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

要在2050年前实现净零排放，采矿业减少碳足迹至关重要，因为采矿业是最大的二氧化碳排放者之一，目前每年排放约4.5亿吨二氧化碳当量。清洁技术所需的大多数金属(例如铜、铁、镍、钴、锂)都是通过露天采矿提取的。露天矿是为了开采矿物而在地下进行的大型挖掘。矿山斜坡的整体陡度(也称为井壁)对露天矿的碳足迹有很大影响，因为碳足迹与岩石开采量大致成正比(碳足迹是由于钻探和爆破、材料运输和搬运等活动造成的)。最优坡度(创新)是一种新的岩土工程软件程序，它确定深度变化倾角的最佳井壁剖面，使井壁从顶部到脚趾的整体陡度，对于给定的岩性和岩石性质，最佳坡度给矿山设计带来的好处可以概括为：1)减少废石意味着减少全球变暖潜力(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)显著降低采矿项目的挖掘成本，从而增加矿山的盈利能力，并可以导致一些矿床的开采变得经济可行3)减少采矿团队进行矿山设计所需的时间。本项目旨在开发一个流畅的新图形用户界面(GUI)，具有计算机辅助设计程序的典型功能，目的是使矿山地层学能够输入到我们的软件OptimalSlope中。此外，我们还希望开发我们的图形用户界面的创新能力，以导入由现有商业岩土和采矿软件包产生的文件作为输入数据。新的图形用户界面将为我们的产品用户增加一个新的维度，为其商业成功的机会带来重大的变化。

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.