Epiroc is bringing a proven underground safety technology to surface mines across the world.
When it comes to mining, drill and blast remains the most effective way to unlock orebodies and move earth.
But as effective as the results may be, the process can be a dangerous one, and that’s why mine sites go to great lengths to ensure people and assets are clear from the blast.
On a medium- or large-scale mine site with many employees, this preparatory work is time-consuming.
“It generally takes a long time to ensure that an area is cleared,” Epiroc business line manager digitalisation Andreas Prill told Safe to Work.
“Sometimes hundreds of people need to be accounted for, and the blast area needs to be visually inspected often to ensure nobody is left behind.
“This results in inefficiencies, under-utilisation of resources, reduction of production output, and reduced safety at the blast.”
But what if there was a faster and safer way of preparing an area for blasting?
That was the question pondered by the minds at Epiroc. Their answer? That the foundational technology already existed in the company’s own portfolio, and it just needed a little recalibrating for surface operations.
So it was that Epiroc coupled its proven underground safety technology, Mobilaris Situation Awareness, with new technological developments. The result was Blast Support, a new-generation safety solution for surface mining.
“Blast Support can tell in real-time whether an area is safe to blast or not,” Prill said.
“It works by assigning Wi-Fi or LTE [long-term evolution] tags to people in the mine and utilising open-space positioning and satellite imaging to create a 3D map of the blast area, including surface blast zones and tunnels.
“With these two tools, we are able to create different blasting and clearance areas and the system can account of everybody in real-time.”
Blast Support is a modular addition to Mobilaris Situation Awareness, which allows live tracking of people and 3D visualisation, as well as the ability to send zone-based messages. This not only includes 3D mapping of the blast area but also other hazardous areas such as where there is a risk of rockfall or land slide.
With Blast Support and Zone-Based Messaging, a site can map out danger zones, monitor the position of warnings or alarms to those workers to clear the area. The new system is also technology-agnostic, making it compatible with various LTE networks and tags, including Epiroc’s virtual tag, an application for Android smartphones.
Prill said it’s important for Blast Support to be interoperable with third-party communication infrastructure already in place at mine sites, allowing for simple integration and reduced capital expenditure.
“Blast Support reduces time for blasts by ensuring that all personnel and equipment are cleared from the area on time,” Prill said. “And, most important of all, it provides another layer of safety for workers.”
The foundational technology has been on the market for over a decade and deployed at more than 40 sites around the world.
“Although open-pit mining faces different challenges than underground operations, it also shares many similarities,” Prill said.
“We are now unleashing battle-proven solutions from underground mines to create new values for surface mines.”
Epiroc has not stepped onto this path lightly. The ability to map people and assets on a surface mine in 3D is a significant achievement; it lets command centres track the precise position of workers, including at depth, which is particularly relevant when conducting blast work at a tiered pit.
“We believe that Blast Support is second to none,” Prill said.
“Blast Support avoids this limitation. It is not a trivial thing to define a 3D space in a virtual map, which then reflects an exclusion zone for blasting.
“Epiroc has years of experience in underground blast safety, and with Blast Support we have brought this important technology to the surface.”
Epiroc’s Blast Support strikes an ideal balance between safety and speed in blasting operations. And with the technology’s proven history underground, Epiroc’s rise into surface mining is sure to kick off with a bang.
This feature also appears in the July-August issue of Safe to Work.