SURFACE DRILLING
Robit brings Halco into its unified branding
DTH hammers and bits major Halco has been part of the Robit Group since 2017 . In what it describes as its continuous pursuit of simplicity and increased quality , Robit recently announced that it is moving onto the next development phase in its global brand strategy . As a part of ‘ Robit one brand – one offering philosophy ,’ the group is shifting to a single brand across all of its product offerings . This next step has seen the well known brands of Robit and Halco consolidated under the Robit umbrella . This means , that starting from Q4 2023 , all Halco products have been rebranded as Robit , while maintaining the same quality and performance . They have new Robit brand colours of white and blue , but still keeping a reference to Halco ’ s engineering legacy in the DTH hammers . Halco has pioneered the development and distribution of DTH hammers and bits since the 1950s . In mining Halco is particularly well known for its Dominator and Super Dominator brands of DTH hammer , which offer higher performance and are ideally suited for medium to higher air pressures in blast hole drilling applications . This design is simple with fewer components , which makes servicing and onsite maintenance easy . With a range of heavy duty models on offer it says this extends the life of the hammer considerably .
At the heart of the Hexagon drill automation system is the decision engine . The decision engine leverages AI to monitor all sensor inputs simultaneously , applying a rules-based decisionmaking process based on the sensor input levels to generate control responses . This approach allows Hexagon to eliminate nearly all parameters associated with drill automation and provides optimised drill control throughout all ground conditions . The decision engine automatically detects down hole issues and triggers control responses that correct the detected issues before they become significant problems whilst simultaneously filtering the false
positives associated with the protection-biased tuning philosophy . The AI in the decision engine and genetic algorithm acts like an expert digital operator , providing exceptional machine protection while optimising productivity .
The Hexagon technology corrects calculation issues by eliminating human influence and by using accurate drilling parameters whilst engaging the ground , as previously outlined . This results in repeatable and accurate ground hardness data that can then be used to improve blasting results downstream .
The solution ’ s algorithms were created to calculate the hardness of the ground being
New players are also emerging in surface drills & drilling autonomy . In 2023 , China ’ s XCMG said it had successfully tested its XKY270E rotary blasthole rig , which it says is the first remote control capable and ‘ intelligent ’ surface mining drill rig developed in China
IM met with Hexagon Mining Senior Product Manager – Autonomous Drills , Curtis Stacy , at the SME 2024 event in Phoenix
drilled . Similar in philosophy to the decisionengine technology , the hardness index is based on rules rather than direct measurements . All relevant sensors are monitored simultaneously , and rules are applied to determine a hardness value between 0 ( very soft – think air ) and 5 ( very hard ). The AI hardness index seeks to eliminate the operator-induced errors that are present in the existing solutions . Testing of the efficacy of this solution is ongoing .
Initial prototyping of Hexagon ’ s solution was done on an older Caterpillar drill rig that had no auto drill technology on it . Performance was measured by looking at the productivity rates of the human operators individually and comparing their performance to Hexagon ’ s Drill Assist application . Data was collected for a three month period using Cat Terrain to record drill performance during that period . While not in use , Drill Assist was deactivated on the host machine to ensure data purity . Stacy says that the results were impressive . Drill productivity increased by 30 % overall , per-foot cost of drilling was reduced by 24 %, and measured machine stress was reduced by 40 %. Per-operator productivity increased 13 % over the top-tier operator and 34 % over the lowest-tier operator .
Next , Hexagon sought to determine whether the same improvements could be made using a newer drill rig that was already equipped with an OEM automation solution . A new Cat MD6310 was fitted with a Drill Assist kit and tested . Installation of the kit required three days working eight hours on the drill .
Since the Hexagon solution does not require the removal of any OEM hardware or software , when installation activities were not ongoing , the drill rig was returned to operation , reducing the
12 International Mining | APRIL 2024