TACARTER 1B Fustaring Second fring (Third fring F1G 7 — Long section of reverse cag, cartied out on all sides. The L6C drilled blastholes parallel to, but not intersecting, the box hole for the entire length of the bored hole. The box hole rises provided 3.7 tonnes per drill, ‘metre, the most of all the methods trialled. The size of the box: hole rig limited the position of the rise because ofthe deflector plates fitted and the 65° dip of the orebody. In addition, the pattern was problematic and difficulty was experienced in pulling the rises to the designed height, even with a 1.13 m= void, compared to a 0.23 m total void provided by the Ionghole rise pattern used at the time. An apparent drill hole accuracy issue on-site may have influenced the success of onghole rising. This was confirmed during the first stope to use the box hole rise, which failed to gain more than 133 m, ut of an 18.4 m rise of the designed height. ‘The modified box hole concept began when the two previous box hole rise attempts had achieved only 72 per cent of the designed height. The decision was made to modify the process by slowly enlarging the bored hole by firing two full- length blastholes ata time. A risk assessment was conducted to determine whether rehabilitating and supporting an open hole was acceptable in minimising the risk to workers. The ‘outcome from the risk assessment determined that the rise collar required support with mesh and FIBRECRETE® prior to any work taking place. The highest risk was damage to the mesh from rockfall in the rise. This risk was contralled by installing a bundle of mesh formed into a loose ball in the collar of the rise. Using the L6C drill rig, two parallel holes 600mm away from the original box hole were drilled along the entire length of the box hole, The two holes were fired and the void surveyed before the process was repeated for a second time. Between firings, the rise was rehabilitated and sprayed so that activity could occur around the immediate area. The final rise cavity monitoring survey allowed the longhole rise to be designed and drilled around the void created by the two small firings The concept worked well; however, the three firings took a total of 16 days to complete. CONCLUSION Stope productivity has increased as a result of these on-site trials. The purpose of the improvement project was to increase rise reliability, which has improved through trial and error in six longhole rise patterns in 30 months. The most successful Tonghole designs have been the patterns with shot hole protection, multiple shot holes and more holes per pattern than some experts have recommended. In spite of this, not ‘one of these six patterns has been 100 per cent reliable, mainly because of drill hole deviation and water desensitising the ANFO. The conventional drag has been the most successful method used to create free face since the trial commenced. Once drill hole deviation was taken into considerationat the design stage, it became less of an issue. The method has been optimised by incorporating a ski slope into the rear of the stope in front. This reduces the difficulty of the drag and aids in climbing. height quickly. Ground support is preserved by spacing the collars and allowing easy identification of blastholes. ‘The increased firing size also proved so successful that it has been fully adopted and implemented in KS and is used routinely to improve stope productivity. The increased firing, size and the conventional drag have been the main reasons productivity has increased in KS. ‘The reverse drag has created a solution to a problem often created by a lack of prior planning and/or other issues, as geotechnical constraints, which require an awkward brow profile. The shift in the ratio of manual to remote bogged tonnes with an increase of tonnes being able to be manually bogged is indicative of the success of the method and should ‘be considered in all drill-design phases. The box hole rise method was only tested in three stopes, in KS and proved unreliable; again, this was mainly because of drill hole deviation. In addition, the box hole rise is substantially more expensive than the longhole rise pattern and the cost does not guarantee full height. These methods have been uncomplicated to trial and have improved stope productivity substantially, Since local conditions, mining methods, geology, desired outcomes, and budget and equipment constraints all play a part in determining success, there will never be one proven drill and blast method. At AGM, the decision was to use the conventional drag against paste on all stopes with the such 256 12TH AUSIMM UNDERGROUND OPERATORS’ CONFERENCE / ADELAIDE, SA, 24-26 MARCH 2014