FRAGMENTATION
and Digital Division.“ In collaboration with Airware, we are better positioned to offer drone services through industry-leading technology that helps digitise and optimise operations.”
Airware says it acquired Redbird, the drone analytics pioneer,“ to bring to market the most powerful commercial drone solution for mining and aggregates. Today, teams from around the world are using the Airware Redbird solution to monitor day-to-day progress of their sites to improve productivity, worker safety, and operational efficiency.”
“ Commercial drone technology is becoming a necessity for construction, mining and quarrying organisations looking to increase overall productivity while cutting costs,” said Jonathan Downey, Founder & CEO of Airware.“ Airware provides customers the combined power of an enterprise-focused workflow and industryspecific data analytics with the compliance and security features needed to scale drone operations.”
Caterpillar dealers will be able to offer their customers drone services and analytics, including a core set of photogrammetry, mapping, and volumetrics tools, and a suite of advanced analysis and reporting modules. Caterpillar dealer Bergerat Monnoyeur is to be among the first dealers involved.
Rolling out emulsion infrastructure underground
In a first for South African mining, Gold One’ s Modder East mine has rolled out an innovative infrastructure to use emulsion explosives for all 70 of its underground narrow-reef stope panels, as part of its strategy to reduce its cost per tonne mined.
Developed and installed in partnership with leading blasting company BME over the past three years, the unique rapid reloading system includes the world’ s deepest vertical emulsion pipeline of 318 m to deliver emulsion from surface to storage tanks underground. Used with BME’ s narrow-reef pump technology, this system has allowed Modder East to move away from the use of cartridge explosives and fully convert to BME’ s emulsion explosives.
“ The new arrangement will allow us to achieve our campaign goal for the coming year of a 0.8 m advance per panel per day – a substantial improvement on the 0.65 m we used to average,” said James McArdle, Explosives and Technical Manager at Modder East.“ The cost savings and productivity improvements convince us that this technology will be the only way for mines to go in the future.”
Specialised transporters in the haulages are filled with BME’ s Megapump emulsion from the underground tanks and delivered to re-filling stations near the stope face, from where the BME Minicharger portable charging units( PCUs) are filled.
In a first for South African mining, Gold One’ s Modder East mine has rolled out an innovative infrastructure to use emulsion explosives from BME for all 70 of its underground narrow-reef stope panels
“ With collaboration from BME experts, we have already shown that our targeted advance rates can be achieved,” said McArdle.“ Our crews are receiving intensive training to further improve their drilling discipline, and the improved results are coming through.”
He said the increase in the daily advance rate could generate additional gold mined per month.“ The beauty of using this emulsion system includes the time saved to get the product underground, as well as the efficiencies gained by not having to manually manage explosive cartridges – which are also closely regulated for safety and security reasons,” he said.
The emulsion-filled bags, or bladders, that fit onto the hand-held Minichargers weigh just 18 kg each – making them lighter and easier to carry than the cartridge boxes traditionally moved from surface to the stope face for blasting.
The handling and storage of emulsion is much less onerous than cartridges as it is classified as a 5.1 oxidiser – rather than an explosive – and is only sensitised when actually inside the drillhole; this also eradicates theft.
The highly stable characteristics of BME’ s double-salt emulsions have allowed them not only to be pumped to this record-breaking depth, but also to re-pumped frequently and stored for extended periods before use.
Nippon continues work on thermal fragmentation
Nippon Dragon Resources Inc( NIP) aims at the promotion, commercialisation and employment of its thermal fragmentation technology across the various industries, with a focus on mining. To date, the company has four valid agent / distributor agreements with companies located in Australia, Canada, Japan and South Africa and is in the process of implementing the technology in accordance with a joint-venture agreement with Au Consolidated Inc at their minesite in Arizona.“ In addition to the production of gold, the deployment of the technology in Arizona will serve to‘ showcase’ this innovative mining method to mining companies that have already demonstrated a keen interest in the technology.”
NIP states:“ For the past ten years NIP has targeted mining companies with mines containing narrow mineralised veins and based on client feedback further improved the technology’ s performance. In most cases, due to non-disclosure clauses in the contracts, NIP was prohibited to disclose names of the clients, but for the last 18 months our technology is increasingly being used in South Africa.”
“ The thermal fragmentation mining process is a disruptive way to make precise openings in hard rock, faster, cheaper and safer than any other method used in the mining industry. The result is a selective mining method for high grade ore zones which is an important field of activity in the precious metal mining sector. The principal factor that has undermined the profitability and effectiveness of mining such ore zones is the substantial dilution that occurs when blasting with explosives during extraction.”
In order to minimise dilution, the Thermal Fragmentation Technology enables the operator to extract a narrow mineralised corridor between two sub-level drifts. By inserting a strong burner powered by diesel fuel and compressed air into a pilot hole previously drilled directly into the vein, a thermal reaction is created, spalling the rock and within a few minutes enlarging the hole from 15 cm to 110 cm in diameter. The broken material produced during this process ranges in size from 0.0-13 mm. The remaining ore between the thermal holes is broken loose using low powered explosives, leaving the waste walls intact. This patented method produces highly concentrated ore, resulting in up to 500 % less dilution when compared to conventional mining methods, says NIP.
“ The mining method reduces the environmental effects of mining operations since much smaller quantities of rock are displaced, stockpiled, and treated using chemical agents and energy( fewer greenhouse gases). The fully mechanised and semiautomatic technology operated by a two person team of one thermal fragmentation operator and one drilling operator, maximises the effectiveness of skilled personnel, and increases productivity and safety. The technology is also in compliance with all safety standards and environmental regulations.” IM
18 International Mining | MARCH 2017