Magnetics Business & Technology - November/December 2024 - 7

FEATURE ARTICLE
The new systems are also equipped with digital technology to allow
advanced features including digital inventory management,
delay adjustments before blasting, an improved user interface and
increased quality assurance. Reliability is further improved with
primers designed to endure even greater dynamic pressure.
Real world impact at Outokumpu's Kemi mine in Finland
The effectiveness of WebGen technology was demonstrated recently
at Outokumpu's Kemi mine in Finland. The mine faced a
specific challenge in recovering ore from the crown pillar between
their open-pit and underground workings. Traditional blast designs
often left substantial amounts of ore stranded or inaccessible,
while standard initiation systems required workers to enter potentially
dangerous areas.
WebGen specialist assembling the antenna at mine site.
The system is offered as a service operated by Orica technicians
and specialists. Before deployment, they conduct a signal survey
to determine the practical operational range of the magnetic induction
signal in the local host rock. Signal range primarily depends
on mineralogy.
The latest addition to Orica's initiating systems technology portfolio
is the WebGen 200 Underground Pro, the world's first truly wireless
initiating system for underground mining. This second-generation
technology has profound implications for the industry - enhancing
safety, increasing productivity and reducing operating costs.
Orica made the commercial release of WebGen 200 Surface last
year. It was developed based on the success of more than 5,000
WebGen 100 blasts around the world, containing over 150,000
primers. The system even enables customers to operate their
blasting during the lightning storm season or turning a loaded blast
into a temporary haul road because of its schedule flexibility feature.
It also permits safe passage of mining equipment over loaded
blastholes by maintaining parallel mining, drilling and loading
activities which can significantly increase the vertical advance of
surface mines. Production delays associated with exclusion zones
around loaded blast patterns during lightning storms can also be
eliminated.
Orica worked with Kemi to introduce a novel crown pillar blasting
technique that allowed for pre-charging of parallel rings of blast
holes, elimination of the need for workers to enter hazardous areas
and enhanced ore recovery by removing unrecoverable wedges
left by fan-shaped rings. The results were remarkable: ore recovery
exceeded the budget by 92%; total stope volume mined surpassed
the plan by 80%; waste extraction was less than 40% of
the initial projection.
Founded in 1874 as a supplier of explosives to the Victorian gold
fields in Australia, Orica has grown to become one of the world's
leading mining and infrastructure solutions providers, also serving
quarry, construction and oil & gas operations with explosives,
blasting systems, specialty mining chemicals and digital intelligence
products and services. There are about 13,000 employees
globally. See www.orica.com/wireless.
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The system encoder is used to program the primer with encryption
codes, blast ID and delay times
www.ITG-Electronics.com
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November/December 2024 * Magnetics Business & Technology 7
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Magnetics Business & Technology - November/December 2024

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