Strayos and CR Digital have announced a new integration project that will see CR Digital’s Thunderbird 1110 drill optimisation system combined with Strayos blast design and optimisation tools.

This integration will allow mines to leverage the “as drilled” StrataSense measure-while-drilling (MWD) sensor data from Thunderbird 1110 within the Strayos blast design platform to tailor explosives to local rock conditions to achieve improved fragmentation at reduced costs, according to the companies.

CR Digital’s Thunderbird 1110 is an OEM-agnostic drill guidance and strata measurement system that can be installed on a wide range of production drill rigs. It assists operators in the cab and captures rich MWD data at every 100 mm interval down the borehole. These parameters can be used to infer geological characteristics such as rock hardness using trained algorithms.

Strayos is a mining artificial intelligence platform with a suite of drill and blast design tools. Users can create optimised pattern layouts and charging designs based on drone survey data. The platform automatically assesses blast fragmentation and heave performance from post blast surveys, and then uses artificial intelligence to learn how to improve future blasts, Strayos says.

The integration between Thunderbird 1110 via CR Digital’s Orion Data API and the Strayos platform will provide powerful geo-contextual information to enhance the blast optimisation process for joint customers of both companies, they said. Connecting the granular information on borehole rock properties with the shot design and performance will allow mines to determine exactly which explosives work best in which conditions. This enables explosive energy to be properly matched with rock conditions at each depth interval within the hole, ensuring optimal fragmentation in hard zones and preventing over blasting in soft zones.

In addition, operations using the Stayos blast design tools will now be able to issue the drill patterns directly to the Thunderbird 1110 drill optimisation system, so drill rig operators have the very latest drill hole geometry available on-board, ready for accurate drilling using the Thunderbird 1110 onboard user interface and guidance.

The integrations will be available to mines, quarries, and drilling/blasting service providers across all regions in the June quarter of this year.