Sibcem Works on Digital 3D Models of Raw Material Deposits for Control and Data Analysis

Sibcem works on the creation of digital 3D models of raw material deposits of its cement enterprises. The implementation of this project at all production facilities of the holding will allow Sibcem to store, update and analyze a huge array of data on the raw material base of each enterprise. Preparatory work is now underway. Specialists from the cement plants of Angarsk and Iskitim, which have been operating as part of Sibcem since June 2020, will soon start creating 3D geological models of open pits.

3D geological models of deposits have already been created at Sibcem’s Topkinskiy Cement and Krasnoyarskiy Cement plants. At the next stage, specialists will begin to further develop digital models to allow assessing the quality characteristics of raw materials used for cement production. The ore body of limestone of the Tarakanovskoye deposit, which is being developed by Timlyuy Cement, is distinguished by a more complex structure. Therefore, a three-dimensional geological model of the open pit has to be created gradually, in stages, based on data from drilling and blasting operations.

“Information compiled manually on paper is difficult to use and work with. It is not easy to navigate through a large volume of physical documents that are stored in archives at different enterprises. Building digital three-dimensional geological models allows us to solve this problem, provides ample opportunities for systematization, analysis, storage of huge amounts of vital data, — explains Sibtsem’s mining surveyor Maxim Kazakov. — By creating virtual copies of deposits using special software, we get effective tools for processing the results of any types of testing of minerals, calculating and depleting their reserves, drawing up geological maps and sections, and performing many other operations. As a result, mine planning is moving to a new level and becoming more accurate.”