Increased Safety with BenchREMOTE in Savage River Mine

After four straight years with no lost time injuries, the Savage River iron ore mine on the west coast of Tasmania is justly proud of its safety record. This open pit operation, owned by Grange Resources, has consistently put safety first in bench drilling and blasting.

Now this operation has been made even safer with the introduction of a mobile, remote control station allowing an operator of an Atlas Copco SmartROC D65 drill rig to control the entire drilling process from a distance.

This Atlas Copco innovation, called BenchREMOTE, replicates the controls in the cabin of the rig. It can be mounted in any mine vehicle or dedicated mobile cabin and can be operated at distances of up to 100 m.

From his virtual cabin, the SmartROC D65 operator monitors and controls the rig via a closed circuit WiFi network which is independent of the mine’s communications infrastructure.

In addition, the SmartROC D65 rig’s functions of auto-collar, auto-position, auto-drill and rod changing ensure accurate and productive drilling while following the drill pattern which is loaded via USB.

“It’s awesome!” says Ben Whish-Wilson, the rig’s operator. “It’s got a good camera so you can see everything that’s going on and it’s real-time and responsive. Basically, I have the same level of control (as in the rig). I especially like the auto-pos button which straightens the feed and the autodrill’s good, too.

” With today’s lower iron ore prices, maintaining access to high grade ore, mine development and focusing on costs are top priorities at Savage River. Against this background, the addition of a BenchREMOTE station is more than just a way to increase safety. It allows the mine to access ore which otherwise would have required the gradient of the high wall to be reduced and a lot more waste rock to be blasted.