| This application was developed for a real mining project, as part of the output of the feasibility study. It was developed for the sake of helping geologists and mining engineers manage data and break a new path for their data analysis. With it, they can sort out valuable information from a variety of data sources and finally come up with correct decision or system design.Any mining project must be preceded with a detailed exploration process which utilizes drilling as the most basic and reliable data-attaining method. Drillhole data can be deemed as the cornerstone of any upcoming analysis. Normally speaking, drillhole-related data has spatial characteristics and is saved as point data in text format, which, to some extent, can be analyzed and managed by some specially designed mining applications. This kind of softwares is very expensive and none of them is dominant in the market. On the contrary, GIS system is very popular among users and, more importantly, has the capability to manage spatial data. In this text, we'll discuss about the feasibility of making use of the GIS-provided linear referencing and dynamic segmentation technology to analyze and manage drillhole data. Since this technology is designed for linear features like drillhole path, it's technically tenable. In this system, all field data and all transformed-from-the-raw-data feature classes will be stored in a geodatabase, with field data being stored in dBASE tables whereas all feature classes being saved in a dataset which has a predefined spatial reference. The database design is based on an abstract data model provided by ESRI, but the definition of some tables proposed in this model has to be modified to cater for the special needs of this system. To convert text data into feature classes, a data-transforming tool is developed. This tool makes use of the COM-based ArcObject library and is capable of transforming point data into line-typed feature classes, with each polyline representing a different drillhole trace. Using these drillhole feature classes, users can, with the help of the linear referencing and dynamic segmentation technology, generate another type of feature classes which denote the variation of a specified attribute along the trace - the route event feature class, without changing their geometric shape. Another practical function provided by the tool is that it can help users perform geo-statistical analysis by generating surfaces that depict the grade distribution at specified elevations. One more function provided by the tool is its ability to transform text-formatted or C AD-formatted topographic data into TINs which, if used together with the surfaces mentioned above, can generate a 3-D data view for the user. The data-converting tool generate a layer file for each feature class generated in the database to save users from being concerned about the database structure. They can view the feature classes in ArcMap or ArcScene by loading the layer files.Also discussed in this paper is the background of the development, utilization of GIS in the mining field, gathering of system requirements, major issues to resolve, the architecture of the system, the process of database design, system testing, etc. |
PDF Full Text Request