BlastIQ™ Underground Desktop - Firing holes multiple times

Last updated

Application:

BlastIQ™ Underground Desktop

Version:

1.4.4 and above

KBA Summary:

This KBA will explain how users can create a new plan from an existing plan using BlastIQ™ Underground Desktop to support workflows which require partial firings of holes, like rise firings or VCR mining methods.

Introduction

In some rises or vertical crater retreat (VCR) drill and blast methods, blastholes can be fired multiple times. This is done by charging "lifts" (partial firings), i.e. loading bulk explosive to a desired horizon or RL which does not consume the full length of the hole. An example of this is shown in the image below.  There are 3 firings, F1, F2 and F3, in this rise. F1 is fired first, then F2, and the last blast (in this example) is F3. The horizons for F1, F2 and F3 are 20m, 10m and 0m respectively.

Importantly, for firing holes in this way requires different handling of reporting data and metrics. Typically, design metres and drill metres need to only be accounted for once. By "reusing" these blast holes, BlastIQ™ will flag the holes to indicate that design and drill metres should only be counted once on the first plan. It will also establish a link between holes in a plan, so that previous comments that have been captured are visible in subsequent plans.

When to use this feature

Use this functionality if:

  • you don't want duplicate design or drill metres displayed in BlastIQ™ Insights for these blasts, and 

  • you want to maintain the history of hole comments through F1, F2, ..., FN.

Configuration
  1. Holes can only be reused in a new plan on the same BlastIQ™ site.
  2. The source plan must already exist on BlastIQ™.
How to reuse holes

To create a plan from existing holes (i.e. reuse holes) in BlastIQ™ Underground Desktop:

  1. Ensure that the source plan exists in BlastIQ™ and has been loaded in the BlastIQ™ Underground Desktop. 
  2. Using the lasso tool, select the holes to be reused in the main window. 
  3. To initiate the Reuse Holes workflow:
    1. After selecting holes, right-click to open the context menu and select Reuse Holes from the menu, or
    2. Navigate to the Tools tab on the Ribbon and select the Reuse Holes button. 
  4. If you have more than one plan loaded into the application, you will asked to confirm the source plan. Select a plan, then select Next.
  5. The holes must be synced with BlastIQ™ before proceeding to the next step. This is to ensure that all hole and comment data exists in BlastIQ™. Select Yes to proceed.
  6. Provide the details for the new plan by:
    1. Specifying a name for the plan, and
    2. [Optional] Selecting a plan group label for the plan. If the source plan has been assigned a label, this will pre-populate. Otherwise select from an existing label using the dropdown or by typing a new label.
  7. Configure the holes:
    1. Modify hole selection by using the:
      1.  Select All and Deselect All buttons to include or exclude all holes, 
      2. Ring level checkboxes to select all or deselect all holes in a ring, or
      3. Hole level checkboxes to select or deselect individual holes.
    2. The hole table displays:
      1. Hole diameter,
      2. Previous Charge Collar for the loading design applied to the hole, to help indicate where holes might break back to after firing
      3. The most recent Length for the holes, which is the best available length. 

      4. The New Length for the holes.

        Best Available Hole Lengths

        The best available value for a property is the first available from the following sources: 

        1. A field measurement, 
        2. A drilling system measurement, 
        3. A drilling system adjusted design, or 
        4. A design created by an engineer in a blast design package.
    3. Specify the new hole length by:
      1. Entering a value in the New Hole Length field. This will apply to all selected holes.
      2. Using the New Length table field to make individual adjustments on a hole by hole basis. This can be helpful if there are some holes that are were not charged in the previous firing and the length should remain the same.
      3. Note: Application applied values are italicised and user defined values are not.
  8. Once all required fields have been completed, click Create Plan to proceed.
  9. You will see a screen that shows the progress of the Reuse Holes operation. If there are any errors during the operation they will be displayed here. You will be provided with the option to Retry, or Go Back to the previous screen and change your specifications. 
  10. A successful Reuse Holes operation will show the successful steps, and provide you with the option to start a new move rings operation via the Start Over button or exit the wizard via the Finish button.
  11. Once you have exited the wizard, the main window will show the destination plan, and hide the source plan. Use the eye icons in the project manager to toggle plan visibility.

     
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