Enhanced levels of safety and security. Faster charging. Simpler loading under extreme conditions. Greater advance per face. Less product inventory. And cost effective charging.
“It’s all about creating value for the customer,” says Jock Muir, Senior Vice President of Global Market Development for Dyno Nobel. “We supply state-of-the-art bulk emulsions and initiation systems. The challenge is to deliver this combination to customers where and when they need them in the most cost-effective manner.”
“In answering this challenge, we’ve developed a full range of explosives delivery systems. Each one has come about through what we call practical innovation -- the application of our global experience base to down-to-earth, day-to-day challenges that evolve to meet our customers needs. And these challenges are as diverse as our customer segments, multiplied by the full range of conditions we meet across the globe.”
Loading under extreme conditions
One of the most interesting examples of practical innovation as applied to explosives delivery systems is the Dyno Nobel DynoMiner TM – a rugged, compact bulk emulsion loading system that significantly increases the ease and efficiency of loading explosives underground. It is easily transported to the blasting face and then simply attached to the mine air supply.
The Doe Run Brushy Creek mine, an underground lead and zinc mine in South East Missouri, is experiencing the benefits of the DynoMiner first hand. The emulsion used with the DynoMiner, Dyno ® RU, is stored, handled and transported as a bulk product. Loading the boreholes uses a standard hose connected to the unit which is simply inserted into the hole prior to pumping the emulsion as a fully coupled product.
In fact, by using the Dyno Nobel DynoMiner, Doe Run is regularly able to load 180 holes and blast three headings a day. The mine reports reduced charging time, improved fragmentation and a reduction in the number of boreholes needed. All this in addition to the health benefits of a safe, quiet operation and a less demanding routine for operators at the site.
See the new Dyno Nobel ad that focuses on the Doe Run case study. It's now being profiled on our Website, www.dynonobel.com. (For easiest reading, Right Click on the website link and select "Open in a New Window".)
The Newcrest Telfer Project
A half a world away in the Great Sandy Desert of North West Australia, Dyno Nobel and the Byrnecut-RUC-Thyssen (BRT) (Telfer) Joint Venture worked together to excavate, support and line a 7.05 diameter vertical shaft to a depth of 1,100 meters at the Newcrest Mining Telfer Project.
Excavating and lining vertical tunnels is a difficult task. Traditionally shaft charging has relied on either cartridge or solid sensitized emulsions. Together Dyno Nobel and BRT customized the DynoMiner concept to this application in order to deliver a gas-sensitized emulsion to the shaft face. This compact unit runs off standard mine compressed air, pumps at a rate of 50 kg/min, and allows consistent gassing into the borehole.
The Telfer project realized the benefit of a dramatically improved round advance, and mucking and drilling times through efficient fragmentation of the blastholes using a fully coupled emulsion. The system also reduced the cost of explosive product at the face. All this in addition to the important impact of increased safety through reduced magazine storage of high explosives and less manual handling. The length of operator training was also reduced to a minimum due to the simplicity of operation.
Groundbreaking Performance
“In Dyno Nobel, we are helping to deliver increased productivity levels across all customer segments,” states Muir. “No matter what the segment – coal, metals, quarry, construction, tunneling – the Dyno Nobel approach to delivering value through practical innovation supports new levels of customer productivity.”
He notes that the Dyno Nobel DynoMiner is only one of a full range of delivery systems that includes: Site Sensitized Emulsion (SSE) and Site Mixed Emulsion (SME) vehicles, more compact and even more flexible modular Mini-SSE solutions, high volume AN auger delivery vehicles and systems specially designed for low density product delivery.
These are supported by the practical application of such Dyno Nobel innovations as automatic gassing systems, uphole gassing, differential loading, string loading (decoupled charge loading) and low density technology. Even in more traditional areas, Dyno Nobel applies its practical global experience base to deliver solutions under extreme conditions. One, for example, has the unique ability to handle both tropical wet and dry seasons. Another handles the extreme cold of the far north in Scandinavia.
“These are good examples of how Dyno Nobel can deliver groundbreaking performance through practical innovation,” states Muir.