Global mining software provider Maptek showcased its latest innovation, BlastLogic – a blast design and management system – at the eleventh International Symposium on Rock Fragmentation by Blasting, in Sydney, Australia, which ran from August 24 to 26.

“BlastLogic enables mines to pre-empt risk and productivity issues before they emerge through instantaneous sharing and visualisation of operational data,” says Maptek blast accuracy solutions manager Mark Roberts.

He adds that Maptek has developed BlastLogic in collaboration with industry; the industry relies on it to track, quickly understand and act on all factors impacting on drilling and blasting at critical stages.

Moreover, BlastLogic accelerates the process of creating and implementing accurate blast designs, while also providing measurements and reports on blast execution accuracy. This is achieved through real-time data integration, reporting and three- dimensional (3D) visualisation, which can be viewed by users throughout the blast design and execution process.

“Linking blast designs directly with the geological model and field measurement allows mines to enhance precision in blasting and understand how this impacts downstream processes,” Roberts points out.

Moreover, if a company is looking into optimising fragmentation to improve dig rates and crusher throughput, he says, BlastLogic can quickly relate fragmentation results back to blast and geology parameters. “The BlastLogic frag modelling tool helps engineers advance future designs and better inform operations of expected post-blast ground conditions.”

Being aware that mines are increasingly approaching drilling and blasting with a “big-picture of the entire mining process”, Maptek notes that customers are integrating drill and blast design with the company’s Vulcan grade control and Eureka drill-hole geophysical interpretation tools in order to validate the resource model and increase the recovery of minerals.

Also, Maptek I-Site 3D laser scanning systems are being used to track the accurate extraction of resources and maximise mine safety through remote survey and precision geotechnical analysis.