Define principal fields

Principal fields are key data fields used throughout XECUTE to describe, calculate, and report on properties of activity areas (mining areas/shapes). They form the foundation for reserving, scheduling, reporting, and rule definitions, so they are one of the first configurations you should set up when starting a new project. Begin with the most critical fields, then add others as your requirements grow.

Principal fields are defined globally, meaning they are available across all sites in XECUTE. Similarly, activity definitions are also global. For each activity type, you select the principal fields it will inherit. This ensures that each activity only includes fields relevant to its purpose.

For example:

• Drilling activities inherit drilling-related fields such as DrillMetres, DrillSpacing, and DrillType.

• Mining activities inherit mining-related fields such as Au (gold grade) and OxCode (oxidation code).

Open principal fields setup

To configure principal fields, go to Config > System Configuration > Principal Fields.

What are principal fields?

Principal fields represent core attributes—such as volume, mass, or grade—used to describe and quantify key properties of activity areas. They are necessary to measure outcomes for activity areas and drive calculations in scheduling, reserving, reporting, and rule definitions.

Principal fields can obtain their values in two ways:

• Mapped from block models: pulling data from the site’s geological model.

• Calculated using expressions: applying formulas that use operators and functions, and reference other principal fields.

Principal fields support different data types (numeric, text, date) and aggregation methods (Sum, Weighted Average, Min, Max).

• Numeric fields are typically used for quantities like tonnes, metres, or grades.

• Text fields classify material types or operational states.

Which fields do I create?

Create principal fields that are essential for tracking and reporting the results of each activity you plan to schedule. These fields provide the key metrics that quantify performance for activity areas.

When deciding which fields to define, consider:

• What information do you need to monitor or report? For example, tonnes mined, drill metres, or material classification.

• How will values be determined?

  • From the block model (e.g., grade, density, volume).

  • From custom expressions that calculate values using other fields or constants.

Focus on fields that directly support your operational objectives, such as production targets, compliance reporting, or blending requirements.

Start simple and scale up

For new sites, define only the minimum set of fields needed to report on essential metrics. Avoid overcomplicating the setup. As your project grows and your reporting or planning needs become more detailed, you can add additional fields incrementally.

How to define principal fields

Default principal fields

XECUTE provides a set of pre-defined principal fields. The software internally determines their values. These fields are essential for core calculations and reporting.

While you can view their properties, only the Units and Decimal places can be edited.

These descriptions reference activity area slices, which are divided sections of an activity area shape – created along a specified mining direction. Slicing improves planning accuracy by enabling reserves, quantities, and other metrics to be calculated and reported at a finer level of detail (e.g., per slice) rather than only for the entire activity area.

Field	Description
AvgFlrElevation	Average elevation of the floor of the activity area slice, calculated from the minimum Z-values at the slice centroid or all vertices.
AvgThk	Average thickness of the activity area slice, calculated as Volume ÷ Plan Area.
Density	Determined from the Density field in the imported block models for the given site. This value is mapped during configuration and used in calculations such as for the Mass field.
GradeControlIntersectionPercent	Percentage of the grade control volume that intersects with the activity area’s volume. In other words, it defines how much a grade control shape (deposit area overriding certain geological attributes) overlaps an activity area.
Mass	Calculated as Volume × Density.
PlanArea	The surface area of the activity area slice silhouette.
Volume	The total volume of the activity area slice.
Volume_Swollen	The activity area slice Volume after applying the swell factor. The swell factor is applied to material definitions in Site Management > Materials.

Example principal fields

Below are examples of principal fields commonly used in mining and drilling activities.

Code	Description	Category	Units	Field Type	Aggregation	Expression / Source
Volume	In-situ volume of material	Default	m³	Number	Sum	Determined by software
Mass	Tonnes of material (Volume × Density)	Default	t	Number	Sum	Determined by software
Density	Material density from block model	Default	t/m³	Number	Weighted Avg (by Volume)	Mapped from block model
Au	Gold grade	Ore	ppm	Number	Weighted Avg (by Mass)	Mapped from block model
AuOz	Gold ounces	Ore	ozt	Number	Sum	(Au ÷ 31.1) × Mass
PlanArea	Horizontal area of slice	Default	m²	Number	Sum	Determined by software
AvgTk	Average thickness of slice	Default	m	Number	Weighted Avg (by PlanArea)	Determined by software
Volume_Swollen	Volume after swell factor	Default	m³	Number	Sum	Determined by software
Holes	Number of drill holes	Drill	Holes	Number	Sum	PlanArea ÷ BurdenSpacing
DrillMetres	Total drill length	Drill	m	Number	Sum	AvgTk × Holes
BurdenSpacing	Drill pattern spacing	Drill	m	Number	Weighted Avg (by Volume)	8 × 8
ANFO	Explosives requirement	Drill	kg	Number	Sum	43 × Holes × 8
OxCode	Oxidation code	Code flag	–	Text	–	Mapped from block model
GradeControl IntersectionPercent	% overlap with grade control	Default	%	Number	Weighted Avg (by Volume)	Determined by software

Other examples of principal fields

Mining and material movement

• BCM: Bank cubic metres (volume in-situ)

• SwellFactor: Factor applied to calculate loose volume

• VolDozerPush: Volume allocated for dozer push

• VolDozerRehandle: Volume allocated for dozer rehandle

Drilling and blasting

• Burden: Drill burden dimension

• Spacing: Drill spacing dimension

• LegendDrillAndBlast: Drill and blast pattern classification

• ExplodingRate: Explosive consumption rate

• ExpTon / ExpTonPerDay: Expected tonnes or daily rate for explosives planning

• ExpLoadingRate: Expected explosive loading rate

Ore quality and processing

• Yield (Yld): Recovery or yield percentage for processing

• Ash: Ash content

• CrucibleSwellingNumber: Coke strength indicator

• CalorificValue: Energy content of material

• FC / IM: Fixed Carbon and Inherent Moisture

• ROM Fe, SiO₂, Al₂O₃, Phos, LOI: Run-of-mine ore chemistry

• Lump Fe, SiO₂, Al₂O₃, Phos, LOI: Lump product chemistry

• Fines Fe, SiO₂, Al₂O₃, Phos, LOI: Fines product chemistry

Classification and flags

• KType: Material classification

• WaterTableFlag: Indicates water table presence

• FibrousFlag: Indicates fibrous material

• GeologicalClass: Geological classification

Usage in scheduling and reporting

Principal fields are used in:

• Activity types (e.g. assign quantity fields to Mining or Drilling activities)

• Product Optimisation (e.g., create filters on final products, allowing only material with a gold grade (Au) between 0.6 and 0.7).

  Only fields with Sum or Weight Average aggregation types can be used in objectives.

• Reports (e.g., assign fields to reports to evaluate characteristics of activity areas)

Field definition

Use the Add and Remove buttons to create or delete fields as needed. Each principal field includes the following properties:

Principal Field
Code	Defines a unique identifier for the field. If the field will derive its value from a site’s block model, the code could match the name of the associated field in the block model.
Description	Allocates a user-friendly label for the field.
Category	Defines a category for the field. All fields within the same category are grouped together in the interface, which helps keep things organised for mapping and reporting.
Units	Display units for numeric fields (e.g., t, m3).
Field Type	Defines the type of data stored in the field. Number: Numeric values (e.g., Mass, Volume) Text: String values (e.g., MaterialType, OxCode, DrillPatternName)
Aggregation Type	Defines how a field’s values are aggregated from the lowest level (e.g., slice) up to the highest level (e.g., activity area). This determines how data rolls up through the hierarchy. Type Description Example Use Case Sum Adds values together as they accumulate up the structure. Mass – total tonnes across all slices. Average Calculates a simple numeric average (sum ÷ count). Number of Coal Piles – average count across areas. Weighted Average Calculates an average weighted by another field (e.g., Mass or Volume). Grade (Au) – weighted by Mass for accuracy. Min Displays the smallest value from all lower-level records. Minimum Elevation – lowest point in an area. Max Displays the largest value from all lower-level records. Maximum Elevation – highest point in an area. There’s also the Aggregated Evaluation type. Refer to Aggregated evaluation below.
Weighting Field	Specifies the field used to weight values when the Aggregation Type is set to Weighted Average.
Decimal	Defines the number of decimal places to display for numeric values.
Default Value	Defines a fallback value if the field cannot be mapped or calculated (e.g., missing block model data).
For more information about deriving values from an expression or the block model, see Determining values below.
Expression	Indicates whether the field uses an expression (Yes) or derives its value from a block model (No). No: Value comes from imported block model data. Yes: Value is calculated using an expression. For details on building expressions, see Use the expression builder below.
For more information about the evaluation level, refer to Evaluation level below.
Evaluation Level	Determines when the expression is applied during reserving calculations (the process of calculating reserves (e.g., tonnes, grades, volumes) for activity areas based on block model data): Block (default): Expression is applied to each block of the block model, then aggregated. Slice: Expression is applied after blocks are grouped into slices, so you can use slice-level geometry like PlanArea or AvgThk.
Evaluation Type	Available only when Evaluation Level = Slice. Defines how the expression applies at the slice level: Slice Total Expression: Applies once per slice using aggregated values for all materials. Ideal for geometry-based calculations (e.g., drill metres). Material-Based Expression: Applies separately for each material within a slice. Useful when spacing or logic varies by material type.

Determining values

After defining a principal field (its code, category, field type, and so on), you must determine how it derives values. Each activity area inherits the set of principal fields, so the values are determined against each activity area. For example, activity area DIG_01 may inherit a set of principal fields named Au, Volume, Mass, and OxCode.

Deriving from block model fields

When setting up a site, you import block models to define its underlying geology. Block models include attributes, which describe qualities, quantities, and characteristics of the mineralisation within the deposit. However, these fields aren’t used until they are mapped to principal fields.

Custom values

Fields can also be defined using expressions, allowing dynamic calculations based on other field values or spatial context.

Alongside defining the block model’s existing attributes, you can define and calculate additional attributes that don’t exist in the block model. The value of a calculated attribute derives from an expression, which can include an equation that references the values of other attributes. Calculated fields can help condition the imported data an derive related information that the block model hasn’t provided. A field can store either double (numeric) values or classification (text) values.

Use the expression builder

When you set Expression = Yes for a principal field, you’ll use the Expression Builder to define how its value is calculated. This is useful when the block model doesn’t provide the required data or when you need a derived value (e.g., DrillMetres, BurdenSpacing).

Why and when to use it

By default, principal fields get their values from block model mappings, aggregated according to the field’s Aggregation Type. Expressions let you override this and calculate values dynamically, using other fields, constants, or logic.

Together with Evaluation Level and Evaluation Type, expressions control when and how calculations occur during reserving.

Available fields

The fields available depend on your evaluation settings:

• Block level: Principal fields and name fields (no spatial fields).

• Slice level – Slice Total: Principal fields, name fields, material fields, and area fields. Spatial fields like PlanArea and AvgThk are available here.

• Slice level – Material-Based: Principal fields and name fields only (no spatial fields).

Material-based expressions

When you choose Material-Based, you start by creating a default expression that applies to all materials. If some materials need different logic, you can override the default by adding material-specific expressions:

• Select a material from the Material-Based Expressions list and click Add.

• The material appears in a table where you define its expression.

• Any material without its own expression will continue to use the default.

• To remove a material-specific expression, select its row in the table and delete it.

Example use cases

Here are some examples that show how principal fields work together in different scenarios.

Principal fields for activities that move material

When an activity type moves material (for example, a Mining activity), its Quantity Field—the field that determines how much material the activity will move—must be a principal field that represents an accumulation value such as Mass or Volume. These fields are critical because they drive the scheduling and reporting of material movement.

How these fields are usually configured

• In most cases, the field is mapped directly from the block model (Expression = No).

• If you need to adjust the block data, you can enable Expression = Yes and build an expression to calculate the required value.

• However, if you use an expression, it cannot reference any fields that have an Aggregated Evaluation aggregation type.

Aggregation type requirements

• The Aggregation Type for these fields must be Sum or Weighted Average.

• For quantity fields in material-moving activities, the aggregation type can only be Sum.

• Once a field is used as a Quantity Field in an activity type, its aggregation type cannot be changed.

Principal fields for drilling activities

Drilling activities use a quantity field that doesn’t move material, such as DrillMetres. Unlike mining activities, these values are usually calculated using expressions because they depend on geometry and drill pattern dimensions.

How drill metres are calculated

Drill metres are typically based on:

• PlanArea: the plan area of the activity or slice

• AvgThk: the average thickness of the slice

• BurdenSpacing: the drill pattern spacing (Burden × Spacing)

Burden and spacing could vary based on the underlying geology within the activity area. They could be calculated in several ways, including using default values, referencing a principal field, or applying material-specific logic.

A common expression looks like this:

PlanArea * AvgThk / BurdenSpacing

In this case:

• Evaluation Level: Set to Slice so that geometry-based fields like PlanArea are available.

• Aggregation Type: Must be Sum, because DrillMetres will be used as the quantity field for the drilling activity type.

An example DrillMetres principal field configuration is shown below.

Principal Field (DrillMetres)
Code	DrillMetres
Description	Drill Metres
Category	Drills
Units	m
Field Type	Number
Aggregation Type	Number
Weighting Field	Sum
Decimal	2
Default Value	0
Expression	Plan Area / BurdenSpacing * AvgTk
Evaluation Level	Slice
Evaluation Type	Slice Total Expression

Handling different spacing by material

Sometimes, drill pattern spacing varies by material type. In this case, you can use a Material-Based expression at the slice level:

• The default expression applies to all materials unless overridden.

• Each material can have its own expression for spacing (e.g., waste vs ore).

In this example, for the BurdenSpacing principal field, a slice-level material-based expression applies different spacing for Waste material. Other materials use the default expression (but an expression could be set for each material).

Principal Field (BurdenSpacing) Code BurdenSpacing Description Burden Spacing Category Drills Units m Field Type Number Aggregation Type WeightAverage Weighting Field Sum Decimal 2

Materials Default Expression 8 * 8 Waste Expression 7 * 7

Reviewing results

You can review the calculated values in Client > Activity Areas. Enable the relevant fields in the activity type’s field list and save changes.

Activity Area	PlanArea	AbgTk	Volume	BurdenSpacing	DrillMetres
DRL_01	29,234.76	5.59	163,430.33	52.82	3,090.25

Example drill principal field values for a drilling activity area

Advanced information

The following features are functions are more versed for familiar XECUTE users. Use them after you’ve set up the initial functional project.

• Aggregated evaluation

• Evaluation level and evaluation type