Underground Ring Design

in Surpac Vision
December 2006

Copyright 2006 Surpac Minex Group Pty Ltd (A Gemcom Company). All rights
reserved.
This software and documentation is proprietary to Surpac Minex Group Pty Ltd.
Surpac Minex Group Pty Ltd publishes this documentation for the sole use of Surpac licenses.
Without written permission you may not sell, reproduce, store in a retrieval system, or transmit
any part of the documentation. For such permission, or to obtain extra copies please contact
your local Surpac Minex Group Office.
Surpac Minex Group Pty Ltd
Level 8 190 St Georges Terrace
Perth, Western Australia 6000
Telephone: (08) 94201383
Fax: (08) 94201350
While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this manual, we assume no
responsibility for errors or omissions. Neither is any liability assumed for damage resulting
from the use of the information contained herein.
All brand and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of there respective
companies.
About This Manual
This manual has been designed to provide a practical guide to the many uses of the software.
The applications contained within this manual are by no means exhaustive as the possible
uses of the software are only limited by the users imagination. However, it will give new users
a starting point and existing users a good overview by demonstrating how to use many of the
functions in Surpac Vision.
If you have any difficulties or questions while working through this manual feel free to contact
your local Surpac Minex Group Office.
Contributors
Rowdy Bristol
Phil Jackson
Surpac Minex Group
Perth, Western Australia
Product
Surpac Vision v5.2

Table of Contents
Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 1
Requirements ............................................................................................................................ 1
Objectives .................................................................................................................................. 1
Workflow .................................................................................................................................... 2
Ring Design Concepts............................................................................................................... 3
Creating a Centreline................................................................................................................. 4
Slicing Objects ......................................................................................................................... 10
Setup ....................................................................................................................................... 17
Moving the Mast ...................................................................................................................... 27
Creating and Reporting Holes ................................................................................................. 33
Plotting..................................................................................................................................... 45

Introduction
Ring design is the term given to drilling a fan of holes from an underground drive for the
purposes of blasting ore. Although there are numerous requirements for each design, Surpac
can assist you to create and report practically any type of underground ring design.

Requirements
Prior to proceeding with this tutorial, you will need:

Surpac Vision v5.2 installed

The data set accompanying this tutorial
A basic knowledge of Surpac string files and editing tools as covered in the
Introduction to Surpac Vision manual

Objectives
The objective of this tutorial is to allow you to understand the process of creating, editing,
saving, reporting and plotting underground ring designs.

Workflow
The process of performing underground ring design with Surpac Vision in this tutorial is fairly
typical, although there are many variations in the design of any one ring, or fan of holes.

Ring Design Concepts

Overview
This section will cover some terms used in this manual, some basic concepts of ring design
and the files you will use during ring design.
Requirements
Prior to performing the exercises in this tutorial, some experience in ring design is helpful but
is not required.
Terminology

Centreline a single string segment used in the function Centre line slice to create
slices from solid models.

Real World Coordinates a concept where the information in a string file is stored
with the coordinates representing a plan view of the data. In other words, the
coordinates represent the mine grid northing, easting, and elevation. Slices of solid
objects to be used for ring design must be saved in real world coordinates.

Section Coordinates a concept where the information in a string file does not
represent a plan view. Data created using the ring design function Save for plot are
saved in section coordinates.

Underground Drive a tunnel, or opening in rock where the drill rig will be
positioned.

Stope a 3-dimensional area (usually ore) which is to be mined out by blasting a

series of long holes or ring design holes.

Ring Design Concepts and Files

In the most common cases, you will need three things to perform ring design:

3D solid models of surveyed underground drives

3D solid models of designed stopes

One string segment to be used as a centreline for slicing solid objects

For stopeless design, such as for cable bolt holes and "sludge" (or sample) holes, you will
need only a 3D model of the drives and the centreline string. If you have a Surpac block
model, you may also slice it at the same time you slice the 3D solid models of drives and
stopes. You may also append DTMs representing other features, such as fault surfaces to the
drives and stope designs prior to slicing. After slicing, and prior to enabling ring design, you
may append any other string files (in real world coordinates) to the string files created from
slicing.
As with many concepts in Surpac, there are often two or more ways to accomplish the same
task. The purpose of this tutorial is to expose you to one way of using most of the tools within
Surpac to create a ring design.

Creating a Centreline
Overview
The function Centre line slice will be used to create slices through one or more solids. A
string - referred to here as a centreline string - is required to slice the solids. In this section,
we will prepare a string file to act as a centreline, given that we want to maintain a pivot point
a given distance above the actual surveyed floor.
Requirements
Prior to performing the exercises in this chapter, you should have:

A basic knowledge of Surpac string files and editing tools as covered in the
Introduction to Surpac Vision manual.

1. Viewing the data

Drag and drop the file cl1.str into graphics to open it in the cl1.str layer.
From the View menu, select Zoom, then Out, or select the Zoom to extents icon

From the Display menu, select Point, then Markers to display markers.
The file cl1.str represents the centreline that will commonly be marked up, or painted on the
back (or roof) of the drive.
This string file could have been created either by digitising or by entering coordinates (from
the Create menu, select Point, then By coordinates).
Drag and drop the file floor1055.str into graphics to open it in the floor1055.str layer.
You will now look at the data in a section view. A section view is defined in Surpac as
looking north at the XZ plane. From the View menu, select Data view options, then Section
view.

Alternatively, select the

icon.

We intend to create a set of sections perpendicular to the centreline through several solids.
The origin (0N, 0E) of each section is to be set at the pivot point of the drill rig, at a height of 2
meters above the floor.
To do this we will need a centreline for slicing which is 2 meters above the undulating floor for
the entire length of the centreline. If you have not run the function to drape the string over the
DTM, then the string cl1.str will be at a constant elevation of 1055 meters.

2. Creating a DTM of a floor string

We will create a DTM of the floor string while it is displayed in graphics. To ensure that the
floor string is in a layer by itself, and because we will later need the centreline string
appended to the floor string layer, we will delete the layer cl1.str.
From the Edit menu, select Layer, then Delete, and select the layer cl1.str. Alternatively, you
could use the Reset Graphics icon:
file floor1055.str.

to delete all data in all layers, and then re-open the

Once floor1055.str is in the current layer, you are ready to create the DTM.
From the Surfaces menu, select Create DTM from layer. Fill in the form as shown below,
then click Apply.

Spin the data around by holding the left mouse button down to view the DTM.
Save the file as floor1055.dtm. From the File menu, select Save as. Fill in the form as shown
below, then click Apply.

Apply the following form to re-save floor1055.str.

3. Draping the centreline string over the DTM of the floor

In this example, the input centreline string has only two points which are not set to the
elevation of the DTM. To set these two points to the elevation of the DTM, and to have the
string undulate with the contour of the floor, we will drape the centreline string over the DTM
of the floor.
Drag and drop the file cl1.str into graphics to open it in the cl1.str layer.
Select the

icon to view the data in section view, where you can clearly select the string.

From the Surfaces menu, select Drape string over DTM.

Follow the prompt at the bottom of the screen and click on the centreline string.
At the next form, leave everything as presented and Apply the form.

The option to Interpolate New points must be ticked in order to create new points on the
centreline wherever it crosses a triangle edge. If Interpolate New points was not ticked, we
would get an output file with only two points.
Spin the data around with the left mouse button, and zoom in on it with the right mouse button.
You should see the string draped to exactly match the DTM surface.

4. Raising the centreline string above the floor

In this example, it is assumed that the pivot point of the rig will remain a constant 2 meters
above the floor. To set the centreline to this elevation we will use string maths.
From the Display menu, select Hide everything, or select the

icon to clear the screen.

Display string 10 (the centreline string) in the cl1.str layer.

From the Edit menu, select String, then Maths. Fill out the form as shown below, and click
Apply.

Click string 10, and then press the Esc key to terminate the function. The centreline has now
been raised 2 meters vertically.
From the Display menu, select DTM. Ensure that the floor1055.str layer is selected, and
select Apply.

Spin the data around, to see that the centreline string is now 2 meters above the floor DTM.

Save string 10 to cl1.str, replacing the previous file.

From the File menu, select Save as. Ensure the form is filled out as shown below and click
Apply.

Apply the next form to overwrite the existing contents of cl1.str.

To check that you have saved the file correctly, you may want to Reset graphics and then
open cl1.str and floor1055.dtm again.

Summary
You should now be familiar with one manner in which a centreline string can be prepared for
use in slicing sections through a solid. There are many different ways of creating a centreline
string and yours may be different to this.
If you want to see all of the steps performed in this chapter, either run or edit:
01_create_centreline.tcl
Note: The macro will pause occasionally, displaying the message Click in graphics to
continue in the message window. You will need to click in graphics each time to allow the
macro to continue. Also, you will need to Apply any forms presented.

Slicing Objects
Overview
The function centre line slice will be used to create slices, or sections of a DTM file
comprised of several three-dimensional solid objects. The function uses the centreline
created during the previous exercise.
Requirements
Prior to performing the exercises in this chapter, you should have:

A basic knowledge of Surpac string files and editing tools (covered in the Introduction
manual)
Completed the previous chapter Creating a Centreline,

If you have not done this last step, please run the following macro:
01_create_centreline.tcl
1. Viewing the data
Click the Reset graphics icon

to remove any data in graphics.

Open the file ringex1.dtm and spin the data around to get a feel for the solids models.

From the Display menu, select Hide everything, or select the

10

icon to clear the screen.

From the Display menu, select DTM. Enter an object range of 3 and Apply.

Object 3 represents the ore zone. Note that it contains holes where the drives pass through
it. Display objects 1 and 2 individually. These are the drives, created from survey data. Object
3 was created by outersecting the solid of the ore zone by the solid of the drives.

Objects 1 and 2

Object 3 (outersected by objects 1 and 2)

It is generally a good idea to use outersected solids for creating ring design slices, since the
toe (or end) of the hole will be located at the point where the hole intersects the stope. As
shown below, if the 3D solid of the stope were not outersected by the drives, you may not
achieve the desired result.

Hole drilled in stope outersected by drives

Hole drilled in stope NOT outersected by drives

11

The object numbers are important because the string numbers created in the resultant slices
will be equal to the object numbers in the DTM file. Also, when starting ring design, you must
supply the string numbers representing the drives and the stope.

2. Slicing the solid

Display all objects in ringex1.dtm. Drag and drop cl1.str to open it in a new layer.
When slicing a solid, the centreline string and the objects to be sliced may be either in
separate layers or in the same layer. For display purposes, it is generally simpler if separate
layers are used. Note that if they are in separate layers, the layer containing the solids to be
sliced must be set to the current layer.
Set the layer containing the solids as the current layer. For example, if you had dragged and
dropped the files to open them, you would have one layer named ringex1.dtm, and another
layer named cl1.str.
Use the layer chooser to select ringex1.dtm as the current layer.

From the View menu, select Surface view options, then Hide triangle faces to turn faces
off.
Alternatively, click the

icon on the Status items toolbar so that it toggles to

In this example, where we have opened the object in one layer and the centreline in another
layer, it is relatively simple to display the object and the centreline. The string number of the
centreline is not important in this case.
If you append your centreline to the same layer as your solids, it is a good idea to use a string
number for your centreline string that is not used in your solid models. Then, when you hide
everything and display only the string number, it becomes easy to select.
From the View menu, select Zoom, then All, or select

to zoom to the extent of the data.

You should now see only the centreline string. We will use the southwest endpoint of cl1.str
as the point from which the first ring will be created.
When slicing an object from a centreline string, it is possible to select any point on the string,
even a location between points in the string file, as a point for the first or last ring. If a ring is
to be created precisely at a predefined point, the endpoint of the centreline slicing string
should be set to that location.
We will now slice the drives and the stope. In this example, the rig will start from the
southwest end of the stope and work toward the northeast, numbering the rings 1,2,3,4, etc.

12

From the Solids menu, select Solids tools, and then Section using centreline.
Select a point below and left of the southwest end of the centreline, as shown below.

Surpac will choose the nearest location on the line, which is not necessarily a point, but could
be a location between two points. In order to ensure that the point selected is indeed the
endpoint of the string, it is good practice to position the cursor directly away from the endpoint,
then click, as shown above.
Select the other endpoint of the centreline by positioning the cursor northeast (on the screen,
up and to the right) of the northeast endpoint of the line.
If there is a dump angle, the order in which the endpoints are selected will determine the
direction of the dump angle. In this example, we will create a vertical ring at the start and a
ring that dumps 70 degrees to the northeast at the end, with the intermediate rings
incrementally dumped between vertical and 70 degrees. The spacing along the centreline will
be 2 meters.
At the form that is presented, enter a value for Spacing of 2 and then click the Calculate no.
of Slices button. Notice that the number of sections automatically changes to indicate the
number of rings (or slices) that can be drilled at that spacing.
Click the Calculate spacing button. Notice that the ring spacing changes to accommodate
the number of rings (or slices) that you specified.
Reset Spacing to 2.0, enter First slice dip of 90, Last slice dip of 70, and ensure that Slice
dip angles is set to absolute.
Setting Slice dip angle to absolute tells the software to measure the angles from horizontal.
Setting Slice dip angle to relative tells the software to measure the angles from the current
slope of the centreline.

13

At the next form, enter the data as shown below and click Apply.

An explanation of the entries in each field is given below:

By leaving the Object range blank, all objects in the layer will be sliced.
The name of the Slice layer can be any text. It is just a temporary layer used for storing and
viewing all the slices.
If a block model was open before you invoked the centre line slice function, you could create
sections of blocks in the block model. In our case, we are not using a block model, so this
option is not available.
The name entered for Location can be any text. In this example, 1055sec identifies the
drive and the fact that it is a section.
In our example we are setting the ID numbers to be sequence numbers. With this option,
the output files will be created as follows:
1055sec1.str (slice at first point selected)
1055sec2.str (slice 2m from first point selected)
1055sec3.str (slice 4m from first point selected)
1055sec4.str (slice 6m from first point selected)
........
1055sec50.str (slice 98m from first point selected)
If we had specified ID numbers as chainages, the files would have been named:
1055sec0.str (slice at first point selected)
1055sec2.str (slice 2m from first point selected)
1055sec4.str (slice 4m from first point selected)
1055sec6.str (slice 6m from first point selected)
........
1055sec100.str (slice 100m from first point selected)
The string files created can be in either section or real world coordinates. Sections to be
used for ring design must be created in real world coordinates. There is a function in ring
design that will save the data to section coordinates for plotting at a later time.

14

The sections will be created as individual string files in the current directory. All sections will
also appear in the ring slices layer previously nominated.
Select the

icon to change to a section view (ie. looking north).

From the View menu, select Rotate image, then Orbit left to orbit left by the default rotation
increment of 10 degrees.
Press the Enter key twice to execute the orbit left function two more times.
Immediately after a function has been executed, you can press the Enter key to repeat the
command. Note that the function chooser the leftmost item on the Status Items toolbar
must have focus (ie. appear highlighted) in order to execute the command. Additionally, all
function names are kept in memory during each Surpac session. You can use the up and
down arrow keys to scroll through the list of previous commands.
As shown below, notice how the dump angle gradually changed from vertical (90 degrees) on
the left, where the first centreline point was selected, to the 70 degree dump on the right,
where the second centreline point was selected. Also notice that the string numbers (1 and 2
for the drives and 3 for the stopes) in the slices reflect the object numbers.

From the File menu, select Reset graphics or click on the icon
graphics.

, to delete all data from

Since data has been added to the ring slices layer, but has not been saved, the following
form will appear:

In our case, it is not necessary to save the data in the ring slices layer, so leave the Reset
graphics option selected and Apply the form.

15

To verify that our sections have been created in real world coordinates, we will now display
one of the 1055sec string files created, as well as the original solid objects.
Drag and drop 1055sec25.str into graphics to open it into the layer 1055sec25.str.
Drag and drop ringex1.dtm to open it into the layer ringex1.dtm.
Spin the data around to verify that the section has been created correctly it should match
the solids exactly.

The ring design module will view the data perpendicular to the slicing plane, no matter what
the section orientation, including dumped sections.

Summary
You should now be familiar with how to create section files for ring design using a centreline
and a DTM file containing several objects. The method described here is only one simple
example designed to give you an understanding of the process. Your data set may be more
or less complex, but generally speaking, you will use centre line slice to perform this step.
If you want to see all of the steps performed in this chapter, either run or edit:
02_slice_objects.tcl
Note: You will need to Apply all forms presented.

16

Setup
Overview
There are several default rig and drilling parameters that are used each time you use ring
design. These are stored in the text file SSI_ETC:rings.ssi. There are several functions in
Surpac that allow you to modify the values stored in this file. Although it is possible to edit this
file with a text editor, it is strongly recommended that you only make modifications using
functions within Surpac Vision.
Requirements
Prior to performing the exercises in this chapter, you should have:

A basic knowledge of Surpac as covered in the Introduction to Surpac Vision manual

A basic knowledge of underground ring design drilling conventions
Completed the sections on Creating a Centreline and Slicing Objects

If you have not completed the previous chapters, please run the following macros in order:
01_create_centreline.tcl
02_slice_objects.tcl
You will need to click in graphics when prompted and Apply forms as they are displayed.
1. The ring design menubar, toolbar, and profile
Ring design functions can be accessed in several different ways. We will first view the default
menu options and then see how the ring design profile can be used to make the functions
more accessible.
From the Applications menubar (ie. the second row of menus), select the Ring design
menu item as shown below. Note that all of the menu items are contained in submenus.

Although you can use this menu to access all of the ring design functions, there is also a
separate ring design menubar and a ring design toolbar. Using these, you can access the
functions more easily than via the Applications menubar. The ring design profile displays both
of these.

17

Display the menubar/toolbar/profile popup menu by right clicking to the right of an existing
menubar/toolbar. From the popup menu, select Profiles, then ringdesign.

You will see that the Applications menubar has been replaced by the Ring Design menubar,
and the Ring Design toolbar has also been displayed.
Position the cursor over any icon (but dont click on it) to see a description of the function
which it performs.

18

2. Rig setup and online help

We will first set up parameters for a new drilling rig.
From the Ring design menu, select Start ring design.
Replace the text ssi_etc:rings.ssi with the name rings.ssi.
Note: The default value of ssi_etc:rings.ssi would read values from a file in the ssi_etc:
directory. For this exercise, we will store our data in a file named rings.ssi in the local data
directory.
Apply the form as shown below:

At the very bottom of the Surpac Vision frame and to the right of the coordinate display, the
name of the default rig will be displayed. If you are using SSI_ETC:rings.ssi for the first time, it
should display OLD DEFAULT RIG:

Although it is possible to use this rig, we will enter default parameters for a new drill rig.
Rather than compiling and continuously updating a database containing all the specifications
on the numerous manufacturers and models of drill rigs, Surpac simply asks you to define the
mast of your drill rig. You are prompted to enter the shape, size, movement limits and angle
definition method of the mast.

19

From the Setup menu, select Add new drill rig. Fill in the form as shown below and click
Apply.

The rig parameters are illustrated below:

One item to note is that the minimum height of the pivot point cannot be less than the feedpivot distance. If you do set a minimum height to a number that is less than the feed-pivot
distance, you are inferring that the bottom of the mast can be shoved into the floor.

20

Click the Help button at the bottom of the form. The reference manual page for the function
will be displayed. Take some time to go over the reference manual page to ensure that you
understand all of the fields.
Note: There is also a short version of Help available for each field on any Surpac form.
Highlight the field Rig width by clicking in it with the left mouse button. Then right click within
the same field and a popup menu will appear as shown below. Select Field Help from the
popup menu.

When Field Help is selected, a message is displayed about the field at the bottom of the form
as shown below:

Leave the help message displayed and either click or tab into other fields. The help message
box will remain visible, but the contents will change to the help for the chosen field.
Right click the currently active field, and at the popup menu, select Form Help. A help
message describing the entire concept being presented on the form will appear.

21

Apply the Define Rig Parameters form.

We will now set the tutorial rig as the default rig. From the Setup menu, choose Select rig,
click tutorial and then click Default.

Clicking the Default button will set the tutorial rig to be the default rig the next time you
invoke ring design. Apply this form.
The tutorial rig will be set as the current rig. Also, the rig name tutorial will now be displayed
at the bottom of the Surpac Vision frame.
3. Setting up drilling parameters
Next, we will enter default parameters to be used when creating holes. To do this, we need to
first load at least one section for drilling.
From the File menu, select Reset graphics or click the icon
graphics.

to delete all data from

From the Ring design menu, select Open section files of stopes and openings. Fill in the
form as shown below and Apply the form.

The first section will be displayed. Since the only data on the first section was the lower drive,
that is all you will see.
From the Ring design menu, select View next section 10 or more times. The
toolbar for this function is the most efficient means of doing this.

icon on the

Note that the information at the bottom of the screen changes each time View next section is
selected.

22

When using the View next section

and View previous section icons , the view
presented in the graphics viewport will always be perpendicular to each section.
From the Ring design menu, select View previous section until you get back to section 9.
We will now position the rig in the lower drive. From the Setup menu, select Rig position.
Click anywhere near the lower drive, then anywhere near the stope.
The rig will now be positioned in the lower drive.

When you are selecting a drive to drill from, the software behaves in the same manner as
selecting a segment during the function Identify segment. In other words, it is not necessary
to click precisely on the drive segment, but only near the segment. Also, when you are
selecting a drive, only those strings which you have nominated as survey opening strings
above are selectable. The string numbers which you have nominated as stope outlines are
not selectable.
Likewise, when you are selecting a stope string, the survey opening strings are not
selectable. In this case, when you select the new rig position, you could actually double-click
anywhere near the lower drive. The first click will select the drive, and the second click will
select the stope.
From the Setup menu, select Drilling parameters, and enter the data as shown below:

23

Toe spacing algorithms are displayed below. The toe spacing is a unit of measure (meters
or feet) for all algorithms except for angular. When the angular toe spacing algorithm is
selected, the toe spacing is in defined in degrees.

24

The tolerance is used with the function Create holes - Between two holes. When fitting
holes with this function, the user is asked to select two holes which have been drilled from the
same pivot point, with the assumption that additional holes will fit between the two selected
holes.
When Surpac attempts to fit additional holes with a given toe spacing, invariably the last hole
to be fitted will be too close to the second hole chosen. The tolerance value is used to allow
the toe spacing of holes fitted between the two holes to change by up to this amount. Surpac
iterates a given number of times, varying the toe spacing up to the specified tolerance, until
an acceptable toe spacing is found to allow the new holes to fit between two holes.
The minimum collar distance does not allow holes to be drilled where the distance between
the centers of the holes is less than this distance.
Overdrill allows you to create holes which are drilled past or short of the stope outline. For
example, if you set overdrill to 0.5, the holes would be drilled 0.5 units (meters or feet) past
the stope outline. If you set overdrill to 1, the holes would stop 1 unit of measure (ie. 1 meter
or 1 foot) before the hole would intersect the stope outline.
Note: Nearly all functions and concepts in Surpac are actually unitless that is, it does not
matter if you are using units of feet or units of meters.
The hole diameter is the diameter of the hole in units of measure (0.05 meters in this
example). The diameter can be used for reporting and for blast powder factor calculations.
The direction of the ring is used when drilling normal holes. For example, if the direction of
the ring is set to clockwise, and you create two normal holes from a vertical hole, they will be
rotated clockwise from the vertical hole.
The view-only hole colour is assigned to holes drilled from other rings. It is sometimes
convenient to view the holes from a previous ring so that holes in the current ring can be
staggered.
The break-through tolerance is used to control the length of holes which have the potential
to be drilled into surveyed drives. If the hole is to be drilled to the edge of a surveyed drive,
set the break-through tolerance to a very small number, such as 0.001. If set to zero, holes
will pierce through drives. In our case, we want holes to be stopped 0.75 meters before they
break through a drive.
For more information on the fields, click the Help button to display the online reference
manual, and/or review the field and form help.
Apply the drilling parameters form.

25

After setting up these default values, it is a good idea to save them.

From the Ring design menu, select Save ring design settings.
Enter a file name of rings.ssi, and Apply the form.

Note: In practice, you would normally want to use the default file of ssi_etc:rings.ssi. We are
saving rings.ssi in the local directory for training purposes only.
Summary
You have now completed setting up a drill rig and its drilling parameters, as well as storing the
information in the ring design defaults file. You should be familiar with:

how to invoke the ring design profile

how to set up a new drill rig
how to view all available forms of help for a particular form
how to set up the rig drilling parameters
where the rig parameters are stored
how to view the online reference manual

If you want to see all of the steps performed in this chapter, either run or edit:
03_setup.tcl
Note: You will need to Apply the forms presented.

26

Moving the Mast

Overview
The drill mast may be moved and rotated inside a surveyed opening to position it for drilling
holes.
Requirements
Prior to performing the exercises in this chapter, you should have:

A basic knowledge of Surpac string files and editing tools as covered in the
Introduction to Surpac Vision manual.
Completed the sections on Creating a centreline, Slicing objects and Setup.

If you have not completed the previous chapters, please run the following macros in order:
01_create_centreline.tcl
02_slice_objects.tcl
03_setup.tcl
Note: You will need to click in graphics when prompted and Apply forms as they are
displayed.

1. Using a centreline string as a reference line

Often the distance left or right of a single pivot point of the rig or the distance of collar
positions from a centreline are required in a report. To do this, we need to open the centreline
file in a new layer and let Surpac know that we want all holes drilled to be reported relative to
this centreline. If you do not require a left or right offset from a centreline in the output report
or map, you may create holes without performing the steps in this section. For the purposes
of this tutorial, we will use cl1.str as the centreline.
Click and drag cl1.str and 1055sec9.str into the graphics viewport, and spin the data around
to become familiar with the strings.

cl1.str and 1055sec9.str

From the View menu on the Ring design menubar, select Zoom to extent of current
section.
Zoom in on the drive where the rig is positioned. You may either use the Window in function
or the right mouse button to zoom in and the middle mouse button. On a two-button mouse,
hold down both buttons to pan.

27

From Move mast menu, select By graphics. Practise moving the mast by clicking and
dragging it around. Press Esc to terminate the function.

If you attempt to position the mast so that the pivot point is outside the dotted line, or any part
of the mast is outside the drive, you will get an error message, and the mast will be moved
back to its original position. Although you can move the mast around, none of the holes drilled
from these new positions will be referenced to the centreline until we explicitly select the
centreline.
From the Setup menu, choose Select reference line for offsets.
Click on the centreline string.
Click and drag the mouse on the screen to view the data as shown below:

After selecting the reference centreline, the point where the centreline intersects the plane of
the section will be marked with a small red triangle. A reference distance and direction will
now be stored for every hole drilled on this section.
If the centreline you are using is a straight line perpendicular to the section, when you are
zoomed to the extent of the current section, the line will appear as a single pixel and may be
difficult to select. In this case, it may be preferable to rotate the view in order to clearly select
the reference line. It does not matter if you are viewing the data perpendicular to the section
or are in an oblique view when you select the reference line.
From the View menu on the Ring design menubar, select Zoom to extent of current
section to return to a view perpendicular to this section.
Once the reference line has been selected, it is not necessary to keep it displayed. When we
are finished creating holes on this section and continue to the next section, the reference
point for that section will automatically be recalculated at the point where the centreline
intersects the section plane.

28

From the Display menu, select Hide strings, then In a layer. Make sure that the layer cl1.str
is selected and then Apply the form:

You will see the names ring design drives layer and ring design stopes layer. These layer
names are created when you invoke the function Start ring design and are used to store the
drive and stope strings. Normally, you would not need to use these layers.

2. Moving and rotating the mast

We will now examine several functions which allow you to move and rotate the mast. These
functions are presented to demonstrate various options and are not in a specific order.
However, the position of the rig at the end of this section is required for the next section,
Creating and Reporting Holes.
From the Move mast menu, select By coordinates. Enter the coordinates 0, 0 as shown
below and click Apply.

The mast will be moved so that its pivot point is on the centreline. By selecting a reference
line, we have now set up a coordinate system within the plane of the section whose origin is
at the point where the centreline pierces the section. This coordinate system is only used for
positioning the rig, and for reporting the rig pivot point position relative to the centreline.

From the Rotate mast menu, select To angle. Enter an angle of 300 degrees and click
Apply.

29

The mast will be rotated to the angle of 300 degrees.

The use of the value "angle" in Rotate mast - to angle is a value from 0 to 360, with the
origin vertically up the section.
When we defined the rig properties in the Setup section of this tutorial, we just happened to
use this same convention:

However, in defining your rig, you may use other angle definition methods, such as 180 or dip
and dip direction. Although we coincidentally used the origin method of up, you may also
define the origin as down, right or left. The angular measurement values in the rig definition
are only used for reporting, and have no relationship to any Rotate mast functions.
Remember the Rotate mast - To angle values will always be in the range of 0 to 360
degrees with the origin up, regardless of the values in the rig definition.
From the Rotate mast menu, select By angle. Enter an angle of 45 degrees and click Apply.

The mast should now be at an orientation of 345.

Note the differences in the two functions:

Rotate mast To angle sets the orientation of the mast to the value specified, using a
convention of 0 to 360 degrees, with zero defined vertically up the section view.
Rotate mast By angle rotates the mast clockwise from the current orientation by the
specified amount.
From the Rotate mast menu, select By graphics. Click and drag the mast around, then
release the mouse. Note how the mast follows the cursor around the screen.
Press Esc to end the function.

30

From the Rotate mast menu, select To point and click once with the mouse.
The mast will be positioned toward the point where the cursor was clicked. This can be useful
when you want a drillhole to pass through a specific point.
In preparation for the next chapter, Creating and Reporting Holes, we will position the mast
to drill a vertical hole near the right edge of the stope.
From the Move mast menu, select By coordinates. Enter the coordinates as 0, 0 and click
Apply.

From the Rotate mast menu, select To angle. Enter 0, and click Apply.

The pivot point of the mast should now be located on the centreline. The mast should be
oriented vertically up the section. Next, we will attempt to move it a specified distance from
this point.
From the Move mast menu, select By distance. Enter the following and click Apply.

Although this is close to the right edge of the stope and drive, we will use another function to
get it closer.
From the Move mast menu, select From wall.
Note that the distance shown will change when you select the left or right radio button. This is
the horizontal distance in the plane of the section from the pivot point to the point on the wall.
Enter a distance of 0.6 meters, from the right wall, and click Apply.

31

The mast should now be in the following orientation:

Leave the mast in this position for use in the next section, Creating and Reporting Holes.

Summary
You should now be familiar with the following:

using a centreline string as a reference line

moving the mast
rotating the mast

If you want to see all of the steps performed in this chapter, either run or edit:
04_move_mast.tcl
Note: You will need to Apply the forms presented.

32

Creating and Reporting Holes

Overview
Holes may be created, moved and rotated inside a stope, or without a stope. In this example,
we will create and edit holes inside a stope.
Requirements
Prior to performing the exercises in this chapter, you should have:

A basic knowledge of Surpac as covered in the Introduction to Surpac Vision manual.

Completed the sections Creating a Centreline, Slicing objects, Setup, and Moving
the Mast

If you have not completed the previous sections, please run the following macros in order
(click in graphics and Apply forms as they are displayed):
01_create_centreline.tcl
02_slice_objects.tcl
03_setup.tcl
04_move_mast.tcl
1. Creating and editing holes
In the last chapter, the rig named tutorial was positioned in the lower drive of section 9, from
the file 1055sec9.str, 0.6m from the right wall, as shown below:

From the Create holes menu, select At current mast orientation.

This will create one hole at the current mast orientation. Notice that the toe or end of the hole
is positioned exactly at the stope outline. In the Define Rig Parameters form, we specified an
overdrill distance of zero. Had we specified an overdrill of 0.5, the hole we just created would
extend 0.5 meters past the stope outline. An overdrill of 0.25 would have stopped the hole
0.25 meters short of the stope outline.
From the View menu, select Hole IDs four times (until you see the number "1").
This option toggles the hole id as a number, a letter, or no id.

33

From the Create holes menu, select Parallel to an existing hole. Click on hole number 1,
enter the following, and click Apply.

Two holes will be drilled parallel to hole number 1. A negative horizontal spacing indicates
that the holes are to be drilled to the left of the selected hole. A positive horizontal spacing
would mean that holes are to be created to the right of the selected hole.

34

You should now see three holes, as shown below:

Assume that after looking at this result, we decide that we would rather drill hole number 3
and all remaining holes with the rig at the centreline point. We will first delete hole number 3
and then re-create it with the pivot at the centreline and a toe spacing of 1.5 meters from hole
number 2.
From the Edit menu, select Delete one hole, then click on hole number 3.
Hole number 3 will be removed. Next, we will move the mast back to the pivot point.
From the Move mast menu, select By coordinates, then enter the following and Apply.

We will create one hole to the left of hole number 2. To do this, we need to check the drilling
parameters and ensure that the ring direction is anti-clockwise.

35

From the Setup menu, Select Drilling Parameters

Change the direction to anti-clockwise, and click Apply.

From the Create holes menu, select Offset from existing hole.
Click on hole number 2.
At the form, enter 1 and then Apply the form.

Hole number 3 will be created to the left of hole number 2, using the AECI algorithm, and a
toe spacing distance of 1.5.
Note: See the online help for more information on toe spacing algorithms

36

Next, we will drill another hole along the footwall contact, and then a fan of holes between
these last two holes.
From the Create holes menu, select At selected location.
Click on a location on the left stope wall to create a hole similar to that shown below.

We will now rotate this hole to the lower stope limit, or footwall.
From the Edit menu, select Rotate hole.
Click once on hole number 4, then release. Then click again on hole number 4, and drag it to
the lower stope limit, or footwall, as shown.

37

It is not necessary that the holes fall entirely within the stope design. The decision to drill this
hole slightly outside of the stope is purely a judgement call. However, in this case the hole
does extend beyond the stope, and we will now adjust the length of the hole.
There is a function to automatically snap the hole to the stope, but depending on whether or
not you have rotated the hole outside the stope design, it is probably best to set the hole
length manually.
From the Edit menu, select Edit hole length graphically.
At the prompt, click and drag the toe, or end of the hole to the new position

When you release the mouse, the length of the hole will be reset to that position. This function
is not an exact means of setting a hole length.
To demonstrate the use of an exact method, see below:
From the Edit menu, select Set length of one hole,
Click on hole number 4, enter a value of 10.5, and click Apply.

Press Esc to terminate the function.

We will now drill a fan of holes between holes 3 and 4.
From the Create holes menu, select Between two holes.
Click on hole 3, then hole 4.

38

Remember that we previously set the direction of the holes to be created as anti-clockwise.
Thus, we will need to select hole 3 first, and then hole 4. If we selected hole 4 first and then
hole 3, it would attempt to create holes anti-clockwise from hole 4 to hole 3.
As described previously in Setup, the value entered for tolerance on the Drilling
Parameters form is used with the function Create holes.

When fitting holes with this function, you are asked to select two holes which have been
drilled from the same pivot point, with the assumption that additional holes will fit between the
two selected holes. When Surpac attempts to fit additional holes with a given toe spacing,
invariably the last hole to be fitted will be too close to the second hole chosen.
The tolerance is used to allow the toe spacing of holes fitted between the two holes to move
by up to this amount. Surpac iterates a given number of times, with slightly varying toe
spacings, given that the toe spacing does not vary by more than the tolerance given here,
until an acceptable toe spacing is found.
When the tolerance is used to fit holes between two holes, it attempts to keep the toe spacing
as close as possible to the original. To do this, it must make several attempts with different
toe spacing distances. The number of attempts or iterations it makes to fit the holes is set on
the next form. For most cases, 5 iterations are acceptable. The greater the number of
iterations, the longer it may take to fit holes between the two selected holes.
From the Create holes menu, select Between two holes.
Set the number of iterations to 5, and click Apply.

The holes will be created between holes 3 and 4. Notice that several holes which came near,
or would have intersected the upper drive, were shortened. When holes would normally
terminate at a surveyed opening, they are shortened by the break-through tolerance value. In
our case, this was set to 0.75m on the Drilling Parameters form.

39

The hole numbers reflect the order in which they were created. However, we assume that all
holes need to be numbered in a clockwise manner, starting on the footwall.
From the Edit menu, select Renumber holes, then fill in the form as shown, and click Apply.

Click on hole number 4.

The holes will be renumbered from 1 upwards, starting at the footwall.

40

2. Saving holes
We have now completed our ring design, and will save the holes.
If we were attached to a ring design database, the holes would be stored in the database.
However, for this example we are simply going to store the holes in a string file.
From the Ring design menu, select Save holes.
Enter the following information, and click Apply.

These are merely two text fields that will be used on the report and in the string file later for
plotting. When actually performing this task, these values can be anything relevant to your
mine.
At the next form, enter ring number 9, and click Apply.

At the next form, enter the following string file name, and click Apply.

The string file 1055_4nw_holes9.str will be created in the current working directory.

41

3. Reporting holes
Once the holes have been designed, a report can be generated. From the Reports menu,
select Drilling report, then enter the following information and click Apply.

At the next form, enter ring number 9 for the ring name and click Apply.

The report itself may be made up of any of one or more attributes, organised in any order.
Enter the following and click Apply.

At the next form, enter the following and click Apply.

42

The drilling report will be written to the file 1055_4nw9.not, which may then be displayed in a
text editor such as notepad.

When you are finished looking at this information, exit the text editor.
4. Saving default values
We have now set several values which need to be stored in the ring design defaults file.
Before continuing further, we will save these default values.
From the Ring design menu, select Save ring design settings.
Enter a file name of rings.ssi, and Apply the form.

Note: In practice, you would normally want to use the default file of ssi_etc:rings.ssi. We are
saving rings.ssi in the local directory for training purposes only.
As mentioned previously, this is a text file where default rig, drilling, and reporting parameters
are kept. It is strongly recommended that you do NOT modify this file with a text editor, as a
simple modification to the format of the file could result in the loss of default parameter data.

43

Summary
You should now be familiar with:

creating holes
editing holes
saving holes
generating a report of holes
saving ring design default values

If you want to see all of the steps performed in this chapter, either run or edit:
05a_create_holes.tcl
05b_report_holes.tcl
Note: You will need to Apply the forms presented.

44

Plotting
Overview
Holes may be created, moved and rotated inside a stope, or without a stope. In this example,
we will create and edit holes inside a stope. In this section you will learn how to save holes for
plotting, and how to generate a plot of holes.
Requirements
Prior to performing the exercises in this section, you should have:

Basic knowledge of Creating a centreline, setup, Moving the Mast, Creating and
Reporting Holes.
Run macros
01_create_centreline.tcl
02_slice_objects.tcl
03_setup.tcl
04_move_mast.tcl
05a_create_holes.tcl
05b_report_holes.tcl

1. Saving holes for plotting

The diagram below shows holes created after completing the section Creating and
Reporting Holes. Ensure that the holes have been created as shown below.

45

From the Ring design menu, select Save holes and sections for plotting
Enter the following information in the form and click Apply.

At the next form, enter the section number as 9 and click Apply.

The file 1055_4nw9.str will now be saved to the current working directory.
String files saved with Save holes and sections for plotting will contain:
Data

String Numbers

Drill Holes

1,999

Drives

Drive string number + 1000

Stopes

Stope string number + 2000

Rig Pivot Points

32000

The following string numbers will be used in plotting. In our example, 1055_4nw9.str will
contain:
Data

String Numbers

Drill Holes

1,17

Drives

1001, 1002

Stopes

2003

Rig Pivot Points

32000

46

2. Creating a plot
The purpose of this tutorial is to explain concepts in ring design, so we will not go into too
much detail on plotting. Please see the Plotting section of the Introduction to Surpac Vision
manual or the Plotting in Surpac Vision tutorial for a more detailed explanation of plotting
concepts.
Some map and entity definitions have been set up and saved in the files map.txt and
entity.txt, which we will import.
From the Plotting menu in the main Surpac menu, select Entity, then Import from text file.
Enter the file name as entity.txt and click Apply.

The results of the function will be written to the file map_entity_load.log. You should see the
following:
Entity load log
===============
Loaded _RIG PIVOT
Loaded _RING BLAST HOLE
Loaded _RING HOLE
Loaded _RING NOTE
From the Plotting menu, select Map, then Import from text file. Enter the file name as
map.txt and click Apply.

The results of the function will again be written to the file map_entity_load.log. You should
see the following:
Map load log
===============
Loaded RING BLAST EX1
Loaded RING EX1

47

From the Plotting menu, select Map, then Edit to view the contents of the map we will be
processing which is ring ex1.
From the Plotting menu, select Entity, then Edit to view the contents of the entities _rig
pivot, _ring blast hole, _ring hole and _ring note.
From the Plotting menu, select Process, then Map. Select map ring ex1, and Apply the
form.

Enter the information as shown on the next three forms, and click Apply for each form as you
go.

48

After applying the last form, the Plot Preview window will open, and the plot will be displayed
in the plotting window.

This is only one manner of presenting ring design holes. You can also edit the entity and map
definitions provided, or create your own to customise your plots.
From the File menu, select Print plot file, then select your output device for a hardcopy
output. This plot was created at A4 size, and so could be printed on any A4 printer.

Summary
You should now be familiar with:

saving holes for plotting

creating a plot

If you want to see all of the steps performed in this section, either run or edit:
06_plotting.tcl
Note: You will need to Apply the forms which are presented.

49