North-Western Phosphorous Company is introducing a new remote long-hole drilling process that will allow a single operator to run and monitor multiple underground drilling rigs from outside the mine, remotely uploading digital drilling projects into the rigs’ systems and observing progress via video camera. The above process will prevent miners from going down to dangerous drilling areas. Remote drilling is an integral part of second mining, ensuring safe and efficient operation of the underground mine.
Currently, NWPC is successfully using unmanned long-hole drilling, which does not require operators to run the drilling rigs. Remote drilling will allow operators to monitor every operation online and control every aspect of the drilling process.
NWPC is developing its remote drilling project in cooperation with Epiroc. The two companies have worked out a detailed roadmap to improve deep drilling performance, including increasing drilling rig capacity.
Once this project is complete, NWPC plans to install Certiq bundled software, which will provide detailed information on equipment operation and condition online to identify and pinpoint equipment performance bottlenecks and increase workforce productivity.