Abstract

Data collected by 'intelligent' drills was used to construct a lithology-based local block model for a stope. 'Intelligent' drills, i.e. drills equipped with instrumentation on their drilling modules, are becoming increasingly prevalent in mines across Canada. While the intention of the instrumentation on the drill is to support automation-based functions such as single-hole automation drilling or fan-automation drilling, the digital data collected by the host and stored internally within the machine's data historian can be extracted either wirelessly  (utilizing a mine's digital connectivity via either LTE or WiFi) or manually (utilizing a USB stick). This data, commonly referred to as 'Measure-While-Drilling' data, or MWD data, is then imported onto a computer where it is filtered to include pertinent data. The relevant data - depth of hole, penetration rate, feed pressure, and rotation pressure - are extracted and separated based on drill hole ID. Using the collar coordinate file extracted for the stope planning file, 'X, Y, Z' coordinates are corresponded to their respective drill hole ID files. Trignometric manipulations are used to determine changes in the X and Z coordinates (assuming X-Z coordinate system) to digitally recreate the drilled hole. Penetration rate data is then composited into regular intervals. This process is repeated across the all drill hole ID files. The composited data is then imported into Deswik, or similar software, as a 'DRILL HOLE' file to be visualized. Based on visualization, different 'RINGS' are created based on known rock type data or simplified into 'ORE' and 'WASTE'. 'RINGS" are then connected using 'POLYLINES' and a 'SOLID' is created for each rock type. 'GEOTOOLS' within Deswik is then used for block model creation - block sizes, search ellipses, boundary boxes, etc. are all defined. ID or variant grade estimation techniques are used to determine grade within each block based on defined parameters. Finally, reporting tools are run to estimate tonnage and grade results for each rock type. The local block model is then used for blast planning purposes - to identify if it is economical to plan blasts to reduce, if not eliminate, the extraction of waste material as 'ore'.