Nickel Rim South Mine

Development String
Loading
By Bryan Wilson & Lester Kneen
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General Overview
Sudbury Integrated Nickel Operations (Sudbury INO) consists of
underground mines (Fraser and Nickel Rim South), Strathcona Mill
and Sudbury Smelter

More than 1300 employees

Nickel-copper mining and processing in the Sudbury area of
Northern Ontario, Canada, since 1929

Nickel and copper are the primary metals; cobalt and precious
metals, such as gold, silver, platinum and palladium are also
produced

Recent Safety Milestone

Achieved 5 million hours without a single lost time injury in our Sudbury
Operations.

Sudbury Operations
City of
Sudbury

Fraser Mine

10km

2013 Production Rates

Nickel Rim South Mine
1,3M ore tonnes mined

Fraser Mine
375K ore tonnes mined

Strathcona Mill
2,2M ore tonnes milled

Sudbury Smelter
75K tonnes nickel in matte

String Loading
String is loading is a process which allows the loading of gased
emulsion into Lateral development (short holes).
The word String is a reference to the bead or string of emulsion left
in the hole. It gives operations the ability to decouple or reduce the
charge in the hole by reducing the string size.

Is It New?
String loading is not new to the mining industry, but is largely unused
in Canadian mining. With the challenges of mining at depth or
increasing seismic activity in the mine, it gives operations increased
control of the ground among other benefits.

The String
Starts as a
Small String
and Expands

Lowers the density and

energy, but also increases
the sensitivity

String Loading Requires Special Loading Equipment

Unit Used for the Nickel Rim Souths (NRS) Trial

String Loading Controls

Controlling the Product Density

Toe Loads and Feed Rate

Operator Basket Controls

Five String Selections are
Available.
A flick of a Dial

String Loader Automation

Controlled Variable Speed Hose Retraction

Nickel Rim South String Loading

Perimeter Control Blasting (Decoupled) Gassed Emulsion

Why
To improve Ground Conditions!
History shows that we can get good results, but it adds time
to the mining cycle.

NRS History of Perimeter Control

All Products have pros and cons
Easiest one to use will prevail
Old

Traced Packaged
Cut to Fit
Watergel Explosives

Present

Powerflex
Detonating Cord
(400 grain)

Future Trial

Gassed Emulsion
String Loading

The Fastest Loading Product Until String Loading

Tape It

Insert It

Seed It

Push It and Cut it

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Using gassed emulsion

can deliver consistent round after round.

String Loading A Wall Hole!

String Loading Perimeter Control

How Do We Make The Switch

Miner Acceptance
Make it easy and faster to load
No tape required / No cords to string
To have the ability to custom load for various ground
conditions (Back, buffer and side holes.)

Operator Feed Back

19

Patterns were not changed for the NRS Trials

20

Key Factors For Improving Perimeter Control

Having a proper drilling design

Having accurate drilling
Selecting the proper explosives
Loading to the best practices
Having the tools to make it easy
Quality control

Computerized Drill Designs and Guidance System

NRS Uses the Atlas Copco Drilling

Controls to assist the Operators.
Accurate Drilling Made Easy
22

Newer Technology Helped to Measure Results

Data Collected during the Trial
Training and Compliance to Promote Drilling Accuracy

Moss (Survey)
and
Drilling Log Report Overlay

23

Field Results
1190 String Loading Geology Report

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Trial Notes
40 rounds, no mechanical scaling was required
40 rounds, 6 miss holes reported, none had to be re-blasted
40 rounds, muck heave was between 5-14m (compared to 20

25m with anfo)

40 rounds, only 3 pieces of vent had to be replaced
Average Load time -1 man-1 hr
During test-tweaking reduced product by 50kg (greater gains
to be made)
No ammonia smell
Water not an issue
Loading in backfill not an issue(fill in holes)
Better break
Couldnt achieve consecutive heading/round loading as it was a
mine wide trial (we assume better results loading back to back)

Overall, miners felt it was an improvement to the process

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Other Possible Benefits

To reduce workers exposure at the

face. (Stand back while auto loading)
Reduce noise while loading
Speed of loading
The handling of materials (One bulk
product of all applications u/g.)
Reduced fly muck / less ammonia /
reduce spillage
Understand if the benefits can be
applied to future mining opportunities

Summary
Trial Results at NRS Illustrate that the use of Bulk Emulsion and
the String Loader:

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Can improve the ground conditions

Can reduce the need for mechanical scaling
Has improved the air quality
Has reduced the amount of fly rock and vent damage
Has made loading of perimeter control explosives easier and
faster

Future
1. To further reduce workers exposure at the face
2. To develop new drilling and blast designs that can better utilize
the string loading technology
3. To use gassed emulsion as the primary explosive for
development and production mining
4. Unexplored benefits for mining at depth
5. To provide evidence that the bulk emulsion string loading can
be justified

Comparison of Advance
1320380SA

ANFOLOADER(13rounds)

STRINGLOADER(7rounds)

Heading

Date

linearadvance

%O/B

Heading

1320_380

Nov 1st

Nov 5 th

Nov 3rd

1320_380

Nov 7 th

1320_380

Nov 9th

1320_380

Nov 15th

1320_380

Nov 11th

1320_380

Nov 19th

1320_380

Nov 13th

1320_380

Nov 23th

1320_380

Nov 17th

1320_380

Dec 3rd

1320_380

Nov 21st

1320_380

Dec 5th

1320_380

Nov 25th

1320_380

Nov 27th

1320_380

Nov 29th

1320_380

Dec 1st

1320_380

Dec 7th

1320_380

Dec 9th

10.0%
13.0%
7.0%
13.0%
20.0%
6.0%
15.0%
8.0%
15.0%
19.0%
9.0%
18.0%
16.0%
13.0%

1320_380

1320_380

3.7
3.8
3.7
3.6
4.3
2.8
4.1
3.4
4.1
4.1
4.3
3.7
4.3

3.8

Date

linearadvance

3.9
3.2
3.5
3.9
3.2
4.2
3.8

3.7

%O/B
15.0%
14.0%
9.0%
17.0%
9.0%
10.0%
6.0%
11.4%

Note:
At the start of the trial some bigger bootlegs were noted using the string loader.
Recent rounds are as good as the ANFO. A bigger sample size is recommended.

COST Comparison

ANFO Loading Cost

(Primaflex in Back and Wall Holes)

Loading a Standard Round (5 x 5.3m)

Holes
Holes Loaded with Anfo
Holes Loaded With Primaflex
Holes Loaded with Emulsion (100%)
Holes with Emulsion 32mm
Holes with Emulsion 28mm
Holes with Emulsion 22mm
Holes loaded with Stick
Total to Loading Cost

39
17
0
0
0
0
4
60

With Side Wall Holes

8
Explosive $
Drilling $
Total
$275.34
$1,092.00
$1,367.34
$257.12
$476.00
$733.12
$0.00
$0.00
$0.00
$0.00
$0.00
$0.00
$0.00
$0.00
$0.00
$0.00
$0.00
$0.00
$85.20
$112.00
$197.20
$617.66
$1,680.00
$2,297.66

String Loading Cost

Loading a Standard Round (5 x 5.3m)
Holes
Holes Loaded with Anfo
Holes Loaded With Primaflex
Holes Loaded with Emulsion (100%)
Holes with Emulsion 32mm
Holes with Emulsion 28mm
Holes with Emulsion 22mm
Holes loaded with Stick
Total to Loading Cost
Difference

0
0
35
0
8
17
0
60

Explosive $
Drilling $
Total
$0.00
$0.00
$0.00
$0.00
$0.00
$0.00
$503.30
$980.00
$1,483.30
$0.00
$0.00
$0.00
$76.32
$224.00
$300.32
$141.78
$476.00
$617.78
$0.00
$0.00
$0.00
$721.40
$1,680.00
$2,401.40
$103.74

No Heave

Solid Walls, Flat Back, Nice Results in

Shoulders, No Mechanical Scaling Required

String Loading / Bulk Emulsion Loading

In the long term, as more mines in North American convert to

bulk emulsion for development string loading, the product
pricing will drop. This will further improve the economics of
this project.

Having the ability to deliver an accurately controlled, variable

energy, water proof explosive into a smaller diameter
borehole, will help to improve safety and the environment. As
the project develops, new ways of loading and blasting will be
investigated. (Remote loading away from the face, improved
drill and blast designs, and consistent loads will help to
improve blast results.)

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