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Blasting is one of the first stages of a mining operation. Other down-stream activities, such as excava-tion or milling that lead to delivering the end product, rely on the blasting opera-tion to be efficient and on schedule. This means a key ingredient in improving production efficiencies, from mine to mill, can be tracked back to how effect-ively blasting operations are carried out.

Historically, mining companies would blast without an efficient or accurate drill and blast process. However, they now realise that these are important to improve the overall efficiencies from mine to mill, says Dr Brendon Lilly, product manager for J2drill and Jps at Leica Geosystems Mining.

Several different areas contribute to blasting inefficiencies. Irregular hole placement can cause poor fragmentation which results in difficult digging for the loading equipment and increased processing time at the mill. Inaccurate depths can result in uneven benches. A misunderstanding of how hard the ground is can lead to a poor choice of explosive product for a particular blast.

In order to help improve blasting

operations, Leica Geosystems Mining has developed a high-precision guidance product called J2drill. J2drill helps drill and blast engineers, as well as operators, to carry out tasks to plan. The system provides valuable feedback in real time (via the on-board computer in the cabin, and also at the dispatch centre) to ensure better decisions are made before they affect downstream operations.

There are several areas where a drill guidance product, such as J2drill, can contribute to improvements in production efficiencies and have a positive impact on the overall blast quality. These are: navigation, product-ion, consumables, time utilisation, hardness, reporting and support.

HIGH-PRECISION NAVIGATION Using navigation or guidance systems to improve hole placement provides significant efficiency improvements. It reduces the time the drill operator spends positioning over the hole, reducing the overall time for completing the pattern. Improved hole placement also results in predictable blast frag mentation, which improves material extraction by the loading equipment. This results in less wear on digging implements, thus reducing costs.

J2drill provides machine guidance for both rotary blasthole production rigs and

articulated drill rigs. The drill rig is displayed on the in-cabin J2drill display in relation to a virtual drill pattern. The operator uses this to guide the drill into position over the hole to be drilled. The system will automatically zoom as the machine approaches the hole and, once close enough, displays the distance they have left to travel to get to the top of the hole.

High-precision GPS positioning fitted to every machine means that surveyors no longer have to set out patterns. This removes the need for them to be in the field, reducing both the risk of injury and resulting in a subsequent reduction of light vehicle and heavy vehicle inter action.

A mine sites number-one priority is their employees safety. By removing the surveyor from the environment, their exposure to dangerous areas and to mine site equipment is significantly reduced, states Lilly.

Of particular note, the J2drill system supports vertical, angle and articulated drilling. This includes drilling to a specified toe position or elevation, and dynamic compensation of collar position. J2drill automatically compensates for any sloping ground to achieve the correct position of the hole and surveys the correct depth to which to drill.

All machines fitted with a Leica Jigsaw

Optimising the blast process: getting it right from the startLeica Geosystems Mining looks at how high-precision drill guidance systems can help mining operations to improve their drill and blast activities, benefiting every step of the mining process

Newmont Boddington

Golds drilling operations with J2drill installed

Below: navigation to

the hole. Bottom:

positioning over the hole

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system are displayed on each operators screen. This ensures that all operators with a J2drill system can see the location of other drills, as well as other machines such as dozers, auxiliary units or supervisors/light vehicles which may be on or near the pattern. As one rig drills a hole, all other J2drill systems are updated so that all operators have a clear understanding of what holes have been completed and what remain.

INCREASED PRODUCTIONGuidance systems can also assist the drill production process, ensuring that holes are drilled to the correct depth. Once guided to the hole, the system auto matically calculates the target depth based on the actual bench elevation and

the designed toe elevation. Once the operator has levelled the drill, placed the bit on the ground and zeroed the hole, J2drill automatically switches to the production screen.

On this screen, the operator can see a graphical represent ation of the position of the bit in the hole, the hole depth, rate of penetration (ROP), a graph of the ROP down the current and previous holes, and other production related information.

The system detects steel changes automatically and once the target depth has been reached, the operator is

informed. This ensures that over-drilling is minimised, leading to flatter benches and greater adherence to design.

During drilling, the operator is shown a number of statistics of the progress down the hole. The operator can view key performance indicators (KPIs) at any time during their shift, and track performance against pre-defined targets. This gives the operator an immediate insight into how they are tracking against the planned outcomes. All of this information is available in the office for the drill-and-blast and dispatch teams, as well as other users.

The manual entering of reasons for stoppage

Drilling a hole to the correct depth (far left); KPIs (left)

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CONSUMABLE TRACKINGEfficient drilling relies on having consumables, such as drill bits, in good condition. Drilling with a worn-out bit will slow operations and replacing consumables too early will result in lost time and additional replacement costs.

J2drill tracks the use of drilling consumables on the machine so that the mine can optimise the life of each component.

The list of consumables is either entered manually or imported using a custom import via the Leica Jmineops software platform. The information is downloaded to the drills and the operator selects the drill components that are currently mounted on the machine.

J2drill then tracks the time and metres

of each component, and whether the component is a rebuild or not.

EFFICIENT UTILISATIONWhile it is important for an operator to have better tools to drill more holes more accurately and more efficiently, it is also important to capture time utilisation.

Leica J2drill automatically detects the activity changes during the hole, minimising operator-to-screen interaction. This function, as well as the manual entering of reasons for stoppages, enables the system to provide utilisation data to improve practices in drilling operations. By analysing where delays occur, and by putting actions into place to address these occurrences, the drilling process can be further optimised.

HARDNESS IDENTIFICATIONAnother area that helps to optimise blast efficiency stems from knowing the hardness of the material drilled using measurement while drilling (MWD) techniques. This can be used to improve blast design while providing real-time feedback to the operator to optimise drilling down the hole.

In coal mines, down-the-hole profiling data can be used to detect coal seams and adjust the mine model or perform through-seam blasting. It can also identify hard bands to change the loading design. In harder rock mines, a contouring profile across the pattern can be displayed to understand where different blasting techniques need to be

applied to achieve optimal fragmenta-tion for the mill.

REPORTING FOR BUSINESS INTELLIGENCEMaking use of all of the recorded information is achieved though reporting. The as drilled data is replicated back to the server in real time, and this allows the data to be further analysed, trends established and responses to real-time deviations to the plan initiated.

Using a web-based client, a reporting bundle provides dashboards, periodic reporting and the ability to drill down and find out what has occurred. OLAP cubes are also used to efficiently process large amounts of data into a format that is user-friendly, and provides the user with access to data that can drive drilling operation efficiencies.

OPERATIONAL SUPPORTFinally, drill and blast activities often take place in the harshest of environments, where uptime and the support of any technology is a critical success factor. The Leica Jigsaw system is designed to be easily maintained. Through on-board diagnostics and remote connections, staff can see what the operator is seeing in real time. This global support aids on-the-spot training and provides the ability to upgrade the system from anywhere in the world.

Optimising all of the key process factors mentioned above will lead to a more efficient mining operation across the entire production cycle.

Greg Green, drill operator at Newmont Boddington

Gold

Right: hardness bands displayed

to operator.Far right: drill

pattern displayed in the

Leica Jminops office

application

Web interface of reporting and

dashboards