Intelligent software to decarbonize mining: development of a Graphical User Interface (GUI) and integrations with existing GUIs of other software packages

为了在2050年之前实现净零排放，采矿业减少碳足迹至关重要，因为采矿业是二氧化碳的最大生产者之一，目前每年排放约45亿吨二氧化碳当量。清洁技术所需的大多数金属（如铜、铁、镍、钴、锂）都是通过露天采矿提取的。露天矿是在地面上进行的大型挖掘以开采矿物。矿山边坡（也称为坑壁）的整体陡度对露天矿的碳足迹有重大影响，因为碳足迹大致与开挖岩石的数量成正比（碳足迹是由于钻井和爆破，物料运输和搬运等活动造成的）。OptimalSlope（创新）是一个新的岩土工程软件程序，它可以确定深度变化倾斜度的最佳坑壁剖面，从而根据给定的岩性和岩石性质，使坑壁从顶部到底部的整体陡峭度最大化。OptimalSlope为矿山设计带来的好处可以总结如下：1)减少废石意味着减少全球变暖潜能值（GWP）排放和能源消耗，因此在采矿脱碳方面具有可衡量的环境效益；2)矿山项目的显著挖掘成本降低，增加了矿山的盈利能力，并可能导致某些矿床的开采变得经济可行；3)减少了采矿团队进行矿山设计所需的时间。该项目旨在开发一个时尚的新图形用户界面（GUI），具有典型的计算机辅助设计程序的功能，目的是将矿山地层输入到我们的软件OptimalSlope中。此外，我们还希望开发GUI的创新能力，以导入由现有商业岩土工程和采矿软件包生成的文件作为输入数据。新的GUI将为用户增加我们产品的新维度，为其商业成功的机会带来重大变化。

To achieve net zero by 2050 it is crucial that the mining industry reduces its carbon footprint since mining is one of the biggest producers of carbon dioxide, currently emitting around 4.5Gt of CO2 equivalent per year. Most metals needed for clean technologies (e.g. copper, iron, nickel, cobalt, lithium) are extracted by open pit mining. Open pit mines are large excavations made in the ground to mine minerals. The overall steepness of mine slopes (also called pit-walls) has a substantial influence on the carbon footprint of an open pit mine since carbon footprint is broadly proportional to the amount of rock excavated (carbon footprint being due to activities like drilling and blasting, material haulage and handling). OptimalSlope (the innovation) is a new geotechnical software programme which determines optimal pitwall profiles of depth varying inclination so that the overall steepness of the pitwall, from crest to toe, is maximized for the given lithology and rock properties.The benefits brought by OptimalSlope to mine design can be summarised as follows: 1) less waste rock implies reduced Global Warming Potential (GWP) emissions and energy consumption so measurable environmental benefits in terms of mining decarbonisation 2) significant excavation cost reductions for the mine project which increases profitability of the mine and can result in the mining of some deposits to become economically viable 3) reducing the time needed from mining teams for mine design.This project aims to develop a sleek new Graphical User Interface (GUI) featuring functionalities typical of Computer Aided Design programmes with the aim to enable the input of the mine stratigraphy into our software OptimalSlope. Also we want to develop the innovative ability for our GUI to import files produced by existing commercial geotechnical and mining software packages as input data. The new GUI will add a new dimension to our product for its users, bringing a significant step change to the chances of its commercial success.