South Africa’s Wits School of Mining Engineering has licensed decision analysis software from Palisade, to be used in the school’s mine engineering teaching programme.
Under the partnership, Wits will have licensed access to @RISK software for all staff and the 100 computers in its Mine Design Laboratory for research and analytical simulations.
“An understanding of stochastic analysis – or probabilistic analysis – is a vital part of every mining engineer’s skill set,” said Professor Dick Minnitt, JCI Professor of Mineral Resources and Reserves at Wits.
“Mines succeed on the basis of good decisions, and engineers must evaluate the uncertainties in every decision they face, before choosing the best one.
“Stochastic modelling is a significant advance in thinking about the answers we get for any calculations, especially those involving variables that can take on a range of different values,” he explained.
“A probabilistic approach allows you to understand a problem by observing what could happen, as a universe of possibilities – a portfolio of possibilities rather than a single magic number – which allows you to make more informed, more robust decisions.”
“The approach can be applied in various aspects of mine planning – from operations to finance modelling – so that the engineer can contribute systematically to any assessment of risk and opportunity,” commented Clinton Birch, senior lecturer in the School of Mining Engineering and teacher of a course in Financial Valuation.
In 2014, Palisade trained 18 of the Wits’ staff and postgraduates in risk and probabilistic modelling and also how best to integrate such issues into the school’s teaching programme.
Source: Mining Innovation
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