Tag Archives: DD422i

Byrnecut progressing to ore production targets at B2Gold’s Wolfshag Underground mine

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The on-boarding of Byrnecut Offshore at B2Gold’s Otjikoto Mine has resulted in development rates in the Wolfshag Underground mine recovering, the Canada-based company said in its recently-released June quarter results.

Otjikoto produced 31,417 oz of gold in this quarter of 2022, 2,027 oz below budget, with the lower-than-budgeted gold production due to a slower than planned ramp-up in development of Wolfshag.

The company recently appointed Byrnecut as its new underground mining contractor as part of a $112 million contract. The agreement consists of both development and production, including a total of 10 km of development and a total material movement of 3.2 Mt.

The underground fleet at Wolfshag is mainly from Sandvik Mining & Rock Solutions and currently consists of one DD422i DC jumbo, one DD422i jumbo, two LH517i loaders, three TH551 trucks and a DL432i production drill rig.

B2Gold said development rates in the Wolfshag Underground mine recovered in the recent three-month period, with development ore now expected in the September quarter and stope ore production commencing in the December quarter.

“As a result of this change in ore production timing, the 2022 annual production guidance range for Otjikoto has been revised to between 165,000 and 175,000 oz of gold (original guidance range was between 175,000 and 185,000 oz of gold),” the company said.

As expected, compared with the June quarter of 2021, gold production was 17% higher due to significant waste stripping operations at both the Wolfshag and Otjikoto pits in the first half of 2021.

The initial underground mineral reserve estimate for the down-plunge extension of the Wolfshag deposit includes 210,000 oz of gold in 1.2 Mt of ore at 5.57 g/t Au.

Amalgamated Mining and Tunneling to supply Sandvik UG mining equipment in Canada

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Amalgamated Mining and Tunneling will carry Sandvik loaders, trucks, development drills and bolters to supply to customers in the Canadian market as part of a new alliance partnership.

Amalgamated Mining is an Edmonton-based company that supplies new and used equipment, equipment reconditioning, and parts for customers.

For over 30 years AMT has been an industry leader in providing creative options for equipment and parts to clients globally, according to Sandvik. With in excess of 300 machines in its inventory, AMT can supply clients with equipment requirements for a new mine or fleet expansions with various rental and finance options.

Sandvik’s underground mining equipment will be available to rent or on a rent-to-purchase basis from Amalgamated Mining and Tunneling under the new alliance partnership beginning in September 2021, the companies say.

“It was important that we partner with an OEM that has a diverse line of equipment with great support,” President of Amalgamated Mining Group, Tom Flanagan, says. “With Sandvik being an industry leader in equipment technology, it will allow us to offer more options to our clients.”

The company will now carry products like Sandvik’s DD422i (pictured), DD421, and DD212 development jumbos, DS311 and DS312 mechanised bolters, as well as a wide range of Sandvik’s loading and hauling equipment including popular i-series models like the LH517i loader and TH545i truck.

Sandvik’s recently released Dual Controls drilling package, developed in conjunction with Byrnecut Australia, will also be available from AMT. The package is available for DD422i and DD422iE development drills and permits operators to complete both standard face drilling and ground support.

Sandvik Canada Inc’s VP, Peter Corcoran, says: “This new partnership with Amalgamated will give Sandvik an expanded network to provide access to our technologically advanced equipment to a wider audience in Canada.

“Amalgamated has an existing network that nicely complements Sandvik’s and the customer service that Amalgamated is known for will make them an excellent partner to deliver Sandvik equipment to those customers; we are very excited to begin the journey with this organisation.”

Amalgamated will also offer used Sandvik equipment, refurbished with OEM genuine parts.

De Beers taps Sandvik expertise for Venetia underground diamond mine transition

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De Beers Group has ordered 19 units of high-tech equipment from Sandvik Mining and Rock Technology for its Venetia Underground Project (VUP), in South Africa.

According to Simon Andrews, Managing Director at Sandvik Mining and Rock Technology Southern Africa, the company will supply a range of intelligent equipment including LHDs, ADTs, twin-boom drill rigs, roof bolters and cable bolters. Amongst the advanced models are the 17 t LH517i and 21 t LH621i LHDs, 51 t TH551i ADTs, DD422i face drills, DS412i roof bolters and DS422i cable bolters.

Partnership will be the watchword in the technological collaboration between the global diamond leader and mining OEM.

South Africa’s largest diamond mine, Venetia has been mined as an open pit since 1992. De Beers Group is investing circa-$2 billion to start mining underground from 2022, extending the mine’s life beyond 2045. The VUP represents the biggest single investment in South Africa’s diamond industry in decades, according to the company.

Allan Rodel, Project Director of the VUP, says the use of new technology is critical in building the mine of the future and will ensure the safety of its people, as well as create unique employment opportunities.

He adds that the successful implementation of this technology holds the key to further improve the mine’s productivity and cost effectiveness, enabling the quality and accuracy required for precision mining. This will also provide real-time geospatially referenced data that supports digitalisation of processes and provide a wealth of data for analysis and continuous improvement.

The underground mine will use sublevel caving to extract material from its K01 and K02 orebodies. Initially the ore will be hauled to surface using a combination of underground and surface haul trucks. As the operation matures, the hauling systems will transition to an automated truck loop in combination with vertical shafts for steady state production.

Sandvik’s Andrews said: “As important as the equipment itself is, De Beers Group was looking to partner with a company who would support them through the VUP journey. Taking a mine from surface to underground has many challenges, including the change in operational philosophy.”

Andrews highlighted that change management processes are as crucial to success as the capacity and performance of the mining equipment. The implementation of the new technology is seldom a straightforward process, and always requires a collaborative effort.

“The expectation of the customer is for a strong relationship with a technology partner who will help them to apply, develop and fine-tune the systems they need, over a period of time,” he says. “This way, the technology is assured to deliver the safety, efficiency and other positive results that the new mine will demand.”

Andrews believes Sandvik Mining and Rock Technology leads the pack from a technology point of view, having introduced its intelligent i-Series machines to enhance remote operation capability. This advanced range combines automation with data management capacity, aligning with the philosophy that De Beers Group has applied to this world-class operation, which prioritises the safety of its people.

Also included in the package for VUP is the Sandvik OptiMine® control system which enables continuous process management and optimisation, focusing on key areas such as face utilisation and visualisation of the operation in near real time. Using data generated by the i Series machines, OptiMine helps mining operations to achieve the lowest operating costs and highest levels of productivity.

Andrews noted that Sandvik Mining and Rock Technology is not new to the Venetia site, having worked with Venetia’s surface operations for some years, providing tools for drilling as part of a performance contract.

“We’ve been following the VUP with great interest and were ideally placed to contribute as we have extensive South African experience with mining customers in transitioning from opencast to underground,” he said. “This has involved providing equipment, implementing the systems and getting a full operation running with the latest equipment.”

He added: “Sandvik Mining and Rock Technology has successfully completed numerous large and ambitious projects, and it reflects our experience in applying automation technologies from first principles. The learnings from these projects will be seen in the VUP as the mining systems are rolled out. We will take the very latest technology and assist the mine to implement it in an underground environment through a collaborative approach using local skills and supporting it from a local base of expertise.”

He emphasises that the automation will be applied through a phased approach, beginning with manual operation and closely monitoring performance through data analytics. Automation can be gradually introduced with the necessary training and experience, ensuring consistency of operation which is the key to success.

“This will allow costs to be driven steadily lower, using the data from the operation of the fleet to guide the transition to automation,” he says. “We will work with the mine to introduce automation and further data management as work progresses deeper into the mine, and as mine employees become more comfortable with this way of working.”

Sandvik Mining and Rock Technology (soon to be Sandvik Mining and Rock Solutions) is geared to support the trackless systems implemented at the mine through the full lifecycle of the machines by supplying spare parts, tooling and components from an on-site Vendor Managed Inventory stockroom and its other South African based facilities.

Sandvik to expand battery-powered drilling range with DL422iE & DS412iE

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Having electrified its DD422i development drill, Sandvik Mining and Rock Technology is now looking to extend its battery technology to two more of its intelligent drills: the DL422iE top hammer longhole drill and the DS412iE rock bolter.

During the Innovation in Mining virtual event this week, it came to light that the company is currently testing a battery-equipped prototype DL422iE unit in Canada ahead of a planned launch in the March quarter of 2021.

It will be joined later in 2021 by the DS412iE rock bolter which, with the existing DD422iE drill, provides a full range of electric drills for all applications; all of which offer battery-powered tramming and carry out bolting or drilling when connected to mains electric power.

These newest battery-powered vehicles are based on the DD422iE technology with intelligent control system and a wide range of automatic functions, engineered to provide top-level performance, accuracy and reliability, the company says.

Byrnecut, OZ Minerals and Sandvik achieve teleremote drilling first

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Contract miner Byrnecut Australia has become the first underground operator in the world to successfully use a new automation and teleremote package for Sandvik development drills.

Byrnecut introduced a Sandvik DD422i development drill featuring the package to OZ Minerals’ Prominent Hill gold-copper mine, southeast of Coober Pedy, South Australia, in March.

With COVID-19 travel restrictions preventing Sandvik staff from attending site, Byrnecut, OZ Minerals and Sandvik experts collaborated via phone, teleconference and email to complete remote commissioning of the rig.

The two-boom rig, which can be monitored and controlled from the surface and features a sophisticated boom-collision-avoidance system, has now been in operation for three weeks, according to the companies.

Byrnecut Australia Managing Director, Pat Boniwell, says the new automation features allow for enhanced drill operation across shift changes – a period when, historically, development drilling has stopped or been significantly reduced.

“We’re conservatively looking at a 10% increase in productivity with this machine through being able to drill extra holes and the machine being used more consistently,” he said. “It picks up on the deadtime, and if it does stop for any reason we’re able to remotely reset it.”

The new boom collision avoidance system means both of the rig’s drill booms can be left in operation during shift change – something that was previously not possible. In the first few weeks of operation, the drill has been able to drill 60-70 holes while being operated autonomously and remotely from surface, the companies said.

General Manager of OZ Minerals Prominent Hill operations, Gabrielle Iwanow, says when Byrnecut approached her about trialling the upgraded development drill, she was immediately interested.

“OZ Minerals is a modern mining company,” she said. “We’re interested in innovation and looking for safer, faster, and more efficient ways of doing our work.”

Iwanow said the commissioning of the drill in such trying times is a true credit to all those involved and the positive working relationship between OZ Minerals, Byrnecut and Sandvik.

Byrnecut Drill Master, Noah Wilkinson, says a solid working relationship with Sandvik and good communication contributed to the success of the commissioning.

“People from the Sandvik factory in Finland were able to remote into the machine over the internet and adjust settings that were stopping some of the functions from working,” he explained.

Sandvik’s Global Account Manager for Byrnecut, Andrew Atkinson, paid credit to Byrnecut’s openness to adopting autonomous technologies in areas including development drilling, loader operation, production drilling and ore trucks, which are all engineered for compatibility with Sandvik’s AutoMine® and OptiMine® products.

In addition to the collision avoidance and teleremote capabilities of the DD422i, the new automation package allows for semi-autonomous bit changing.

Another handy feature of the setup during the current period of social distancing has been the virtual network computing capability that allows the control panel of the drill to be viewed remotely on a tablet. This means that during operator training, the instructor need not be in the cabin with the operator.