Intellishot® delivers efficiency and safety in indonesia
AECI Mining Explosives’ IntelliShot® electronic blasting initiation system is delivering significant efficiency and safety improvements to Indonesia-based PT Kaltim Prima Coal (KPC), one of the largest open-pit mines in the world with coal resources of 9 275 million tonnes (Mt). Located close to Bengalon and Sangatta, East Kalimantan, the mine employs load and haul operations in numerous pits managed by two divisions: the Mining Operation Division (MOD) and the Contract Mining Division (CMD).
KPC commenced coal production in 1992. Today, it moves approximately 500 million bank cubic metres of overburden per year and produces 60Mt of coal. About 80% of the overburden requires drilling and blasting to enable excavation. (A bank cubic metre is the volume of the original rock in situ prior to blasting and excavation.)
Traditionally, the mine has used conventional non-electric initiation in its CMD area, where AECI Mining Explosives has been contracted as the blasting services provider since 2009. This method required a lead-in-line to be run from the blast location to the firing position. In 2017, this method consumed approximately 650 metres of lead-in-line per blast location. At the same time, high daily production targets set by KPC required multiple locations from where blasts could be initiated safely. This sometimes called for clever footwork, particularly in terms of moving expensive capital equipment, and resulted in the loss of production time.
AECI Mining Explosives suggested IntelliShot® as an alternative because it has the capability to initiate systems wirelessly (known as remote firing).
The AECI Mining Explosives team in Indonesia embarked on a carefully controlled trial to test the applicability of the system and to ensure that KPC got the full benefits.
Much-needed efficiencies were achieved by using a much shorter length of harness wire (100 metres versus 650 metres). The cost of blast initiation reduced by over 50%. Most importantly, the safety-related benefits were significant:
An advanced security system
The possibility to easily initiate the blast from longer and safer distances
The blaster is able to fire from locations that give greater visual security of the blast area during firing
“Snap, slap and shoot” is eliminated (“snap, slap and shoot” is possible when signal tube detonator plastic tubing is stretched to snapping point. When the plastic tubing recoils after snapping, it can initiate the thin layer of high explosives contained in the plastic tube and cause the detonator to fire or shoot.)
Yuli Prihartono, Drill & Blast Manager: KPC said that throughout the trial project, AECI demonstrated its capability to deliver an efficient and safe solution to KPC’s world-class operations. “Remote firing has successfully delivered quantifiable cost benefits among others. We expect to expand this initiative by introducing remote firing to all blast locations at CMD KPC.”