Modern Mining February 2019

PRODUCT News

Epiroc anchors down on safety

sive results. The average cycle time for the complete installation of a 3m cable anchor, which included the mechanised drilling of the hole, the injection of the grout, and the insertion, kinking and cutting of the cable, as well as moving on to the next hole, was under 10minutes and the cycle time to drill and install a 6 m cable was sub 20 minutes. With its easy to install rope anchors ranging from 1,6 m up to 6 m in length, the Cabletec SL is able to meet the differ- ent secondary support requirements with different lengths of rope anchor support prescribed by rock engineering depart- ments. “Historically, the contractor crew had to stop the areas requiring support for one to two weeks but, with the use of the Cabletec SL, time can be reduced by up to a quarter,” explains Main. The rugged machine, which can be adapted for different orebodies, comprises the new COP 628 hydraulic rock drilling unit, a cable/grouting head, a cement/ grout mixing unit and a bolting cable reel. Designed for high production vol- umes in a low profile mining height, the COP 628 assists in elevating the machine’s performance owing to its immediate penetration rate. Epiroc South Africa, tel (+27 11) 821-9000 accurate drilling and angle of the holes, as well as explosives initiating timing configu- rations, remain key to any successful blast. The trials had no misfires or cut-offs and competitive pricing made for a compelling purchasing decision by the mine. Solar’s Superpower 80 cartridge product report- edly ticked all the boxes with regards to excellent fragmentation and dig ability. Superpower 80 is a strong, flexible, light-

Epiroc understands that safety and pro- ductivity are fundamental to a mine’s sustainable future and this was the inspira- tion behind the design and development of the latest ground-breaking fully mecha- nised Cabletec SL. Featuring advanced automation tech- nology, this fully mechanised and versatile cable bolting machine eliminates the need for potentially hazardous and time con- suming hand-held drilling and manual installation of mechanical anchors by per- forming these processes remotely. The Cabletec SL also reduces the

number of operators required to install mechanical anchors to a maximum of two people who are able to operate the machine safely from a canopy or via Bluetooth remote control technology. Remote functions include changing the drill steel and inserting the grout and bolt into the hole. “Operators are therefore not placed at risk as they are completely removed from under unsuppor ted ground,”notes AndrewMain, Business Line Manager for Epiroc’s Underground Rock Excavation (URE) division. The Cabletec SL is able to drill and install cable anchors from 3 000 mm up to 6 000 mm in length in the hanging wall. “The ability to drill and support 6 000 mm horizon- tal holes is a major benefit in pillar operation, strapping pillars in a room as well as truss applications,” observes Main. The machine installs cable in a 2 000 mm to 3 000 mm heading which can be extending to 4 000 mm by fitting a longer stinger. The Cabletec SL reportedly aced a recent trial test in a local platinum mine, achieving extremely impres- were used; all the other parameters were kept the same so that explosives perfor- mance could be measured. This allowed for fair comparisons to be established with the previous product as a benchmark.The report provided recommendations for improve- ment and initiatives to be considered by the mine for further optimisation purposes. It is common knowledge that properly designed drilling patterns, hole marking,

Epiroc’s Cabletec SL fully mechanised cable bolting machine.

Solar Mining concludes successful underground trials Solar Explosives was recently afforded an opportunity to trial cartridge product at one of Africa’s leading mining companies. The project scope was to validate Solar’s products based on overall performance – i.e. fit for purpose explosives at competitive prices. The blast performance evaluation report was prepared detailing the results and findings of the trials. Only the Solar Mining Services products

weight and cost competitive product. Solar Mining Services, website: www.solargroup.com

42  MODERN MINING  February 2019