Using the AEGIS underground drill and blast analyser to optimise drill patterns: A case study
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17159/Abstract
The drilling and blasting activities jointly form the first comminution process of disintegrating rock in situ and are currently the most economical techniques for fragmenting hard and competent rock. This paper is about the study that sought to optimise fragmentation for a deep-level underground gold mine using the longhole stoping method. The gold mine under investigation experienced coarse fragmentation that cannot pass through 300 mm by 300 mm grizzly apertures while on the other hand, the processing plant was receiving higher than expected amount of levels of fines. To investigate the mine’s fragmentation problem, 51 images of muckpiles from five stopes were analysed using the Split-Desktop software. The analysis showed an overall F80 passing of 287.48 mm, which is less than the grizzly opening implying that the fragmentation size achieved was adequate. However, the Rosin-Rammler distribution was found to be 0.80 which infers an inconsistent fragmentation that suggests both coarse and fine fragmentation size is produced. The AEGIS underground drill and blast software analyser was used to design and analyse the mine’s drill and blast design patterns to determine whether the fine fragmentation emanated from the pattern. The software was also used to design optimal patterns for the mine. It was recommended that the mine change its drill and blast pattern to ensure an overlap of cracks between blasthole in the toe region during the shockwave propagation after the detonation of explosives.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Matsobane Jacqouline Nong, Erhan Uludag, Paseka Johannes Katlego Leeuw
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