Modern Mining December 2018

COVER STORY

Orica rolls out its latest digital technology in Africa

ASX-listed Orica, the biggest global supplier of commercial explosives, is introducing its next generation BlastIQ™ digital blast optimisation platform to the African market. According to Ravi Moodley, Orica’s Vice President Africa, the new generation platform – which has already been selected by clients in the African region – will be officially launched in early 2019. “BlastIQ™ is an incredible suite of technologies with the potential to revolutionise the field of blasting,” he says. “It offers our mining customers the opportunity to significantly reduce costs and improve productivity in their drill and blast operations.”

B lastIQ™ is the latest ver- sion of Orica’s cloud- based digital platform, which is designed to op- timise blasting outcomes by integrating data and insights from digitally connected technologies across the drill and blast process. The

Ravi Moodley, Orica’s Vice President Africa.

platform delivers sustainable improvements that reduce the overall cost of drill and blast operations by eliminating rework, excess drilling and explosives consumption. It also enables greater productivity through autono- mous and seamless data transfer between blast engineers and field crews. Moodley believes that BlastIQ™ reaffirms Orica’s reputation as a world leader in the explosives and blasting industry. “Not only is Orica the biggest group of its type in the world but it is also a leader in technology, with more than 140 years of investment and experience in innovation,” he says. “It is acknowledged as an innovator and pace-setter and main- tains five major technical centres across the world. It also has a tradition of collaborating with world-leading research bodies such as the CSIRO in Australia and universities such as the University of Newcastle in Australia and the University of Cambridge in the UK.” One of the group’s technology achieve- ments over the past few years has been the development of the Ultra High Intensity Blasting technique (UHIB), which produces finer ore and has a highly positive impact on

the downstream comminution processes of crushing and milling. More recently, Orica has introduced WebGen™, the world’s first truly wireless electronic blasting system, which not only removes people from harm’s way but is seen as a critical step towards full automation of underground mining operations. Tracing its roots back to the 1870s when it was founded as a supplier of explosives to the Victorian gold fields in Australia, Orica – which has its head office in Melbourne – has traded under its current name since 1997 (it was pre- viously known as ICI Australia). In its 2018 financial year, it had revenues of A$5,4 bil- lion and employed more than 11 500 people. Comments Moodley: “To give you an idea of the scale of Orica, we operate in around 100 countries around the world and have employ- ees on more than 400 customer sites.” Moodley stresses that the highest standards of safety are absolutely core to Orica’s business philosophy. “There is no other higher priority within the group,” he states. “Safety always comes first and indeed it is a value that is formally enshrined in Orica’s Charter. Our com- mitment to the safety, health and well-being of

16  MODERN MINING  December 2018