Modern Mining July 2023

ESG considerations ESG is a fundamental element in the way that AECI Mining Explosives conducts business across all its operations and product ranges. Tenacious consideration is afforded to all three aspects of ESG – social, environmental and governance. With the DigiShot® Ranger, for example, the focus on safety and operational efficiency addresses the social part of ESG, while the improved blast efficiencies irrefutably contribute to the environmental aspect. Furthermore, excessive wastage is reduced through the long-range communications capabili ties of the device, which directly translates to the reduction of on-bench harness wire consumption. The detailed blast logs that are generated assist with governance by improving reporting and compliance. “At AECI Mining Explosives, our focus is

detonators. This enables storage of a wide vari ety of data on the detonator and tagger, including bench activity. The last detonator check function also ensures that all detonators on the string receive the blast command. “The new system keeps the portability and ease of-use of the original DigiShot® system requiring minimal training, but the DigiShot® Ranger doubles the detonator capacity (600 detonators vs the origi nal’s 300), and gives the operator flexible tagging options, plus automatic detonator detection,” says Pillay. LogShot® is a complementary software package that informs users of the blasting activity and allows operators to extract detailed, post-blast, activity logs. “This is very useful for consolidating the activity of the blast itself, along with the inventory management of detonators, while highlighting typical problems users may have experienced,” says Pillay. “The DigiShot® Ranger also logs user interface activity, which makes it easy to conduct operator safety audits as it can be used to determine if there is supplementary operator training required.” Customers can now easily build their very own blast library on ViewShot® Express, detailing blast design parameters, which may be used for future blasts in similar geological conditions during blast ing. This is an important safety aspect, but can also

on continuous improvement along the whole value chain,” says Pillay. “The DigiShot® Ranger evolution is just one example of the Company’s holistic and flexible approach, which aims to help customers on their unique journey to bet ter blasting outcomes.” 

help to improve operational efficiencies. Attention has been given to device ergonomics and user-friendliness, with the DigiShot® Ranger offering improve ments in both areas. The flexibility in tagging methods defines multiple options for the user to select when tag ging to allow for both traditional tagging (for users who are comfortable with this methodology), as well as the more mod ern tag-by plan option (where the blast design is created on the ViewShot® Express and downloaded to the CE4 tag ger via USB or WiFi). The latter allows for tagging on-bench with delay and location from the pre-designed blast plan, which mitigates user input errors. With smarter tagging methodologies, movement on the bench can be reduced and optimised. The tagger has been designed to function as an inherently safe device and cannot generate the required blast voltage or blast commands to initiate the blast – the blast command is stored in a Near Field Communication (NFC) Blast Card. “As a responsible supplier, we also focus on recovering equipment at the end of its life cycle, to manage the responsible disposal of the entire sys tem,” says Pillay.

Mobile Manufacturing Unit that forms part of the unique surface offering.

July 2023  MODERN MINING  9