WorldWide Drilling Resource

36 AUGUST 2019 WorldWide Drilling Resource ® The World’s First Electric Autonomous Blasthole Drill Adapted from Information by Boliden AB The world’s most efficient open-pit copper mine Aitik, owned by Boliden AB in northern Sweden, has been operating the world’s first electric autonomous blasthole drill in a test to see if the rest of the fleet should be upgraded. The mine currently uses electric manually operated drill rigs, but the results of this test may change things. Aitik Mine Manager Erik Jänkänpää introduced the idea of testing electric autonomous blasthole drilling, and a trial run was conducted. The test is being done in a three-year staged approach which began in April 2017. The first part involved tele- remote drilling with the results leading to stage 2, a trial of single line autonomous drilling. The third stage will evaluate the extent to which a whole pattern can be drilled with an electric autonomous drill. The drill, an Epiroc Pit Viper 351, is running successfully and achieving a 30% increase in productivity, compared to the manned equipment. In ad- dition to the success of the project, operators had a lot of positive feedback. Further testing will be done with the LTE network the mine is commissioning. The key performance indicators (KPIs) will be reviewed before the company decides whether to upgrade the remaining fleet, which could start as early as October. Shane Leighton, senior engineer technology/mine automation, explained how the trial represents a world first in using an autonomous electric Pit Viper drill. Other mining operations use the automated Pit Vipers which run on diesel. “There are quite a few mines in the world running diesel-powered automated drills; this is the first automated electric 351 Pit Viper. What we have learned from the trial in Aitik will support an upgrade to the . . . fleet in Kevitsa [another mine the company has in Finland] to an automated fleet that is scheduled to start in 2020,” he stated. The trial must achieve a number of KPIs covering safety, production, and arctic weather conditions before the company can decide to invest completely. “Since we have never used this type of technology before, we wanted to be 100% certain that we could be successful before deciding to upgrade our entire fleet of Pit Vipers. The trial addresses that,” explained Shane. Overview cameras mounted at various locations around the pit, along with four cameras on the drill itself, gives the operator a broad view of what is happening around the drill. It also uses a laser-based system to detect objects and a proximity detection solution to detect personnel; these require staff to wear a tag which will vibrate if they enter the drill pattern. EXB