EXPLOSIVES AND BLASTING
The company also offers other products to boost safety and productivity in
vertical up holes, including its Duoblast emulsion, which offers a high
viscosity for both vertical production holes and horizontal development holes,
according to Enaex.
Its X-Booster Up booster, meanwhile, is designed with a ballistic shape and
equipped with the company’s safe-lock system, which avoids any detachment
of the detonator from the booster during insertion into the bore hole.
The combination of these solutions, plus the engineering capabilities from
its Enaex Mining Technical Solutions teams, have led to “spectacular” results
in both production and development, according to Bachelet.
“For example, in a new block caving mine site, where the mine engineers
were expecting 4,500 sq.m/mth, we succeeded in reaching 9,000 sq.m/mth
and blasted 21 drawbells, which is truly massive in this kind of operation,”
Bachelet said.
In Australia, meanwhile, RUC Cementation Mining Contractors helped
Davey Bickford Enaex achieve a new blasting first with the DaveyTronic
electronic detonator blasting system.
The contractor implemented “Safety First Firing” with DaveyTronic to allow
it to fire blasts over the established communication system at one of its
contracted operations, using the existing fibre-optic network at the mine to
set-up a secure blasting system underground.
Orica, which says its WebGen wireless initiation technology can speed up
development rates in all underground operations, has, in partnership with
MacLean Engineering, been addressing another industry pain point.
It has combined WebGen with MacLean’s Automated Explosive Loader
(AEL) to form the first fully mechanised drawpoint hang-up blasting solution.
Mooney explains: “Hang-up blasting is a major challenge for block and sub
level cave mines where up to 30% of all drawpoints can be unavailable due to
oversize material.”
Many oversized rocks can be dealt with by preparation loaders or rock
breakers, yet a number require explosives where workers need to access the
area to perform the wiring up of each respective conventional explosive being
used.
The mechanised drawpoint hang-up blasting solution safely brings down
blocked drawpoints in these mines, with recent trials at Newcrest Mining’s
Cadia underground operation proving this.
Newcrest explained the method: “This AEL can drill a hole in a rock and
push the wireless explosive inside the hole, without the operator leaving the
cab of the drill rig. The operator can then remove the drill rig, leave the area
and remotely detonate the explosive, using a wireless device manufactured
by Orica.”
According to Orica, this WebGen-enabled process can see up to eight blast
holes charged remotely, improving safety dramatically with no need to tie-in
detonators and no boots on the ground.
Trials were successfully completed over a 30-day period in March of this
year, with Cadia Acting General Manager, Aaron Brannigan, saying the testing
met the key objective of trialling machinery that eliminates human
interactions on foot while working near an active draw point.
The next step will be a more comprehensive trial in a real-life production
environment to further assess the safety aspects and productivity of the
secondary break system, Newcrest said.
Outside of Cadia, several new units are being manufactured by MacLean to
introduce to sites across Australia and Chile by the end of the year, Mooney
added.
AECI Mining’s underground autonomation strategy is still being finalised,
but it is addressing another industry pain point with the development of an
emulsion vertical delivery system that, it says, frees up cage time, reduces
emulsion transport and provides an on-demand source of emulsion.
This will see emulsion delivered to underground areas via bore holes with
underground silos and distribution, according to Carl Joubert, Engineering
Manager at AECI Mining, explaining the technology has already been proven
SOME THINK
THAT RAW
MATERIALS
TRANSPORT
REQUIRES
TRUCKING.
WE THINK
DIFFERENT.
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