TS. Incentives & Priorities

Agents pick blocks during the period according to the weighting of their incentives and priorities. 

Calendar weightings of Incentives by Agent

Each new incentive adds rows to the Calendar to weight the ranking of blocks by the Agent. 

Fixed Incentives

In the absence of all other incentives, the truck travel time is considered when choosing between two equally ranked blocks. The Agent chooses the closest block to the ramp toe.

Default Incentives 

Default incentives are automatically included in the Calendar for every Agent. 

  • Finish Block provides a weighting to finish the currently active block.

  • Proximity Weight favours a shorter tramming distance between one block and the next. 

  • Prefer Higher Benches favours full bench turnover. 

  • Prefer Lower Benches favours terracing.

Attractiveness

Attractiveness incentives are listed under Schedule > Calendar > Incentives, and cause certain locations to be ranked higher by the Agent. 

Configuring the attractiveness at the Pit level

Attractiveness is only useful if the scheduler has some capacity to choose where it is mining. 

Example usage:

  1. Specify a tonnage сonstraint at the Mine level. 

  2. Specify an Attractiveness at the Pit level. 

  3. During scheduling, the Agent follows the weighted Pit incentives inside the assigned Mine.

Seek Parcels

Parcel incentives listed under Schedule > Calendar > Agents, cause certain material types to be ranked higher by the Agent. 

A parcel incentive causes an Agent to seek certain parcels from the available blocks in each period. 

Example usage: incentivising the Prestrip Agent to mine waste. 

Seek Grades

Grade incentives are listed under Schedule > Calendar > Agents, and cause certain material qualities to be ranked higher by the Agent. 

Use with caution!

Agents cannot mine a block with grades outside the Minimum and Maximum bounds. If all Agents are blocked, then the schedule may stop. 

A grade incentive causes an Agent to seek certain grades, everywhere that it mines, throughout the entire period. 

Example usage: incentivising an OreMiner Agent to balance ex-pit grades.

Priority Sequence

Priority incentives are configured under Schedule > Animation > Priority Incentives. They can be used to directly paint a preferred mining sequence over the available blocks. 

A priority incentive causes an Agent to prioritise following the sequence, if it can do so without violating Dependencies or Constraints. 

Example usage: forcing the Agent to campaign an area in a certain sequence.