Advance Rates;analysis and action
Mr Douglas Morrison (CEO - Centre for Excellence in Mining Innovation), Mr Pierre Labrecque (President - Labrecque Technologies)
Advance rates in hardrock mining have been in decline for many years, driven by greater need for worker safety and steadily deteriorating ground conditions in deeper mines. Advance rates can have a significant impact on the rate of return of a new project and can influence the decision to invest or not. The first step in making improvements is to analyse the processes by which drift advance is achieved in the different scenarios at typical mine and then prioritise creating practical solutions. One major factor is the amount of dead time – the time during a day when no activity at the face occurs – so that improving the utilization of the face is important. We will show several analyses of different drift scenarios to show where the problems lie and then demonstrate how the practical steps we are taking to design and build equipment that change the process and will allow the industry to significantly increase advance rates as a matter of routine.
