SmartShot Reduces Misfires and Costs in the Cadia Hill Open Pit
Document type: Case Study
Categories: Case Study

. The transformation culminated on 29 February 2008 with the
largest SmartShot blast in Australia at that time, consisting of
 Project Goals
1147 detonators and a total firing time of over 13 seconds! The
mine also made history, as this was the biggest blast ever fired REDUCING MISFIRES AND IMPROVING ON MINE TO
on site. MILL
 Cadia had invested significant resources in optimizing their
 Background blasting practices and saw electronic detonators as the next
 opportunity for improvement. Their objectives with SmartShot
 were to:
MORE CONTROL OVER BLASTING RESULTS THAN 1. Improve safety through the elimination of misfires. EVER BEFORE 2. Further optimize their mine- to-mill program. Cadia Valley mine is a large open cut gold and copper mine 3. Achieve economic savings through the accurate and
located about 20 kilometers south of the regional city of repeatable results afforded by SmartShot. Orange, New South Wales, Australia. 4. Control blast movement to minimize the impact of
The mine is operated by Newcrest mining, Australia’s largest blasting on production. gold producer and one of the world’s top ten gold mining Ensuring site personnel are certified to use SmartShot
companies by production, reserves and market capitalization. autonomously was also an aim of integrating this system into
 the daily operations of the mine.

Project Summary
ENHANCED SAFETY, IMPROVED EFFICIENCIES
AND MILESTONES TO BOOT
When Cadia implemented SmartShot™ they quickly
discovered that electronic detonators had more to offer than
just precision timing. NONEL cutoffs resulting in misfires, due to ground movement
along existing fault lines, and the associated impact on
production, were part of everyday life until SmartShot was
introduced. SmartShot eliminated these misfires with its global
arm and fire commands. The pit is currently 225m deep with a final planned depth of
Absolute control over initiation timing allowed Cadia to expand
 almost 500m. The rock is monzonite (granite) with multiple joint
patterns and reduce powder factors by 17% without impacting
 sets, soft infill materials and sub-parallel splays. mill throughput. Cadia started using SmartShot in April 2007 and has been
Through clever blast design and system flexibility, Cadia was
 working closely with Dyno Nobel to extract the maximum value
able to optimize burden relief, allowing for the best combination
 from this new technology. of blast movement, fragmentation and dig-ability. The transformation culminated on 29 February 2008 with the
largest SmartShot blast in Australia at that time, consisting of
 Project Goals
1147 detonators and a total firing time of over 13 seconds!

SmartShot™ Reduces Misfires and Costs
 in the Cadia Hill Open Pit

THE SMARTSHOT SYSTEM AT WORK
The SmartShot system allows the planning and implementation
of advanced blast design. It’s the latest release in Dyno
Nobel’s Shot range of electronic initiation, with a combination
of advanced features that helps achieve exceptional blasting
outcomes. It is a fully programmable, secure and reliable,
easy-to-use, RF remote firing system that offers more control
over blast designs. SmartShot gives you more control over complex designs to
enable superior blasting results. Tangible benefits are at your
fingertips through millisecond accuracy, complete timing
flexibility and a 20,000ms firing window. Precision timing control allows operators to improve
fragmentation, reduce ore dilution, control throw and reduce
vibration. By optimizing timing, fragmentation was improved to the point
 that Mine-to-Mill powder factors were reduced by 17% without
 impacting mill throughput. Value Added
 This resulted in the powder factor being only 10% higher than
GREATER BLASTING CONTROL AND pre 2000 yet still banking the benefits of higher mill throughput.

SmartShot™ Reduces Misfires and Costs
 in the Cadia Hill Open Pit

Technology Applied

t
 impacting mill throughput. Value Added
 This resulted in the powder factor being only 10% higher than
GREATER BLASTING CONTROL AND pre 2000 yet still banking the benefits of higher mill throughput. Full programmability coupled with timing increments of 1ms
BETTER EFFICIENCY
 allowed Cadia to also dictate the direction and extent of blast
One of the most notable achievements of SmartShot at Cadia movement enabling them to control the amount of material
is that the global arm and fire commands ensured the thrown onto the lower benches that could restrict pit access. detonators were ‘live’ down the hole eliminating cutoffs and
 And to top it all off, SmartShot allowed the mine to design their
potential misfires from column shift and fly rock. This
 largest shot and also limit excessive vibration. In the blast, 2.2
significantly reduced the risk of finding live primers in the
 million tones were blasted in 13.65 seconds. muckpile. The 2-way communication with detonators allowed the shot- The mine is now capably and confidently applying blasting
crew to test and verify their functionality down the hole techniques using electronic detonators, achieving results which
continuously up to the time of firing. were previously impossible with non-electric detonators. Dyno Nobel’s innovative electronic initiation system also
allowed Cadia to improve its blasting efficiency.

tinuously up to the time of firing. were previously impossible with non-electric detonators. Dyno Nobel’s innovative electronic initiation system also
allowed Cadia to improve its blasting efficiency. At the same
time that they improved safety, the burden and spacing was
expanded well beyond a cost neutral position and still provided
better fragmentation than before.

Disclaimer This case study is provided for informational purposes only. No representation or warranty is made or intended by DYNO NOBEL INC. /
DYNO NOBEL ASIA PACIFIC PTY LIMITED or its affiliates as to the applicability of any procedures to any particular situation or circumstance or as to
the completeness or accuracy of any information contained herein. User assumes sole responsibility for all results and consequences.

©2012 Dyno Nobel