At mines with low tonnes per vertical metre, like the Jundee Mine in Western Australia, operated by Newmont Asia Pacific, high development rates across multiple mining areas are critical to achieving the delivery outlined, or promised, in the annual business plan. The challenge is to deliver the short-term requirements while keeping in balance with the long-term strategic direction._x000D_
Newmont Jundee has developed a system called Mine Planning by Quarters' that integrates the planning process with the business process in one end-to-end continuum. Short-, medium- and long-term schedules are reviewed and updated by applying four integrated subprocesses, which capture new information as it becomes available. The four subprocesses are: resource development planning - evaluating mineral resource, reserve development planning - preliminary design for new reserves, mine operating planning - final mine design for reserves, and mine production planning - detailed plans for stoping a proved reserve._x000D_
Commercial mine planning software is used in these subprocesses to facilitate the flow of information into a central storage hub' for uploading into the rolling business plan. A regular and consistent quarterly review helps to identify and qualify areas of business risk at an early stage, allowing time to plan for contingency and minimise the impact of the risk._x000D_
FORMAL CITATION:Pilgrim, J, Ascott, B, Kennedy, J and White, A, 2008. Mine planning by quarters, in Proceedings Tenth Underground Operators' Conference 2008, pp 219-228 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).