EXPLOSIVES AND BLASTING
The AXXIS system has initiated some of the world’s most significant
electronic detonator blasts in recent years, including a 6,690 electronic
delay detonator blast at a large copper mine in Zambia, one of BME’s
largest blasts in the Southern African Development Community region
BLASTMAP can also estimate blast fragmentation outcomes, based on
standard geo-mechanical rock properties specific to any given blast design, the
company said.
“With data from in-field fragmentation distribution measurements, the
fragmentation distribution prediction tool can be calibrated to site-specific
conditions and results,” Scovira said.
For blast initiation, the AXXIS design hole firing times can be downloaded
from BLASTMAP into BME’s AXXIS Logger for electronic detonator
programming. When the blast has been conducted, data from the AXXIS Logger
can be used to effectively compare as-designed versus as-fired initiation
information.
All of this helps reconcile drill and blast processes with actual fragmentation
data, as Scovira explains.
“This integration of data will allow for easier interrogation of results, which
will assist in better guiding the drilling and blast process to produce consistent,
quality blasts,” he said.
The AXXIS system has initiated some of the world’s most significant
electronic detonator blasts in recent years, including a 6,690 electronic delay
detonator blast at a large copper mine in Zambia, one of BME’s largest blasts in
the Southern African Development Community region.
In Queensland, Australia, meanwhile, a large coal mine was the site for an
earlier world record blast where the AXXIS digital detonation system fired
5,665 detonators in 2,683 blast holes. Before that, the mine used AXXIS to
initiate 4,303 detonators in a single blast successfully – a record event
responsible for 2.8 million cu.m of overburden being broken.
These records were recently trumped by another world record blast when
7,350 AXXIS electronic detonators were fired at an Australian coal mine.
Even with these achievements under its belt, BME is updating its AXXIS
platform, with the AXXIS TITANIUM™ system recently undergoing final trials in
South Africa. AXXIS TITANIUM, which features a three-in-one blasting box that
can also be configured as a control box or repeater box, is expected to be
launched later this year as a successor to the company’s GII version.
Fragmentation is only one value proposition for electronic initiation systems,
according to Bachelet, explaining that they provided value for “wall stability,
vibration and air blast control in sensitive areas, shovel productivity while
increasing muck pile projection in case of cast blasts, through seam blasting,
and many more” applications.
Development advantages
From an underground mine development perspective, there are many benefits
to using an electronic initiation system, according to Dyno Nobel, one of which
is a reduction in overbreak.
As Paul Klaric, Technical Manager at DynoConsult, Dyno Nobel’s specialist
consulting division, says: “Companies traditionally see mine development as a
means to an end. You just want to get it done to get to the ore.”
This short-term thinking – typically related to the need to improve a project’s
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JULY/AUGUST 2020 | International Mining 19