Tag Archives: D Scott Scovira

BME brings technical blasting services online

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Omnia Group company, BME, says it is now providing technical blasting services online, giving the industry access to experienced specialists through virtual consultations and solutions.

The service is an important part of BME’s recently upgraded website, according to the company’s Global Manager for Blasting Science, D Scott Scovira.

“Our online technical blasting service is provided not only by BME’s in-house technical staff, but it is also in association with other recognised third-party specialists in blasting, mining and construction,” Scovira said. “The initial online consultation to discuss and scope out a blasting project is at no charge, and the service is not limited to existing BME clients only.”

The range of services offered include blast fragmentation distribution prediction for surface greenfield sites, fragmentation distribution optimisation for supporting mine-to-mill initiatives at established surface and underground sites, and rock characterisation and specifications for blasting in hot or reactive ground. The team are also able to provide solutions related to highwall blast design and management, as well as novel and disruptive blast design and mining methods, it said.

BME ups blast design ante with new mobile app

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BME has launched a new, free Blasting Guide application for Android mobile devices that, it says, enables users to rapidly calculate and check blast designs.

Currently available for download from the Google Play Store, the new BME Blasting Guide mobile app replaces traditional paper booklets carried and referenced by in-field users, BME says. It includes a blast design calculator, quick calculators and prediction calculators. Other app features include surface blast design rules of thumb, environmental guidelines, a table of common rock properties and a BME contact directory per country.

“The new app is an integral part of BME’s pioneering approach to harnessing the power of digital technology in the blasting sector,” Christiaan Liebenberg, Software Product Manager at BME, said. “This platform gives our Blasting Guide a mobility and ease of use that makes a blasting engineer’s job easier and more productive.”

Liebenberg said that while the app is not a blast design tool, it is a powerful means of verifying blast design outputs and making important blast planning decisions.

BME Global Manager Blasting Science, D Scott Scovira, said the blast design calculator is a series of guiding formulas that allows a blaster or engineer to plan a blast from start to finish.

“The blast design calculator utilises user inputs including burden, spacing, stemming height, sub-drill, hole diameter, bench height and explosive type to determine explosive loads, powder factors and other outputs,” Scovira said. “It could be used, for example, to investigate potential blast patterns for a greenfield site, where numerous scenarios can be quickly generated and calculations checked.”

Scovira added that the rules of thumb table – which summarises surface blast design guidelines – can be referenced by users as they access the blast design calculators.

The quick calculator includes a BME in-house formula for the target powder factor, as well as calculations related to the volume of rock to be blasted – either volume per hole or volume per blast, BME said.

There are energy equations to compare different types of explosives based on their relative bulk strength, while hole-charging equations determine the mass of explosives going into a hole and address loading with gassed emulsion products, according to the company. This helps determine column lengths and stemming lengths – with gassed and ungassed explosives.

“The app’s prediction calculators include estimation of peak particle velocity and maximum charge weight per delay based on industry standard scaled distance equations and user defined ground transmission constants,” BME said.

One of the prediction calculators can provide the user with guidance in estimating the blast clearance radius. This is based on maximum projected rock throw, calculated from scaled depth of burial equations and parameters. The scaled depth of burial equations and parameters are propriety to world recognised blasting consultant R Frank Chiappetta of Blasting Analysis International Inc and used by BME with permission, the company clarified.

“In line with its strategic commitment to collaboration in the digital space, BME engaged VIGA Interactive to create a world-class user experience and design, as well as Sympl Technology Solutions for the development work,” Liebenberg said.

BME looks to improve load and haul efficiency with new BLASTMAP tool

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As part of its continuous development of digital solutions, BME says it has further enhanced its BLASTMAP™ blast planning tool with an added burden relief timing module.

D Scott Scovira, Global Manager Blasting Science at BME, said this new burden relief feature gives the blaster better control over the shape and movement of the blasted rock muck pile, adding that this has knock-on benefits for the excavation fleet.

“If the mine is using a loader and truck fleet, for instance, the blasted rock will need to be laid out lower – and longer burden relief times tend to be used in the blast,” he said. “For a truck and shovel configuration, on the other hand, the muck pile would need to be stacked up higher, usually requiring tighter burden relief times.”

The new feature augments a range of BLASTMAP tools that have added value to BME’s customers for many years, integrating with BME’s AXXIS™ and XPLOLOG™ systems, the company said.

AXXIS allows blast technicians to program a detonator with the desired time delay, while XPLOLOG allows users to view, capture and sync drill and blast data to a cloud database for real-time access to preparation progress on the blast block.

BLASTMAP allows for initiation timing design, initiation sequence simulation, blasthole loading design, fragmentation distribution predictions, vibration prediction and blasted rock range prediction.

BME said: “While initiation timing design enables the design of blast initiation sequences and facilitates programming of the AXXIS system, the initiation sequence simulation allows the user to check for correct hole firing sequence and pick up any potential out-of-sequence firings. The blasthole loading design module – covering the explosive load, booster and initiation system – is also capable of designing decked hole loading.”

For fragmentation prediction – where one of three equations may be chosen – the software allows site-specific or general rock properties to be entered into an editable rock properties database, according to BME. Additionally, the fragmentation models may be calibrated with data from physical fragmentation distribution measurements.

Scovira said: “Fragmentation distribution is vital to quality blasting, going hand in hand with a mine’s machine productivity in loading and hauling. One step further is to optimise fragmentation distribution for the crushing and milling circuit, to improve throughput and recoveries.”

The vibration prediction tool, which generates a predictive isomap of vibration levels around the blast, ensures that blast vibrations do not exceed regulatory or self-imposed environmental constraints, the company said. BLASTMAP also includes an advance through-seam design module, to design explosive loads and initiation times in multiple dipping coal strata.

And BLASTMAP can use data from a range of sources, according to Tinus Strauss, Senior Software Engineer at BME.

“Data can easily be imported from third-party software through our import wizard,” Strauss said. “This allows any text-based file to be used – as well as specific formats like DXF files – conveying data on parameters such as block-out lines on benches, hole depths and charge.”