Planning engineers spending hours each week reconciling production actuals from the operations system against a schedule maintained in a separate spreadsheet?
Pit design changes made in the mine design tool not flowing through to the production schedule automatically, leaving the schedule out of date for days at a time?
Mine Planning Software Development
Off-the-shelf mine planning packages handle geological modelling and schedule generation well for standard open-pit and underground operations. Custom software becomes the right choice when your scheduling logic, reporting hierarchy, or integration requirements sit outside what Deswik, MineSight, or similar platforms offer without significant configuration or workarounds.
We build mine planning systems designed around your operation -- your orebody geometry, your equipment fleet, your shift structure, and the schedule vs actual reporting your technical and operational teams rely on to make daily decisions.
Production schedule management from short-term to life-of-mine horizon with each schedule period linked to the equipment, labour, and material resources required
Schedule vs actual tracking at block, bench, and period level so variance is visible to technical and operational teams in near real time
Resource allocation across fleet, labour, and contractor with utilisation dashboards showing where capacity constraints are emerging
Integration with mine design software to pull updated pit designs, grade models, and reserve data without manual file transfer
RaftLabs builds custom mine planning software for mining operations that need production scheduling, pit optimisation, resource allocation, and schedule vs actual variance tracking integrated in one system. Most mine planning software projects deliver in 12 to 18 weeks at a fixed, agreed cost.
100+Software products shipped
·FixedCost delivery
·12-18Week delivery cycles
·24+Industries served
When standard mine planning packages stop fitting your operation
Deswik, MineSight, and Surpac serve the majority of mining operations well for geological modelling, reserve estimation, and schedule generation. The gap appears when the operation's planning process diverges from what the platform was designed to support. A mine with a complex multi-pit, multi-commodity structure needs consolidated schedule reporting across pits without losing pit-level visibility. An operation with contractor fleets alongside owner-operated equipment needs resource allocation logic that handles different cost structures, shift arrangements, and reporting obligations in the same schedule. An underground mine with multiple production headings needs schedule sequencing logic tied to ventilation constraints and development priorities that a standard scheduler cannot model without manual workarounds. That is where custom software makes sense.
We have integrated mine planning systems with fleet management systems, ore tracking databases, laboratory information management systems, and financial reporting platforms. We know the data model challenges -- keeping a live schedule consistent with a changing geological model, managing grade variability that shifts resource allocations mid-period, and building the audit trail that technical services and corporate teams require when actuals diverge from plan.
What we build
Production schedule management
Production schedule structured across short-term (daily/weekly), medium-term (monthly/quarterly), and life-of-mine horizons, with each schedule period linked to the source blocks, equipment required, and expected tonnes and grade. Schedule version control so planners can compare the current approved schedule against previous versions and identify where changes were made and why. Period-level schedule freeze with approval workflow so the short-term schedule becomes the operational target once signed off by the technical services manager. Multi-commodity scheduling for operations producing more than one product, with separate grade targets and stockpile routing for each commodity. Schedule visualisation by bench, by period, and by equipment to give planners and operational managers a consistent view of what the plan requires.
Schedule vs actual tracking
Actual production data imported from the fleet management system or entered directly at shift end, matched against the schedule period at block and bench level. Variance reporting showing tonnes mined, tonnes moved, and grade against plan for each period, with drill-down to identify which areas of the pit or development headings drove the variance. Daily and weekly variance summaries distributed automatically to technical services, operations, and management so the same numbers are seen by all teams without manual report preparation. Root cause categorisation for variances -- equipment downtime, ground conditions, blast delay, weather -- so the planning team can adjust forward schedules with accurate assumptions. Trend reporting showing whether variance patterns are systematic or episodic, supporting medium-term schedule adjustment decisions.
Resource allocation and utilisation
Fleet allocation across drill, blast, dig, and haul equipment matched to the production schedule requirements for each period, with utilisation dashboards showing planned vs actual hours for each unit. Labour allocation linking operators, shift supervisors, and technical staff to schedule periods with visibility of leave, training, and absence against the required headcount. Contractor resource management with separate visibility of contractor fleet and labour alongside owner-operated resources, tracking performance against contracted rates and volumes. Utilisation alert when a piece of equipment or a crew is scheduled beyond its available hours, flagging the conflict for the planner before it reaches the operations team. Cost tracking at resource level linked to the schedule period so the technical services team can see the cost per tonne implication of allocation decisions before they are finalised.
Pit design integration
Integration with mine design software -- Deswik, Surpac, or Vulcan -- to pull updated pit shells, bench designs, and grade model updates directly into the planning system without manual file export and import. Change detection alerting the planning team when a new pit design version changes the mineable volume or grade in a schedule period, so the schedule can be updated rather than silently becoming inconsistent with the current design. Drill and blast design linkage connecting the approved blast pattern to the production schedule block, so the blasting team can see what the schedule requires from each blast. Stockpile and ROM pad inventory tracked against the ore routing defined in the mine design, with actual inventory updated as trucks are dispatched and received. Survey integration pulling periodic survey data to update the as-mined surface and compare it against the design surface, giving the technical team a clear picture of where mining is ahead of or behind the design.
Reporting and dashboards
Technical services dashboard showing the current period's scheduled tonnes, grade, and equipment hours against actuals in a single view, refreshed automatically as production data is received. Management reporting pack generated automatically at the end of each reporting period -- weekly, monthly, or quarterly -- covering production performance, variance summary, and forward schedule for the next period. Custom report builder for planners who need to slice schedule and actual data by pit, commodity, equipment class, or time period without a fixed report format. Data export to corporate reporting systems in the required format -- Excel, CSV, or direct database integration -- so mine-level data feeds the group's consolidated production reporting without re-keying. Scheduled email distribution of key reports to nominated recipients so management and technical teams receive the same numbers at the same time.
Integration and data connections
Fleet management system integration -- Wenco, Modular, Dispatch -- pulling shift production data at the end of each shift or in near real time where the FMS supports it. Laboratory information management system integration bringing assay results into the schedule-to-actual reconciliation so planned grade is compared against actual measured grade. ERP integration for cost data -- materials consumed, maintenance labour, and contractor invoices -- linked to the schedule period so cost per tonne tracking is based on actuals rather than estimates. Geological database integration pulling updated resource model data when new drilling or sampling results change the grade or tonnage estimates for scheduled areas. API-first architecture so additional data sources can be connected as the mine's systems landscape changes without rebuilding the planning application.
Frequently asked questions
Standard packages handle geological modelling and schedule generation well for most operations. Custom is right when scheduling logic is driven by constraints the package cannot model -- complex ventilation or geotechnical rules, multi-commodity routing, contractor and owner fleet mixed scheduling -- or when the operation needs schedule vs actual reporting integrated with fleet management and laboratory systems in a way the package doesn't support. We'll tell you honestly if configuration of an existing package would cover the requirement more cost-effectively.
Yes. We have integrated with Wenco, Modular Mining, and Dispatch systems. The integration covers shift production data, equipment hours, and payload data. Where the FMS provides an API we connect directly; where it doesn't we build a file-based exchange using the FMS's standard export format. The integration scope is documented before development starts so you know exactly what data moves between systems.
The system detects when a new pit design version is loaded and compares it against the current scheduled volumes. Where the design change affects a scheduled period, the planner receives an alert with the changed tonnes and grade so they can decide whether to update the schedule or note the variance. We don't automatically update the schedule because a design change doesn't always mean the schedule should change immediately -- that decision stays with the planning team.
A focused build covering production schedule management, schedule vs actual tracking, and resource allocation typically runs $50,000 to $100,000 depending on scope and integrations. Adding pit design integration, multi-system data connections, and automated reporting brings the total to $100,000 to $180,000. Fixed cost agreed before development starts, no hourly billing.
Tell us how your operation manages production scheduling today -- your planning horizons, your equipment fleet, and where your current process fails you. We'll scope a mine planning system built around your actual workflow.
