HIGH PROFILE
Continuously at the face
Paul Moore recently spoke to Doug Morrison, Centre for
Excellence in Mining Innovation (CEMI) President, about
its underground rapid development project, which could
be a real game changer in terms of advance rates and
earlier orebody access
he batch mining process commonly used in
underground base metal mines is capital
intensive. CEMI continues to investigate and
push forward in finding ways to improve the cost
effectiveness and lean the underground
production process by re-designing the individual,
discrete tasks in a process so they can be
managed as a series of simple, linked tasks. In the
case of drift development, this will help to
maximise the utilisation of the face and enable
concurrent activities in the heading. It also means
the face will be kept filled with blasted material,
whether that be development waste or ore.
In the case of mine production, improving
fragmentation will facilitate productive utilisation
of the stope. The goal is to extend this approach to
all mining processes, and by understand their
interconnectedness, look for ways to improve
overall productivity. Only once these processes
have been ‘leaned’ is it possible to maximise the
benefit of process automation.
CEMI’s Rapid Mine Development approach to
drift development is to maximise utilisation of the
face. Underground mine development has been a
series of four sequential tasks —removing broken
rock from the face (mucking), installing ground
support, drilling the face (including preparatory
activities for drilling) and charging the holes with
explosives and initiators. The sequential nature of
these activities and the time lost to equipment
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54 International Mining | JUNE 2018
entry and re-entry reduces face utilisation and
decreases the rate of advance.
Single Heading Lateral Development—
3 Canopy System
This system protects the equipment and operators
and allowing for drilling and charging of the face to
occur concurrently while ground support is being
installed behind the face equipment. Functionality
tests and strength test for the canopy were
performed on prototypes above ground by Nordic
Minesteel Technologies in North Bay, Ontario .
Simulation tests are still to be conducted to help
further refine the design for field trials at the
NORCAT Test Facility and at other mines in
Sudbury. These tests will ensure that the canopy
design has addressed the issues of what is
required to move forward for operational situ use.
Phase 1: Mine Development Canopy
System
Phase 1 is the Mine Development Canopy System
(MDCS). The primary goal of the Rapid
Development Project is to reduce the time to first
production in new underground orebodies, reduce
overall drift development cost by increasing the
effective utilisation of the face, not the utilisation
of the equipment. As a result it improves safety
and productivity.
CEMI’s MDCS provides a physical barrier to the
The primary goal of the Rapid Development
Project is to reduce the time to first production
in new underground orebodies
rock-related hazards in development headings in
high-stress conditions, enabling simultaneous
activities in the heading and effectively reducing
the development cycle time.
Current drift development practice generally
involves four sequential activities: removal of
blasted rock (mucking), installation of the ground
control system (bolting), drilling the face holes and
charging them with explosives. This four-stage
sequence of activities requires the re-entry of four
pieces of equipment, and critical time is often lost
between the re-entries. No face activity can be
carried out until the ground control system is
complete and in some cases, support has to be
installed on the face of each heading after each
blast. This increases the duration of the
development cycle and further reduces the
advance rate.
The robust, engineered, movable canopy can be
brought into the development heading to protect
personnel and equipment from rock falls and rock-
bursts and allow simultaneous activities in the
heading. The Mine Development Canopy System is
comprised of three individual canopies. The front
canopy, with a face shield when necessary, will
protect the face drills and the drill carrier from
rock-related hazards.
The canopy is designed to allow for the
necessary look-out for the face drills at the wall-
and roof- control holes. The back canopy protects
the equipment and operators and allows ground
support activity to be completed while the face is
being drilled and charged. The middle canopy
protects workers as they travel between the front