Gibraltar Mine Hard Copy Printable PDF Gibraltar Mine has low-grade ore which forced it to close for 5 years. On re-opening, Management had to look at every way possible to maximize mill throughput and overall pit productivity. They tried i-kon™ and never looked back. Better fragmentation led to major improvements of both shovel and mill productivity and cleaner pit walls and floors also helped to reduce maintenance costs. To top it all off, the increased cost of i-kon™ was paid for by an expanded drill pattern alone. Hagen Bank Hard Copy Printable PDF  Watch the Video: Windows Media When P&Z, an expert demolition company based in Europe, were contracted to bring down the 100m high bank tower in Hagen, Germany, they looked to the capabilities of the i-kon™ System. There was no room for error, and only one opportunity to get it right. i-kon™ was used on critical blasts to collapse the tower safely within the 70m landing zone. Prior to the blast, the functionality of the System was checked repeatedly, right up to the last moment, assuring that the demolition would take place exactly as designed. The results were extemely successful, with the i-kon™ System making a critical contribution to the achievement. Chuquicamata Hard Copy Printable PDF-English Printable PDF-Spanish  Watch the Video: Windows Media-NorthAmerican Windows Media-Australian Windows Media-Spanish The SAG mill at Chile’s giant Chuquicamata Mine, the world’s largest open pit, has very specific fragmentation requirements for the ore that it processes. Mine management introduced electronic detonators to their blast program to improve blasting fragmentation in the pit, maximize productivity through the new mill and increase copper production. After evaluating every electronic detonator on the market, they chose i-kon™. They’ve not only achieved their fragmentation targets but also improved wall control and safety in the deep pit. The improved fragmentation has delivered real benefits to the downstream production processes, and overall costs have been significantly reduced. Taft Coal Hard Copy Printable PDF  Video Clip: Windows Media The coal seams at Taft are located under a very undulating surface. Blasts that had to stop in the middle of hills because of limited delay times compromised fragmentation and reduced dragline productivity. With the introduction of the i-kon™ Digital Energy Control System and its flexibility, Taft has doubled their blast sizes and they can now start and stop their blasts exactly where they want! Peggau Quarry Hard Copy Printable PDF-English Printable PDF-German Imagine having two pits – one on either side of a world-famous cave structure and Nationally protected tourist attraction. That is exactly the situation faced by Wietersdorfer & Peggauer Zementwerke GmbH of Austria. With the introduction of the i-kon™ Digital Energy Control System the management have actually been able to increase the size of their blasts while still ensuring no damage to the tourist cave. West Burleigh Hard Copy Printable PDF Every quarry these days seem to have neighbors encroaching on them. The Boral West Burleigh Quarry was no exception. Located in Queensland Australia the quarry is now surrounded by housing developments so the management undertook a blast improvement program starting in March of 2002. The search for the best performance from their blasting program has lead Boral Construction to the i-kon™ Digital Energy Control System from Orica with its frequency channeling capabilities. North Rochelle Hard Copy Printable PDF Watch the Video: Windows Media Coal miners everywhere operate in an extremely competitive marketplace where coal contracts can be determined by differences of pennies a ton. Successful companies must continually focus on finding more efficient ways to mine coal. Triton Coal’s North Rochelle Mine, located in the Powder River Basin of Wyoming wanted to maximize their dragline production and increase overall mine efficiency. Specifically, mine management was looking to increase their cast to final percentage while reducing back break at the highwall and lowering vibration levels. Nelson Brothers’ Tom Field and the i-kon™ Team answered the call. Fazenda Brasiliero Hard Copy Printable PDF   Mine management at Fazenda Basiliero in Brazil, owned by Companhia Vale do Rio Doce (CVRD) were faced with having to remove a massive underground pillar, measuring 56m by 23m by 15m high, in one operation. With a year’s worth of mining and development at stake, it was felt that there was a serious risk of cut-off problems if pyrotechnic dets were used. This would also necessitate taking the pillar out in three separate blasts, which could further compromise mine safety. Wülfrath Quarry Hard Copy Printable PDF-English Printable PDF-German   Wülfrath Quarry, which is owned by Rheinkalk GmbH is the largest quarry in Germany with an annual production target of 7.5 million tonnes of limestone. Wülfrath is also the largest lime plant in Europe with annual production of 1.8 million tonnes of lime. Quarry management is faced with several unique challenges in meeting their production target of 4,000 tonnes an hour line rate to the crusher. Orica has introduced innovative solutions, including the introduction of the i-konTM System to help Wülfrath management meet their production challenges. Brunswick Mine Hard Copy Printable PDF   The mine management at Brunswick had identified 6 million tonnes of good grade ore in an area experiencing high rock stress. The mining plan was to gradually mine out the west ore zone stringer and the nearby part of the 6 million tonne ore body at the same time and de-stress the area incrementally. The blast designed for this zone was very tricky because the blast area was very long and narrow and under high stress. It was necessary to take a stope out on the south end to create a void there and another on the north end as well before the main blast. Kanowna Belle Hard Copy Printable PDF   The completion of the planned extraction of the upper A Block at the Kanowna Belle gold mine had left a crown pillar between the underground workings and the open pit. The adjacent crown pillars had already been blasted and back filled and significant mine stress was now falling onto the AT04 crown pillar causing it to fail. It was decided to remove the pillar, which contained 130,000 tonnes of valuable gold ore, with a mass blast. Opening a full slot conventionally was felt to be too risky due to the possibility of jeopardizing the stability of the stops. Acton Quarry Hard Copy Printable PDF   The management of the Acton Quarry needed larger blasts to increase production efficiencies and decrease downtime without disturbing the neighbors. Their optimum goal was to eventually shoot one blast per week and still meet their production target of shooting 350.000 tonnes of crushed rock per month. Golden Grove Hard Copy Printable PDF   Imagine the frustration felt by the management of the Golden Grove Mine. As per usual procedure, the mine had started on a new stope. They had pulled the stopes beneath and had started blasting on the stope above when a supporting pillar gave way due to pressure from the sidewalls. This failure left a large span of rock that was totally unsupported. Whenever any blasting was done in the rise, huge slabs fell off the bottom of the stope into the draw points. Mine management feared that if they did any more blasting, the whole stope would fail and they would lose 66,000 tonnes of high-grade zinc ore worth approximately $A7 million. They decided to cease all developmental firing in that area of the mine until they could successfully blast the whole stope in one shot. Enter i-konTM. Bronzewing Gold Hard Copy Printable PDF  Watch the Video: Windows Media Bronzewing is a large underground mine where the production method is long hole open stoping. Mining sequencing had left two pillars at the base of the Discovery Open Cut that were co-dependant in terms of their planned extraction. One of the pillars was fretting into the open stope below and the other would have been made geotechnically unstable by the forming of the opening slot If either of these pillars were to be taken individually, one could have possibly sterilized the other and caused a safety hazard. Friendship Quarry Hard Copy Printable PDF   The management of the Friendship Quarry just outside Atlanta Georgia is committed to environmental leadership, support for the local community and the safety of its employees. This commitment was being tested because the quarry had just started on an extensive expansion program to meet the increasing demands of the local construction market This meant that the quarry was beginning to blast in new areas and that had resulted in a new set of variables for the operation and new effects on the community. Peabody Quarry Hard Copy Printable PDF Watch the Video: Windows Media The launch of the i-konTM System has racked up some noteworthy milestones in its introduction to the North American market. The first full i-konTM System blast was undertaken at the Aggregate Industries' Peabody Quarry outside Boston Massachusetts on October 2, 2000.