Tag Archives: StrataSense

Strayos and CR Digital look to enhance blast optimisation process with product integration

Mining equipment, Mining services, Mining software, , , , , , ,

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.

Mining3’s ‘Top of Coal’ tech heads for commercialisation with CR Digital pact

Coal technology, Explosives and blasting, Mining services, Mining techniques, Steel and iron ore, , , , , , , , , ,

Mining3’s “Top of Coal” technology is heading for commercialisation after the company signed an agreement with CR Digital for the next phase of the innovation’s development.

The announcement comes on the back of promising new results delivered from the most recent trial in the Bowen Basin of Queensland, where the technology was tested over 12 weeks and collected downhole data from over 250-plus boreholes, the companies said.

“Accurately detecting the approaching top of a coal seam prior to blasting is fundamental to efficient coal recovery,” Mining3 and CR Digital said. “During the extraction stage, a significant percentage (up to 12%) of overall coal loss is attributable to blast damage and coal dilution, which then makes it difficult to separate the coal cleanly from the waste during both overburden excavation and coal processing. By eliminating the damage done to the top of seam, substantial increases in recovery are enabled.”

With support from ACARP, Mining3 has been developing a measurement while drilling (MWD) system that detects the top of a coal seam while routinely drilling blast holes.

During the drilling process, the detection system uses resistance measurements ahead of the drill bit to detect approaching coal in real time. This method of detecting “Top of Coal” brings significant benefits to surface mining operations, Mining3 says, including:

  • Providing a reliable indication of the approach to “Top of Coal” that will enable drilling to be stopped before touching coal or at a minimum standoff distance;
  • Increase production by reducing damage to coal from blasting; and
  • Strata recognition and mapping during routine blasthole drilling.

The system can also be retro fitted to a standard rotary air blast drill rig.

CR Digital, part of the global CR Group, is now working with Mining3 on the commercialisation of the technology, and the integration of the Top of Coal technology into its technology portfolio.

Together, CR Digital and Mining3 see potential for the technology to be an extension to the Thunderbird 1110 and StrataSense products within the CR Digital portfolio.

“Collectively, this agnostic range can be retrofitted to any rotary air blast drill rig and is intended to build on the StrataSense capability of CR Digital, to compile a three-dimensional understanding of the bench and coal seam in real time,” the companies said.