Crystal, an Application Package Developed on Indian Deposits for Geo-modelling and Open PIT Design

CRYSTAL is an application package developed for geological modelling, open-pit design, production planning, and mine surveying. The software has been designed, developed, and implemented on Indian mineral deposits. A modular approach has been adopted for this application software. Data oiganisation module is operational on PCs, whereas main processing and graphical modelling functions are performed on graphic workstation operating under UNIX environment with peripherals like plotter, digitiser and paintjet printers. The entire application is developed in FORTRAN 77 around GKS. The package contains geostatistics for local estimation, Lerchs-Grossman technique for openpit design, floating cone algorithm and linear programming model for production scheduling, and several user-friendly modules for graphical modelling. Three-dimensional mesh, three-dimensional block diagram with hidden line, and hidden plane elimination are other special features of graphical modelling. The system has been developed on live data from copper and limestone deposits. A close interaction with engineers of user departments during the study and design of the system has resulted in its acceptability. The development history of the software has considerable control over the features provided. The engineers involved in software development have complete confidence in dealing with future modification enhancement CMC Ltd. has plans to enhance the capability of CRYSTAL to meet the requirement of seam mining and also for underground mining methods.