📋 Tender Overview
Melbourne Australia Orica ASX ORI will unveil its latest through-the-earth fully wireless initiating system WebGen 200 at MINExpo in Las Vegas next week. Development based on more than 2300 successful WebGen 100 blasts around the world Oricas WebGen 200 technology hasbeen designed with customers needs and feedback built-in as they look to further improve safety and productivity across their operations. WebGen technology provides for groups of in-hole primers to be wirelessly initiated by a firing command that communicates through hundreds of metres of rock water and air. This completely removes constraints often imposed by the requirement of a physical connection to each primer in a blast and importantly allows us to remove people from harms way. Engineered to delivermarket-leadingsafety and reliability WebGen 200 has been built with enhanced capabilities security and versatility ensuringitmeets the extreme mining conditions faced by surface and underground customers pushing the boundaries of minings next frontier. Orica Chief Technology Officer Angus Melbourne said We know that as our customers go deeper and move into more complex mining they are requiring more advanced technology to help them mine differently and continue to extract their ore bodies safely and efficiently. Thats where WebGen 200 and our broader technology roadmap comes in. WebGen 200 harnesses digital technology to allow advanced features including digital inventory management delay adjustments before blasting an improved user interface and increased quality assurance. Reliability is further improved with the WebGen 200 primers available to endure even greater dynamic pressure. Orica Vice President Blasting Technology Adam Mooney said Weve co-developed our second-generation wireless initiation technology WebGen 200 with customers from across all segments and regions around the world. We developed WebGen primarily to reduce or remove employees exposure to hazardous environments and improve overall operational safety. But we are also seeing the technology delivering unparalleled improvements in productivity and improved recovery for our customers - it is enabling a step-change in blasting and mining like no other. We are excited about what the future holds for the industry with WebGen 200 and know the enhancements made to this second-generation product will improve the customer experience broaden its application and deliver significant value for customers while enabling the first stages of blast automation. The hardware software and the WebGen 200 units come together as a versatile and reliable system that is easily integrated into any operation. WebGen 200 will be available in four product variants and include a wider range of booster weights opening up new segments applications and opportunities in both surface and underground mining.The complete product range now includes the WebGen 200 Surface WebGen 200 Surface Pro WebGen 200 Underground Pro and WebGen 200 Dev.WebGen 200 Surface and WebGen 200 Surface Pro are specifically designed for surface mining applications with the Pro version designed for extreme blasting conditions including revolutionary blasting techniques including Multi-Stratum Blasting Mining Schedule Flexibility and Lightning Risk Reduction. The WebGen 200 Underground Pro is suited to production blasting while the WebGen 200 Underground Dev has been designed for mechanical assembly and will enable the automation of underground development charging with Avatel. Avatel The worlds firstmechaniseddevelopment charging unit enabled by WebGen 200 Orica and Epiroc have successfully developedAvatel a first-of-its-kind industry-driven semi-automated explosives delivery system one year after announcing their collaboration in November 2019. TheAvatel prototype which is undergoing trials is expected to be commercially ready by the end of 2021. Theinnovative charging solution enabled byOricasWebGen wirelessinitiating systemtechnology addresses thefinalstepintheunderground development cycleyet to benefit substantially frommechanisationand automation. Today physical wired connectionsremain a necessary part ofunderground development chargingintroducing extended exposure times to workers in one of the highest risk work areas in an underground mine. The highly anticipated introduction ofAvatel will bring a step-change in safety by eliminating the need for wired connections andsubsequentexposureto crews atthe face. Instead theentirecharging cycle can be completed by asingleoperator from within the safety of an enclosed cabin severalmetresfrom the face.Avatel will deliver significant efficiencies and improvementsin productivity to customers in the underground mining segmentby enabling continued safe access in poor or seismic ground conditions to accelerate the development cycle while reducing costly and time-consuming temporary face support systems put in place to manage exposure under traditional charging methods. The WebGen 200 development program is progressing to plan with comprehensive verification and validation product testing completed. Field trials are planned and will be completed across multiple mining segments and regions in Australia Canada Latin America and Europe.
