FRAGTrack

Mining economics are strongly influenced by fragmentation, or particle size distribution of broken rocks after the drill and blast stage. Optimal fragmentation reduces the energy consumption of the mine and increases production rate efficiencies. Traditional methods and technologies for measuring fragmentation were unsafe (manual sampling), tedious and prone to operator influence (analysis of manual images) or plagued by equipment failures in harsh mining environments. Orica’s Research and Design (R&D) team identified this issue and developed software, building on 20 years of experience in automated image analysis, housed in purposefully designed hardware to operate reliably in extreme mining environments.

Orica’s R&D team developed an initial Minimum Viable Product (MVP) comprising a single assembly. However, to transition the design into a commercially viable product, we collaborated with locally based experts: Design Anthology’s product designers; Newie Ventures for electronics design; Your Engineer for mechanical engineering; and Robotic Systems for electronics and hardware assembly. The design was improved by splitting the single assembly into two: the F60 camera which houses the hardware and captures 2D/3D images of the fragmented rock from the face-shovel or conveyor belt; and the F50 processor which performs edge computing and ensures integrity of measurement results.

FRAGTrack™ provides rapid insights into the outcome of the blasting process, removes risk of injury, eliminates inaccuracy of manual fragmentation data collection and significantly reduces energy costs at the crushing and processing stages (as well as during handling and haulage). This has positive impacts on safety, data integrity, environmental and financial impacts and demonstrates good corporate responsibility for our customers. FRAGTrack™ has had significant adoption in the past 12 months with installations in 15 countries worldwide. FRAGTrack™ is now an integral part of our BlastIQ™ digital platform and completes this broader range of services focused on digitally enabled better blasting.

FRAGTrack™ design was determined by size, weight, assembly, durability, installation, maintenance, manufacture, disassembly, internal electrical and non-electrical components and withstanding extreme environments. Features include: • Working temperature range of -40 to 55 degrees Celsius • Vibration, impact, abrasion, dust, temperature and water ingress protected • Anti-vibration image stabilisation mounts engineered for high and low frequency installation environments • Precision optics and multi-camera alignment to maintain 3D stereo vision • Plug and Play configured connectors to enable ease of installation • Small form, light weight enabling safe and easy installation (20kg lighter than MVP) • Icons communicating intent of connection points independent of language barriers • F50 contains ruggedized fan-less industrial PC104 computer enabling live stereo vision processing and data communication • Styled and branded to easily convey the technology within and as part of a product family User experience: • Web based interface with live and historical fragmentation data to enable enhanced blasting outcomes • F60 performance maintained via remote access to software. Ongoing calibration not required • FRAGTrack™ user features: o Links fragmentation data directly to a blast boundary o Cloud based o Provides individual image segmentation for accuracy checking o Can measure particle sizes lower than the competition • Edge processing means customers’ data is protected in network outages