Simulation Software for Underground Mining.
Stress-test plans, identify bottlenecks, and make the decisions that lift productivity and safety, before crews, equipment or capital are committed.
SECTION 1
Tackling the Complexity of Underground Mining with Simulation.
Ask any Technical Services Manager what keeps them up at night and the answer is rarely the geology. It is the mine plan. Specifically, the gap between what the plan says will happen and what actually happens when crews go underground.
The plan looked defensible on paper. The fleet numbers added up. The advance rates were reasonable. Then shift three happened, a truck sat idle waiting for a loader, congestion built on the decline, and by the end of the week the target was behind. The General Manager wants to know why. The Board wants to know what the recovery looks like. And the planning team is back at the whiteboard, using the same tools they used last time.
This is not a failure of planning effort. It is a limitation of the tools most planning teams rely on. For a Technical Services Manager, this creates a specific problem: how do you defend a recommendation when your planning software cannot show the risk profile of the decision you are making?
Test New Mine Layouts and Designs.
New headings, revised access layouts, and expanded production areas all carry assumptions about how equipment will behave in practice. idoba.sim lets you model the design against your actual fleet and mine geometry so you can identify congestion, bottlenecks, and sequencing conflicts before construction begins, not after.
Validate Capital Decisions.
Fleet purchases, development commitments, and feasibility schedules are routinely built on a single number. idoba.sim replaces that number with a defensible range — P10, P50, and P90 outcomes modelled against your actual mine geometry and fleet. Not industry averages. Not assumptions. A risk profile you can take into the boardroom.
Stress-test Plans and Re-sequencing.
When production pressure forces a heading change, a fleet re-allocation, or a revised 14-shift schedule, the consequences ripple through equipment interactions that a spreadsheet will not catch. idoba.sim shows you where the new bottlenecks emerge and whether the revised target is achievable before crews are committed.
Every recommendation a Technical Services Manager makes depends on the model behind it. If the model produces a single number, the recommendation is only as strong as the assumptions that number rests on.
idoba.sim produces a range — P10, P50, and P90 outcomes modelled against your actual mine geometry, fleet, and heading sequences. The variation that drives real underground outcomes like congestion, queuing, re-entry delays, emerge from the simulation, not from input assumptions.
When the P10 is significantly worse than the P50, you will know why. And you will be able to show it.
Plan with Confidence. Recommend with Credibility.
Identify Bottlenecks Before They Hit the Schedule.
New headings, revised layouts, and expanded production areas all carry assumptions about how equipment will behave. idoba.sim models the design against your actual fleet and mine geometry, to uncover congestion hotspots and sequencing conflicts before construction begins, not after shift three.
Defend Fleet and Capital Recommendations.
Fleet sizing calls and development commitments routinely rest on single-point estimates. idoba.sim produces P10, P50, and P90 outcomes for each scenario — so when you present a fleet recommendation or a feasibility schedule, the range is in the model, not just in the caveats.
Run and Compare Multiple Scenarios in Hours, Not Days.
With idoba.sim test different heading sequences, fleet sizes, and maintenance assumptions and get P10/P50/P90 outputs for each configuration. The analysis is available before the next planning meeting, not after it.
Understand Where the Risk Is Coming From.
Stress-test schedules against real equipment interactions such as congestion, queuing, shift change effects, re-entry delays. When the P10 outcome is worse than expected, idoba.sim shows you where in the operation the variation is being generated. Not just that a problem exists, but why.
SIMULATION USE CASE
Improve Equipment Utilisation with Agent-based Modelling.
An Australian gold mine used idoba.sim to evaluate realistic interactions between loaders, trucks, and production fronts. By leveraging Agent-based modelling, idoba.sim could accurately simulate the natural emergence of queuing, delays, and equipment interactions. Comprehensive insights were generated in less than one business day, providing actionable data for the underground planning team.
31%
Increased Ore Throughput.
98%
Reduction in Loader Idle Time.
Don’t Just Take Our Word For It.
Award Winning Simulation Software.
Winner of the 2025 Mining Technology Excellence Awards for our innovative use of Agent-based modelling and user-friendly workflows that are transforming how mining feasibility studies and short-term planning are done.
As Featured: Mining Magazine.
The Underground Reimagined: Transforming Material Movement into Strategic Capability.
An in-depth, annual exploration of the key trends shaping the future of underground mining.
Client Testimonial.
"With idoba.sim, I can quickly and easily stress-test schedules in a 3D digital representation of our mine with all the upcoming stope and heading locations to make sure our underground operational targets are achievable with our current fleet."
- Operations Specialist, Barminco.
SECTION 2
Navigating the Executive Challenges in Underground Mining.
Mining operations run on margins that leave little room for planning assumptions that don't hold. General Managers face pressure from every direction — safety targets, capital allocation decisions, production targets, and shareholders that expect certainty the operation is performing at its peak. The decisions that protect margin aren't made on the floor. They're made in the planning room, weeks before crews go underground. That's where the gap is. idoba.sim lets planning teams stress-test plans, equipment allocation, fleet sizing, before crews are committed, so critical decisions are made on evidence, not assumption.
Know Your Cost per Tonne Before You Commit the Fleet.
Model fleet sizing scenarios and identify where capital is being left idle or wasted on congestion before it shows up in your monthly report.
Compare the Plan Against Operational Reality.
Run multiple scenarios against your actual mine geometry and fleet to understand the probability ranges before the schedule is locked.
Defend Capital Decisions and Development Timeline.
When the Board asks whether the development timeline holds, show them a distribution of outcomes. Not a best-case average.
SIMULATION USE CASE
Using Agent-based Simulation to Reduce Vehicle Proximity Events.
This simulation study highlights how the agent-based modelling capabilities of idoba.sim were used to address the critical challenge of congestion risks within a complex underground haulage network for an Australian gold producer.
Understanding how operational changes such as mine design, traffic rules, and driver experience played a key role in reducing vehicle interactions, improving safety and productivity.
20%
Increased Ore Throughput.
10%
Reduction in Vehicle Interactions.
The Development Advance Gap: Where Capital Quietly Leaks Underground.
Every underground operation builds a development plan. Very few can say with confidence that the plan will translate to the achieved rate at the working face. The gap between planned and actual advance is where NPV, ore access, and operational credibility quietly erode, shift by shift.
Most teams already know this. What they don't always agree on is how much confidence the plan really holds before crews, equipment, and capital are committed to it.
SIMULATION USE CASE
Benefits of a Dedicated Stockpile.
Adding a stockpile changes how every truck, loader, and shift sequence interacts underground. The question isn't whether a stockpile helps in theory and it's whether it helps enough in your mine.
In a recent study using idoba.sim to model the impact of a dedicated stockpile in an underground hard rock operation, examining total material moved, ore tonnes delivered to surface, truck productivity, and shift transition performance across the P10/P50/P90 range.
The simulation showed how stockpile placement affects load and haul interactions, shift changeover efficiency, and overall ore delivery, giving the planning team the evidence to make the capital case before committing.
$13.8
Million USD Incremental Revenue.
47%
Increased Primary Ore Throughput.
SECTION 3
The Reality for Mine Planners.
You built the schedule. You checked it against the fleet. You handed it to the crews. Then something changed underground, and the shift started unwinding before it started.
As a short-term planner in underground hard rock mining you carry the weight of every assumption in the plan. Equipment availability. Ground conditions. Advance rates at each heading. When those assumptions don't hold, the pressure lands on you to adjust plans in real time, with limited visibility, and crews waiting for guidance.
The problem is conventional planning tools model what happens when everything goes to plan, not the range of what actually happens. idoba.sim lets you stress-test the plan before crews go underground. Run your actual mine network, your fleet, your sequence and see the P10/P50/P90 range of outcomes across the 14-shift window before you commit.
Stress-test Plans.
Run intra-shift scenarios against your actual mine geometry and fleet before the shift starts. Identify where the plan is fragile before it becomes a problem on the decline.
Reduce Plan Drift.
When conditions change, re-run the scenario with updated parameters. Understand the range of outcomes under the new configuration — not just a revised average.
Know What the Shift Can Actually Deliver.
See cycle times, loader utilisation, truck interactions, and advance rates across the probability range. Hand the Supervisor a plan that reflects what the mine can do, not what it would do if everything went perfectly.
Make Operational Decisions. With Confidence.
See Where Throughput is lost, before the shift.
idoba.sim builds a 3D model of your underground mine network and runs every truck, loader, and jumbo as an independent agent — making decisions, waiting, reacting to congestion, and competing for the same decline space your crews navigate every shift.
Identify bottlenecks and congestion hotspots.
Optimise haulage routes and equipment allocation.
Identify inefficiencies that traditional planning tools often overlook.
Adapt to Unexpected Events.
Underground conditions change. A ground support delay at one heading changes the sequence. An equipment breakdown reshuffles the entire shift. Plans that looked solid at 6am can look very different by midday.
Stress-test shift schedules and refine production plans.
Re-run scenarios when conditions change.
Align the revised plan with production targets before the next shift begins.
Reduce Operational Costs.
Simulation offers a cost-effective way to stress-test mine designs run the fleet sizing and routing questions before capital is committed — not after.
Evaluate the impact of adding stockpiles, expanding fleets, or adjusting equipment allocations across the full P10/P50/P90 range.
Compare scenarios side by side against your actual mine geometry.
Arrive at the capital or planning decision with the distribution of outcomes in hand.
What is Agent-based Modelling and Why Does it Produce Better Planning Outcomes?
Conventional planning tools model averages. They take a set of assumptions suck as truck speed, cycle time, loader availability and apply them to a flowsheet. The output is a number that represents what happens if those averages hold.
Agent-based modelling works differently. In idoba.sim, every piece of equipment is an independent agent with its own logic, constraints, and decisions. Trucks queue when the decline is congested. Loaders wait when the face isn't ready. Shift change effects ripple through the network the way they do on a real mine site.
idoba.sim provides a distribution of outcomes, to reflects the real range of what your operation will deliver under a given plan. Not an average. Not a best case.
That's the planning confidence that idoba.sim gives planning teams that need to defend their recommendations before crews go underground.
SECTION 4
Simulation Software Built for Underground Mining.
idoba brings 35 years of operational mining experience to software built by people who understand what happens underground — not just on a flowsheet. idoba.sim is owned and operated by the mine's own planning team, with no simulation expertise required and no external consultants needed to run a scenario.
Cloud-based. No Installation.
idoba.sim is cloud-based. Your team has access from day one, with no local installation and no IT infrastructure to setup before you can run your first scenario.
Built for Mine Planners.
idoba.sim was built for engineers with no simulation experience. If you can describe your fleet, your haulage network, and your planning problems, you can run a scenario.
Decisions in Hours, not Days.
When your planning team owns the software, the turnaround from question to answer is hours, not weeks waiting on an external engagement.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Yes, our expert team is ready to assist you right away. Your dedicated product specialist will conduct coaching sessions to help you establish your mine network, configure scenarios, and provide valuable feedback on your results, ensuring you maximises the full benefits of our idoba.sim.
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Our user-friendly software is designed for fast deployment. You’ll gain immediate access to idoba.sim and be able to configure and run single-shift scenarios in minutes, with more complex multi-shift simulations taking longer depending on the scope and detail.
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Yes, our advanced simulation software allows your Engineers to efficiently set-up, execute, and compare multiple scenarios. This helps identify the most effective and economical methods for operating your underground mine, mitigating potential risks before significant investments are made.
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With automated reports, you can monitor essential key performance indicators such as truck cycle times, tonne-kilometre (TKM), loader utilisation, and primary tonnes moved.
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idoba.sim employs various modelling techniques, including Agent Based Modelling to accurately simulate individual entities like trucks, loaders, and mine locations. This provides you with precise insights and potential operational outcomes.
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Our simulation tool is designed to be configured quickly. Our team of consultants will work with you to prepare your mine network data, including centreline points and vertices, stopes and stockpiles. Then during our first training session we will work with you to configure traffic management rules, one-way actions, and speed limits, as well as any custom equipment information and you will be ready to run accurate simulations with idoba.sim.