EXPLOSIVES & BLASTING
Powder said . “ Any detected values outside of the expected and measured ranges will function as an indicator , allowing the mining unit to make decisions in real time , as well as monitor and keep records of the temperature behaviour in each of the mining areas .
“ In addition , the mine will be able to re-assign the personnel historically tasked with the potentially hazardous task of manually monitoring the thermal activity of the holes to other activities – since the electronic detonator programming team will now be responsible for measuring and recording the in-hole temperature and alerting the mine to any anomalies as the expected temperature value range is exceeded .”
Further innovation and collaboration with the mine is currently underway to improve the reportability and management of the information obtained .
Through Wi-Fi / LTE ( or other ) wireless networks , the measured data will be uploaded to the cloud , which will store and analyse the collected information . Once the minimum permissible temperature limit has been established when performing the review , if one or more detonators exceed this limit , an alert will be issued through an application to the control tower and / or to those responsible for the drilling and blasting department .
“ In addition , Austin Powder continues to develop and innovate this patented technology to support its customers with the challenging situation of reactive zones and provide predictive tools that will offer an extra level of protection and safety to their operation ,” the company said .
Normet ’ s explosives charging revolution
As has been well documented , explosives charging is one of the most hazardous work processes in modern underground mining ; with easily available ore deposits depleting , mining companies are delving deeper underground , increasing the risks associated with this process .
Normet states : “ The only tangible way to improve operator safety is to remove the operator from the high exposure danger zone , meaning the unsupported area of the tunnel – like Charmec Revo does .”
Charmec Revo sees a remote-controlled robotic arm place the initiating system into the borehole and , in conjunction with the emulsion kit , dispense emulsion . This allows the operator to remain in a supported tunnel area away from the danger zone .
The robotic boom enables the removal of the operator from the unsupported area of the tunnel , which is the highest risk exposure area of the process .
The system is developed for tunnels from 4 x 4 m up to 6 x 6 m , which covers most underground mining operations . The charging manipulator consists of an in – house developed servo-robotic arm with extremely agile movements – built robustly to fulfill the needs of underground mining conditions , Normet says . This servorobotic arm is powered from a battery , the grid or from diesel engine generation .
Drilled borehole maps from the drill rigs can be uploaded to the system to locate the boreholes in the face wall , where a machine vision system , fully developed by Normet , guides charging hose automatically to the drilled boreholes . If the map is not available , the machine vision helps the operator locate the boreholes . Once the borehole is found , the charging hose delivery system will take care of the priming unit and explosive delivery to the borehole .
The system uses collision-free path planning to define the safest route for the arm during the operation . If an obstacle or operator appears in the arm ’ s operating area , the arm slows down and stops its movement before contact .
The Charmec Revo system can be adapted to use any commercially available wired , semiwireless or wireless initiating systems , according to Normet . The priming unit can be handled manually or by magazines provided by explosives suppliers . The initiating system magazine is placed on the platform next to the charging arm , enabling the priming unit ’ s unique pick and deliver method to be deployed .
Trials of the system at the Kemi and Kittilä mines , both in Finland , have seen 22 faces charged and blasted , more than 1,500 boreholes charged remotely , over 1,500 detonators and boosters handled remotely , and 8-plus tonnes of bulk emulsion sensitised and delivered to boreholes . During these trials , around two hours
Charmec Revo sees a remote-controlled robotic arm place the initiating system into the borehole and , in conjunction with the emulsion kit , dispense emulsion
of time was spent per face , while standard lowcost shock tube detonators and boosters were used . All of this came with a 90 % reduction in face exposure .
These numbers were presented at The Electric Mine 2024 , in Perth , Western Australia , in May , a conference that also saw the company reveal that Enaex Australia would become the first explosive supplier to bring Revo into Australia and trial this new technology in underground blasting operations – both development and production charging .
Murray Gordon , Enaex ’ s Regional Operations Manager Underground , said at the event : “ We ’ re bringing Revo into Australia at the end of this year , with a trial start date of 2025 where we will be introducing this technology into development … as well as one of the highest risk areas of the mine : the production loading space .”
The plan currently encompasses a trial start date in January , where Revo will be deployed in both development and vertical up-hole production charging . It will also be measuring and cleaning blastholes , priming of blastholes with wired , semi-wireless or wireless IE / HE solutions , and carry out robotised loading of blastholes with gas sensitised emulsion . This is likely to see operators removed to a minimum 5 m distance from the brow or development faces , along with the demonstration of the ability to block off charged holes or cap them . The collision avoidance capabilities will also be tested , as will Revo ’ s pick-and-deliver system for priming units in a wireless explosive setup .
IM
74 International Mining | AUGUST 2024