SURFACE DRILLING
For the ZR122 , KPI requirements were set by both Komatsu and the customer to measure the machine capabilities and application success . Goals need to be both measurable and obtainable . These include productivity , average penetration rate KPI for both ore and waste plus minimum availability average to benchmark machine readiness . The single pass trial began in May 2022 and is ongoing , including both summer and winter , for which it is equipped with a cold weather package . It is allowing Komatsu to make necessary updates and perform additional testing as needed – it also allows the customer to acquire a comprehensive understanding of the machine capabilities and requirements for site operations . There is a strong feedback loop between Komatsu ’ s engineering team and the customer to ensure the unit is solving customer needs .
What has been seen and learned so far ? The application , which is in taconite in the US Iron Range in Minnesota , involves a hole diameter of 13 3 / 4 in or 349 mm drilled to an approximate average depth of 12.5 m . The operation has extremely hard iron bearing material , 130 to 310 + Mpa . Climate consists of extremely cold winters and moderate summers ( -35 to 95 degrees Fahrenheit ). Bollini noted the ZR122 blasthole drill performed very well in overburden and waste material – significantly exceeding rate of penetration KPI targets and standards set by the customer and Komatsu engineering . The hard ore found within the US Iron Range was a key application chosen to test the machine providing extremely hard drilling conditions and climate within a production setting , allowing Komatsu to test the capabilities of the initial machine design . During trial start , initial ore productivity results lagged behind the machine target . This generated a focused effort by Komatsu engineering to determine and solve the root cause within the test machine . A detailed analysis of data was performed , and discussions had with the customer regarding any changes to general machine operating practice or the application such as operators , material hardness , consumables , geologic changes , and operational changes . After a detailed and thorough review by Komatsu engineering – design updates were made within the machine air system to accommodate much higher ore densities giving the test machine the ability to evacuate drill cuttings from the hole in a more efficient manner – the updates to the test machine have proven successful with productivity values exceeding KPI targets within ore post update .
The ZR77 blasthole drill was also tested in a minesite application in a slightly different manner than the ZR122 . The ZR77 was placed with a customer for a machine trial including multiple OEM machines of similar size class and capabilities within southwestern US copper mine . The application included a hole size was 9 5 / 8 in or 244 mm diameter holes to a depth of 14.2 m . The operation was also 24 / 7 but with softer material – 30 to 130 Mpa and a mainly hot climate ( 27 to 120 degrees Fahrenheit ). Bollini said the ZR77 was the trial leader in terms of effective penetration rate , bit life and hole quality . Increased productivity compared to the other OEMs was also seen . This was enough to potentially allow for a reduction in the operating drill fleet . This reduction if operating units yields a lower cost per tonne , reduced carbon emissions and improved site efficiency . These productivity figures were sustained , based on mine reported data across the multiple OEMs over a six-month period . The improved bit life also provides a reduction in consumable cost per foot drilled . The increased hole quality means reduced redrill time , optimal fragmentation , and therefore improved loading , haulage and crushing efficiency , reducing mining costs from mine-to-mill .
Fine tuning autonomous drilling
FLANDERS has long held the top spot in third party autonomy and has won many projects directly up against OEM autonomy systems . This is partly it says due to the fact that it is not a drill manufacturer , with its expertise founded on its real world experience and knowledge of blasthole drill functionality . But also because it was also a pioneer in the market , combined with the strength and technical agility of its engineering team . IM sat down with Sam Iacopetta , FLANDERS Operations Manager in Western Australia to delve deeper into its success .
Iacopetta said of the early work : “ At FLANDERS how we started in autonomy was through a customer request . This was in 2006 and we were onsite at a mine in the US , when the operator asked us to look at applying autonomous functions on their blasthole drills . We had a group of engineers with the hands on experience but we also had the application knowledge as well in terms of understanding the drill functionality inside out . We were able to automate an Atlas Copco drill in a short period of time . The whole program and the ARDVARC system , which stands for Advanced Rotary Drill Vector Automated Radio Control - evolved out of this project .”
So how was this achieved in such a short period of time at a time when technology was not as advanced as it is today ? “ A big part of it was our engineers understanding the drill functionality algorithms in manual mode so well and converting that into logic based autonomous drill control systems . We went from nothing to having our first prototype in the field only six weeks – of course a lot of testing and validation followed , and eventually became the commercial product we know today which quickly became by far the largest OEM agnostic drill automation solution on the market – used today by many of the major mining houses from Anglo American to
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APRIL 2023 | International Mining 21