Stockpiles

The display name of the stockpile as it appears throughout the site.

Stockpile names don’t accept the following special characters: " < > | : * ? \ / ' or control characters (\t, \n…). However, @ and – are usable.

The field that measures how material is accumulated in the stockpile. It’s typically Mass, but you can choose any Sum-type principal field (such as or Wet Tonnes) depending on your site’s reporting standards.

The maximum amount of material the stockpile can hold, measured using the accumulation field. If the stockpile exceeds this limit, the optimiser will block further stacking until space becomes available.

The initial quantity and qualities of material in the stockpile at the start of the schedule. Inventory records are used to seed the optimiser with opening balances, which influence how material is reclaimed and blended. You can enter inventory manually or ingest it via Data Feed In.

Manual inventory

You can manually enter inventory values for each principal field (such as Mass, Grade, Moisture) at a specific timestamp. This timestamp must be on or before the schedule start date. Manual records take precedence over Data Feed In if both exist for the same timestamp.

Data Feed In

Inventory can be automatically populated from external systems using Data Feed In. This is useful for keeping stockpile balances up to date across multiple schedules. If a manual record and a Data Feed In record share the same timestamp, the manual record is used.

Reconciliation

Inventory reconciliation ensures that the optimiser starts with realistic balances. If no inventory is defined, the optimiser assumes the stockpile is empty, which may lead to infeasible plans if reclaim is expected early in the schedule.

Tip

For staged stockpiles, each pile maintains its own inventory. If LIFO parcels are enabled, inventory is tracked per parcel, including parcel name, index, tonnes, and qualities.

The material type that can flow into the stockpile and is reported in the closing balance report.

You can select a material from the list of enabled materials flowing to the stockpile.

An additional time (in minutes) added to haulage when dumping material at this stockpile. This is applied on top of site defaults, which are defined in Config > Update haulage.

The Dump Time and Dump Time Penalty fields can show these values in reports.

A stockpile must link to a named location within the imported haulage model. This association defines where the stockpile exists within the site, allowing the software to determine haulage to and from the stockpile – including travel paths, distances, times, and so on. Without this association, the software doesn’t know where the stockpile is physically located.

You must define the stockpile’s location within at least one spatial domain. Although you can share and define the stockpile’s location across multiple locations.

To add a named location for the stockpile, select the required spatial domain from the list, then select Add .

For each defined spatial domain, select the named location from the imported haulage model that represents where the stockpile is located.

To remove a named location definition, click Remove .

Defines how the stockpile’s stacking/reclaiming rate is determined.

• Unlimited: There’s no stacking/reclaiming rate limit. Material can be added or removed at any speed.

• Limited: A specified rate per period is enforced (e.g., 20,000 tonnes per period). This rate can be overridden per period.

The expression that defines the upper limit for stacking or reclaiming material per period. This value is only used when the rate type is set to Limited.

The expression can be a fixed number (e.g. 5000) or a dynamic formula that references calendar fields such as Period Duration, Period Start, or Period Finish.

You can also use custom fields imported via Update data input sources (Data Feed In), allowing the rate to vary based on external operational data (e.g. crusher throughput, loader availability, or planned downtime).

For example:

PeriodDuration * 2000: sets the rate based on the length of the period.

Expressions are evaluated per period and shown in the override grid. You can override individual period values manually if needed.

The optimiser uses this rate to constrain how much material can be stacked or reclaimed in each period. If the rate is too low, it may prevent the schedule from meeting production targets or cause bottlenecks. If it’s too high, it may ignore realistic operational limits. Start with generous values during initial setup, then refine based on actual site constraints.