e-Book

FACE DRILLING
SOP

Published By:
GroundHog groundhogApps.com
Meet The Author
With a career in underground mining since 2004, Christopher Michael has had extensive
operational experience. Christopher has worked in all facets of underground operational
roles, including machinery operations, line leadership, management, senior management,
project management and contractor management.
AboutGroundHog
Groundhog is a unified solution for digitizing and automating mining operations. The
platform seamlessly integrates various workflows, spanning drill, blast, load, and haul
processes, to enhance productivity and minimize variance to plan.
Our team in collaboration with Laserline Mining Services specializes in creating Standard
Operating Procedures (SOPs) for mines, which can be easily integrated into the
GroundHog LMS system for effective miner training. One of our popular SOPs is for

About Laserline
Underground Drilling. In addition, we cover a wide range of other topics such as Pre-start
Inspection SOP, Face Blasting SOP, Bolting SOP, Mucking SOP, and Hauling SOP.

If any of these SOPs pique your interest, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Alternatively, if you need a custom SOP created, we would be more than happy to write it
Laserline Mining Services can provide turnkey solutions to a vast array of operational for you.
challenges. Laserline specialises in creating learning content that is targeted to the end
user, coupled with hands on training that lifts your operations capabilities to industry best
practice.

Chris
Michael
Mining Digitization Consultant

1 Face Drilling SOP

2 Face Drilling SOP
 Key Safety
Consideration
• ALWAYS do a workplace exam.
• ALWAYS hang drill cable on the walls.
• ALWAYS markup butts
• ALWAYS use backsights.
• NEVER drill into a butt. Drill 300mm away.
• NEVER handle a live cable.
• NEVER work beyond the jacks when drilling.
• NEVER leave a cable in water.
• NEVER touch a rotating drill rod.
• NEVER go under unsupported ground.

The last row of competent bolts is defined as supported ground. Never work
under unsupported ground

WE ENVISIONED A TOOL THAT WAS

FOCUSED ON TRANSFORMING
THE MINING INDUSTRY

Face Drilling SOP

3 Face Drilling SOP
4
 • It is crucial that the boom is slightly adjusted to remove the bow
in the steel. This will result in a straight hole.

Monitoring rotation pressure is important to understand how straight the

Never work past the jacks of a Jumbo when the boom and/or hammer is
operational.
hole is. A spike in rotation pressure indicates hole deviation.
The rotation pressure gauge is the single most important gauge for
measuring drill hole deviation. A standard drill rotation pressure should
be between 50-70 bar. If the rotation gauge shows higher pressures, it
indicates that the rotation motor is working harder to account for a

Drilling Operations
deviating drill steel.

Collaring
• Bring drill up to face and put slight pressure on the front rubber
bumper.
• Turn on rotation and percussion.
• Put slight pressure on the feed lever.
• As the bit contacts the rock, maintain very slow feed. Rotation Pressure Gauge - 50-70 Rotation Pressure Gauge – Greater
• Drill steel 300mm into rock with slow feed. Bar indicates drill is drilling than 70 Bar indicated drill steel is
• Once drill is 300mm into the face, full feed can be applied. This will straight. deviating.
cause the steel to bow.
Note: This can differ between different Jumbos

5 Face Drilling SOP

6 Face Drilling SOP
Drilling the hole Drilling a Standard Face
(1:50/1:100 Up)
Once the hole is collared and full feed is applied the hole will now be
drilled. The operator should now monitor the drill for the following
and adjust/correct if needed.
Step 1 Pull Jumbo into the face. With boom sucked in, position front of boom
0.5m from the face. All four jacks must be on the ground.
• Down creep of booms must be corrected or else the steel will
bend causing wear and breakage. This can occur when the
drifter moves forward on the slide. Keep the drill steel straight
and lined up with the rest of the holes.

• Constant flow of water out of the hole being drilled or else the
steel will jam and will also slow the penetration rate down, which
will put excess strain on the drill string.

• The sound of the drilling will indicate if there is an issue with the
hole, such as breaking into voids, lost buttons on a bit, changes
in ground conditions. Always be ready to turn off feed and
percussion if a sound changes with the drilling. Always keep Step 2 Mark up face for drilling. Refer to SOP – Face Mark Up.
rotation on when stopping due to hole issues.

• Rock drill lubrication. Ensure that rock lube is being fed to the
hammer. This is checked by the light panel near the jumbo door
and confirming the sound of compressed air and milky oil drips
on the hammer.
Step 3 Commence with drilling lifter holes. Roll boom under and ensure
hydraulic hoses do not get caught on the drifter. Line boom up with
backsights for each hole. When the hole is complete, turn off percussion,
turn on the air flush. Keep rotation running and wait for the air to blow
the hole clean. Slowly retract the steel out of the hole to clean it. Turn off
the Jumbo and use a hole cleaner to clean out the holes drilled. Make
sure no rocks or cuttings are in the hole. Install lifter tube 300mm into
the hole.

7 Face Drilling SOP

8 Face Drilling SOP
 Drilling Burn
The burn is the most important part of the face to get correct. If the burn is not
drilled well, the face will not perform well. The placement of burn can change
based off the previous cut. As a rule, do not place the burn where the burn
Step 4 Drill Knee Holes. Use backsights to line up boom. All kneeholes are drilled
slightly up to allow water and cuttings to drain. (A decline is drilled
from the previous cut was, as this could lead to drilling into butts. Alternate the
burn from left to right.
differently, refer to SOP Face Mark Up).

Step 5 Drill perimeter of the face. Left wall – backholes – right wall. All holes are
drilled slightly up to allow water and cuttings to drain. Backholes are
drilled as per the design grade (up or down).

Step 6 Once perimeter is drilled, drill the rest of the face following the backsights.
All these holes are drilled slightly up.

The shot hole (center hole) will be drilled from the face drilling. Insert a
guide steel (a spare T38 round scaling steel) or a wooden line up/
tamping pole into the shot hole.

9 Face Drilling SOP

10 Face Drilling SOP
Standard Rules of thumb
burn cut
pattern
with 4 Do not drill all holes the same length. The face will never be totalysquare, and the
drilling must allow for this. Look at the dish in the face,to ensure the holes are
reamers. stopped when the coupling reaches the furthest point of the dish. See dotted red
line below.

Backsights must be used for all drilling. It is impossible to drill a straight cut without
backsights.

PPerimeter holes are angled out slightlyknow as a lookout angle. This allows the
drill boom to have space to collar and drill the next round. For perimeter holes,
offset boom 200 mm from backsight to allow for lookout angle.

11 Face Drilling SOP

12 Face Drilling SOP
 Face Performance
A poorly drilled face can butt up. 3 types of poorly drilled faces and the reasons
why they don’t pull full length;

• Dished face - If the burn pulled full length but the face dishes out toward the
perimeter, it indicates that too much ground was put on the back of the
holes (toe burden)
• Flat butted face -Indicates that the burn did not pull full length
A spike or drop in rotation pressure or feed will indicate drilling into a void. • Dished face without burn pulling full depth - Indicated that burn and toe
Immediately turn off feed and hammer in this situation. Keep rotation running. burden were both poor.
Slowly recommence drilling to avoid hanging steel.
Other causes of butt are:
If a Jumbo steel is hung/jammed, Use the following steps:
• Excessive burden on holes.
• Place the rotation lever in NEUTRAL but leave flushing water on. • Incorrect timing of holes.
• Pull percussion lever to the OFF position. • Loading wet holes incorrectly.
• Place feed lever in NEUTRAL. • Missing holes when loading.
• Check that drill steel is aligned with the feed rail. • Not tamping explosives correctly.
• Before trying to feed the steel out of the hole. Attempt to get rotation back • Not hooking up all dets to det cord after loading.
by pushing the percussion lever forward and back several times. • Voids, faults in face.
• Alternate the feed direction forward and back to create room for the bit in • Incorrect facing up bench or backstope.
the hole.
• Give forward and reverse bursts of rotation.
• Continue the entire sequencee until flushing water appears which
indicates success.

Square butted face where the burn did not pull full depth.

13 Face Drilling SOP

14 Face Drilling SOP
Step 4 Continue drilling as per the mark up. Use the last backsight for the final
full row to drill the two fly rows. Pivot the boom on this backsight, having

Benching
the coupling lined up with the backsight and the front of the boom on the
face. Drill and ¾ and ½ length hole. This will allow the stripping to break
with a good profile.

Once all the ore overhead has been extracted, if there is any ore in the floor, and
then a bench is needed. It is used to increase the vertical size of a stope.
Benching is a horizontal slice of the ore.

Starting a bench can be difficult and is done the following way;

Step 1 Ensure floor is dug down hard and bedrock is exposed. Never try to start
a bench with loose material in the floor.

Step 2 Set the boom at a very steep angle and slowly collar the hole. Drill a hole
full length.

Step 3 When the hole is drilled, stop the drill and turn off the power. Use a
pelican pick to hand bog around the steel and clear out all rocks near
the drill steel to expose bedrock.

Completed Stripping

17 Face Drilling SOP

18 Face Drilling SOP
Step 4 Pull the steel out of the hole using feed and air. Do not use rotation. Once
the steel is out of the hole, inspect the hole for rocks, clear if needed and
install lifter tube. Backstoping

Once the horizontal limit is reached and ore is present in the backs, then a back-
stope is required. All utilities will be moved out of the stope to a point behind
where the ore begins. That is where the back-stope will begin. This is done by
drilling a row or rows across the back angled upward at about 30 degrees. When
a back-stope is blasted, most if not all the resulting broken ore reamain in the
floor as a platform for the backstope. This material is removed once the
backstope is completed.

Step 5 Repeat this for 2 rows of lifters.

Drill 3 rows facing up at roughly 30 degrees. Try to avoid ground support if possible.

When the bench is started, drill each bench is the same process as drilling a face,
however no burn is required. The top row acts as the free face for the blast.

19 Face Drilling SOP

20 Face Drilling SOP
Drilling on a Offset Laser
& Drilling a decline
A development heading that has a design curve will require the use of a laser to keep the
heading online. It is crucial that the Mark up for these headings follow the SOP – Face Mark
Up. Without proper markup, the heading will be drilled offline.

Step 1 Pull Jumbo into heading. The Jumbo has to be positioned as far as
possible on the outside wall. Make sure that the jumbo door can open Step 3 Drill knee holes based on markup and backsights. For the kneehole
angle, put the the back of the boom just above the floor and collar on
when parked.
the markup. Flush the hole the same as the lifters. Use a hole cleaner
to clean out the holes drilled. Make sure no rocks or cuttings are in the
hole. Install lifter tube 300mm into the hole.

Step 2 Collar lifters on the markup and drill lifters so the toe of the hole is
300mm below the design floor line. When the hole is complete, turn off
percussion, turn on the air flush. Keep rotation running and wait for the
air to blow the hole clean. Slowly retract the steel out of the hole to
clean it. Use a hole cleaner to clean out the holes drilled. Make sure no Step 4 Drill 3rd row from the floor. These holes will be looking up to drain
water and cuttings.
rocks or cuttings are in the hole. Install lifter tube 300mm into the hole.

21 Face Drilling SOP

22 Face Drilling SOP
 Step 6 Drill burn pattern. Always markup burn and always use a guide steel or a
line-up pole in the center shot hole. Use this to align the boom for all the
holes. The boom must be parallel to the guide steel when collaring the
hole.

When drilling the outer rows, the boom can not be positoned correctly to
allow a full hole to be drilled only. For the last two rows, use the backsight
on the outer wall, pivot the boom, then drill a ¾ length hole, then an ½
length hole for the outer wall. This will break to a smooth radius and avoid
overbreak. See diagram below.

Additionally, the inside row is drilled short to ensure the face is square for
the next round.

Step 5 Drill out the permeter. When drilling the backholes, use the design
height mark on the rib to align the steel to the correct angle. All
backholes should be facing down at the design angle. Drill out the
remainder of the face with all holes looking up.

Final drilled out face. Notice short Example of a good face mark up with
holes at the inner and outer rows. The backsights.
perimeter has a 300mm lookout.

Step 4 Drill 3rd row from the floor. These holes will be looking up to drain
water and cuttings.

Drilling Stripping for heading turnout.

23 Face Drilling SOP

24 Face Drilling SOP
PUB LI SHED BY: