of talks on
current new releases as well as some
sneak previews of things to come. Our

calendar

Clients looking on as Andrew Pyne, Senior Vice-President (Top Right) welcomed them to the
Whittle Lunch event in Perth.

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clients heard from Gemcom Surpac

and Gemcom Minex experts as well
as from our Services Director, Graham
Misselhorn, who discussed some of
the new offerings we have for the
Australian market.
Two years ago, we held our inaugural
Strategic Mine Planning with Gemcom
Whittle lunch in Perth and were
fascinated by a great talk by Gerald
Whittle of Whittle Consulting. This year,
we had some home-grown Gemcom
talent with Olga Abdrashitova (Senior
Consultant Strategic Mine Planning)
and Darrienne Thobaven (Associate Mine
Planning Consultant) both presenting
on different aspects of Whittle.

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PRODUCTS

Olga gave a talk highlighting the new

features in Whittle 4.5, which was
released in September during MINExpo.
Some of the comments overheard around
the tables were how easy it is now for
engineers to do their job and how we
are removing the mystique of long term
planning! Darrienne then presented
a case study where the application of
Simultaneous Optimisation on a clients
project resulted in a mature project
successfully passing internal hurdles for
development through revised scheduling.

through email, and you get the chance

Weve had a long established history of

visiting our clients on site, and wed love
to hear from you if you havent seen us
for a while. We are always interested
in speaking with clients about hosting
us for a half-day at no charge. We get
the benefit of meeting the people we
generally only talk to on the phone or

software and what we could do to

Services

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Olga Abdrashitova, Senior Consultant

Strategic Mine Planning (Left) and Darrienne
Thobaven, Associate Mine Planning Consultant
(Right) who presented at the Whittle 4.5
Launch event in Perth.

Were busy now planning a Christmas

Party for our Perth-based clients. As both
the recent Perth and Brisbane events
were fully-reserved, make sure you
to request an invitation soon! Contact

Client Site Visits

Rebecca Kellam at
rkellam@gemcomsoftware.com
(soon to be rebecca.kellam@3ds.com).
can take any format, depending on the
availability of your staff.

to show us firsthand how you use our

Please contact Leon Dickenson at

ldickinson@gemcomsoftware.com
(soon to be leon.dickenson@3ds.com)
or Rebecca Kellam at
rkellam@gemcomsoftware.com
(soon to be rebecca.kellam@3ds.com)
to learn more.

improve or streamline your workflows.

We listen to user issues, answer how-to
questions, make sure you have the latest
versions of software, show you tips and
tricks, let you know of future plans and
discuss new ways of working. The time

New Training
Courses in Perth
and Brisbane
Gemcom Australia recently introduced
a new range of courses for Surpac
and Gemcom Minex users, including
the re-introduction of two previously
offered Minex courses, Open Pit
Scheduling, and Pit Optimisation.
The objective of the Minex Open
Pit Scheduling course is to enable
participants to create long term,
medium term and short term
schedules for existing mines or
greenfield projects. With changing
market conditions and fluctuating
commodity prices it is all the more
important to evaluate various
scheduling scenarios to understand
which option gives you the desired

Michelle Tomlin, Customer Account Manager, presenting at our Brisbane Client Lunch function.

Minex Earth Works

returns, desired quality, production, etc.

The Minex Pit Optimisation course will
help develop skills within your team,
and enable your operation to ensure
the most economically advantageous
open pit design .

Surpac Geology Foundation

Surpac Geology Intermediate
Surpac Underground Production
Engineering

Other new courses available are:

Surpac Underground Development

and Stope Design

Minex Drill & Blast

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Gemcom Services
in India
Did you know that Gemcom has a
significant and growing Services team
based in Kolkata and Hyderabad? Our
mining professionals in India work
closely with our clients, providing
project assistance, training, and
technical support to ensure their
operations are achieving their
economic objectives and running as
efficiently as possible.

Arunava Banerjee (Third from Left) with the Sesa Goa team after a successful Surpac training session.

other components of our software

systems.

intermediate, and advanced users of

our software. They offer a wide variety
of training options, from introductory

Training is an important part of the

work our Services team in India
does, delivering courses to new,

For more information about Gemcom

Indias services, please contact
sales-in@gemcomsoftware.com.

foundational knowledge, to courses

specific to geology, engineering, and

EUROPE, MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA

Gemcoms Ross Pemberton presenting at a Resource Estimation course in Helsinki, Finland.

EMENA Training
Opportunities
We offer a wide variety of classroom
training courses for beginner,
intermediate and advanced users of
Gemcoms software the ideal way to
get your staff trained quickly and costeffectively. Our courses take place at our

UK office in Coalville; however, courses

are available on both a scheduled and
request basis and can be tailored to suit
your specific needs. We can also train
you at your site using your data.

of course we run. Attendees were

Our recent Surpac Advanced Resource

Estimation and Geostatistics course
held during September in Helsinki,
Finland is a great example of the type

Surpac. This advanced level, four day

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more familiar with geostatistical and
estimation theory, as well as shown
how to apply the theory in Gemcom
course proved to be very valuable to
attendees, in terms of content covered
and training provided.

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We constantly monitor feedback with an

aim to improve the services we provide.
Recent comments weve received
regarding our courses include:

Society. If you are applying to be a

Scrutineer or EurGeol, these courses
are recognised and can be submitted
towards your chartered status.

An excellent course, recommended

to everyone possessing a basic
knowledge of Surpac.

For More Information or to

Book Your Place

It was just a great course with

a great teacher; very easy to
understand and follow.

Visit our regional training page at

www.gemcomsoftware.com/training

Course prices depend on the length

and complexity of the subject matter,
and start from just 400 per person,
plus VAT. Classroom courses are taught
in English, but we are able to provide
training in a wide range of languages,
so be sure to contact us with the details
of your requirements.
Note that the majority of our courses
are CPD endorsed by the Geological

Services

events

calendar

for a full list of scheduled courses,

or contact our Training and
Services Coordinator, Gemma King
via
+44 (0)1530 835554 or
gking@gemcomsoftware.com

(soon to be gemma.king@3ds.
com) for more details, to book or
to request specific training.

Product

Course

Location

Date

Surpac

Open Pit Engineering.

CPD endorsed

Coalville

28 30 November 2012

Minex

Foundation

Coalville

03 04 December 2012

Minex

Geology

Coalville

05 07 December 2012

Whittle

Foundation

Coalville

10 12 December 2012

Whittle

Advanced

Coalville

13 14 December 2012

LATIN AMERICA

A Year of
Activities in
Colombia
Colombia has undergone significant
development in recent years, and
the mining industry in particular has
seen substantial growth. Increases
in external investments, along with
developments in security which have
helped improve political stability
in the country, have facilitated the
normalisation of business relations.
As a result, an important part of our
efforts this year were focused on
the opening of our new office in the
country. Ricardo Leal, Gemcoms
Services Leader in Colombia, says of
the new office, The reception has
been really positive and we are pleased
to be able to support our Colombian
software users locally.
During 2012 we were able to visit
many of our clients mine sites in order
to review their software performance
and needs, conduct training, and

Training session in the Medellin office.

Tradeshow Colombia Minera 2012.

provide technical project assistance.

Additionally, we participated in
several tradeshows, including Mineria
Colombia 2012, Bogota, in July, and
most recently in October, VIII Feria
Internacional Colombia Minera 2012
in Medellin.

days, brought approximately 16,500

visitors, with almost 300 companies
and 16 countries participating. It
was a dynamic and productive show
for Gemcom, and we were happy to
have the opportunity to catch up with
many of our clients.

Colombia Minera has great significance

for the mining sector in Colombia, as
it is through this event that this region
finds a global platform. This event is
the largest tradeshow in Colombia
and this year, over the course of three

Looking forward into 2013, we

are pleased to announce that we
will begin holding open classroom
training courses in Colombia, focusing
on Gemcom Minex, Gemcom
Surpac and Gemcom Whittle. We

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will be updating our training schedule

soon, and if you would like more
information, please contact colombia@
gemcomsoftware.com.

New Commercial Manager

We are pleased to welcome Alberto
Ramirez, Mining Engineer, as our
new Commercial Manager in Chile.
With 15 years of experience working
with mining and drilling operations
in areas such as geology, metallurgy,
geotechnical, construction, and
assembly, he has previously worked
as a Country Manager, Contracts and
Projects Manager, Operations and
Logistics Supervisor, and in Scheduling

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and Project Control.

Alberto says he joined Gemcom as he
saw it would be a good opportunity
to experience many different
professional challenges, given the
companys diverse customer base.
Also, with two daughters and another
baby coming in January, Alberto says
It is time to have a more normal
schedule.
As a lover of the sea from early
youth, Albertos passion is diving
and spearfishing, and he even won
several national championships during
university. Today he still enjoys this
hobby and loves to get in the water
whenever he visits his beach house.

Alberto Ramirez, New Commercial Manager.

NORTH AMERICA

Higher Learning
at Gemcom
At any mining operation, there
are always new scenarios and
approaches to be evaluated as
continued exploration and fluctuating
commodity prices change the playing
field. Block caving in North America
is a somewhat under-utilised mining
method, whereas it is an increasingly
popular choice in countries such
as Chile and Australia. Companies
in North America have been more
reluctant to follow suit, as there is
a stigma of danger associated with
block caving. Often considered one of
the riskier mining methods, a lack
of knowledge surrounding block
caving furthers the belief that it is a
dangerous choice.
The Gemcom North America Business
Unit recently hosted a three day
seminar (with an optional fourth day)
to provide a greater understanding
of the methods behind block caving
and how Gemcom PCBC block cave
planning and scheduling software
can actually help to mitigate risk. The
attendees joined us at our Vancouver
office for the seminar to learn about

Seminar leaders Truong Bui (Left) and Tony Diering (Right).

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tools in PCBC that can help with their

projects. The participants learned skills
that allow you to model the block cave,
optimise your asset, and effectively
schedule the production.
One feature of PCBC that was
particularly well-received by
participants was the Footprint Finder
tool which helps early stage projects
identify optimal elevations for draw
points. Attendees were excited by its
ease-of-use and this created a strong
dialogue about the process and the
features of the Footprint Finder tool.
The group was able to follow along
step-by-step to get a hands-on feeling
for the software. There was a great
exchange of knowledge, not only from
instructors to participants, but also
from the participants to the instructors.
This allowed for some excellent
learning, including some tips and tricks
to make the job a little easier.
The attendees also greatly appreciated
the time with the instructors in a small
setting. One attendee commented
about Tony Diering, Vice President
of Gemcoms Caving Business Unit

Tony Diering (Right) at site.

and seminar instructor, Tony is the

source of knowledge on PCBC and it
is great to have him present to ask
questions of. The course allowed for
the participants to see PCBCs ability

to aid in their block caving project

throughout the entire process and
we look forward to watching these
projects grow into highly productive
and successful mines.

to its participants as it allowed us

to introduce Gemcom Minex, our
geology and mine planning solution
for stratified deposits, to the strong
coal mining market in southern Brazil.
Attendees from all of the major local
coal producers were eager to learn
about the unique advantages the
software offers. We are planning to
hold the next seminar in our Tech Series
in Belo Horizonte, MG on 29 November.

We will continue our webinar program

in January, covering topics like the
new Dynamic Shells module for
Surpac and Gemcom GEMS, and
GEMS for Exploration, among others.
Visit www.gemcomsoftware.com/
resources/webinars to register for
upcoming webinars and to view our
library of archived webinar recordings.

BRAZIL

Brazil Office
Update: A Focus
on Client Events
The past few months in Belo Horizonte
have been very busy and significant as
our Brazilian office undertakes some
exciting new initiatives, a highlight of
which is an increase in the number of
our client-focused events.
One of our initiatives involves hitting
the road and travelling across the
country to host one-day Technology
Seminars as part of an ongoing Tech
Series. Our first seminar, held in
Carajs, PA was successful and wellattended. The second event in our
Tech Series was held in Cricima, SC.
This seminar was especially beneficial

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2013 will be an even more eventfilled year. In addition to continuing

with our Tech Series tour across Brazil
every month, we will also be hosting
events such as Happy Hours,
and plan on visiting as many client
sites as we can. We look forward to
connecting with you, and sharing
details about our recent releases for
Whittle, InSite and MineSched, as
well as upcoming releases for GEMS
and Surpac.

Another popular endeavor is our new

webinar program. Weve held several
well-received webinars so far, including
Gemcom MineSched for Open Pit
Scheduling and Gemcom Surpac for
Underground Mining. We are planning
to hold one more webinar this year,
an overview of Gemcom Hub, our
data centralisation and secure remote
collaboration solution, on 4 December.

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RUSSIA

MINEX Russia 2012

Mining and Mineral
Exploration Forum

Abramova, tel: + 7 (495) 748 2090,

+ 7 (926) 500 4 005, eabramova@
gemcomsoftware.com
(soon to be elena.abramova@3ds.com).

This year Gemcom Russia took part

in MINEX Russia 2012 the 8th
Mining and Mineral Exploration Forum,
which was held in Moscow from 2 4
October. Its key theme was Unlocking
Russias mineral wealth challenges
and solutions.

Support Program
for Institutions of
Higher Education

The Forum is one of the largest and

most authoritative industry events
focusing on exploration, mining and
mineral processing in Russia. This year
the Forum attracted over 600 managers
and directors from private companies
and public organisations from Russia,
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Ukraine,
countries of the European Economic
Community, North America, Africa, Asia,
and Australia. Over 120 Russian and
international speakers presented during
the three days of the Forum, and the
official opening ceremony was attended
by Mr. Denis Khramov, Deputy Minister
of Natural Resources and Ecology of
the Russian Federation. Additionally, an
exhibition organised on 3 and 4 October
alongside the Forum attracted more than
1500 visitors.
This was the first in event in Russia
where we officially presented Gemcom
as GEOVIA to our clients. We were
pleased to have the opportunity to meet
with so many of our clients, discuss our
software and services offerings, and
speak at several of the Forums sessions.
During the technical session
Technological solutions for
mine optimisation and improving
productivity, Ilya Zaraisko, Senior
Mining Engineer, Gemcom Russia,
presented a report titled The sharing of
different GGIS in integrated information
environments of large mining
companies. At another Forum session,
Elena Abramova, Marketing Specialist,
Gemcom Russia , presented a report

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Ilya Zaraisko, Senior Mining Engineer, Gemcom

Russia presented report during the Minex
technical session.

We were proud to launch our support

program for institutions of higher
education in September 2012! This
program was developed by Gemcom
Russia for specialised institutions of
higher education who prepare students
for a career in the mining industry.
The main objective of our program is
to familarise students with Gemcoms
software in order to better prepare
them for employment upon graduation.
Within this program, Gemcom Surpac
is introduced into the universitys
educational curriculum to train geologists
(geostatistics, modelling, reserves
estimation), mining engineers (mine
planning and design) and surveyors.
Gemcom provides the software and trains
several professors from each participating
university.

titled Gemcom becomes GEOVIA: New

brand new opportunities. Both of the
presentations generated many discussions
at our booth.
If you are interested in any additional
information on the presentations, or
on Gemcoms software and services,
please contact Elena Abramova, tel: + 7
(495) 748 2090, + 7 (926) 500 4 005,
eabramova@gemcomsoftware.com
(soon to be elena.abramova@3ds.com)

Training
Gemcom Russia offers a wide variety of
training courses for Russian speaking
users. Courses are available both on a
scheduled and request basis, and we can
train you and your colleagues in our office
or at your work place. Twice a year we
also hold training courses at Moscow
State Mining University.

The first course, Surpac Foundation, was

held in Moscow on 10 14 September
2012, with five universities participating:
Moscow State Mining University,
North-Eastern Federal University, North
Caucasian Institute of Mining and
Metallurgy, Kazan (Volga Region) Federal
University, and Magnitogorsk State
Technical University.

You can find the schedule for upcoming

training courses on our website. These
courses will be held in Moscow and are an
excellent way to improve your knowledge
and understanding of our software in
a short time, and with a minimal cost.
For a full list of scheduled courses,
please visit the Russia training page at:
ru.gemcomsoftware.com/training.
The schedule for 2013 will be announced
in December 2012, so check back then
for additional upcoming opportunities.
For more information about the training
courses we offer, please contact Elena

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Five universities passed through the first stage of

a support program developed by Gemcom Russia.

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Gemcom Surpac
New Dynamic Shells Module
Try it Out Now for Free
Jose Santos, Product Line Manager,
Surpac and GEMS
Dynamic Shells is
a new module for
Surpac that provides
a rapid way to
evaluate deposits and
generate surfaces
and solids. It reduces days and hours of
work to minutes and seconds. As part of
a special promotion, it has been made
available now for purchase in Surpac
6.3.2 with limited-time introductory
pricing until December 31, 2012. The
module will also be included in Surpac
6.4, which is expected to be released
sometime in the first quarter of 2013.
Most mine planning software is
based on the idea that solid models
are built manually using a geologic
understanding of an ore deposit, but
to achieve a result requires significant
analysis and expertise. When building
resource models, traditional methods
are still required as they take into
account an understanding of geology,
geotechnical data, faulting, depositional
mechanisms and local trends. However,
these methods are time consuming
and do not allow visualisation of
pure geologic data, and this is where
Dynamic Shells can help.
Using implicit modelling, Dynamic
Shells allows geologists to interactively
create 3D grade shells from geologic
data. It overcomes the challenges of
traditional modelling by providing quick
results with a simple yet dynamic user
interface. Dynamic Shells does not
replace solids and block modelling but is
available as an additional tool that will
provide a better, faster and more flexible
resource analysis capability to the
mining industry. It can be used to guide
the geologist on the creation of a model
using the traditional method, or to
validate the modelling work performed.

1 3

Watch dynamic shells videos

Video overview (2:40 min).

Webinar (10:30 min).

in geological modelling or mine

planning workflows.

The Dynamic Shells module allows

you to:

Eliminate the need to reformat

and perform import and export
between different software
packages, as it is fully integrated
with Surpac.

Select data points directly from

Surpac and immediately create
implicitly modelled isosurfaces.
Create and visually interrogate
several models simultaneously
based on different interpolation
parameters.

Learn more about Dynamic

Shells

Generate multiple shells for each

selected attribute value by using a
dynamic, interactive slider.
Easily and automatically adjust
the colours of shells being created
based on the value of each
attribute being modelled.

To learn more about how you can try

out a pre-release version of Dynamic
Shells, along with information about
special introductory pricing available
until December 31, 2012, please
visit www.gemcomsoftware.com/
dynamicshells.

Work with and edit shells within

Surpac for further processing

Are you a fan of Surpac? Recommend

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Gemcom GEMS
New Functionality in GEMS
Ed Thornton, Product Specialist GEMS
A lot has been
going on in the past
few months inside
GEMS, and weve
developed exciting
new functionality
for the upcoming GEMS 6.5 release.
A significant upgrade to the drillhole
application has been developed that
will enable users to design individual
or multiple drillholes graphically in
GEMS. In its simplest case you will be
able to click on each end of a hole and
save it to a drillhole workspace. Other
functionality will enable drillhole fans
and cones from a single collar position;
it will also allow you to assign a drill
target position, and the application will
find the closest point on a triangulation
to minimise the length of a hole.

New GEMS drillhole display tool (Showing hole generated from surface and penetrating a target).

available in the upcoming release

of GEMS 6.5 is the Dynamic Shells
module. This new jewel in GEMS
will allow a user to create an isoshell
surface from drillhole and/or point
grade data very rapidly. It helps to
visualise trends in data, in 3D, without
having to go through the very manual
and sometimes tedious task of drawing
planviews and sections in 2D first.

This, coupled with the new drillhole

planning application, will allow drilling
targets to be analysed, identified, and
created extremely quickly.
These new features, and more, will
be available as part of the GEMS 6.5
release in early 2013!
Are you a fan of GEMS? Recommend it
.
on LinkedIn

Solid repair tool (highlighting invalid

triangulations on a single solid).

In keeping with our goal to develop

new functionality that is shared across
our products, there is a new solid repair
option in GEMS that is very similar to
the functionality introduced in Surpac
version 6.3. This tool will rapidly fix (in
minutes) errors in solids that previously
may have taken a considerable amount
of time (hours) to fix manually.
More new functionality that will be

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New Dynamic Shells module (Showing original drillholes and implicitly modeled grade value shell).

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Gemcom Minex
Optimise Your Resources with
Minex Pit Optimiser
Andre Broodryk, Technical Product
Manager and Alison Tolhurst,
Product Analyst
Estimates by the
Mining Industry
Human Resources
Council (MIHRC)
forecast that the
Canadian mining
industry will face a shortage of
140,000 workers by 2021 just to
maintain current levels of production.
BHP Billiton stated in September 2011
that an extra 150,000 mining workers
will be required by the Australian
mining industry, with a similar
situation being faced globally by other
producers. This skills shortage has
led to labour costs escalating, as has
increased production input costs across
virtually all operations.
To enable coal producers to make
more informed decisions and extract
the highest NPV from their resources,
we developed Pit Optimiser, a Minex
module that uses an adaptation of the
industry standard Lerchs Grossmann
(LG) algorithm to generate optimum
pits from unfaulted or faulted
geological models.
The primary Minex Pit Optimiser input
dialog ( Figure 1 ) is accessed from
the Pit Design > Pit Optimiser menu
and provides users with the means
to specify the various optimisation
parameters. These include various
economic inputs such as mining,
washing and haulage costs; quality
inputs such as quality cut-offs, dilution
thickness and quality; as well as the
physical inputs including the list of
mineable seams, top and base surfaces
and the pit recovery percentage.
Minex Pit Optimiser applies the LG
technique to determine the dollar
values (revenue minus cost) of a
series of 3D blocks superimposed on

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Figure 1 Minex Pit Optimiser.

the geology. It generates a series of

grids that represent the optimum pit
shells based on the input parameters
provided. It provides the mine designer
with a significantly more accurate
means of estimating the values of
reserves, and consequently supports
making decisions that maximise the
ROI. The following images represent
the optimum pit shell at various coal
price points:

For a more detailed overview and

comparison of pit optimisation with
other block ranking techniques such
as strip ratio and block margin ranking,
view our webinar outlining the relative
benefits and drawbacks of each method:
www.gemcomsoftware.com/sites/
default/files/webinars/minex_coal_
pit_optimiser.wmv.
To discuss how you can benefit from
using the Minex Pit Optimiser, please
contact me directly at
abroodryk@gemcomsoftware.com
(soon to be andre.broodryk@3ds.com).

50%
of Sale
Price

Are you a fan of Minex? Recommend it

on LinkedIn
.

Minex Resources
For more information

75%
of Sale
Price

about Minex, see our

selection of:
Videos
Customer Stories

100%
of Sale
Price

Archived Webinars
Upcoming Webinars

Optimum pit shells at various coal price points.

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Gemcom Whittle
Surface Import Functionality
in Whittle 4.5
Jovan Hamovic, Product Analyst,
Engineering Applications
One of the
interesting new
features added to
Whittle 4.5 is the
import surface
functionality. In
Whittle 4.4 or earlier versions, pit
designs were transferred from the mine
planning software to Whittle through
use of pit list files (*.PIL). Although it
is still possible to use this method of
surface transfer, Whittle 4.5 provides
an easier and simpler way. In addition
to Slope Set, Reblock Block Model
and Grade Tonnage Graph, it is now
possible to add an Import Surfaces
node below the Block Model node in
the Whittle tree view. This node allows
users to import pit surfaces from *.dxf,
*.dtm and *.bt2 formats. The import
procedure is described below:
Add import surfaces node below the
block model node (see Figure 1 ).

Figure 3

The Surface Chooser form will be

displayed. The graphical window
will display current topography by
default. This can be changed using
display settings (see Figure 3 ).

opportunity to select the surface for

Clicking on the import button will

bring up a standard Windows Open
File form and the user will have an

DXF files allow multiple surfaces to

import. Multiple files can be selected

at once, or added file by file. In the
case of DTM and BT2 files, each one
must contain a single surface, but
be imported from the same file (see
Figure 4

Figure 1

Click the choose surfaces button on

the surfaces tab (see Figure 2 ).
Figure 4

Figure 5

Figure 2

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Once surface scanning is finished,

surfaces will be listed in Used
Surfaces by default (see Figure 6 ).
Surfaces from multiple files will form
a single list. All selected surfaces will
be visible in the graphical window on
the right hand side. Users can select
and re-order surfaces by dragging
up or down freely, but it should be
pointed out that Whittle will perform
validation and will not allow the
user to proceed unless surfaces are
specified in a correct order (each
surface must be at least partially
below the previous surface, and the
first surface must be at least partially
below topography) (see Figure 7 ).
After the user clicks OK
( Figure 7 ) on the surface chooser
form, the form will close and the
list of selected surfaces in a correct
order will be displayed on the
main Whittle form. The node will
be ready to run after you click
Accept, as expected (see Figure 8 ).

Figure 6

Figure 7

Executed node is for all practical

purposes identical to the Imported
Pit Shells node as can be seen in
the following screenshot and can be
used in the same way (see Figure 9 ).
The imported pit shells can be
displayed using the standard
graphical viewer (see Figure 10 ).
Are you a fan of Whittle? Recommend
it on LinkedIn
.

Figure 8

Figure 10
Figure 9

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Gemcom
MineSched
Enhancements for Scheduling
Activities
Jovan Hamovic, Product Analyst,
Engineering Applications

Figure 1 The new activities tab.

In the previous
incarnations of
MineSched, ancillary
activities were
supported on a very
basic level as the
main focus was on the default mining
activity. In response to client feedback,
activities have been significantly
enhanced in MineSched 8.0. The first
noticeable change is the relocation
of Activities to the first step in the
setup schedule. This reflects the new
philosophy where ancillary activities
are being given increased significance
(see Figure 1 ).
The new, enhanced tab allows users
to create a sequence of activities on
a 2D canvas. A number of predefined
activities such as drilling, blasting,
barricade and backfill have been defined
to allow quick setup, but it is possible
to create any number of custom
activities. Each activity has a set of
properties that can be used to fine tune
its behaviour (see Figure 2 ). Central
position on the canvas is given to the
mining activity as this is still the focal
point of any scenario assumption
being that mining (although in some
scenarios mucking would be a more
appropriate name) is the main reason
for our work. The mining activity is
pre-created and will always exist.
The new, enhanced tab allows users
to create a sequence of activities on
a 2D canvas. A number of predefined
activities such as drilling, blasting,
barricade and backfill have been defined
to allow quick setup, but it is possible
to create any number of custom
activities. Each activity has a set of
properties that can be used to fine tune

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Figure 2 Properties.

For long term schedules it is common

practice to schedule only the mining
activity and in those cases users can go
directly to Setup Schedule > Locations.

its behaviour (see Figure 2 ). Central

position on the canvas is given to the
mining activity as this is still the focal
point of any scenario assumption
being that mining (although in some
scenarios mucking would be a more
appropriate name) is the main reason
for our work. The mining activity is
pre-created and will always exist.

The next stop for activities is the

Locations tab. All defined locations
will receive a new tab for each activity
in the chain ( Figure 4 ) where activity
properties that are location specific are
set up. The user has access to the 2D
and 3D canvases to assist with defining
activity properties. Different polygons
or object sequences are supported for
different activities within the same

After all relevant activities are defined,

it is necessary to link them into a chain
that will be used for scheduling
(see Figure 3 ). MineSched 8.0 supports
only a single activity chain.

Figure 3 Activity chain.

Figure 4 Activities on a location tab.

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location, and the sequence for each

activity can be defined using the
graphical sequencer.
As activities are currently applicable
only to production, we move to the
Production > Activities tab. Before
activities can be used, activity
resources and their rates must be
defined in the same way as mining
resources and activities (see Figure 5 ).
As expected, all defined activity
resources will be visible in the
calendar where global and resource
specific calendars can be assigned
(see Figure 6 ).

Figure 5 Activity resources.

Figure 6 Activity calendars.

All defined activities will be displayed

on the enhanced animation canvas
in the Create Schedule tab
(see Figure 7 ). Animation can be
exported and re-played anywhere
using the standalone MineSched
Interactive Viewer.
Are you a fan of MineSched?
Recommend it on LinkedIn

Figure 7 Activities animated.

Gemcom PCBC
Setting up Hot/Cold
Colour Profiles

Figure 1

Tony Diering, Vice President,

Caving Business Unit
Frequently within
PCBC and Gemcom
GEMS, a user wants
to set up a hot/cold
type colour profile
which uses all the colours of the
rainbow (ROYGBIV). This can be done
quite easily, but to create an effective
one requires a bit of work.

Figure 1

green. How to include the green?

The trick is to look at the little numbers
0 and 255 and use the More Colours
option:

The start point is the Autofill Range

button in the colour profile editor. The
default is from blue to yellow but does
not include red (see Figure 1 ).

You can enter numbers manually or

use the palette to get something a bit
better. A quick and easy way to get the
colours of the rainbow is to select red

If you change the second colour to be

red, then you get blue and red, but not

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for the start colour and select violet

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for the end colour. Initially there will

be a poor colour gradient. For the start
colour select More Colours and add a
little bit of green to the red
(see Figure 2 ). Once this is done, all of
the colours of the rainbow will appear
(see Figure 3 ).

to define the data range or input a custom

range. The range of data and number of
colours in the data range will decide the
size of the ranges. In the example below,
the data will be split into ranges of five
because the data range is from 0-100
with 20 colour ranges (see Figure 4 ).

In the Autofill Range dialogue box

you can use a field within a workspace

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Figure 2

Figure 2

Figure 3

Gemcom Hub
Enriching your Files with
Metadata Easily
Jeremy McMullin, Technical
Program Manager
Hub uses metadata
to help users describe
and categorise their
file assets. Metadata
can be described as data about data;
supporting data that helps describe the
primary data (in our case, files). Metadata
is commonplace in file systems, and
operating systems typically use metadata
to describe common attributes of files
such as whether they are read-only or
read/write.
Perhaps the most well-known example of
metadata is the data captured by digital
cameras when taking a photograph. The
camera automatically captures additional
relevant details about the photograph
including details about the camera used
(make, model), its settings, and even
details about the time and/or location

2 0

Figure 4

set up on a folder, any new files created in

or added to that folder will automatically
be given the correct metadata. Just like
with your camera/smartphone, let Hub
worry about capturing those all important
details while you get on with the task at
hand. Its easy to see which folders have
defaults (see Figure 1 ) and to set them
up (see Figure 2 ), and even have these
cascade to subfolders as appropriate (also
see Figure 2 ).

it was taken. All this metadata about

the photograph is used to give additional
context and meaning to the raw image.
In a similar way Hubs metadata system
allows users to describe as much additional
context about their files as they see fit,
without having to resort to unwieldy file/
folder naming practices, which is the most
common and unsuccessful approach we see
in use amongst our customers. The bottom
line is you shouldnt have to encode
details such as a files purpose, its intended
usage, or provenance (to name just a few
items) in its name. Using metadata is
simply more effective.

Are you a fan of Hub? Recommend it

on LinkedIn
.

Typically when we explain the concept of

metadata to our customers, they see that
it adds value to their data but oftentimes
they are worried about adding overhead to
file management practices. They want the
benefits that metadata can bring (richer
classification and better search-ability) but
they worry about the cost of users having
to attribute data. Hub has some interesting
features that help users work very
efficiently with metadata including what
we call property defaults. This feature
allows a user to specify the metadata that
applies to any files in a given folder. Once

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Figure 2

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Gemcom InSIte
Approving Production Data and
Creating Ad-hoc Reports with InSite
Martin Simirenko, Senior Business Analyst
Newly introduced
features, along with
enhancements to existing
functionality in InSite
4.2, provide improved
validation and reporting processes. End
users can have confidence in the accuracy
of their results and can analyse their data
quicker than ever before.
InSites brand new data approval workflow
provides an optional sign-off stage which
formalises the process of reviewing and
approving production data. As production
data is received during the shift, a status
of pending is assigned to indicate
that approval is required. At the end
of the shift the responsible person can
then review the values for each activity
(such as loading or hauling) and mark
as approved or rejected. Comments
provide a means to record details about
why the data was approved or rejected,
and the built in audit trail makes users
accountable for the data they are
producing. Unapproved or rejected data
can be excluded from production
reports allowing data to be withheld
until it is ready to be released.

Data approvals.

InSites Reporting module has been rebuilt

from the ground up to provide improved
performance and more intuitive report
writing. End users can easily generate
ad hoc reports for quick analysis using
familiar tools such as Microsoft Excel.
Data is retrieved from the data warehouse
and cube, which efficiently aggregate
shift data across different periods such as
day, week and month to date. By using
pivot tables in Excel to display the data,
it is easy to filter and group, as well as
add charts for visual analysis. Advanced
users can use Microsoft Report Builder to
develop and deploy reports to Microsoft
SQL Server Reporting Services.
Are you a fan of InSite? Recommend it
on LinkedIn
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Ad hoc reporting with Excel.

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Grade Control Procedure

Watch gems
grade
control
video

LEGEND
Geology
Laboratory
Planning
Production

Define sampling
methodology
Map mining face/
collect samples

Mine to dig plan/

expose next bench

Assay samples

Reconcile grade model

against resource model
Validate and
interpret data

Generate dig plan

Update block model

An example open pit grade control procedure. A similar procedure,
with adjustments, would apply to underground mining.

Grade Control with

Gemcom GEMS
When you dont have the time or inhouse resources available, Gemcoms
software and mining experts are
available to assist you with your projects.
One of the most common requests our
experts receive is for assistance with
grade control using GEMS software, the
leader in collaborative geology and mine
planning solutions.
Ensuring the processes that define grade
control are efficient and repeatable
is essential to driving an operations
productivity. Since every site defines
grade control differently through
tasks and processes specific to that
operation, there is no one correct way
of implementing and performing these
processes. This is why enlisting the
assistance of Gemcoms experts can be
so valuable. Our mining professionals
have collaborated with GEMS clients
all over the world to ensure they are
working with a grade control framework
that provides a clear understanding
of grade variations, and allows for

2 2

improved decision making to drive

profitability.

GEMS grade control project

examples (4:07 min).

New and improved grade control

procedures can be implemented at any
stage in the lifecycle of a mine we can
help you replace a home grown system,
set up a new area of the operation,
or assist when you are about to start
mining. Whatever your needs, we have
the expertise and experience necessary
to ensure you are applying best practice
grade control methodology appropriate
to your circumstances. Working with
your team, we can make certain that
there are no gaps in understanding the
flow of data and information, right from
sampling to reconciliation.

Surpac Grade
Control Services
We also provide
grade control services
for Surpac. Click here
to view an example
project.

As an example, our Services team

recently upgraded the grade control
processes for an iron ore client.
Gemcoms experts analysed the clients
current grade control workflow, and
then set up grade control polygon layers
and workspaces. Where the operation
had previously performed manual
calculations for grade control, they
could now use a short-term block model
for grade calculation, vastly improving
accuracy and efficiency.

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For more information about GEMS

grade control services, including a
video and datasheet, please visit
www.gemcomsoftware.com/
gemsgradecontrol.
For more information about services,
visit www.gemcomsoftware.com/
services, and for more examples of
services provided, visit our gallery
of services projects at www.
gemcomsoftware.com/services/projects.

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events

global events calendar

Upcoming Gemcom Events
For the latest update on where you can see Gemcom, visit
the events section of our website.
Event

date

location

Northwest Mining Association Convention

03 07 December 2012

Spokane, United States

Mines & Money London 2012

04 05 December 2012

London, United Kingdom

11th International Mining and Machinery Exhibition

05 08 December 2012

Kolkata, India

Burkina Faso User Conference & Workshops

12 14 December 2012

Quagadougou, Burkina Faso

AME BC Mineral Exploration Roundup

28 31 January 2013

Vancouver, Canada

Mining Indaba

04 07 February 2013

Cape Town, South Africa

Coal Mongolia 2013

21 22 February 2013

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

SME Annual Conference

24 27 February 2013

Denver, United States

PDAC 2013

03 06 March 2013

Toronto, Canada

Mines and Money Hong Kong 2013

18 22 March 2013

Hong Kong, China

Follow us on Facebook and LinkedIn to keep in touch with the Gemcom community online.

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