CR Digital has today announced the launch of the new Thunderbird 1110 Drill Optimization System. Built on the original drill technology acquired by Seattle-based company Thunderbird in early 2020, CR Digital’s Thunderbird 1110 system seeks to optimize drill operations worldwide with advanced real-time drill monitoring and data-driven decision-making tools.
The reimagined Thunderbird 1110 user interface provides drill operators with a revolutionary new experience to guide the drill to the precise location for blasthole drilling. In addition, the Thunderbird 1110 records real-time rock hardness index data, providing drill and blast teams with the information required for optimizing blasthole explosives loading for consistent fragmentation. The Thunderbird 1110 Drill Optimization System seeks to increase safety through accurate hole position, depth, and productivity by providing real-time information to the operator. In addition, the Thunderbird 1110 platform is now fully integrated into the CR Digital Orion Analytics platform, providing a level of production drilling analytics tools previously unavailable in the industry.
General Manager at CR Digital, Damian Assaillit, says the new platform will provide significant benefits to a range of operations that has lacked systemized, digital solutions.
“The team at CR Digital have upped the game again here; this release represents a major step toward our vision of closing the operational loop between drilling, rock knowledge, fragmentation, and load haul optimization of a mine site. The Thunderbird technology has taken a step, but integrating our Orion Analytics platform is a key component of delivering powerful real-time operational insights, rock knowledge, production data, accuracy reporting, and telemetry to operational teams. Not only is all of this intelligence available on-demand, but it now facilitates CR Digital’s industry-leading Analysis and Improvement service for drilling teams. The CR Digital team can analyze learnings from each drill operator’s performance to identify further improvement opportunities in what is one of the most important phases of the mining process.”
“The Thunderbird 1110 system also includes StrataSense, our leading measure while drilling system delivering rock hardness index data in high resolution for each hole. With StrataSense, drill and blast engineers can analyze rock hardness by hole, by pattern, at 10cm increments, which improves rock knowledge and optimizes hole loading.” Assaillit said.
With trials of the new system complete, CR Digital is confident of the improvement and cost efficiencies produced by the new Thunderbird 1110 Drill Optimization System. Units of the Thunderbird 1110 Drill Optimization System are now available to order globally.
