Mining & Mined Caverns - Parsons Brinckerhoff

Sustainability and Community Involvement
APRIL 2012 http://www.pbworld.com/news/publications.aspx
22
Technology as an enabler
Dating back to prehistoric times, mining is one of the
oldest activities undertaken by mankind and has been
a fundamental contributor to sound economies around
the world. Whether it’s the extraction of commodities
such as iron ore, coal and base metals for industry and
manufacture, or precious or semi-precious stones for
consumer use, mining is the critical activity to extracting
these commodities.
But unlike our forebears of the early 19th century,
who fossicked (searched) for riches with limited
implements, today there is a vast array of sophisticated
tools available to the modern mining industry. However,
the industry also has many more considerations, such
as stringent government regulations, environmental
impacts, health and safety of employees, community
concerns and shareholder value.
To address many of these concerns, proponents
of large projects are increasingly turning to 3D
visualisation software to give client and community
stakeholders an opportunity to ‘experience’ infrastructure
before it is built.
Case Study - Tampakan Copper–Gold Project
in the Philippines
Xstrata Copper has recently adopted 3D technology,
with the assistance of Parsons Brinckerhoff’s 3D visualisation
team, for the proposed Tampakan Copper–
Gold Project in the Philippines.
Background
The Tampakan Project is located on the southern Philippines
island of Mindanao and is one of the largest undeveloped
copper–gold deposits in the Australia-Pacific
region. The controlling interest in Tampakan is held by
Xstrata Copper, with management control of the project
Network
Looking at Mining Differently –
3D Visualisation Helps to Take
the Guess Work Out
by Alan Hobson, Brisbane, Australia, +61 7 38546585, ahobson@pb.com.au; and Dylan Swan, Brisbane, Australia,
+61 7 38546463, dswan@pb.com.au
operating through Xstrata’s Philippines-based affiliate,
Sagittarius Mines Incorporated (SMI).
After positive findings from an extended pre-feasibility
study, SMI launched a US$74 million feasibility
study in mid-2009 to determine whether the Tampakan
Project would advance to development stage. As part of
the study, Parsons Brinckerhoff’s 3D visualisation team
helped prepare images and animations for the environmental
and social impact assessment (ESIA) and for interactive
community consultation displays. Xstrata Copper
is committed to running the Tampakan Project in line
with current leading environmental and social practices.
Xstrata Copper had very clear goals for the first
stage of the project: to give people a visual impression
of the project’s layout and an understanding of the benefits
it would bring, the potential impacts it might have,
and what the mining process would entail. Developing
a realistic simulation of the project was one way to give
stakeholders, including representatives of the Philippines
Government, a realistic impression of what was
being proposed.
SMI developed a mobile Community Information
and Resource Centre (mCIRC). This was a Bedouin-style
tent complete with community exhibits, interactive
touch-screens, and plasma TVs with live animation.
It was demountable; however, the logistics required
to move it around the region were complex, including
transport, a power generator and security.
Parsons Brinkerhoff was engaged to develop
visual content for the mCIRC which included 3D animations,
simulations, and still shots, all of which were
placed on an interactive touch-screen application (see
Figure 1). This method encouraged the community to
interact with the images of the proposed mine site and,
through this, to gain a greater understanding of it. The
content was tailored to suit various audiences and was