Fitted out for relatively small crowds, the talks attracted gradually growing audiences as the day went on.

Kicking things off before lunchtime was the ‘Connecting the dots: integration in drill and blast’ seminar, which introduced the technology integration on offer from recent entrant Hexagon Mining. 

Taking in the specialist technologies of MineSight, Devex Mining, Leica Geosystems Mining and SAFEmine at the beginning of the year, the company aims to link mine planning, design, fleet and production management, optimisation, and collision avoidance software for a comprehensive flow of data across all operations.

“Technology, we believe, is the key to success – to bring different technologies and different parts of the mine and integrate them together as one product,” Hexagon product manager Brendon Lilly told the audience. 

Building on the old idea that increased costs in getting drill and blast right can save money later on, Lilly said proper integration of the processes was integral but that this was not always easy. 

“Grade control, the mill, the load and haul cycle, all of that is a downstream process of drill and blast, so if you don’t get drill and blast right then all of those will be affected and you’ll have increased costs,” he said. 

“So trying to reduce costs of drill and blast won’t necessarily save money downstream.

“It might be that we increase the cost of drill and blast to save money elsewhere. So we’re looking at a holistic approach.”

Next on the agenda was the ‘Quantifying and Understanding Bulk Material Flow Properties for Mining Applications’ seminar presented by Bulk Materials Engineering Australia. 

BMEA, a commercial enterprise utilising the solids handling facilities and expertise housed at the University of Wollongong also ran another seminar later in the afternoon titled ‘How To Achieve Reliable Flow in Handling and Processing Plants’ which focused on wet and sticky ores. 

BMEA general manager and founder Peter Wypych presented both seminars, commenting that understanding bulk material properties was essential to success.

“It doesn’t matter what area it is, really the key to success is knowing and understanding your bulk material properties,” he said.

“Unfortunately a lot of the mistakes I see out there are a direct result of people not achieving that objective of understanding bulk material.

“With that knowledge we can pursue reliable and sustainable supply of your bulk commodity.” 

Sandwiched in between the BMEA talks was the latest winner of RIIT’s Unearthed Hackathon. 

Operating as a platform to foster small mining equipment, technology and services startups and help them break into the industry, RIIT runs its Hackathon competitions throughout the country and over the course of the year, with the Sydney event taking place last week. 

The next Hackathon will be held in Melbourne ahead of the IMARC conference in November.