Maptek and Bluhm Burton Engineering subsidiary VUMA have executed a memorandum of understanding to cooperate around mine ventilation solutions and mine design.

The primary focus will be on enabling detailed data transfers between Maptek Vulcan mine planning software and VUMA ventilation simulation software.

VUMA software is developed for analysis of underground mine ventilation, contaminant tracking, refrigeration and cooling networks.

The heat engineering balance can be examined in detail, taking into account all factors contributing to heat load, including equipment, advance rates, heat from broken rock and mine design.

Vulcan software provides underground mine design, planning and scheduling tools.

Allowing detailed design, survey and operational data to be transferred to VUMA software is expected to give gains in accuracy, efficiency and speed for analysis and planning around ventilation and refrigeration in underground mines.

This also allows ventilation factors to be considered earlier in the mine planning process.

“VUMA is an impressive software suite,” Maptek Africa general manager Nick Venter said.

“Integrating VUMA with Vulcan offers huge benefits to mine planning departments.

“It will allow mine survey and design data to be used in ventilation and cooling analysis, without replication of data and ensures accurate current representations of the mine surface can be applied to ventilation planning.”

VUMA software specialist Frank von Glehn said the interface enhanced the holistic approach needed for modern mine planning and design, “particularly the intensifying demand for fast, accurate and reliable answers”