High Precision Machine Guidance for Drills
Reduce Dilution. Increase Fragmentation. Eliminate Rework.
GroundHog’s High Precision Drilling solution represents a revolutionary leap forward in the mining sector, heralding unparalleled efficiency and quality. Within the domain of large-scale mining operations – especially those characterized by heterogeneous ore bodies, the imperative for continual sampling and meticulous drill planning cannot be overstated. Conventional drilling methodologies reliant on manual hole marking by surveyors prove woefully inadequate for operations striving to maximize yield. Enter GroundHog’s High Precision Drilling solution is engineered to address these challenges head-on, bolstering efficiency and ensuring rigorous adherence to drill plans, thereby yielding significant cost savings.
Our bespoke software and hardware solutions, underpinned built on an advanced technology stack, propel drill and blast operations to uncharted heights of performance. GroundHog’s precision-guided drills epitomize accuracy, guaranteeing exacting positioning and elevation with each borehole.
Operational insights are seamlessly integrated into our suite of equipment and tablet-based applications, empowering planners, operators, and management alike to execute rapid, well-informed decisions. This comprehensive methodology optimizes schedules and augments operational progress, all streamlined through our intuitive, web-based OpsCenter interface. Experience the pinnacle of mining efficiency with GroundHog’s High Precision Drilling solution —an amalgam of innovation and reliability engineered for enduring success.
Simple
install
Use simple, off-the-shelf, cost-effective high precision GPS hardware with easy configurations on your Drill Rigs
Live
Tracking
Send Drill Plans wirelessly to each of your Drills and track Drilling Compliance to plan, including drill rates.
Hole
Finder
Simple, Intuitive app installed in the Cab helps Drillers to hone-in on the drill hole location. No more manual paint-marking!!!
Reduce Dilution and Rework
Drill at the right location and to the elevation, the first time, and every time to reduce dilution and rework.
Off-the shelf HP-GPS Hardware with RTK corrections
GroundHog uses off-the-shelf High Precision GPS hardware with centimeter level precision. GroundHog’s hardware works seamlessly with various RTK GNSS services (GPS, Glonass, Galileo and BeiDou) to achieve 2cm precision, so your drills always get the right location the first time, and every time.
Driller friendly, easy to use App
Synchronize Drill Plans wirelessly to the Drill Rig, so your Drillers can see the Drill Plan on an off-the-shelf, ruggedized Android Tablet with a super-easy-to-use interface to track spatial compliance to your Drill Plan. Drill plan compliance ensures that you have better fragmentation for faster muck-haul, and reduced dilution so you meet your mill’s feed grades.
Superior Honing technology to visually direct Driller for better spatial compliance
GroundHog utilizes information from the High Precision GPS along with the boom offset to guide the Driller to the exact location with up to 2 cm precision, ensuring spatial compliance.
When the drill bit is off, the GroundHog Precision Drilling app visually directs the Driller by providing Distance and Direction information to re-orient the drill rig.
Frequently Asked Questions on High Precision Drilling and GNSS / RTK base stations and receivers
High precision drilling plays a critical role in open pit mining for several reasons:
- Maximizing resource recovery: Accurate drilling allows miners to target specific ore bodies more effectively, increasing the efficiency of mineral extraction.
- Minimizing waste: Precise drilling helps reduce the amount of overburden removed during mining operations, minimizing environmental disturbance and optimizing resource utilization.
- Enhancing safety: High precision drilling helps prevent accidents such as wall collapses or unintended deviations in drilling paths, ensuring a safer working environment for miners.
Several advanced technologies are employed for high precision drilling in open pit mines, including:
- High Precision GPS (Global Positioning System): GPS technology provides accurate positioning data to guide drilling equipment to precise locations within the mining site.
- Laser-guided drilling systems: Laser technology is used to ensure precise alignment and depth control during the drilling process, enhancing accuracy and efficiency.
- Automated drilling rigs: Automated drilling rigs equipped with advanced sensors and control systems enable operators to achieve consistent drilling parameters and minimize human error.
High precision drilling techniques can achieve remarkable levels of accuracy, often reaching 2-centimeter precision. Practically, you would never need more than 10 centimeter precision since when you blast, the ore body moves and the boundaries need to be re-calibrated. Depending on the specific requirements of the site and the technology employed, drilling accuracy can typically range from a 2 centimeters to about 50 centimeters. Anything more than 25 centimeters is bad drilling practice from an efficiency standpoint.
The benefits of high precision drilling in open pit mines include:
- Increased productivity: Precise drilling techniques enable faster and more efficient extraction of minerals, leading to higher production rates.
- Cost savings: By minimizing waste and optimizing resource utilization, high precision drilling helps reduce operational costs associated with mining activities.
- Environmental sustainability: By minimizing environmental disturbance and reducing the footprint of mining operations, high precision drilling contributes to sustainable mining practices.
- Improved safety: Accurate drilling reduces the risk of accidents and hazards, enhancing the safety of mining personnel and equipment.
High precision drilling provides valuable data and insights that can be used for mine planning and optimization:
- Accurate geological mapping: Precise drilling helps create detailed geological models, allowing miners to better understand the distribution of mineral deposits within the mining site.
- Optimization of blasting operations: Accurate drilling facilitates optimized blast design, resulting in more efficient fragmentation of ore and reduced energy consumption during blasting.
- Real-time monitoring and control: High precision drilling enables real-time monitoring of drilling parameters, allowing operators to adjust drilling operations on the fly to optimize performance and efficiency.
While high precision drilling offers numerous benefits, it also presents certain challenges, including:
- Cost of technology: Implementing high precision drilling technologies can involve significant upfront investment in equipment and infrastructure.
- Technical complexity: High precision drilling systems require specialized knowledge and expertise to operate and maintain, posing challenges in terms of training and skill development for mining personnel.
- Environmental considerations: While high precision drilling helps minimize environmental impact, it also raises concerns about the energy consumption and carbon footprint associated with the operation of advanced drilling equipment.
GNSS stands for Global Navigation Satellite System, a satellite-based navigation system that provides location and time information anywhere on Earth where there is an unobstructed line of sight to multiple satellites. Examples of GNSS systems include GPS (Global Positioning System), GLONASS (Global Navigation Satellite System), Galileo, and BeiDou.
RTK, or Real-Time Kinematic, is a satellite navigation technique used to enhance the precision of position data obtained from GNSS systems. It relies on a fixed base station with known coordinates and a rover or mobile receiver to determine its precise position relative to the base station in real-time, with centimeter-level accuracy.
GNSS works by transmitting signals from satellites orbiting the Earth to receivers on the ground or in vehicles. These signals contain information about the satellite’s position and the precise time the signal was sent. By measuring the time it takes for signals from multiple satellites to reach the receiver, the receiver can calculate its own position in three dimensions (latitude, longitude, and altitude).
correction data for satellite signals received by a rover or mobile receiver. The rover receiver compares the signals it receives from the satellites with the corrected signals from the base station, allowing it to calculate its position with much greater accuracy, typically within a few centimeters.
RTK technology is used in various applications that require precise positioning, including:
- Surveying and mapping: RTK allows surveyors to accurately measure and map land features, boundaries, and infrastructure with high precision.
- Precision Drilling: RTK enables mines to precisely control the locations of their drill holes to improve Blastability, Fragmentation, and Ore Dilution.
- Precision Digging: RTK enables mines to track the location of every bucket of muck (ore or waste) picked up by the shovel or the front wheel loader so the material is correctly directed to the right crusher, stockpile, or waste piles
- Autonomous vehicles: RTK provides accurate positioning data for autonomous vehicles, including drones, robots, and self-driving cars, enabling them to navigate safely and efficiently.
While RTK offers significant improvements in positioning accuracy, it also has some limitations, including:
- Line-of-sight requirements: RTK relies on radio communication between the base station and rover receiver, which can be obstructed by terrain, buildings, or vegetation, limiting its effectiveness in certain environments.
- Cost: RTK equipment can be more expensive than standard GNSS receivers, particularly for high-precision applications.
- Setup and initialization time: RTK systems require time to initialize and establish a reliable connection between the base station and rover receiver, which can impact efficiency, especially in time-sensitive applications.
