The mining industry is experiencing never before seen times of perturbation, which is the result of the ongoing urgencies in the sector like improving efficiency, safety upgrading, and operation sustainability. In an atmosphere as demanding as this, ideated and unified software services are not just an advantage they are a calling. Being the leader of such solutions in the market, Hexagon’s Mining division demonstrates this issue right away by launching HxGN MinePlan, Version 2022.4. The addition of these innovative features brings the company’s journey towards creating a unified, smart, and user centric solution for mine planning and operation management to the next level.

The HxGN MinePlan system is an all-in-one terrain-mapping and quarry plan that is streamlined throughout the entire process, from rock through processing to primary production. An ongoing mission of version 2022.4 is data silo elimination, which is being done through creating an ecosystem that is naturally unified. It tastes the spillover benefit of improved interoperability within the system modules and towards other systems, which now has a single source of truth being the yardstick for decision-making at all levels of the entire mining operation from the boardroom to the pit. This release is devoted to increasing the output of every user in the room, growing the analytical capabilities, and reinforcing the path where the planner is connected with the people engaged in execution.

In essence, MinePlan 2022.4 makes data meaningful, helping professionals from geology, engineering, and management to be in a position to make wise and quick decisions. It merges specific crucial roles and arranges them into a consistent process:

• Geology & Resource Modeling: Construct a true-to-life block model from drill-hole data that offers homogeneity and accuracy.
• Open Pit and Underground Planning: Design the pit shell, the Stope, together with the mine layout to operate optimally and cost-effectively.
• Geotechnical Engineering: Inputs geotechnical data for efficient slope stability and safe structural design.
• Production Scheduling: This step involves model generation for the short, medium, and long-term plans – models that are sustainable and economical are the key goal.
• Survey and Volume Reconciliation: Monitor pit progress against the pre-established production targets and compare actual outputs to be in a position to know if the operations are successful or not.

The evolution of these basic functions into next-level solutions (Version 2022.4) is fuelled by advanced algorithms, a simple user interface, and connectivity that makes the flow of information across disciplines easy.

The major features introduced in this version are strengthened by the following:

• Enhanced Scheduling Integration: Enhancing the handholding process of workflows between the strategic optimizer and the asset scheduler will make the plans more realistic with defined operational constraints and bottle necks which are impractical to operations, are to be avoided.
• Advanced Geotechnical Analysis: These new instruments and the new operations are not only more helpful but provide a larger understanding of slope stability and beyond that ground support, allowing the functionalities of proactive strategies in both surface and underground mines.
• User Experience (UX) Improvements: The tab between interfaces of modules has been returned to reduce the clicks in the workflow, the required time in doing the common task has been lessened, and create a more consistent user experience, which in turn will improve newcomers learning curve speed and upscale the productivity of a pro.
• Upgraded Data Interoperability: Strengthen the cables for the expected situation and, in addition, develop the concept of the system based on the Hexagon’s own HxGN Mine operate fleet management applications to be able to receive from third-party GIS.
• Powerful 3D Visualization: The core 3D viewer has been flipped to perform efficiently and render easily. This not only allows geologists to visualize complicated 3D topography models but also facilitates engineers getting a clear, vivid view of their assembled mining plans via this 3D visualization approach.

The installation of this software will be handled by a skilled IT administrator. This is the overall mechanism:

1. Prerequisite Check: Confirm that the systems you are targeting will be able to power the software at the very minimum.
2. Using the Installation Media: The download tool, which gives the opportunity either to install temporarily or to purchase permanently the corresponding package, is situated on the Hexagon Support Portal. Warrant the provided package covers the latest version and have it examined by your team.
3. Rights of Administration: The installation process is initiated with administrative accounts at the client-side on each client machine.
4. Proceed with the Installation Wizard: The installation setup will require you to specify the installation locations, the components applicable for this setup (Geology, MinePlan Haulage) and setting up the license server.
5. Licensing: On software configuration, either ping the network license server or use a local license as per the terms with Hexagon.
6. Validation: During the software launch, you will have to check your license key and provide the validation. This will ensure that the software is properly installed and functioning well.

The hardware and software should be suitable, not to mention even exceed the following recommendations to ensure the top-quality performance of HxGN MinePlan 2022.4 software:

• OS (Operating System): 64-bit Microsoft Windows 10 (newest version with latest Service Pack) or Windows 11.
• Processor (CPU): Multi-core processor of 64-bit architecture, such as Intel Core i7/i9 or at least AMD Ryzen 7/9 or alternatives.
• Memory (RAM): Ensure to have 16 GB to prosper in tackling simple simulations, and 32 GB or greater is advisable in handling complex models.
• Graphics Card (GPU): Graphics accelerator such as Nvidia (Quadro Series) or AMD (Radeon Pro Series) GPU with at least 4 GB of DRAM for specialized (professional) purposes. Keeping the graphics driver up to date is a must.
• Storage: You shall obtain a solid-state drive (SSD) with a minimum size of 20GB for installation that also separates the data involved in the project, which also can be very big.
• Display: 1920 x 1080 pixels (Full HD) screen resolution or higher.
• Network: Internet connections should be consistent for the user having a license on the app server of the organization and the data processing.