Understanding the Role of Production

Drilling and Drilled Stocks in Efficient

Operation of a Sublevel Cave Mine
C Beal1

ABSTRACT
Proper understanding and management of production drilling in sublevel cave (SLC) mines
is essential for meeting production targets and for avoiding inefficiencies that could lead to
costly bottlenecks. In many SLC mine management models drilling is considered a derivative
activity of firing and bogging. Its scheduling is considered to be implied in a firing schedule
and given an arbitrary target completion, several weeks or a month, ahead of production
firing. Like development, drilling activities are most efficient when conducted separately from
other production activities. Unlike development, however, it is not apparent during planning
and feasibility how far in advance of firing drilling activities ought to be conducted. This paper
presents a method of defining a minimum threshold of drilled stocks above which drilling, firing
and bogging operations occur most efficiently. As an example, the drilling activities, procedures,
and maintenance at Glencore Xstratas Ernest Henry Mine are presented, and the larger scale
consequences of improvements to these areas are presented to illustrate their importance in the
operation of an SLC mine.

INTRODUCTION
In most stoping methods production drilling can be thought
of as distinctly individual jobs, with each job being made up
of a single stope or sublevel. To complete the job a drill plan
is issued for the entire stope, the drilling pattern is marked up
and the drilling is conducted. Once all of the drilling for each
stope location is complete the job is finished and the drill can
move onto another job. By completing the drilling for the site
in a single pass, interactions between the drill rig, charge-up,
bogging, and backfilling activities can be minimised and the
stope is mined most efficiently. Where available, down hole
drilling can also be used to further separate activities into
charging and bogging levels.
By contrast, sublevel cave (SLC) mines must continually
alternate drilling, charging/firing and bogging activities in
all ore drives. Ore is produced as consistently and evenly as
possible from all draw points. At SLC mines, drilling of an
ore drive is usually only partly complete with drilling being
a number of production rings ahead of charging or bogging
fronts. This quantity of drilled stocks or buffer of drilled
rings has a substantial effect on the rate of ore extraction
from a draw point: when drilled stocks are too low, drills
fall into a downward spiral where their daily drill metres are
reduced further and further by having to move the machine
to new locations as often as several times per day. Continuing
along that route can eventually result in drilling becoming
the bottleneck of the operation. However, when there are
enough drilled stocks, drills can remain at a single location
for days at a time without being interrupted, allowing them
to continually achieve high drill metres.
So how many rings in front, or how large a buffer, is
enough? Is there a maximum amount of drilled stocks that
shouldnt be exceeded? This paper addresses and attempts to
answer these questions, as well as describing the experiences
of Glencore Xstratas Ernest Henry Mining (EHM) in
ramping up its production drilling. Over a 12-month period
at EHM, following the identification of production drilling
as a bottleneck, the longhole production drilling rate per rig
doubled from around half the industry benchmark of 10000m
per drill per month to rates exceeding the benchmark. This
improvement was the result of operational, mechanical and
paradigm changes affected over that time; an account of these
changes is included.
The Ernest Henry underground mine
The EHM underground mine is a copper and gold mining and
processing operation located 38 km north-east of Cloncurry
in north-west Queensland, Australia. Commercial production
first began in March 1998 with an open pit mining operation
that transitioned to underground production in December
2011, extending the life of the mine to 2025.
EHM aims to hoist approximately 6 Mt/a of ore from the
SLC following shaft completion and subsequent ramp-up in
2014. During the expansionary development, construction
and commissioning phase, ore is extracted concurrently
by traditional haulage methods at a rate of 33.5 Mt/a and
utilises a fleet of Atlas Copco MT 6020 underground haul
trucks operated by Barminco.
The orebody at EHM dips south at 45 and occurs in a pipe-
like geometry that has east-west footwall drives of 250m

1. MAusIMM, Underground Scheduling Engineer, Ernest Henry Mining Pty Ltd (Glencore Xstrata), PO Box 527, Cloncurry Qld 4824. Email: chris@beal.net

12TH AUSIMM UNDERGROUND OPERATORS CONFERENCE / ADELAIDE, SA, 2426 MARCH 2014 235
C BEAL
length and ore drives penetrating 250 m south. The current
scope of the project has sublevels spaced 25 m vertically
between RL 1650 (RL 2000 is sea level) and RL 1200 for a total
of 19 production levels. Ore drives are spaced on 15 m centres
with current ore drive dimension of 6 m width by 4.5m
height. A standard level is made up of around 14 ore drives,
depending on ore boundaries.
Production drilling uses 102 mm diameter drill holes to
define a silo-shaped ring with a 2.6 m burden. Charging and
firing is conducted by Dyno Nobel, using inhibited emulsion
explosives with both non-electronic and electronic detonators.
Typically, a minimum of four rings are drilled in advance in
any ore drive, two of which are precharged. Figure 1 shows a
typical ring at EHM.
With SLC mining the ore tonnes recovered per metre drilled
is quite low when establishing the cave. Typically only 40per
cent of fired ore is recovered in the top level, followed by
60per cent in the second, 90 per cent in the third, and full
draw of 120 per cent or greater in the subsequent levels. With
the dip of the EHM orebody, each level steps out by around
25m then progressively retreats under the step-outs above
and therefore starts the cave on every level requiring low
draw factors (refer to Figure 2). The overall result is a high
demand for production drilling per ore tonne during early
production where production ramps up through 12 Mt/a, to
medium demand when the cave is established as a trucking
mine, to lower demand per tonne under full production. In
essence, the mine requires around the same annual drilling
targets from the first year until the last year of production.
APPROPRIATE DRILLED STOCKS
The transition to full-scale underground production at EHM
undertaken between 2011 and 2014 required a variety of
FIG 1 Section view of a typical drilled ring.
236 12TH AUSIMM UNDERGROUND OPERATORS CONFERENCE / ADELAIDE, SA, 2426 MARCH 2014
types of drilling. Initiation of caving was conducted via mass
blast as described by McGrath, Campbell and Tucker (2014);
underground water storage capacity was achieved through
stoping (open stopes are used for storm water storage);
longhole rises were fired for ventilation and ore passes; and,
throughout it all, sublevel caving was conducted to produce
an ore product. Each of these methods or activities, as well as
other service or drain hole jobs, demanded longhole drilling
capacity. As a result of drills being sent intermittently to work
on other projects, the cave was operated with a variety of
different quantities of drilled stocks. This section will describe
the experiences at EHM with regard to different levels of
drilled stocks.
Minimum drilled stocks just-in-time drilling
At EHM, several isolated occurrences of just-in-time drilling
were undertaken where ground conditions raised concerns of
hole deterioration. This type of just-in-time drilling effectively
describes the extreme minimum end of the drilled stocks
scenarios. By looking at these isolated occurrences, several
obvious problems associated with just-in-time drilling are
highlighted.
The minimum number of rings drilled in advance of firing
activities at EHM is dictated by the safety management plan,
which includes the following:
Blast holes within 5 m of an active brow are not practically
accessible for charge-up due to the rill angle of the cave
material. Therefore, with 2.6 m ring spacing, two rings are
to be charged in advance at any given time.
Attended drilling (operator in cab) within 6 m of explosives
is prohibited. Therefore, two additional drilled rings must
be maintained.
 UNDERSTANDING THE ROLE OF PRODUCTION DRILLING AND DRILLED STOCKS IN EFFICIENT OPERATION OF A SUBLEVEL CAVE MINE
FIG 2 Section view of cave looking west showing draw variation with depth and northing.
Where an ore drive is first being fired into a slot, a five-ring
stand-up sequence is used and so a practical minimum of
nine drilled rings is required.
As shown in Figure 3, the minimum safe drilled stock
is four rings per heading, with a fifth drilled ring required
before firing the front ring. When this scenario is used as
the operating drilled stock, the production rate is effectively
dictated by the drilling rate. Because drilling of the fifth ring in
each drive is required before firing the front ring, the number
of rings available to fire per day is exactly equal to the number
of rings drilled that day. Any occasion of reduced drilling
rates, whether it is the result of an interaction, mechanical
downtime or idle time will force a proportionate reduction in
tonnes produced from the drive.
Further complicating the situation is the scheduling of
charging and firing activities to immediately follow drilling,
which forces a state of perpetual interaction. Nearly all the
traffic on a production level will be concentrated in the same
area, which could result in:
equipment and people left idle, waiting for their turn
as a result of different activities inherently operating at
different speeds
more time tramming and less time operating when only
one or two rings are drilled at a time, potentially to the
point where extra wear is introduced to the equipment
FIG 3 Section view of an active ore drive showing the minimum number of predrilled and precharged rings required to support operation at a sublevel cave.
12TH AUSIMM UNDERGROUND OPERATORS CONFERENCE / ADELAIDE, SA, 2426 MARCH 2014
no flexibility to change daily firing plans as a result of
unplanned disruptions, inevitably leading to reduced
production rates.
This situation is often referred to as hand to mouth and
is not uncommon in mining where one process bottlenecks
others. As seen at EHM, the most likely reason for intentionally
operating at minimum drilled stocks is persistent drill hole
deterioration due to high stresses and fracture ground, which
renders drilled stocks useless. When significant amounts of
time are spent on hole clean-outs and re-drilling then the
system is unreliable and will not be cost effective.
It is also possible that just-in-time drilling happens as a
result of the second point listed above, where tramming time
is especially high relative to operating time. It has been found
at EHM that even with adequate levels of drilled stocks, if rig
moves occur too frequently then lower and lower drill metres
will be achieved until the situation reverts to the minimum
drilled stocks cycle.
Performance above the minimum drilled
stocks
From the perspective of a feasibility study, the relationship
between drilled stocks and a drills ability to perform
effectively may be intriguing; but from the operators and
managers perspectives who conducted the drilling it was
abundantly clear: to achieve their targets, building drilled
stocks must be considered a priority.
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The requirement to build enough drilled stocks was
identified early in production and changes were explored
and implemented throughout the continuing operation. A
successful outcome was realised sometime between April and
May, 2013 when a barrier appeared to have been overcome.
The quantity of drilled stocks had gone over some critical
amount and rather than it inhibiting the performance of the
drills it began to enhance drill performance. Figure 4 shows
the average drill rate per rig between May 2012 and October
2013. Separate trend lines have been fitted prior to and
following April 2013 to show the marked difference in drill
performance. Figure 5 shows the total drilled stock over the
same period, which has an equally notable change in slope.
This is not intended to imply a direct relationship between
quantity of drilled stocks and monthly drill rate per rig. Rather,
below a certain quantity of drilled stocks drill performance is
actively depressed by the required behaviour of the drill. The
specifics of this relationship will be explored more in the final
section of this paper, where a method is proposed to calculate
this critical level of drilled stock.
OPERATIONAL CHANGES AND THEIR EFFECTS
The previous section of this paper focused on what might be
called the drilling demand of an SLC or the level of drilled
stocks that allows a production cycle to operate without
unnecessary drilling bottlenecks. The other half of the story
is drilling supply. Drilling supply is the rate of drilling that
a drill and operator are capable of delivering on a daily or
weekly basis. The papers focus now shifts from the variability
of drill duration operating at a single location to a number
of other factors that directly influence drilling rates. Whilst
drilling demand is essentially addressed during feasibility
and planning stages with periodic reviews throughout the
mine life, efforts to improve the drilling supply are addressed
continuously throughout the operational phase.
FIG 4 Per rig drilling rates at Ernest Henry Mining.
FIG 5 Total sublevel cave drilled stocks.
238 12TH AUSIMM UNDERGROUND OPERATORS CONFERENCE / ADELAIDE, SA, 2426 MARCH 2014
Improvements to drilling supply at EHM are discussed
below in the categories of:
contract drilling
operator improvement
improved utilisation and availability.
Contract drilling
During the feasibility study the drilling requirements,
including ten per cent re-drilling, were assessed as needing
between two and three drills. In 2009 as a result of the global
financial crisis the projects capital costs were reviewed and
the decision was made to drop one drill in favour of regular
periods of contract drilling to supplement the EHM drills.
Drilling would begin by using contract mining services and
move to owner-operator following commissioning of the
shaft; however, early in 2012 the decision was made to bring
the transition to owner-operator forward.
Contract drilling was initially provided by Barminco with
a single Byrnecut drill added in 2012. All contract drilling
was conducted using Sandvik Solo drills. The decision by
EHM to use Atlas Copco L6C Simba model drills contributed
to a degree of complexity as these drills progressively
supplemented the Solos through 2012. Figure 6 shows the
timeline of drilling equipment used at EHM.
At the monthly benchmark drilling rate of 10 000 m per rig,
three drills were forecast to be sufficient for the mines needs.
However, when actual drilling rates performed poorly, it was
decided to utilise four drills on-site through 2012 and early
2013.
The periods of contract drilling were primarily directed
at large drilling projects such as the transition blast that
initiated caving and the underground storm water storage
system. The drilling of these two projects marked a peak
of drilling requirements with the transition blast taking
approximately 63 000 m of drilling and the water storage
 UNDERSTANDING THE ROLE OF PRODUCTION DRILLING AND DRILLED STOCKS IN EFFICIENT OPERATION OF A SUBLEVEL CAVE MINE
FIG 6 Ernest Henry Mining drilling equipment and drilling project timelines.
stopes taking approximately 25 000 m. As shown with the drill
equipment timeline in Figure 6, these two projects occurred
simultaneously and required drilling in addition to regular
production ramp up.
The period between June and November 2012 was
characterised by non-standard drilling and frequent trams
to different sites. During this time drills achieved an average
monthly drill rate of 5900 m each.
The decisions to retain the last contract solo until August
2013 and to purchase a third EHM Simba were driven directly
by the identification of low drilled stocks as a main contributor
to drilling inefficiencies. The use of this additional drilling
capacity was pivotal in pushing stocks through to efficient
operating levels.
The final contract drill left site in August 2013, having
accomplished the goal of bolstering stocks. By September 2013
the final fleet of three L6C Simbas achieved 30390 m, or an
average of 10130 m each. Between three efficiently operating
drills, more metres were realised in one month than had been
realised by four drills in the same month of the previous year.
Operator improvement
The first lines of efficiency in an operation are the operators
and their skills in using the equipment. With EHMs new
drills and new operators there was a learning curve to be
navigated in operation and maintenance of the drills. The
mine attempted to minimise the early, inefficient stages
of the learning curve at the operator level by employing
experienced drill operators. Experience using Simba-model
drills was especially sought after. Out of the 12 operators who
were recruited, all were experienced longhole drillers, with
nine having extensive experience with Simba-model drills.
As the production operation expanded and drilling
conditions improved in 2013, the questions of culture and
motivation were addressed. After operating at a reduced
rate for many months the potential for attitudinal or cultural
barriers to reaching higher rates were identified and addressed.
In April 2013, expectations for drilling performance were
made clear to the operators by including an ultimate goal
of 250m of production drilling per shift as their target rate
within their job description. Operators and their cross-shifts
were acknowledged for holding 24-hour record drilling rates,
and an effort was made to relay performance data back to the
operators so that they could gauge their own performance.
Initially, the drilling target, which was over twice the rate
being achieved at the time, caused some friction with the
operators. However, as the operators and the production
12TH AUSIMM UNDERGROUND OPERATORS CONFERENCE / ADELAIDE, SA, 2426 MARCH 2014
mine as a whole began to improve, the encouragement and
positive feedback provided continued to assist in improving
daily drilling rates.
Reduction of lost time
A great deal of collaboration between management, mine
planning and maintenance led to substantial reduction in non-
utilisation, tramming and downtime over several months,
which in turn gave the operators increased time to drill.
Use of automation
Atlas Copcos ABC Total drilling option was selected during
the original equipment selection process to allow full ring
automated drilling to be conducted over shift change. EHM
aimed to use automated drilling over shift changes where up
to two hours are lost per shift, and during crib times. What
the mine has found is that the use and acceptance of this
technology hasnt been as straight forward to implement as
first thought. Following a learning curve automated drilling
now contributes up to 3100 m each month, or nearly ten per
cent of metres drilled. As operators adapt to this technology
this figure is expected to continue to grow. While automated
drilling has increased in effectiveness, manual drilling is still
preferred where possible.
Mechanical improvements
Despite the new drilling units, mechanical availability was
initially lower than expected. The maintenance departments
early experiences identified a number of low-expense/high-
reward areas for improvement of drill rig availability.
The most effective change was to conduct more of the
scheduled maintenance directly on-site or at a temporary
underground workshop, rather than at the main surface
workshop, eliminating a 15 km or two hour round trip plus
associated delays and interactions. The result was that drills
were not forced to leave their sites more than once a week,
potentially allowing for up to a weeks continuous drilling at
a single location. When required to tram to the workshop for
weekly services the travel time was also significantly reduced
to less than 2 km.
Power faults associated with cable lead connections were
found to be a source of delays. The installation of cable leads
fitted with Atlas Copcos rig control system (RCS) provided
an interface that allowed the root causes of these faults to
be more easily identified. Eventually the problematic power
faults were brought back to an acceptable level.
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Delays caused by blown hydraulic hoses were mitigated
by the installation of custom-fabricated and more accessible
centralised hydraulic manifolds. In combination with these,
hydraulic hoses were standardised so that replacements
could be carried on the rig and changed more quickly.
As part of the ABC Total program, fully automated bit
changers were originally installed to eliminate stoppages over
shift change associated with blunt bits and low penetration
rates. These bit changers increasingly became a source of
maintenance as they were subject to contacting walls and
backs. The reduction in associated maintenance time was
deemed more beneficial than the additional drilling time they
were providing and they were removed. This decision will be
reviewed at a later date as the adoption and performance of
automated drilling progresses.
DETERMINATION OF MINIMUM DRILLED
STOCKS
Effectiveness of drilling
One of the key aims of this paper is to describe a method to
calculate the minimum required drilled stock that will allow
optimal operational efficiency. The basis for this method is
to allow a reliably operating machine to drill uninterrupted
in a single location for as long as practical. Any tramming,
setup, or idle time related to location availability all reduce
the portion of the day spent in productive operation. From
a planning and management perspective, the most dramatic
results are achieved by reducing drill moves. Figure 7 shows
daily drilling rates as a function of the number of days a drill
is left at the same location and demonstrates the variability of
daily drilling with regular rig moves.
The practical upper limit of time spent drilling at a single
location is set by the weekly preventative maintenance
schedule, which is therefore seven days.
The following discussion utilises two examples of drilled
stocks to illustrate how drill effectiveness can be affected by
low drilled stocks. The first example shows how an operating
level would progress on a weekly basis in an environment of
minimum drilled stocks with just-in-time drilling.
Figure 8 is a schematic plan view of the SLC production
cycle with the cave front of broken ore shown at the bottom
FIG 7 Regression of sample average drilling rate and time spent continuously at one location.
240 12TH AUSIMM UNDERGROUND OPERATORS CONFERENCE / ADELAIDE, SA, 2426 MARCH 2014
FIG 8 Production cycle progression required to maintain
minimum predrilled stocks (first week).
and advancing upward. It shows a number of ore drives that
extend up the page with the drill ring positions shown as
horizontal lines up each ore drive, giving the appearance of
train tracks. Shown above the flat cave front are ten dark grey
shaded rings representing those fired in the week leading
up to this snapshot. The next four light grey rings in each
drive represent the minimum level of drilled stocks required
for safe operation of the cave. The ten outlined rings spread
across all the ore drives represent those to be drilled in the
coming week. Finally, the asterisks represent the rings to
be fired in the coming week, where each of these rings will
require the corresponding outlined ring to be drilled before it
can be safely fired. This maintains the four ring drilled buffer.
In this example the drilling will be done just in time.
This scenario would require a drill to move into all eight
drives over the course of the week to stay in advance of
firing activities. Coordinating eight moves for less than a
day at each drill location every week for every section of the
producing mine would directly reduce the time spent drilling
and therefore metres achieved. This is reflected in the left-
hand side of Figure 7, with the drill spending less than a day
in each location. Ore production would subsequently suffer
proportionately. Production is limited in this scenario to
around 40 to 42 rings every four weeks.
An alternative scenario demonstrating the effectiveness
of adequate drilled stocks over four weeks of production is
shown in Figure 9. This scenario is optimised for a longhole
drill to allow it to remain at each location for a full week.
The numbers indicate the week that the indicated rings were
either drilled or fired. The improvement shown is over 30 per
cent, or three to four extra rings per week. The number of
 UNDERSTANDING THE ROLE OF PRODUCTION DRILLING AND DRILLED STOCKS IN EFFICIENT OPERATION OF A SUBLEVEL CAVE MINE

Minimum drilling = ^m $ a $ nh
minimum drilled rigs per drive $ # of active drives
=e o
$ average drill metres per ring
rings
= e4 $ 8 $ ~165 m o
drive ring
= 5280 m

and:

FIG 9 Production cycle allowing week-long drilling at each location.
rings fired has correspondingly increased by over 30per cent,
or 56 rings in the month, to match the drilling rate. After week
four, the drill would progress to each remaining drive and
eventually cycle back to the left-most drive on the ninth week.
The minimum buffer of drilled stocks that is required to
allow this to optimal sequence is indicated by the hatching
and totals 88 rings.
This example shows rings being drilled and fired in an
orderly left-to-right sequence, while in reality operations often
encounter factors that disrupt the schedule. The principle will
work just as well with non-sequential drilling provided the
drill spends equal time in each drive and encounters all active
drives evenly.
Once enough drilled stocks have been created and the mine
enters a steady-state operational phase, the rate of drilling
should equal the rate of production. Otherwise, the drilled
stocks would increase beyond a useful level to the point
that hole degradation becomes an issue or until they catch
development.
The theoretical minimum drilled stocks
To calculate the theoretical minimum drilled stocks for any
given area without having to sequentially plan out each week,
the following formula has been developed by the author:
a- 1
B = > / x $ i c F mH + ^m $ a $ nh
x R
i=1 a-1
= Sum of metres per drive interval + Minimum drilling
Where an interval is the length of time a drill will spend
at each location, or seven days in the previous example, and:
B = minimum buffer of predrilled stock in metres
a = number of headings active for firing during each
interval
x = number of drills
RF = rate of firing in metres per interval
= average drill metres per ring
m = minimum drilled rings in each ore drive, which is four
at EHM
The previous examples worked in rings to illustrate the
concepts, whereas the above equation has been derived
in terms of metres. This more accurately measures the
significance of non-standard rings (ie short rings or slot rings
with fewer metres contribute less than full rings) and allows
for easy tracking of drilled stocks against targets. In the
context of the previous example, the quantities that the two
components of the equation calculate are shown in Figure 10:
a- 1
metres per drive interval = > / x $ i c F mH
x R
Sum of
i=1 a -1
m rings fired
8 - 1/1 f 165 ring $ 14 interval p
=> / 1$i H
i=1 8 - 1 drives
7
= = / i drive interval ` 330
drive interval jG
metres
i=1
= 61 $ 330@ + 62 $ 330@ + g + 67 $ 330@
= 9240 m
so, therefore:
Buffer = Sum of metres per drive interval + Minimum drilling
= 9240 m + 5280 m
14 520 m 88 rings
= 14 520 m , =
165 m
ring
By using this equation in parallel with mine scheduling
software (to fill all variable quantities), a minimum threshold
of predrilled stocks can be determined and clearly referenced
for any operating point.
Creating drilling equipment schedules
Production drills will be capable of performing optimally
and reliably when actual drilled stocks are maintained
above the minimum level calculated using the above
method. Therefore, a drill equipment schedule will forecast
the cumulative drilling throughout the project and subtract
drilling consumed by production firing. An iterative approach
is required at this stage, as the number of drills is an input to
the drilled stocks equation, so the calculated minimum stocks
will change with each new equipment schedule. An example
of a final drilling equipment schedule calculated using this
method is presented in Figure 11. This schedule accounts
for SLC material only, longhole drilling required for periods
of expansion (eg the transition firings) or non-SLC-based
extraction methods should be managed separately and their
drilling requirements added to that of the SLC.
The schedule in Figure 11 has been generated from the
original mine schedule at EHM and follows the actual timeline
of drilling equipment quite accurately. By adding one drill
for the June November 2012 period of non-SLC intensive
drilling the schedules become, in fact, quite similar.
Note the period in Figure 11 between July 2013 and May
2014 where the actual drilled metres are forecasted to outpace
the calculated minimum stocks by a wide margin. Drilled
stocks build up until June 2014 and then steadily decline
to the minimum level by 2015. This is not the creation of
excessive stocks but the preparation for commissioning of the
shaft and subsequent hoisting when production rates increase
from 3.5 Mt/a to 6 Mt/a. The large quantity of drilled stocks
is a deliberate allowance for the decrease in stocks associated

12TH AUSIMM UNDERGROUND OPERATORS CONFERENCE / ADELAIDE, SA, 2426 MARCH 2014 241
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FIG 10 Level view showing calculated regions of drilled stock as per equation.
FIG 11 Sublevel cave drilling equipment schedule with minimum drilled stock requirement and forecast actual drilled stock.
with the initial cave being established and the relatively low
draw ratios that are required near the hanging wall as an
extra level must come into production. Over the same period
of time, the overall draw ratio increases as caving progresses
deeper which yields increasing recovered ore tonnes per fired
metre.
Maximum drilled stocks
In a rock mass that closes off holes in a short space of time,
for example a jointed and stressed ultramafic nickel setting,
the maintenance of actual drilled stock above the minimum
level may not be possible, or may generate unacceptable
levels of re-work. If this is the case, a drilling efficiency closer
to 6080 per cent may be the highest practical level and extra
drilling equipment will be required to maintain required drill
hole generation rates. The experience at EHM has shown
such conditions to be present only in rare areas of faulted
ground with high ground stress induced by progressive ore
extraction, although it is expected that a maximum drill hole
life exists even in such a competent rock mass. As the cave
progresses with depth over the years, the induced stresses
will increase and hole life may need to be addressed.
CONCLUSION
Consistent and efficient production drilling is as important
to an SLC mine as trucking, bogging or firing activities. Drill
performance is compounding where periods of increased drill
effectiveness lead to higher drill stocks and in turn allows a
drill to perform even more efficiently and vice versa where
242 12TH AUSIMM UNDERGROUND OPERATORS CONFERENCE / ADELAIDE, SA, 2426 MARCH 2014
performance and stocks fall together and eventually become
the bottleneck of production.
To proactively plan for efficient drilling operations, a firm
target of drilled stocks should be included in annual and
life of mine scale plans and schedules. The target drill stock
generation and projected consumption, when combined, may
be used to determine the drilling equipment requirements
throughout the mine life. This technique effectively captures
the activity of the drills without the requirement for strictly
planned drill movements in broad-scale plans.
The experience at EHM has been that the development
of further understanding and a focused effort from the
management level was effective at improving the core
conditions of the drilling process, allowing it to run more
efficiently.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The author would like to thank colleagues in the development
of the concepts behind this paper, in particular Mr Scott Bell
(Underground Production Superintendent) and Mr Heath
Tanis (Maintenance Superintendent). The author would also
like to thank Glencore Xstrata Copper for support in the
publishing of this paper.
REFERENCES
McGrath, A, Campbell, A and Tucker, J, 2014. Transition of the
Ernest Henry Mine from open pit to underground sublevel
cave, in Proceedings 12th Underground Operators Conference 2014,
pp299310 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy:
Melbourne).