Hexagon launches AI-powered tool to enhance mining efficiency

Hexagon, a leader in digital reality and autonomous technologies, has launched an Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered tool named Blast Movement Intelligence (BMI) to the global marketplace. This advanced 3D blast movement solution, developed through a collaboration with Augment Technologies, is designed to create a post-blast depiction known as the Muckpile Block Model. The BMI system works in conjunction with Hexagon’s Blast Movement Monitors and utilises AI to enhance its accuracy and reliability, achieving this without the need for personnel to physically traverse the muck pile for monitor placement or retrieval.

This system is tailored for mining operations and has demonstrated effectiveness in real-world scenarios. Its primary benefits include increasing blasting efficiency and providing crucial insights into ore dilution, facilitating informed decisions regarding ore and waste separation following a blast. By delivering an accurate model of the muck pile, the BMI system optimises yield, maximising resource extraction.

One of the standout features of BMI is its integration with Hexagon’s MinePlan Block Model Manager. This particular tool is a data-integrity solution engineered to enhance collaboration and data exchange across different mining roles and phases, thus reducing errors and simplifying complex processes in block modelling. This integration ensures data centralisation and employs server-based capabilities such as version control and change notifications to maintain the integrity and auditability of the data. Moreover, the system’s application programming interface allows easier access and integration with other operational systems, further enhancing mining operations.

James Dampney, Vice President of Resource Optimisation and Material Movement at Hexagon, praised the new solution, stating, “Our Blast Movement Intelligence solution has proven profoundly useful for optimising downstream processes. It can quickly interpret complex data, learn from that data, and estimate movements based on that data, getting smarter with each blast so that the model is machine-precise, improving the thousands of decisions that cascade from resource modelling and ore delineation.”

The implementation of Hexagon’s BMI allows mining operations to accurately and swiftly determine the routing of valuable material, significantly reducing energy use during subsequent comminution processes and improving ore recovery. These enhancements ultimately lead to higher profitability.

Further bolstered by insights from the MinePlan Block Model Manager, Hexagon’s sophisticated BMI emerges as a comprehensive, high-fidelity blast movement solution capable of positively influencing all stages of the downstream mining process. The global availability of this system signifies a noteworthy advancement in marrying safety with operational efficiency in the mining sector.

Source: Noah Wire Services