Epiroc Chile together with Antofagasta Minerals’ Los Pelambres copper mine recently undertook a project to automate the operation’s Pit Viper blasthole drill rig fleet. For ten years the companies have worked together with Epiroc fulfilling an equipment maintenance contract that they say has been characterised by operational discipline and collaboration, so this development was a natural one based on joint goals of greater safety and productivity.
Epiroc was able to upgrade relevant hardware and software on two of the mine’s “automation ready” Pit Viper 351 diesel blasthole drills. Edgardo Pabst, Minera Los Pelambres Autonomous Drilling Project Manager: “The project stems from the constant concern in the drilling and blasting area and among mine management to obtain operational improvements and constantly reevaluate our processes.” In 2018 it was first agreed to go teleremote and remove an operator from one of the Pit Viper 351 drills and transfer them to a control room 3 km away. This offered greater protection for the operator and increased productivity of the drilling process.
Epiroc Chile Drilling Solutions Business Manager Rodrigo Izzo: “Epiroc autonomous Pit Vipers as a product have the particular aspect of being mature in technology. We have been developing the hardware and software for many years so that these rigs can be retrofitted with the technology and operate without any problem.”
After planning the technology upgrade it was set as a goal to have the first Pit Viper 351 drilling rig in October 2019 independently drilling holes on its own which was successfully achieved. The second rig started operating autonomously in January 2020. Both units are the first to be fully automated by Epiroc in South America. Charlie Ekberg, Epiroc Chile Managing Director: “To have sustainable mines one has to ensure safety first to the operators and also make the job a little more stable.”
“It is key that the client is committed and that the work teams are committed to the project and this is the case with Los Pelambres mine,” says Carlos Valencia, Automation Manager at Epiroc Chile. “We have been given all the conditions to be able to do it in the best way.”
The customer values the 7 x 7 shifts of Epiroc’s services in the field since the specialists who operate there provide technical support, answer queries and facilitate the immediate solution to any problems.
“I am very happy with the support that Epiroc has given us since from the beginning when we started with the project, they provided us with Pedro Debia, Automation Engineer, who has been key to the development of the project right from the conception in the early phases when we were planning the implementation.” Debia comments: “Today we are in a process of ramp-up of autonomous drilling where we already know that the equipment works but we want to target efficiency.”
The full autonomy of the Pit Viper 351 units has allowed Los Pelambres mine to withdraw the operator’s face to face shifts and reduce the presence of the maintenance team in the drilling areas, reducing risk exposure times. The company has also been able to reduce evacuations due to blasting, while offering new professional opportunities to workers making transitions to the control room environment smoother.
Fabian Ortega Los Pelambres Drilling and Blasting Superintendent: “Continuity of drilling in both shift changes and hole charging periods is a major benefit we are seeing as we have won effectively three additional effective hours.”
Applied Epiroc technology includes fleet management software called Surface Manager. This means dashboard or remote monitoring in real time that integrates Auto-Level and Auto-Drilling. So the job goes from being less about physical operation to more of a process control role which requires more collaboration with other workers in the mining process and increases the productivity of the drilling process.
Ortega added: “For the operator, he or she is being moved out of the risk zone. In the control they are no longer exposed to noise, vibration and dust…and they have become managers instead of operators.”
Marcelo Pinto, Pit Viper operator at Los Pelambres: “The experience of working in the working mine to working in the control room has been a major change. Several factors are not present any more – such as noise, vibration and dust.”
Overall, the move for Los Pelambres means greater safety with remote operation of the drill from outside of the mine itself. There has been a clear improvement in utilisation in remote drilling versus manual. Productivity is up with increased drilling speed while there is greater hole depth precision and hole location accuracy. Lastly, maintenance costs are lower and drilling consumables like steels last longer.