SURFACE DRILLING
high pressure 1,160 cfm at 500 psi or low pressure
1,360 cfm at 350 psi drilling. “This gives the
operator an ability to adjust with more breaking
pressure for really hard rock, or alternatively for
deeper drilling where more bailing air is necessary
to lift out of the hole. Ultimately, this results in
better performance and drilling outcomes. We
have also heard great feedback from service
technicians around easy accessibility with service
walkways that provide unobstructed access into
the house canopy where routine maintenance can
be performed.”
The company also said that its surface drill line
has experienced an increase in business as a
result from integrating into the larger Komatsu
family. “This has offered us further reach into an
expanded customer base, providing drilling
solutions. For example, we have achieved a nice
milestone with manufacturing our 50th 320XPC
drill for a customer on the Iron Range. The 320XPC
fleet remains the choice drill for the most difficult
drilling in the hardest rock. The 320XPC success
has also carried us into new markets like Brazil
through Komatsu Brazil Inc’s trusted relationship.
Application of the 320XPC’s proven robust
structural design of mitigating vibration combined
with incoming power protection compensation for
potential phase loss and phase rotation, offers
improved performance.”
In addition to continued success with its
existing products, Komatsu is also developing a
new drill that will be showcased at MINExpo 2020
that continues the success demonstrated on the
77XR.
Supplementing the new products, the Komatsu
surface product line is being supported through
investment in training and certifying drill
technicians with the new technology, which
includes an emphasis on hands-on or on-the-job
training. Another key piece is offering competitive
Komatsu Finance packages for flexible options
when mines are adding new Komatsu drills to
their fleets.
Homing in on the 77XR, Komatsu says since the
launch, it has continued to focus on technology
and innovation. “One way is through designing
core subsystems that improves drilling accuracy.
We have heard positive operator feedback on the
higher torque increase offered, enabling more
efficient drilling. Additional feedback has been on
vibration mitigation, where things like the mast
increased torsional stiffness puts more energy into
ground and not the structure, and the lower
works, lower center of gravity with increased
positioning, tractive effort, and turnability enable
a smoother ride. We have also found that our
levelling system has resulted in quicker cycles by
keeping the deck close to the ground, enabling
effective straight holes.”
Another way the 77XR development team has
continued to improve technology is through
58 International Mining | APRIL 2020
seamless integration and usage. “We have created
a user interface that offers intuitive prompts for
operator awareness – what went right/wrong and
telling them why. The machine is set up to be an
on-going lesson, continuously teaching the
operator, while reducing the need to flip through
many screens. Additionally, converting a sequence
of procedures into one-touch button control for
semi-autonomous operation aides in performance
optimisation. We have also found that our
supervisory control system (known as LINCS),
significantly reduces complex troubleshooting.
More importantly, the system logs all the data
needed to optimise drilling performance. Pointing
you to the fundamental source of data, pre-sorting
the key indicators. Operationally, we know sites
will have multiple operators running the drill, with
different operational preferences. Data analytics
on board and off board the drill enables ‘operator
scorecards’ to identify best practices to offer tools
to increase performance of the other less-
experienced drillers. Examples include increasing
rotational speed, or more pulldown, or setup time,
or carriage speed, or too much water injection
caving the hole – whatever is necessary to achieve
best practices.”
The 77XR has already gone to work in several
different applications, the most recent of which is
coal mining in Australia. This is a dynamic
application where multi-pass drilling at an angle
calls for speed and precision. This is also a new
market for Komatsu drills, which triggers things
like change management for new products with
new technology. Interestingly, Komatsu says it
found that users commented that the 77XR was
“really easy to learn.” Things like general
ergonomics, such as joystick configuration with
buttons in reach, using ISO symbols, screen
placement, visibility, indicators, are all things that
enable operators to become quickly proficient.
“That combined with new features, like the Auto
Bit Changer and easy accessibility to service
points like the location of the machine’s hydraulic
pumps, make for a nice design layout.”
Sandvik is now completing factory acceptance
testing of an autonomous drill at its test quarry
near Alachua. This shows monitoring of
autotramming of a DR412i
Overall Komatsu has also continued its research
and development with drill automation as a top
development project, leveraging the larger
Komatsu portfolio of technology businesses and
products, along with dedicated data solutions
experts that are integrated into the business. “We
are committed to incremental technology releases
that keep us on pace for a fully autonomous drill.
The team has been working together with Modular
and MineWare Phoenix drill control to use lessons
learned and implement advanced sensor
capabilities for best-in-class solutions.”
Sandvik’s SICA at the core
IM spoke to Demetre Harris, Sandvik Product
Manager, Automation who is overseeing the
company’s development of a fully autonomous
drill offering. Currently full tele-remote
functionality has been completed and the project
is finalising areas such as auto-tramming, path
planning, auto-pipe handling and other aspects of
full autonomy. Harris said that Sandvik is
preparing to move its full autonomous program to
Site Acceptance Testing, and that demonstrations
with customers have already taken place on their
test rig located on proving grounds near the
Sandvik mining drills factory in Alachua, Florida.
For the next stage, Sandvik has several customers
who are expressing interest in completing the
assessment at their operations.
At the core of Sandvik’s automation solution is
its Sandvik Intelligent Control System Architecture
(SICA), effectively the company’s
command/control platform. Unlike others on the
market, SICA is being used across all automated
product lines within the company including
surface rotary and DTH drills to underground face
drills and longhole/ITH drills. This gives it unique
component to component communication and