Increasing drill productivity at coal mine

BHP Billiton’s Navajo coal mine in New Mexico has achieved significant benefits since installing Leica DrillNav Plus systems in 2002-03.

DrillNav Plus systems were installed on three overburden drills at the mine, along with the Leica DozerNav Plus systems, Tritronics Series 3 dragline monitors and a Leica fleet management system. The DrillNav Plus systems allow operators to see graphically the bit depth, rate of penetration and relative hardness while drilling. The depth from bottom of hole when the bit is raised, bit depth in feet or metres, and the depth to bottom of hole and target depth can also be seen.

Of major significance is the increases the mine has made in overburden drill footage from 2002 to 2006–up to a massive 43%. A lot of this gain was attributed to the use of the drill navigation and production monitoring systems. The mine is now looking at upgrades and additions to the existing drill systems, plus the integration of data on site.

For more information, visit www.leica-geosystems.com.