development to offer better blasting solutions to lift productivity.
Nigel Pereira, Regional Services Manager with Orica for
Australia Pacific, says Orica has a lot to offer customers to help
them keep a tighter rein on costs.
“
Whether mine managers want to lift the volume of rock
leaving the mine at the same cost or produce the same volume at
lower overall costs, Orica has the technology and the know-how
to assist,” Mr Pereira said.
“
Just as importantly, our blasting solutions help our
customers protect their licence to operate and their reputation
in local communities by allowing them to manage blasts within
environmental constraints.”
Mr Pereira explained that it was far cheaper to buy chemical
energy to fragment rock through blasting than applying
mechanical energy to grind rock downstream. “With the right
blasting solutions, we believe it is far better for customers
to invest in the chemical energy to fragment rock rather than
mechanical grinding in a mill circuit.”
In the last two years, Orica has done much in the way
of broadening its range of bulk explosives, which will be
particularly useful in the West.
“
At the low end of the energy spectrum, we can help customers
with specific needs such as wall control,” Mr Pereira said.
“
At the top end, we are showcasing bulk explosives with
sizable increases in energy which have not been seen before,
and these will be particularly significant for improving drilling
and grinding efficiencies in hard rock open cut mines.”
In underground mining, Mr Pereira pointed to advances in
development as another area where Orica technology could
contribute to enhancing efficiency and lowering costs for
mine managers.
“
There is great potential to maximise the advance rates in
development from the industry standard of around 80% to 90%
by utilising Orica’s blasting technology and embedding quality
control systems and processes at the mine site, so drilling
efficiency can be maintained,” he said.
“
With development drives costing $6,000 to $7,000 per
metre, it makes sense to utilise newer blasting technology
to lift advance rates from current levels, by switching from
conventional ammonium nitrate/fuel oil (ANFO) explosives to
bulk emulsions and electronic detonators to maximise the pull.”
Mr Pereira said as the mining industry moves to lower grade
ore bodies around the globe, Orica was working on novel blasting
techniques with the potential to become game changers when
combined with extraction methods such as block caving.
“
Caving mines cost less to operate than conventional
underground mines and we are witnessing a growing trend
worldwide to adopt these methods,” he said. “However, caving
mines are capital intensive to develop, so we have been
investigating some novel blasting methods to significantly
reduce development costs and bring production online earlier
through the elimination of undercut levels.
“
We estimate this will bring savings around $8 million per
panel, significantly reducing capital costs while allowing miners
to get to the ore body faster.
“
These are just some of the ways that Orica’s leadership
in technology is creating the future for our customers,”
Mr Pereira said.
An Orica mobile manufacturing unit (MMU)
truck delivering bulk explosives on site
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