Define hole ID format
When performing grade control for open pit mining using drill holes, some localised naming convention should be adopted for identifying the grade control holes. This function allows you define the formatting characteristics for holes which are labelled using the INTERPOLATE RANGE INCLUSIVE, INTERPOLATE RANGE BETWEEN and INTERPOLATE BETWEEN END POINTS functions.
To run this function: Choose Design > Grade control > Hole numbering options > Define hole numbering format, or...
The hole ID can consist of three distinct parts which are joined together to create the hole ID. These parts are:
- An alpha-numeric prefix.
- A numeric part which may or may not have leading zeros.
- An alpha-numeric suffix.
Prefix
Enter the value for the alpha-numeric suffix which is to be used in the creation of the drill hole IDs. If you have no need for an alpha-numeric prefix then leave this input blank.
Number length
This input has particular significance if you plan to use leading zeros in the numeric part of the hole ID. It also has significance even when not using leading zeros. For example, in the instance when the number length is too small for the numbers which are required. For example, the number length may be defined as 3 but the number required for a hole ID is for example 3276.
In this case the number part of the hole ID will appear as "***" due to a field overflow.
When using leading zeros however, the number is right aligned in a field of the width specified by this input and leading characters which would normally be blank are filled with zeros. For example,
Number length = 5 ID number =
456
Numeric part of hole ID = "00456"
Leading Zeros
Enter Y if you wish to use leading zeros for the numeric part of the hole ID otherwise enter N. The reason for using leading zeros is have the drill holes sorted in a different order to what you get without leading zeros. Below is an example intended to demonstrate the different sorted order which will result when leading zeros are used for hole IDs.
The reason for this difference is that the hole IDs are in fact a sequence of characters and not numbers. Therefore to produce the results which most would prefer it is necessary to use leading zeros.
Suffix
Enter the alpha-numeric suffix which is to be used in the creation of the drill hole IDs. If you don't require a suffix then leave this input blank.
These inputs are remembered for future use by the functions which use the hole ID format to label drill holes.