One Hood, Full Visibility — The Transparent Strategic Spine That Drives Your Tools
IMC owns the transparent strategic spine — drillhole DB and QA/QC, Hochbaum pseudo-flow pit optimisation, haulage simulation fed into cost, and enterprise finance — and refines the inputs to detailed MILP in Minemax while doing the detailed mine design itself, in-house, in Deswik and Vulcan.
The problem with the bolt-together toolchain
A conventional mine study is a relay race between disconnected applications, each handoff a manual export-import, and most of the tools black boxes. Two problems follow: integration risk (an assumption drifts, a unit flips, a version falls out of sync) and opacity (“the software decided”), which is not good enough for a bankable study.
IMC’s answer: one transparent spine that drives the specialist tools
IMC owns the strategic decision spine — drillhole database, block model, pseudo-flow pit optimisation, first-principles haulage, the cost model and the enterprise financials — in one platform, in full view. That spine then feeds best-in-class specialist tools with consistent, physics-costed, auditable inputs rather than competing with them.
Pit optimisation: Hochbaum Pseudo-Flow (HPF) — in-house
The strategic pit optimiser is IMC’s own implementation of Hochbaum’s Pseudo-Flow (HPF) algorithm — a mathematically exact maximum-flow / minimum-cut method that generates nested pit shells across revenue factors, with block values and shell economics open to inspection.
Haulage simulation, fed straight into cost
On most open-pit operations haulage is the single largest controllable operating cost. MiningIQ models it with first-principles, segment-by-segment simulation and feeds the result directly into the MineCost cost model — an auditable, physics-based haulage cost per route, per pit and per material.
Scheduling: IMC refines the inputs; detailed MILP runs in Minemax
IMC has its own bench and MILP scheduling capability for rapid strategic passes and to prepare and refine the inputs detailed scheduling depends on. For detailed MILP scheduling, IMC leans on Minemax — best-in-class — and drives it with a consistent, transparent, physics-costed model.
Detailed mine design: done in-house by IMC, in Deswik and Vulcan
The detailed mine-planning grunt work is IMC’s own. IMC’s engineers do the hands-on detailed design themselves — pit, stage, dump and haul-road design, stope layouts and detailed schedules — in the industry-standard packages Deswik and Vulcan, working from the same auditable inputs the strategic spine produces. This is not high-level advice handed to someone else to build: IMC takes the study from the block model all the way down to detailed, constructible design.
The one thing IMC does not do: on-site secondment
IMC is a study, optimisation and independent-review firm. The single area IMC deliberately stays out of is seconding personnel into operating mines for day-to-day, short-term operational planning once production has started — that on-site operational resourcing is a different model. IMC’s senior team stays focused on the study, the optimisation and the bankable outputs.
A clear division of labour
| Layer | Who does it | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Drillhole DB, QA/QC, block model | IMC (MiningIQ) | One auditable source of truth from the data up |
| Strategic pit optimisation (HPF pseudo-flow) | IMC (MiningIQ) | Transparent, exact, in-house |
| Haulage simulation → cost | IMC (MiningIQ + MineCost) | Haulage is the primary cost driver; physics, not flat rates |
| Enterprise finance (FAST / Modano) | IMC (MiningIQ) | Bankable, auditable output |
| Detailed MILP scheduling | IMC, driving Minemax | Best-in-class detailed scheduler, fed consistent inputs by IMC |
| Detailed mine design (pit/stage/dump, stope, haul road) | IMC, in Deswik & Vulcan | Hands-on detailed design, done in-house — not outsourced |
| On-site operational / short-term planning once mining starts | Not IMC (by design) | IMC does not second staff to operating mines; it is a study & ITR firm |
Glass-box, not black-box
Every input is client-controlled and every step inspectable: editable, named optimisation parameter sets, open haulage, block values, shell summaries and strategic schedules, and explicit, traceable inputs to the detailed tools. For an ITR or a financing study, that auditability is decisive.
Full drillhole database management and QA/QC
The spine starts at the drillhole: integrated collars, downhole surveys, assay intervals and lithology, a 3D drillhole viewer alongside the block model, and the QA/QC interrogation needed to stand behind a resource — all feeding the same environment that optimises, haul-costs, schedules and finances the project.
Seamless interoperability — open by design
One hood is a transparent core that plugs into the tools the industry already uses: interoperates with Datamine (.dm) and Leapfrog; refines and exchanges inputs with Minemax for detailed MILP; and moves geometry and schedules between MiningIQ and the Deswik and Vulcan environments IMC designs in, exporting DXF for downstream use.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Hochbaum’s Pseudo-Flow (HPF)?
A mathematically exact, high-performance algorithm for the ultimate-pit and nested-shell problem, based on maximum-flow / minimum-cut theory. IMC uses its own HPF solver, with the block valuation open to inspection.
Does IMC replace Minemax, Deswik or Vulcan?
No — these are the industry-standard packages IMC works in. IMC’s engineers do the detailed mine design in Deswik and Vulcan themselves, and drive Minemax for detailed MILP scheduling. What IMC adds is the transparent strategic spine (MiningIQ) that feeds all of them consistent, physics-costed, auditable inputs, and the financial model that ties the result through to a bankable output.
If IMC has its own MILP, why use Minemax?
IMC’s scheduler is ideal for rapid strategic passes and refining inputs. For the detailed MILP schedule itself, Minemax is best-in-class, so IMC uses it — driven by a consistent, auditable model.
Does the platform handle the drillhole data too?
Yes — integrated drillhole database management (collars, surveys, assays, lithology), a 3D viewer and QA/QC, feeding directly into the block model and everything downstream.