Terrabright

Terrabright is a web-based pit optimization software designed for exploration professionals. The goal was to help explorers prioritize targets, and communicate that reasoning to stakeholders.

The Problem

Exploration managers face the challenge of allocating spending to the most promising targets rarely considering the future economic feasibility of the deposit. This is sure to waste resources drilling deposits that will never see a haul road spending millions drilling targets that have a low chance of ever becoming a profitable mine.

Companies may set internal thresholds for minimum size and return, but for early to mid-stage exploration targets, geologists have few tools to test whether the deposit will meet these hurdles.

Spending allocated to targets that will never become a profitable mine
Early and mid-stage targets tested against no economic hurdle at all
Geologists, engineers and economists assessing the same deposit in isolation

Why we Built It

We wanted to create a tool where exploration managers could give financial reasoning for their target prioritization based on their current understanding of the deposit.

Terrabright was designed to take simple geometric inputs when defining the resource such as strike length, average width, dip, and plunge repeated for however many zones of mineralization may exist.

When defining ore bodies not in terms of a block model, it allows users to conduct sensitivity analysis not only on economic inputs such as mining costs, but also on geometric parameters such as strike length, maximum depth, or average width. Instead of a single NPV, Terrabright was designed to provide a probabilistic value to the deposit.

our Solution

Terrabright allows for sophisticated sensitivity analysis as well as the creation of drill programs where conceptual discovery costs are calculated based on the existing resource and the inputted cost of drilling.

A computer monitor displays a Minebright dashboard for gold mine planning and analysis. The dashboard includes various charts and tables, showcasing metrics such as NPV (Net Present Value), recovered gold, AISC (All-In Sustaining Cost), EBITDA, cash flow, and ore grades across different mining projects. Visualizations include bar charts, scatter plots, and tables, providing insights into production targets, operational efficiency, and project comparisons. Key mine planning assumptions are highlighted, allowing for scenario analysis between aggressive and conservative approaches.

Validated against a block model

A blind study was conducted where a partnering gold mining company provided Minebright with the necessary inputs to conduct a pit optimization. The ore body was defined in terms of strike length, orientation, average width, starting depth, and maximum known depth of mineralization. All of the outputs from the Terrabright optimization had less than a 10% difference to the baseline Whittle Lerchs Grossman optimization.

Difference in 'cash flow': -7%
Difference in 'metal': 2%
Difference in 'total material': 6%

After J.H. Snow, A.G. Dore and D.W. Dorn-Lopez, Risk analysis and full-cycle probabilistic modelling of prospects: a prototype system developed for the Norwegian shelf (1996).

Conceptual Pit Optimizations

Minebright developed a pit optimization software based on the pseudoflow algorithm. The concept was to allow users to ‘draw’ their pre-block-model resource in 3D. The software then discretizes the pseudo-wireframe, and calculates the ultimate pit shell based on the economic inputs provided.

Measured against traditional block-model pit optimisation outputs, across the same targets.

-7%

Difference in 'cash flow'

Difference in 'metal'

Difference in 'total material'

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