Mats Birkestål, Product Manager and quarrying specialist at Atlas Copco’s Surface and Exploration Drilling division, explains: “Quarrying should be seen in terms of one operation, not as a series of individual operations. The problem is that there are still too many quarries that may get good results in only one or maybe two areas and that puts pressure on the bottom line.”
What’s needed, says Birkestål, is to apply a total cost concept from the planning stage right through the operation to the final product. This means that the combination of drilling, blasting, loading, transportation and crushing have to be better synchronized in order to minimize errors and maximize results.
