MAY 2003 AMM

The giant PT Freeport underground operation in Indonesia

has received a boost from Orica’s digital blasting
technology. By Richard Roberts

O ne of
underground
the world’s
mines
largest
has
demonstrated the benefits of using
advanced detonating technology to
efficiently and safely clear drawbells at
the base of its block cave. At a time of
increasing interest in block caving as an
underground mining method around the
world, PT Freeport’s successful
application of the i-kon digital blasting
technology could set a standard for
drawbell construction for other sites to
follow.
Developed and supplied by Australian
company Orica, which also provides PT
Freeport’s surface and underground
copper-gold operations in West Papua,
Indonesia, with other blasting products
and services, the i-kon detonators were
first used in underground trials at PT
Freeport early last year. This progressed
to full production use soon after.
PT Freeport switched to the advanced
undercut method of accessing the area
beneath the cave at this Deep Ore Zone
(DOZ) underground operation in mid-
2001 after worldwide studies showed it
would deliver advantages over the post
undercut method employed previously. In
particular, it was determined that the
advanced undercut method would deliver
improved long-term mine pillar stability.
The DOZ currently contributes about
38,000 tonnes per day of underground
production from the PT Freeport
operations, with the mature IOZ
(Intermediate Ore Zone) yielding about
11,000tpd. Freeport is currently
considering ramping up the DOZ
production to 50,000tpd.
The operator needs to open up 4-6
drawbells a month to maintain a steady
production flow from caving zones.
Blasting of 14m-high central raises in
each drawbell connects the production
level with cave sections, opening up
draw-down points for columns of ore up
to 400m high.
PT Freeport senior planning engineer
Tracy Arlaud said the limited detonation
timing range of conventional non-electric
detonators meant drawbells previously
had to be taken with two 17m inclined
raises. Where required, drawbells were
blasted twice, with the first blast
incorporating the two raises and nine
rings. Once sufficient muck was drawn to
create a void two final rings were blasted.
Apart from limiting the flexibility of the
process, the two blasts often produced
delays in drawing down cave sections
and created safety concerns.
Twenty working man-shifts of 12 hours
per shift were required to drill and
develop each 17m raise and a further 12-
hour shift was needed to hook and fire up
the first stage. Arlaud said firing the first
stage often damaged EXEL tubes and
pre-charged blastholes, which could lead
to misfires and poor second-stage blasts.
Connecting up second-stage blasts also
created risks to personnel as the activity
occurred adjacent to and under ground
affected by the first blast.

ORICA developed the i-kon digital energy control

system as a means of achieving better rock
fragmentation with bigger blasts and a simpler and
safer detonation process.
The result of years of research and development,
i-kon comprises programmable digital detonators –
each one replacing many delay detonators used
previously, as well as control equipment, loggers and a
blaster for firing the detonators. Orica has also
developed blast design and simulation software
(SHOTPlus-i) specifically for use with i-kon detonators.
Two-way communication between the detonators
and loggers facilitates programming and function
verification prior to firing. Loggers cannot set off
detonators, a highly important safety feature for an
electronic initiation device. Only the specifically
designed i-kon blaster has sufficient energy, and the
properly coded and sequenced signal, to initiate the
detonators, which further enhances system safety.
The i-kon system can fire 3200 detonators, with
each detonator fully programmable- from 0-15,000
milliseconds - in 1ms increments.
Blast designs from the SHOTPlus-i software can be
downloaded into loggers to enable automatic
programming of delay times when each detonator is
connected to a surface harness wire.
MAY 2003 AMM
“We weren’t able to achieve better than
four drawbells a month,” Arlaud said.
“Since the introduction of the i-kon
detonators we have varied production to
the undercut level between 4-6 drawbells
a month. Getting the drawbells on line as
efficiently as possible gives us fast
access to the ore to draw it down, and it
also removes the possibility of material
recompacting above the drawbell, which
creates separate issues.
“When we blasted in two stages we
would blast the first section of the
drawbell and then have to draw the muck
to create enough void to blast the second
stage. It could mean having to draw for
up to a month to get a void. Sometimes it
was never actually safe enough to get
back in to set up the second blast, which
usually meant that drawbell wouldn’t draw
as much ore as anticipated.
“We’re now getting drawbells on line
up to 30 days earlier.”
The use of i-kon detonators also
reduced blast vibration damage to
surrounding panels and drawpoints, while
reducing mine personnel exposure to
hazards and the cost of panel
rehabilitation. Fully programmed
detonation sequences were producing
more predictable, lower-cost drawbell
outcomes, Arlaud said.
“I believe we are the only block cave
operation in the world to blast a drawbell
in a single blast, successfully, and the
only block cave operation doing drawbell
blasting with i-kon,” she said.
[ENVIRONMENT]
“We’re saving $US26,000 per
drawbell in measurable costs which,
based on four drawbells a month, is
$US1.248 million per year. At a
production rate of six drawbells per
month, we’re saving $US1.872 million
per year.
“Other savings which aren’t as easy
to measure as reducing to single shorter
cental development, include brought
forward revenue from production,
improved fragmentation and the
reduced vibration damage. Then there
are the reduced risks to personnel.”
Since their commercial release in
August 2000, the i-kon detonators and
other components of the i-kon system
have become significant product lines
for Orica during a growth phase for the
company’s mining business. The
technology has now been used in a
wide range of mining applications.
Orica assigned experienced i-kon
project manager Mike Lovitt to liaise
with PT Freeport and other Orica
personnel, in particular Bonifacio Degay
Jr, at the remote mine during the
implementation phase. Lovitt previously
worked with Arlaud at the Bronzewing
gold mine in Western Australia when
that site started blasting large pillar
sections with i-kon detonators in the
second half of 2000. Bonifacio came
with a strong block caving background
from the Philex block cave operation in
the Philippines.
Orica technical services
superintendent, South Asia, Angelo
Labriola told Australia’s Mining
31
Monthly from the company’s Jakarta
office that the site was the first in the
region at which the i-kon system had
been formally handed over to a customer.
“We have engineers here who can
assist with blasts as required, but there
are fully trained Freeport operators and
engineers who can fire i-kon on their
own,” he said.
Orica, together with local alliances
partner PT Multi Nitrotama Kimia (MNK),
continues to have more than 20
employees involved in its product supply
and blast design and engineering
operations at PT Freeport’s underground
and surface mines. The company has
been supplying explosives and blasting
accessories to the mine operator since
1997 and has had a full service contract
since mid-2001.
“What has been critical to the success
we’ve had at Freeport is that they have
adopted an attitude of working together
with suppliers and service providers,”
Labriola said. “ Our people are really part
of their team.
“Together we have achieved a world-
first with I-kon in that application and it
has not just been about the technology.
Freeport did a phenomenal amount of
work in other areas such as drilling and
surveying, to ensure drawbells were set
up properly.
“MNK and Orica also had to work
closely together to get approvals from
officials to bring i-kon into the
country.”