Dyno Nobel Americas has announced value-added enhancements to its DynoConsult® business that, the company says, has a wider reach and includes programs to increase “saleable yield”, manage regulatory compliance and neighbour relations at customer sites, and reduce overall operating costs.

For more than 20 years, the DynoConsult team of experts has developed technical solutions to assist with customers’ operations.

The new and improved DynoConsult has specific offerings designed around improving blast performance through tried and true techniques, while collaborating with customers to meet specific blast outcome needs, the company says.

“The process begins with a rapid diagnostic assessment of the overall operation to determine cost drivers and potential areas for improvement,” Dyno Nobel Americas explained.

Drill hole planning and execution

Many customers experience poor field conditions and lack standard operating procedures, which prevent accurate drill-to-plan size, and angle and burden, the company explains.

“This results in sub-optimal blasting results, poor fragmentation, and excessive downstream costs (eg processing),” Dyno Nobel Americas said. “Expert assessments from DynoConsult of process deficiencies utilising a range of software and hardware measurement tools are part of the drill hole execution offering to measure drill-to-plan error and assist in implementing best practice methods.”

Optimisation tests look at the accuracy of drill-to-plan implementation, measurement of results downstream with telemetry, plant analytics, power consumption and other customer-specific metrics.

Detonation optimisation

Detonation issues, such as imprecise timing, vibration control, misfires and poor blast control are common for customers and can create operational inefficiencies, suboptimal throughput and safety hazards.

Dyno Nobel’s suite of detonation products and software services will be used by DynoConsult field engineers to enhance detonation practices and combat inefficiencies.

“Many of these software tools are proprietary and only available to DynoConsult team members,” the company said.

Explosive product selection

Some customers also face explosive selection issues that involve suboptimal choice or combination of explosives, services, and delivery systems that result in poor fragmentation or inefficient operations.

DynoConsult experts will prescribe the optimal explosive product(s) for the specific geological, logistical, or operational considerations of the site in order to optimise blast outcomes. “These recommendations are driven by evaluating overall operating costs and, specifically, costs downstream of the blasting process,” the company said.

Community relations and regulatory support

“Customers are often met with other issues involving safety, regulatory compliance, and surrounding community relationship issues dealing with vibration, fly rock and/or airblast,” Dyno Nobel said.

These issues can result in complaints from residential neighbourhoods or other problems, like on-site injuries, penalties, fines or shutdowns. DynoConsult experts can advise on mitigating issues with vibration, fly rock and overpressure that result in complaints. In addition, consultation on legal or regulatory issues can be provided with the intent of minimising disruptions to site operations or productivity levels, the company said.

Stockpile measurement

Measurement methods resulting in inconsistent volumetric accuracy, poor standardisation and substantial lag-time often strain customers’ ability to satisfy regulatory requirements. This impedes their ability to effectively manage inventory logistics.

The company said: “Using Dyno Nobel’s range of measurement software and drone imaging technology, a DynoConsult technical expert can provide stockpile measurement service that is accurate, fast, replicable and cost-effective.”

Fragmentation optimisation

“When customers have an overly aggressive or conservative drill plan, it results in suboptimal fragmentation,” Dyno Nobel says, explaining that optimal fragmentation must be defined by the customer and is unique to every operation, based on geologic conditions, local market and processing plant design.

“Limited onsite resources can make it difficult for customers to ensure equipment and resources are available in the right place at the right time,” the company said. “DynoConsult will use Dyno Nobel technologies and products to analyse baseline drill plans, identify inefficiencies and implement best practice solutions to provide site specific optimized fragmentation.”

Software solutions

DynoConsult now has the capability to offer Dyno Nobel’s full suite of technology applications and software. This includes tools like DataMiner, Dyno42, SignaShot and ShotReport.