Blasting specialist Orica and Caterpillar are teaming up to improve real-time data exchange and integrate workflows across the mining value chain. The collaboration is aimed at providing miners with intelligence to improve decision-making and optimize their entire operations.
The mining industry has started to unlock the potential of combining data, sensors, and intelligence to optimize workflows for real-time decision making and value chain optimization. Digitally integrated workflows enable customers to achieve a step change in safety, productivity, recovery and sustainability outcomes for their operations. To realize the full potential across the entire value chain, technology domain leaders, customers and academia need to increase collaboration in an open ecosystem to develop integrated, end-to-end operational workflows which link geological intelligence, drilling and blasting, material characterization and processing.
Orica and Caterpillar have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to explore opportunities to integrate key elements of their respective domains. The initial focus will be on the potential integration between Orica’s Rhino, BlastIQ, and FRAGTrack technologies with Cat MineStar Terrain. The goal of this integrated workflow is to provide miners with high-fidelity rock property information enabling significant improvements to on-bench safety, drilling and blasting program accuracy and productivity, along with higher quality blast outcomes that generate enhanced plant performance.
Effective mining starts with accurate drilling. That means drilling every hole to plan, at the proper angle and the correct toe elevation. Cat MineStar Terrain for drilling provides precision guidance that helps operators complete patterns accurately and productively. It pays other dividends, as well, by improving safety, reducing costs, and recording data about drilled strata to improve fragmentation.