Technology developer Maptek has announced it will offer Aegis underground drill & blast software as the newest addition to its mining solutions. Aegis is a powerful, award-winning tool with a rich and intuitive 3D environment for underground drill & blast design and analytics.
‘Aegis brings proven value to an underground operation’s drill & blast process, intelligently creating editable drill and blast patterns for an entire stope in seconds,’ said Maptek Managing Director Peter Johnson. ‘State of the art blast analysis tools and a fully customisable reporting system allow engineers to design, refine and optimise their drill & blast process more effectively and reduce overall material handling costs.’
Users of Maptek Vulcan at underground mines will welcome the next-generation, intelligent rapid ring design functionality and advanced blast analysis tools available in Aegis that complement mine planning functionality in Vulcan. Maptek BlastLogic similarly offers powerful analysis and quality management tools for open cut drill & blast.
‘Maptek customers will benefit immediately from the Aegis partnership and I am confident that we can collaborate on developing extra functionality that answers particular needs,’ commented Johnson.
Maptek has a history of partnering with other innovators to provide niche technologies that complement in-house development.
’While the partnership is in the early stages, we are already envisioning the development roadmap for integration to include data exchange routines, with the ultimate goal of full integration with the Maptek Workbench which was delivered alongside Vulcan 10 this year.’
Mark Sherry, President of Aegis developer iRing Inc. said that the company is very excited about the possibilities of the partnership.
‘Maptek brings an excellent global market presence and expertise as one of the leading software developers in the mining industry. Through this partnership we will be able to increase sales of Aegis globally, which solidifies our niche as the top underground drill & blast program in the world.’
Aegis is already available in English, Spanish and Russian and strong interest is expected in all regions where Maptek operates.
With the addition of Aegis to its product line, Maptek becomes the only mining software supplier to offer a complete end-to-end solution for underground mining operations covering geology, mine planning, scheduling, stope optimisation, advanced underground drill and blast and analysis, and mine survey.
‘Integration throughout the mine planning and production cycle provides better information that can be used to make better decisions,’ added Johnson. ‘For instance, engineers can optimise their stope designs using Vulcan Stope Optimiser, design the blast using Aegis, rapidly model the cavity monitoring survey data using I-Site Studio and then feed that data back into Vulcan and Aegis for reconciliation and blast analysis.’
Technologically advanced tools and dynamic modelling processes form the foundation of modern mining business practices. With the Aegis partnership, Maptek continues its commitment to offering end-to-end solutions that provide timely information to decision makers where it can positively impact the mine planning cycle.
