UNDERGROUND DRILLING
The Sandvik DL422iE is a fully-automated , battery-powered top hammer longhole drill designed for underground mass mining in 4 x 4 m or larger production drifts , Sandvik says taking full advantage of it just yet ; I think there battery power . are more gains to be had .”
The battery-electric rig has also required some
While the machine is meant for battery-electric changes to the way operators work , with Cooper tramming , Cooper said there had been glimpses noting that the 75 kWh sodium nickel chloride of the rig ’ s ability to also drill off battery , relaying battery did not provide enough power for the one occasion where an electrician was able to machine to tram 3.3 km ( on a 1:7 incline ) from repair a “ jumbo box ” at the same time as the the bottom of the ramp to the top . Nova operator carried out a 25 m long hole using operators had got around this issue by carrying out an opportunity charge 850 m from surface by the rodstorage cuddy , allowing the operator to offload drill rods at the same time .
“ These BEVs require changes to the way we work ,” he said . “ If we can integrate those changes into our existing work practices to minimise the changes to the operators , we will get a better result .”
Linabury , meanwhile , highlighted how the services provider was identifying the new risks and opportunities that were emerging from battery electrification during deployments such as this .
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+ 61 7 3666 0006 recognising the increased number of
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In the Q & A session at the end of the presentation , Cooper summed up the IGO rationale for bringing this new battery-electric and automation-enabled machine into the Nova fleet : “ As we have shown with the DL422iE , you can essentially drop this in and change very little about the way you operate normally , but at the same time you get a chance to play around with : ‘ What does my emergency response look like for this new drill ? How do my supply chains have to change for parts ? How do my skillsets need to change for people ? What do the operators need to be made aware of ?’
“ You can solve all of those problems , and a lot of those learnings are then directly transferable for when you start tackling the bigger problems of heavy machines .”
Such learnings would allow the company to have a much clearer picture of what it would take to fully electrify an underground mine in the future , he concluded .
Autonomy ambitions gather pace
Finding a solution for autonomous face drilling will be a major step toward fully-automated underground mining , with a collaborative project
10 International Mining | JULY 2024