Pit & Quarry, May 2013

Future of drilling Autonomous rotary drilling brings a new level of safety and productivity to surface mines globally BY KEN STAPYLTON N ew challenges are driving swift technological innovation and a new era in mining Lets consider the issues Mine sites are deeper and more remote with lower grades and longer hauls Human safety concerns come into play as the mine site becomes isolated with longer transit times and more risk involved Operations are more expensive The mining industry is forced to look at solutions that will keep costs down and ensure operations remain productive and efficient The industry focus is shifting to an inevitable next step automation Progressive mining companies are already deploying automated systems and the rest of the industry is sure to follow To meet the changing needs of its customers Sandvik Mining recently launched an automation system for rotary drill rigs known as AutoMine Heres how it works AutoMine rotary drilling is offered in three levels of autonomy and at the highest level the supervisor While operating the autonomous rotary drill collects production data such as geology drilling times and penetration rates is choreographing the machine drill plan from a remote command center Autonomous tramming between hole locations is accomplished by the use of high precision real time kinematic RTK GPS receivers Hazard avoidance cameras HazCam detect obstacles in the drills path and the drilling area is surrounded by a geo fence perimeter to prevent the drill from tramming into hazardous terrain Once in position the machine levels up sets the mast to the required angle and starts to drill The machine autonomously adds drill rods to achieve the desired hole depth and then removes them Finally the drill retracts its jacks and moves on to the next hole During the entire process the machine is collecting production data such as geology drilling times and penetration rates To date Sandvik Mining has a fully functioning autonomous D90KS multi pass rotary drill at one customer site and a number of drills will be deployed this year Results that a customer can expect with deployment include enhanced safety through minimized interaction with personnel reduced manual repetitive work and improved working conditions Additionally the real time process control and production monitoring functions increase productivity through improved utilization reduced risk of damage to the machine due to operator error and reduced downtime all of which decrease costs Sandvik Mining partnered with Flanders a privately owned third generation manufacturer of motors power systems and automation solutions to develop this product P Q Ken Stapylton is vice president of surface mining for Sandvik Mining www mining sandvik com Sandvik Mining has a fully functioning autonomous D90KS multi pass rotary drill at one customer site and a number of drills will be deployed this year 40 PIT QUARRY May 2013 www pitandquarry com