Boomer S2 – part of an autonomous future

Founded in the 1960s specializing in resource development, Daesung MDI has been a steady supplier of quality limestone and dolomite in South Korea, contributing to the development of the domestic industry. The company has been using Epiroc equipment since the mid-1990s, including several models of the Boomer face drill rig.

The Daesung MDI-operated Samcheok mine – located in the northeastern part of South Korea, close to the Sea of Japan – now uses the Boomer S2. This electric rig is the first of its model to be used in South Korea, and it’s fast becoming the company’s rig of choice.

“Epiroc equipment has been a favorite of Daesung MDI. As for the Boomer S2, its features and size perfectly fit our shafts,” says Seung-Gyu Lim, Daesung MDI Deputy Director for production.

Convenient size aside, the main reason that Daesung MDI loves the Boomer S2 is that the rig is jam-packed with automation features. As operator Hong-Kwan Kim grabs the joysticks of the Boomer S2 in an underground shaft in the Samcheok mine, he looks at a monitor showing the coordinates of the scanned wall that he is about to drill. It almost looks like he’s preparing to play a video game.

“The computer program scans the wall, and the perforation parameters are shown very clearly,” Hong-Kwan Kim says. “I get to know everything I need to know and can then proceed with automatic drilling or drill manually. It’s really convenient.”

This work is carried out with the help of ABC (Advanced Boom Control) Total, an automation feature that allows drilling to be performed according to digital drill plans, enabling drilling of a sequence of holes (a full round) automatically. This feature allows the operator to control more than one boom simultaneously, resulting in repeatability, time savings, and the possibility to drill during shift changes.

“The efficiency of the work we’re talking about lies in the pre-fracture phase of drilling with the jumbo drill,” says Chang-Oh Kim, Daesung MDI’s managing director. “Thanks to ABC Total, the operator can see what is drilled in three-dimension so, yes, the effectiveness of drilling has greatly improved. Compared to equipment without ABC Total, the drilling time is reduced by approximately 10 minutes. With the Boomer S2, we produce 10 to 20 percent more ore than with other equipment with no automation features.”

The Boomer S2 penetrates the mine wall about 3.9 meters at a time, and the ensuing blast results in approximately 800 metric tons of limestone. The Daesung MDI Samcheok site typically blasts four times a day, producing about 3 200 metric tons of limestone. By using automation, blasting efficiency at the Samcheok mine has increased by about 5–10%, which has also reduced the consumption of rock tools by approximately 5–10%.

Another automation feature of the Boomer S2 rigs used at the Samcheok mine is Epiroc’s new Rig Control System (RCS 5), which makes full automation easier and more productive. The system provides a number of safety and interlock features, as well as a foundation to add new functionality later without a major rebuild of the machine. At this point, two automated drill rigs are in operation at the Samcheok mine, accounting for about 33% of the entire operation, but Daesung MDI plans to invest further.

Yet another advantage of the Boomer S2 is the fact that the automation features have slashed the training time of a novice drill rig operator from three years to a mere three months. Hong-Kwan Kim was trained for exactly that amount of time at the Korea Mining Corporation, after which he joined Daesung MDI.

“Even though it was my first time driving a jumbo drill, I was able to adapt to the job quickly with the Boomer S2,” he says, adding “Most young people have not learned about the mining industry, but it’s certainly not bad when you try it. A lot of people from the young generation are very self-conscious of others, but the working environment of a mine, where an operator can work alone or with a few people, suits us well. I think mining is one of the best jobs for young people.”

^{*The model name Boomer S2 has been updated since the creation of this article. Current model name for this face drill rig is Boomer SM20 S.}