Company Announcement - Maptek has renewed its Gold Sponsorship of premier computing in mining conference APCOM for 2015. Maptek staff have written two papers to present to the 37th International Symposium on Application of Computers and Operations Research in the Mineral Industry held in Fairbanks, Alaska, from May 23-27. Maptek South America Chief of Innovation and Projects Daniel Arancibia said the paper he co-authored with Maptek Innovation team colleague Ignacio García focuses on maximising mines’ distribution efficiency and productivity through the new Maptek Vulcan Gantt Scheduler.

‘Maptek continuously evolves its products. At APCOM 2015 we’re presenting an extension of the existing modelling techniques and optimisation in the Gantt Scheduler tool using empirical results from its implementation,’ Mr Arancibia said. Mr Arancibia said the evolution of the tool incorporated more complex optimisation methods, such as a proposed a new cell search algorithm based on the binary code position modulation within a code block.
‘The updates help highlight gaps and priorities in a work plan to simplify planning and running large projects,’ he said.

‘The scheduler assists performance management of a project, by allowing the modification of the duration and reallocation of activities without affecting the project completion date.’ Mr Arancibia said maximising efficiency was a key weapon in dealing with the current tough economic climate. ‘Industry, helped by gains in computer processing capacity, has pushed the development of new planning tools based on programming techniques and simulation batches seeking to obtain the optimal combination of assets that require production processes,’ he said.

‘We anticipate these new features will become an essential part of the portfolio of tools with which our users can simplify and improve the quality of their work.” The relationship between Maptek and APCOM was born in Chile in 2007, during the organisation's 33rd International Symposium. Maptek has been a Gold Sponsor of the biennial event since 2009 and encourages staff to present technical papers that explain the theory behind Maptek software technology. APCOM visitors can learn more about Maptek solutions by visiting Maptek at Booth 1.

Daniel Arancibia and Ignacio García will present Optimization based on Critical Path Methods in Vulcan Gantt Scheduler during the Decision Making session on Tuesday, May 26, 3.50pm-5.30pm. Maureen Moore-Roth & Cesar Carrasco will present Plotting Multi-Element Geochemical Data in Three Dimensions to Aid in Predicting Ore Recovery and Mineral Exploration Targeting during the Mine Exploration session on Tuesday, May 26, 8am-10 am.