Steps to success: how to improve drill and

blast operations

There are many specific needs and challenges faced in the underground and open cut drill and blast
environments. The emergence of new technologies in both explosives and drilling, in addition to
changing security legislations regarding chemical handling means that it has never been more
important to examine improvements that can be made to further increase your profit and achieve
optimal fragmentation.

Ahead of the Drill and Blast WA Conference in November 2012, Mining IQ spoke to Jason Mills,
General Manager – Victoria for Octagonal Resources Pty Ltd, to discover the steps that need to be
taken in order to improve drill and blast operations in order to increase profitability and efficiency.

1. Understand and utilise the benefits of new drilling and blasting technologies

Probably one of the things I’m most excited about is the take up of the diamond – carbide
compounds coming in with drilling consumables. Operators have demonstrated that for larger bits
and buttons, that diamond -carbide compounds are producing some incredible results. I think that
we’ll see that diamond technology coming down into the smaller range of buttons. 102 mm button
bits are becoming commercially for even smaller operators and that will keep coming down through
the bit sizes.

In regards to timing there are many electronic platforms and we’re really seeing some good
competition amongst the different producers of these products. This is leading to much better
control on fragmentation, vibration and capacity to handle confined blasting voids. For surface
blasting control of the blasted muck pile is more consistent. The need to fragment, shape and
optimise loading of the muck pile (quite often remotely) has driven the need for improvement.

Working with the downstream customer to understand what is driving their performance is the key
to bringing all the new technologies together to deliver that result.

For underground operators raise bores or long hole rises with a reamer style cut pattern have
traditionally been used to open up underground excavations. There are more “in-between”
solutions available to open up an underground void to blast into now. There are some really clever
drills coming along that have filled the gap between simple reamers and a full blown raise bore. It’s
worth exploring those different options when you’re considering the firing method and sequence.

There are some novel methods such as firing against backfill with an a void “manufactured” during
filling and slashing, dragging or crater blasting that negate the need for any rise at all. At some

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stage one of these methods may be needed where a recovery situation or remote access issue
arises.

2. Establish a drill and blast culture

I think for an operation to develop a successful drill and blast program, there needs to be a
commitment from management to set up the right culture at the start. That basically means giving
people the confidence to try things and experiment, providing resources to mentor them and
promoting a no-blame culture. By doing this you can rapidly improve your blasting results and give
people the confidence to unlock some incredible opportunities. Otherwise we’re stuck in a “mining
by numbers” mentality of following an accepted pattern and missing opportunities.

With drill and blast such a broad field now I think we’ll see more drill and blasting specialists emerge
and compete with the services traditionally provided by the product manufacturers. In the past
manufacturers have done a great job of providing vocational training and expertise on mine sites. In
turn they have developed their market. There is a role for independent operators to fill the gap
where the skill gap is acute. It is important that the industry continues to encourage innovation
and competition at the site level.

3. Create effective strategies to comply with legislations and regulations relating to

explosive handling

Developing a sound relationship with the local regulator is very important. Whilst you can have
generic standards and risk controls, for a multi-site organisation the systems really need to be
developed at site level in consultation with the regulator. I really don’t think that there is any
substitute for creating a dialogue and building a good rapport with the local people on the
regulatory side of things.

4. Be aware of the challenges you might face

Some challenges that come to mind are the increasing encroachment of urban environments with
mining and quarrying operations, the increasingly complex blast geometries and the increasing role
of remote operations.

With urban encroachment – vibration, dust and blasting over-pressures must be controlled to
ensure the mandate to operate for those operations is not jeopardised.

Blast geometries, shot sequence and timing are generally becoming more complicated and in the
underground environment stopes are becoming smaller and flatter, away from the more traditional
vertical open stope. The flatter your ore body gets; the harder it is to keep open. There is a lot more
understanding required of what keeps a stope open and how to keep it open.

We’re seeing a lot more reliance on remote excavation. So that’s changing how we sequence the
firings, time the shot and shape the muck pile and brows. There are some fantastic opportunities
and difficult challenges for the drill and blast professional on these sites.

I think we’re going to see in the next few years the bar getting much higher. My advice to people is
to keep going back to their drilling geometry, firing strategy and customer priorities.

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Instantaneous charge mass should always be considered when looking at the blasting environment.
The natural tendency is to go for economy of scale (the bigger the shot the harder you want to hit it)
but you always need to try and contain that energy within the blasting environment – whether it be
ground stability or communities. I believe that’s where we’re going to see the big improvements.

There are some really good developments with second planes of articulation (on the turn table) for
some of the underground rigs now and that’s allowing much better rig set-ups and shaping of the
muck pile. Shorter stopes are being mined utilising the full function of that turn table to fire
undercuts and drags from the bottoms of stopes and to provide a stable floor for remote equipment
to achieve higher mined recoveries.

5. Decide which blasting practices are most suitable for the conditions of your site

Fundamentally you have got to understand the ore body. Talk with the geologist to understand the
geometry of the ore body and the grade variations within the block model. Rock mechanics
professionals are going to give you the best feeling on how the rock mass is going to behave and
what the stable span is. What are the parting zones and is there a strong unit to shoot to? There
may be high grade zones within some ore bodies that have to be fully recovered otherwise you’re
not making the rest of the ore body pay.

I’d encourage people to take a risk based approach, form a strong team and really work out what’s
most important and non-negotiable to the downstream customer and make sure that that comes
out every time. An analysis of strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and threats to each job
before the shot is approved is important. Spread the risk across the team so that no single individual
is carrying the entire load and debrief on what worked and what didn’t.

Tell us a little about your experience in the industry and your role

I’ve got about 20 – 25 years experience in the industry and I actually started out at the hand held
end of the drilling spectrum with track mounted ITH rigs doing most of the production work. I
moved over to jumbo development and larger, automated rigs later on. But my passion remains for
narrow vein projects. Its still the toughest gig in town!

Some of the more recent projects I have worked on are the remote methods employed at
Beaconsfield and the large down-hole dominated bulk stopes of Mount Isa Copper Operations. I’m
currently the general manager for Victorian operations at Octagonal Resources.

We are developing the Union Hill underground mine at Maldon in Victoria with several pits
approaching production or in the approvals pipeline. We will defer our decision on the final mining
method at Union Hill until we understand how the ore body behaves.

Drill and Blast has given me the most satisfaction in my career and it’s funny to think I have come full
circle back to my origins with Octagonal.

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If you would like to learn more about the strategies needed to improve drill and blast operations at
your mine site, join Jason Mills and other industry professionals at the Drill and Blast WA Conference
in November 2012.

Drill and Blast WA is a must attend event for anyone who is currently working in underground drill
and blast mining. The main conference will focus on the issues specific to an underground
environment and examine improvements that can be made to further increase your profit and
achieve optimal fragmentation in order to gain that additional 1-2%.

For more information, to register or to request a brochure please visit

www.drillandblastevent.com.au. Or call 61 2 9229 1000 or email enquire@iqpc.com.au.

Download Brochure here

http://www.drillandblastevent.com.
au/Event.aspx?id=793060

Download Brochure here http://www.drillandblastevent.com.au/Event.aspx?id=793060