SURFACE DRILLING
Agnostic appeal
FLANDERS remains the leading supplier of third party autonomy on blasthole drill rigs , increasing its fleet every year and benefitting from its OEM-agnostic position , being able to automate Epiroc , Sandvik or Cat drills very successfully – and it has done so with many of the world ’ s largest miners . To give a recent example , late last year it embarked on a project to begin automation of the blasthole drilling fleet at a diamond mining operation in Botswana . The conversion of the first drill to autonomous operation , an Epiroc Pit Viper PV-271 , has now been completed , which will also have the distinction of being the first autonomous drill in Botswana .
The conversion to the ARDVARC system was carried out by FLANDERS ’ South Africa-based team working closely with local technicians and the mine staff . It marks the beginning of a new way for the mine to carry out drilling , with operators now monitoring the autonomous rigs from an airconditioned command centre well away from the high temperatures of the open pit itself .
Also in South Africa , in 2023 a fourth Sandvik DR410i rotary blasthole drill for a major platinum mine was converted to run with the ARDVARC drill control system at FLANDERS ’ Middelburg facility , in South Africa .
These are South African examples , but the company has had equal success in markets in Australia , Brazil , Chile and Peru . The ARDVARC solution improves drill productivity by up to 30 %, FLANDERS claims , and provides a significantly safer working environment for workers operating in complex or hazardous conditions . With its autonomous operating technology , FLANDERS helps its customers proactively optimise drilling and increase plant availability , it added . We caught up with Jim Elkins , Global Business Development - Drill Automation at FLANDERS at the recent SME MINEXCHANGE event in Phoenix , Arizona .
Q Talking about ARDVARC today – has it become more ‘ intelligent ’ and equally has it becoming more challenging to retrofit the system as the OEM drills have become more complex ? A ARDVARC and the technology behind it is continually evolving and improving , helped by the ever-increasing footprint that we have as the largest third party blasthole drill autonomy provider . Today we have over 150 autonomous drills running at 19 minesites – which include many owned and operated by some of the world ’ s largest mining companies . One valued client as an example has just announced that its copper operation in Peru has successfully deployed autonomy using FLANDERS technology on a third and fourth drill rigs , marking an important milestone for the mine . We have also deployed autonomy on drill rigs at their operation in Chile . Working with Tier 1 miners like these means we are able to upgrade the software regularly every six months and include
FLANDERS recently retrofitted an Epiroc PV-271 for autonomy at a Botswana diamond mine
best practices from these large mines . So our customers globally are benefitting .
Q Are there any particular changes that you would highlight in recent ARDVARC development ? A I think a major one is its increasing use with down the hole ( DTH ) drills . DTH was not so prevalent in blasthole drilling ten or even five years ago but we have seen a lot more of these out there – probably it is being used on about 20 % of the drills we see today . So we have adapted ARDVARC to handle that , and it has worked very well . Aside from DTH I would say we have made some major upgrades to our multi-pass drilling capabilities both semi and fully autonomous . Finally , deck forks have sometimes been an issue for autonomous drilling – again because of our extensive global footprint we have been able to remedy these issues and introduce it in the latest ARDVARC software upgrade .
Q So why are these big miners continuing to choose FLANDERS over OEM-driven autonomy solutions ? A Obviously to flexbility automate any of their drills is a big part of it but also about productivity and performance . With the established customers that we have , they stay with us because of that performance . It also gives them some strategic balance when dealing with the OEMs on an overall fleet basis . Plus our retrofits are far less intrusive on the drills than they used to be – in the case of new drills in many cases the mines now instruct the OEM to send the new drill directly to our facilities for autonomy retrofit – we have seen this in Australia and South Africa for example . operators . For operators , this means easier adaptation between machines and more flexibility to run the fleet . The product was also designed with improved ergonomics in mind , to allow the panel to be situated comfortably in multiple positions .
The Common Automation Panel also offers a new safety system to further reduce the office footprint and increase the total number of machines that can connect into a control room in a single system . This is important for situational awareness during remote operations and will reduce maintenance and operating costs for larger fleets .
CAP will enable more consistent and predictable operations and a lower overall cost of ownership . In the long run , this will have a positive effect on decarbonisation as well as enhancing the health and wellbeing of the operators . “ We see increased environmental , social , and governance ( ESG ) demands , tighter demands on health and safety , and the need to integrate groundbreaking digitalised solutions that boost productivity in the mining environment . CAP answers these demands
directly ,” says Blignaut .
Orica and Cat put heads together on drill and blast technology
Orica and Caterpillar Inc in November 2023 confirmed they are teaming up to improve realtime data exchange and integrate workflows across the mining value chain .
The collaboration is aimed at providing customers with intelligence to improve decision making and optimise their entire operations , with the announcement following a mention of this tie-up in Orica ’ s most recent FY2023 financial year results webcast .
The mining industry has started to unlock the potential of combining data , sensors and intelligence to optimise workflows for real-time decision making and value chain optimisation , the companies said . Digitally integrated workflows enable customers to achieve a step
24 International Mining | APRIL 2024