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MINE DESIGN today claims to be the world's largest independent group of mining technical experts, announced a change of name to RungePincockMinarco (RPM). The company's software suite includes FRACSIS for visualizing geological data, XPAC and XACT for mine scheduling, TALPAC, HAULNET, DRAGSIM and FACETS for simulating loading, haulage, dragline and longwall face operations, and XERAS for financial analysis. At MINExpo 2012, it released an update for its TALPAC haulage and loading software which, it says, is used by mining operations world-wide to evaluate the performance of mixed fleets. According to RPM, it now has a database of more than 500 trucks and 400 loaders, allowing virtually any truck and loader combination to be simulated and evaluated. The update includes Caterpillar's Unit Rig MT4400D AC and 777G trucks, Komatsu's 750E (AC) truck and Hitachi's EH 5000AC-3 truck, all of which were launched at MINExpo, together with newly introduced or upgraded equipment from other manufacturers such as Liebherr, Bell, Volvo, Belaz and P&H.; Geovia: A Raft of Upgrades At MINExpo, Dassault Systèmes' subsidiary Gemcom (now Geovia) introduced updates to its Surpac, GEMS, InSite, Whittle and MineSched miningindustry applications. "With the mining industry facing higher costs and more pressure on commodity prices, it is imperative that they can unlock additional efficiencies and economic value from their mining operations," said Moignard. "The new features will provide additional tools and functionality for mining professionals to better quantify, plan and manage extraction of their orebodies." Surpac 6.4 (geology and mine-planning software) will be available in the first quarter of 2013, and has a new integrated Dynamic Shells tool for significant time savings when initially evaluating deposits, Geovia said. It also has increased memory handling for faster working with very large datasets, and a new stereoscopic 3-D visualization capability. The company is also introducing a Dynamic Shells tool for its GEMS 6.5 collaborative geology and 36 E&MJ; • JANUARY 2013 mine planning application, which will launch in early 2013. Whittle 4.5, for open-pit mine planning, now has the capability of producing more practical mine plans through the use of a new mining direction feature and alternative pushback creation capabilities, while MineSched 8.0 provides users with much faster response times, with production scheduling up to 50-times faster and development scheduling 10-times faster than before, according to Geovia. The upgrade to its InSite mine-production management software, version 4.2, has improved reporting and analysis capabilities, the company adds, helping to give users a closer view of material balances and stockpile management for faster reconciliation and end-of-the-month processes. Micromine 2013 Available Soon From its headquarters in Western Australia, Micromine provided visitors to its MINExpo exhibit with a preview of the latest edition of its namesake exploration and mine design software. Micromine 2013 is scheduled for release early in the year, having still been at the development stage at the Las Vegas show. The company reports that new features within Micromine 2013 will include capabilities for rotated block models, with one, two or three-dimensional rotations being supported. Orientating the blocks to match the orebody means they are a better fit with reality, producing a smaller model and saving processing time and disc space, Micromine says. The new version will also contain tools to simplify the creation of seam block models, including splits, plies, overburden and interburden, even in stratigraphically complex areas. The company says that Micromine's stratigraphic modelling tools honor the original data, with smart tools that handle seam pinching and missing holes, producing a geologically correct model. There will also be a range of new features and improved functionality for Vizex in Micromine 2013, including seam correlation, annotation layers, seismic SEG-Y, drillhole solid, color/ hatch/symbol sets, line styles and stereo 3-D. At MINExpo, Micromine presented its Coal Measure software which, it said, is coal-industry specific in terms of terminology, features and functionality. The suite combines the data management features and benefits of Micromine's Geobank geological datahandling software, integrating coal database management with threedimensional geological modelling, gridding, seam block modelling, resource categorization, resource reporting, pit optimization, pit design and plotting. The software is also suitable for other stratified resources, such as tin, mineral sands, uranium and potash, as well as those with complex tectonics or multiple splitting and merging of seams. Post-mining Design from Carlson Software With its center in Maysville, Kentucky, USA, Carlson Software draws its mine design credentials from its background in surveying, and now offers a complete software suite that covers data collection, surveying, engineering design and drafting, mine planning and modelling, construction estimation and machine control. The company claims to be the largest provider of design software for mines in the U.S., with increasing applications in other countries. From its initial focus on U.S. coal mining, Carlson Mining software is now used in designing operations for minerals such limestone, trona, clay, phosphate and other sedimentary deposits, with routines for block modelling gold, silver, copper, nickel, iron and other orebodies having been added to its capabilities. The company also offers a basic version of its mining package, allowing access to computerized design for operators who only need a low-cost tool for simple mining practices. Aside from mine operating design, Carlson said its Natural Regrade software is unique as a tool for reclaiming mine sites, regrading surface mines back to natural land-forms. Natural Regrade provides an affordable and natural way to achieve sustainability, with its GeoFluv fluvial geomorphic design method bringing back natural landforms while establishing stability against erosion and enhancing water quality. The software enables users to build with on-site materials, save costs on material moving, reclaim steep www.e-mj.com