Increasing tunnel advance rates with Dyno Nobel's Electronic Initiation System
Document type: Case Study

UNDERGROUND CASE STUDY

Increasing Tunnel Advance Rates with Dyno Nobel’s
Electronic Initiation System
 PROJECT SUMMARY PROJECT GOALS
HYDROELECTRIC TUNNEL PROJECT INCREASE TUNNEL ADVANCE RATE
Procon is responsible for executing all the underground The principal goal was to demonstrate electronic initiation
rock works for the AltaGas Forrest Kerr project; a 195 MW could be construction miner friendly and efficient to
run-of-river hydroelectric project. improve the overall advance rate of the underground
 tunnel.
The project is located in British Columbia, approximately
1,000 km northwest of Vancouver. Faster advance rates would also result in overall lower
 operating costs and help the project better meet timelines.
The project will capture a portion of the Iskut River energy
produced by the natural water flow and elevation drop to
produce and deliver clean, renewable electrical power to TECHNOLOGY APPLIED
the grid at Bob Quinn Lake via British Columbia Hydro’s
287-kV Northwest Transmission Line.
 USING DYNO NOBEL’S ELECTRONIC INITIATION
Dyno Nobel’s electronic initiation system is being used for SYSTEM
5m deep rounds for approximately 2,000m of the 9.6m Improved productivity is realised using high precision
wide x 9.8m water diversion tunnel. timing from Dyno Nobel’s electronic initiation system.

Initially a smaller 5 x 6m relief tunnel was conventionally The accuracy of the electronic detonator is 0.02% over the
blasted in the top middle section of the larger tunnel entire timing range (0 – 20,000ms) compared to NONEL,
excavation. which is in the order of 2% variance of the period delay
 time.

Key features of the electronic initiation system include the
 ability to:

• check the status of all detonators before programming,
 arming and firing allows the blaster to address any
 problems prior to the blast event;
 • pre-program the timing of the development rounds
 based on engineer recommendations and experience,
 and;
 • adjust timing at the face based on lost holes and
 misplaced drill holes.

These features provided Procon with no priming failure
 errors and no surface hook up errors compared to
Jumbo drill in heading at Forrest Kerr. conventional initiation systems.

The development rounds were able to be primed, loaded,
 hooked up, and tested for leakage and failures within the
 same amount of time.

UNDERGROUND CASE STUDY

The electronic initiation system helps yield consistent
 results by:

• improved loading accuracy, timing pattern provides
 double check to insure all drilled holes are loaded,
 (using conventional LPs, 1 to 2 holes on average were
 being missed),
 • eliminating operator variability in timing of rounds
 (same times are used for all rounds, they are pre-
 programmed into blast box) and;
 • ensuring all loaded detonators are connected using the
 electronic initiation equipment for testing and verifying
 of detonators (on random audits using conventional
 LPs, 1 hole on average was not hooked up and 2
Operators charging the face. to 3 holes were hooked up in an unreliable initiation
 position).

The electronic initiation system proved to be user-friendly
 VALUE ADDED for this large civil construction project and dramatically
 increased the overall efficiency of the tunnel advance rate,
GREATER BLASTING CONTROL AND while improving safety and perimeter control, plus reduced
EFFICIENCY booted holes.
Using the electronic initiation system, the underground
tunnel advance rate was increased with the elimination of
1m booted holes.

The rounds consistently pulled >95% with half barrels
visible on nearly most perimeter holes.

Compared to traditional NONEL LP timing, the electronic
system was able to deliver important benefits including:

• reduced scaling time (average scaling time went from
 three hours to less than one hour),
 • increased fragmentation, resulting in faster mucking
 times and higher bucket fill rates,
 • reduced overbreak, half blastholes were consistently
 visible on nearly all perimeter holes within the round, Face Tie-In.
 the only time the perimeter half blastholes were not
 visible was due to overbreak to a geological fault
 running within 1m of the perimeter wall.
 • simplified inventory (only 1 detonator product instead
 of 19 delay periods) and;
 • improved fragmentation provides an opportunity
 to reduce the number of holes drilled and loaded,
 increasing overall productivity while reducing drilling
 and loading costs, without increase time.

Disclaimer:Thiscasestudyisprovidedforinformationalpurposesonly.NorepresentationorwarrantyismadeorintendedbyDynoNobeloritsaffiliatesastotheapplicabilityofanyprocedures
toanyparticularsituationorcircumstanceorastothecompletenessoraccuracyofanyinformationcontainedherein,and,tothefullextentpermittedbylaw,DynoNobelexpresslydisclaims
any liability arising from the use of this document or the information contained herein. User assumes sole responsibility for all results and consequences.

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® DYNO, GROUNDBREAKING PERFORMANCE, NONEL and the DC device are registered trademarks of the Dyno Nobel / Incitec Pivot Limited Group.

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