Surpac Drill and Blast Tutorial

Drill and Blast
December 2006
www.cadfamily.com EMail:cadserv21@hotmail.com
The document is for study only,if tort to your rights,please inform us,we will delete
Copyright 2006 Surpac Minex Group Pty Ltd (A Gemcom company). All rights
reserved.
This software and documentation is proprietary to Surpac Minex Group Pty Ltd.
Surpac Minex Group Pty Ltd publishes this documentation for the sole use of Surpac licenses.
Without written permission you may not sell, reproduce, store in a retrieval system, or transmit
any part of the documentation. For such permission, or to obtain extra copies please contact
your local Surpac Minex Group Office.
Surpac Minex Group Pty Ltd

Level 8 190 St Georges Terrace
Perth, Western Australia 6000
Telephone: (08) 94201383
Fax: (08) 94201350
While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this manual, we assume no
responsibility for errors or omissions. Neither is any liability assumed for damage resulting
from the use of the information contained herein.
All brand and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of there respective
companies.
About This Manual
This manual has been designed to provide a practical guide to the many uses of the software.
The applications contained within this manual are by no means exhaustive as the possible
uses of the software are only limited by the users imagination. However, it will give new users
a starting point and existing users a good overview by demonstrating how to use many of the
functions in Surpac Vision. If you have any difficulties or questions while working through this
manual feel free to contact your local Surpac Minex Group Office.
Contributors
Peter Esdale
Rowdy Bristol
Kiran Kumar
Phil Jackson
Surpac Minex Group

Perth, Western Australia
Product
Surpac Vision v5.2
Table of Contents
Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 1
Requirements ............................................................................................................................ 1
Objectives .................................................................................................................................. 1
Workflow .................................................................................................................................... 1
Concepts.................................................................................................................................... 2
Getting Started........................................................................................................................... 6
Modify blast design defaults ...................................................................................................... 7
Designing a Blast Pattern using RMC polygons...................................................................... 11
Load and tie in a firing pattern ................................................................................................. 22
Create a blast boundary and blast solid .................................................................................. 30
Create a blast report ................................................................................................................ 33
Pre-split Holes ......................................................................................................................... 37
Blast Database Concepts ........................................................................................................ 56
Loading the Blast Database .................................................................................................... 59
Introduction
The drill and blast module allows you to create and charge vertical and inclined holes in
rectangular patterns, along segments, or in a straight line between any two points digitised on
the screen.
Requirements
Prior to proceeding with this tutorial, you will need:
Surpac Vision v5.2 installed

The drill and blast tutorial data set (zip file for drill and blast tutorial).
A good understanding of the basic Surpac concepts of strings, segments, DTMs, and
string tools.
Objectives
The objective of this tutorial is to allow you to create a blast design from start to finish,
including all the intermediate steps needed to produce the final report. It is not intended to be
exhaustive in scope, but will show the workflow needed to achieve a final result. You can
then refine and add to this workflow to meet your specific requirements.
Workflow
The process described in this tutorial is outlined below:
1. Open up blast design profile

2. Set up blast design defaults
3. Design blast hole collar pattern
4. Prime and load blast holes
5. Design the tie in pattern for firing
6. Up-load the blast design into the blast database
7. Create a true blast outline, using a blast destruction cone
8. Create a blast solid
9. Produce a blast report
www.cadfamily.com EMail:cadserv21@hotmail.com 1
Concepts
There are several terms and concepts particular to this tutorial which will be explained here.
Note that not all terms are the same in all countries, and you may need to apply your
preferred terminology where applicable. Much of the terminology associated with this
document is specific to the mining and quarrying industries.
1. Drilling
Drilling parameters which are customisable include:
Bearing - also referred to as azimuth
Burden - distance between rows

Collar - The starting point of a drill hole
Diameter diameter of drill hole in units of measure (ie. metres or feet)
Dip the angle of a hole above or below the horizontal
Pattern - A pattern is a set of blast holes which will be collectively drilled, sampled, charged,
and blasted.
An example of a pattern is shown below. Each dot represents one blasthole.
Spacing - distance between holes in a row
Subdrill distance - extra drilling length to add to each hole
Toe - The bottom or ending point of a drill hole is referred to as the toe. However, a line
defining the base point of a slope may also be referred to as a toe.
Presplit Holes
Often holes are drilled at relatively close spacing along a planned fracture plane. These holes
are referred to in Surpac as presplit holes. Surpac can create presplit holes along a straight
line or along a segment. The example below shows presplit holes created along a segment,
and in a straight line. One set of holes are created from one segment, the crest of a bench, to
another segment, the toe of the ramp. The horizontal holes, which could be used as drains in
a pit wall, or for sampling, were created along a straight line.
An example of presplit holes is shown below:
Blast Boundary
A blast boundary can be generated for a designed pattern using blast cones around each drill
hole. The outermost segments of each cone are joined up to create the blast boundary.
Blast Solid
A blast solid can be generated by using the blast boundary and projecting it down to a design
elevation or to a DTM surface.
Tie in patterns
A tie in pattern can be generated using one of the standard templates, or you can select
holes/tie in lines individually to generate a customised pattern.
2. Blasting
Charging parameters which are customisable include:
Booster name may be selected from Anzomex G (PG), Anzomex H (PH), Anzomex K (PK),
Anzomex P (PPE), Anzomex PP D (PPD), Anzomex PP P (PPPE), Jumbo prime (PJ) or
Stopeprime (PSP DL)
Charge depth - can be automatically adjusted to hole depth
Charge interval - multiple charge intervals separated by stemming are allowed
Database
All of the drilling and blasting information for each hole can be saved to a database. Surpac
supports MS-Access(TM), and any database connectable via ODBC (Open DataBase
Connectivity). The recommended database type is MS-Access(TM).
Delay time (in milliseconds) - defaults to 400 milliseconds
Depth of stemming - rock chips, dirt, or other non-explosive material placed on top of the
charge
Detonator name -, may be selected from Excel LP, Nonel LP, Nonel MS, connectadet or
enduradet
Detonator position in the hole may be selected from top, middle or bottom of the hole
Explosive - may be selected from ANFO 0.8, 0.9 or 1.0, Power Gel, air or stemming
Reports and Volume Calculations
The drill and blast module can generate three report types:
Blast summary
Pattern Setout
Work order
The blast summary report gives a rundown of all the blast design and costing details,
including such things as total drilling length, explosive products, mass of explosive down each
hole, powder factor, blast volume, drilling cost and explosive cost.
The pattern setout report contains a list of hole numbers and their coordinates
The work order report gives details of the total number of explosive products to be used in a
blast, including such things as number and type of detonators in the blast, total mass of
explosive, kilograms of explosive per hole and number of boosters required.
Summary
You should now be familiar with the basic terminology associated with drilling and blasting
Getting Started
Overview
The following will be presented in this chapter:
Opening the blast design profile
Requirements
Prior to performing the exercises in this chapter, you will need:
1. Opening up the blast design profile
Open Surpac and it will start in the no profile mode, or a previously set default profile. Right
mouse click in the area immediately to the right of the Help menu and select Profiles, then
Blast Design
If you wish to set this as your default profile every time you start Surpac, right mouse click in
the area immediately to the right of the Help Menu and select Profiles then Set current as
default.
For more information on setting up profiles and customising menus, toolbars, etc please see
the Surpac Vision Introduction tutorial.
Summary
What you have learned so far is how to set up a default profile for Blast design.
Modify blast design defaults
Overview
The following concepts will be presented in this chapter:
1. Setting up and adding to the blasting design defaults

2. Setting up string polygons for different rock mass classifications
Included with the blast tutorial data set is a macro called 01_data_setup.tcl, which when
executed runs the string maths functions described in this chapter.
Note: The blasting.ssi file should be backed up regularly as it contains all your default blast
design and cost parameters. Accidental overwriting or deletion of this file will require manual
re-input of all the information.
Requirements
Prior to performing the exercises in this chapter, you should have:

1. Blast Design Defaults Drilling Defaults tab
From the Blast Design menu, select Drill and Blast Settings. The Blast Design Defaults
form will open on the Drilling Defaults tab as shown below:
Notice the new panel for Drill Rigs. By right clicking on the row number, you can add the
names of any drill rigs you have on site to this list. The drill rig can then be assigned to a blast
pattern when designing a blast.
2. Blast Design Defaults Charging Defaults tab
Click on the Charging Defaults tab. This is the area where you enter all your explosives
product information. You can then select any of these products when charging the holes in a
blast design.
3. Blast Design Defaults Rock Classifications tab
Click on the Rock Classifications tab. This is the area where you enter all the Rock Mass
Classification (RMC) information.
Right click on one of the row numbers and select Add, to create a new record. Then enter the
following rock classification details in the following columns
Rock Name - Basalt Fresh

Rock Description - FreshBas
SG - 2.8
Powder Factor - 0.8
Sub Drill - 0.6
Burden - 2.5
Spacing - 2.5
Blast cone angle - 50
Drilling cost per unit length - 30
Note that the Rock Name and Rock Description entries are case sensitive.
The values entered in the previous form will be used in various other parts of the module. For
example, when reporting on a blast with the Rock name of Basalt Fresh, the mass of blasted
material will be calculated using a specific gravity (SG) of 2.8. Other values will be explained
as you progress through each section of the tutorial
Note: You may see different data if the drill and blast tutorial has already been run on your
computer. If so, leave the data alone and simply apply the form.
The burden value for oxide has been filled in incorrectly i.e. look at the fields Rock name and
Burden. Change the burden value to 6.
4. Blast Design Defaults Firing defaults tab

Click on the Firing defaults tab. This tab contains template details for the three most
common firing patterns.
If you have a blast design that is suited to using one of these firing patterns, then you can
generate a firing sequence, with minimal effort, via the use of one of these standard templates.
This is best illustrated by an example (which is covered in a later section of this tutorial) so for
now just check that each entry for No. of rows is 1. If not, change it so they are all equal to 1.
No. of rows refers to the number of rows that will be connected together to fire on the same
time delay.
5. Rock Mass Classification polygons - RMC polygons

Next you are going to use string maths to modify some string polygon files so they are in a
suitable format to use the Modify burden and spacing by polygon option when designing a
blast pattern.
From the File tools menu select String maths and fill in the form as shown below:
Repeat the previous step for the string file rmc_955.str, but this time set the d1 field to "Basalt
Fresh".
Note - the data entered is case sensitive.
You have now set up two RMC polygon files that can be used to automatically set burden and
spacing when designing a blast pattern. This will be covered in a later section of this tutorial.
Summary
You should now be familiar with the data that is recorded in the blast design defaults file, how
to add records and how to set up RMC polygons for use in the blasting module.
Designing a Blast Pattern using RMC polygons
Overview
1. Creating a number of blast patterns using the auto spacing and burden from polygons
option.
2. Saving the blast pattern and loading the holes to the blast database.
Requirements
Surpac Vision v5.2 installed.

Macro 01_data_setup must have been run before starting this part of the tutorial.
1. Recall input data set
Firstly, open the files bench960_950.str, and Rock Mass Classification (RMC) polygon file,
rmc_960.str, by dragging the files, one at a time into graphics.
Please note that the polygon file must be in the currently active layer to use the auto spacing
and burden from polygons option - ie. drag the polygon file into graphics last
2. Design a blast pattern using the auto spacing and burden from polygons option
For this section of the tutorial you are going to design a blast pattern for the upper bench in
the pit pickup, and align it with one section of the free face.
From the Blast Design menu select Create blast pattern and you will be prompted to Select
area for blasting holes. In this case, you will select an area larger than you wish to blast
and then trim the blast, so drag out an area similar to that shown in the image below by
clicking and holding down the left mouse button.
Now, by holding down the right mouse button to rotate the selected area, and holding down
the left mouse button to move the selected area, orientate the blast pattern to align with the
longest section of the free face as shown in the following image.
Now press the Enter key or the F2 key to accept the selected area.
Next, fill in the Pattern Settings for form Blast Pattern Design as shown below, selecting
the option to Modify burden and spacing by polygon
Click on the Hole Settings tab and fill out the form as follows:
A detailed explanation of each field on this form follows:
Origin X The X coordinate of the origin of the grid.

Origin Y The Y coordinate of the origin of the grid.
Grid Height The length of the grid along the axis labelled "Burden".
Grid Width The length of the grid along the axis labelled "Spacing".
Grid Angle Grid angle may be set to any value from 0 to 360. The grid angle is the
azimuth, or bearing of the axis labelled "Burden".
Layout Either rectangular or staggered. Below is an example of each:
Rectangular Staggered
Order Either Regular or Zig-Zag. Below is an example of each:
Regular Zig-Zag
In these examples, the rows are ordered from south to north. It is possible to order the rows
from north to south or east to west or west to east by rotating the grid to an angle of 90, 180,
or 270 degrees respectively.
Spacing input
You have three choices here:

1. The first choice is Modify burden and spacing by polygon and will use the burden and
spacing defined in the blast design defaults file. Setting up these polygons and the blast
design defaults has already been explained in the section Modify blast design defaults.
2. Under the section Manual Burden/Spacing, you have the choice of either Burden and
Spacing or Number of holes.
3. If you select Burden and Spacing, you will be prompted for the burden (distance between
rows) and the spacing (distance between holes in a row). The number of holes in each
direction is calculated based on the grid height and grid width, and is displayed on the Blast
pattern design form. For example, if the grid height is 120, and the burden is 10, the number
of rows is 13 (120/10 + 1). If the grid width is 60, and the burden is 7.5, the number of
columns (or holes per row) is 9 (60/7.5 + 1).
In the example below, a burden of 10 and a spacing of 7.5 has been used.
If you select Number of holes, you will be prompted for the number of holes per row, and the
number of holes per column. The spacing between holes in each direction is calculated based
on the grid height and grid width, and displayed on the form. If the grid height is 120, and the
burden is 10, the number of rows is set to 11, the burden (spacing between rows) will be 12
( 120 / (11 - 1) ). If the grid width is 60, and the number of columns is set to 21, the spacing
(distance between holes in a row) will be 3 ( 60 / (21-1) ).
Collar Elevation
Either Fixed, DTM layer, or DTM file.
If Fixed is selected, you will be prompted to enter an elevation (Z value). The collar elevations
of all holes in the pattern will be set to this value.
If you select DTM layer, you will be prompted to enter the name of another existing layer
which contains a DTM.
Note:
This layer must contain a DTM that is numbered object 1, trisolation 1. This DTM must be a
DTM surface and not a 3D solid model. In other words, the DTM must have been created
using the function CREATE DTM, and not with any of the solids modelling tools.
The collar elevation of each hole will be set to the elevation of the DTM where the hole
intersects the DTM.
If you select DTM file, you will be prompted to enter the name of an existing DTM file, and
whether or not you wish for the DTM to be displayed. The collar elevation of each hole will be
set to the elevation of the DTM where the hole intersects the DTM.
Toe Elevation
Either Set Length, Set Elevation, DTM layer, or DTM file.
If Set Length is selected, you will be prompted to enter a hole length. The length of all holes
in the pattern will be set to this value.
If Set Elevation is selected, you will be prompted to enter an elevation (Z value). The
elevation of the toes (end, or bottom point) of all holes in the pattern will be set to this value.
which contains a DTM. The toe elevation of each hole will be set to the elevation of the DTM
where the hole intersects the DTM.
Note:
If you select DTM file, you will be prompted to enter the name of an existing DTM file, as well
as whether or not you would like to see this DTM file displayed on the screen. The toe
elevation of each hole will be set to the elevation of the DTM where the hole intersects the
DTM.
Hole Bearing
Hole bearing may be set to any value from 0 to 360. The bearing (also know as azimuth) of all
holes in this pattern will be set to this value. For vertical holes, hole bearing may be set to any
value. Zero is commonly used for the bearing of vertical holes. The bearing is measured as
the azimuth in plan view from the collar to the toe, or end of the hole.
Hole Dip
Hole dip may be set to any value from -90 to 0. The dip of all holes in this pattern will be set to
this value. For vertical holes drilled down, hole dip should be set to -90. For horizontal holes,
the dip should be set to zero. The dip is measured as the angle from the horizontal plane to
the toe, or end of the hole.
Hole Diameter
The hole diameter is to be entered in units of measure. If you are using the metric system,
this is in meters. For example, a 76mm hole would be entered as 0.076 (meters). If you are
using the imperial system, enter this value as feet. For example, a 6 inch hole would be
entered as 0.5 (feet). The diameter is written to the D4 field of the first point of the segment
which represents the hole.
Clip to Boundary
After you apply this form, if CLIP TO BOUNDARY is set to Yes, then you will be prompted to
select a closed segment. All holes which would have fallen outside this boundary will be
deleted. Direction of the boundary segment is ignored. In other words, if the segment is
anticlockwise, it is treated as if it was clockwise for determining if a hole is inside or outside
the segment.
Pattern Identifier
The pattern identifier is a string of text and/or numbers that will be written to the field blast
pattern if the data is written to a database. The pattern identifier is written to the D2 field of
the first point of the segment which represents each hole.
Hole ID Prefix
All holes will be created with a numeric hole name (hole ID). Any characters which you wish
to precede the numeric portion of the hole name can be entered here. For example, if you
wanted the holes to be numbered 940-1, 940-2, 940-3, etc., you would enter "940-" as the
hole ID prefix. The hole ID prefix may be left blank. If it is blank, the holes will be numbered 1,
2, 3, etc.
Hole ID Suffix
to come after the numeric portion of the hole name can be entered here. For example, if you
wanted the holes to be numbered 1rc, 2rc, 3rc, etc., you would enter "rc" as the hole ID suffix.
The hole ID suffix may be left blank. If it is blank, the holes will be numbered 1, 2, 3, etc.
Starting Value
All holes will be created with a numeric hole name (hole ID), starting at the number specified
here. For example, if you wanted the first hole number to be 1000, the second hole to be
numbered 1001, the third hole to be numbered 1002, etc, then you would enter a starting
value of 1000.
Sequence Rows, and Row Increment
It is possible to commence each row of blast holes with an ID number that is incremented
from a base value. For example, each row might commence with an even hundred value, i.e.
100 for the first row, 200 for the second row, etc. If this option is selected the incremental
value that defines the starting hole ID for each new row should be entered in the row
increment field. Obviously, the increment chosen must be greater than the number of columns
in each row.
Pad Hole id, Length, and Character
To insure that holes are presented in order when viewing them in a database table, you may
want to "pad" the numeric portion of the hole with a character. For example, if you wanted
holes numbered ABC-001, ABC-002, ABC-003, etc, you would say "Yes" to Pad Hole_id, set
Pad Length to 3, and set Pad Character to "0".
Below are some examples:
Hole ID Hole ID Starting Pad Pad Pad

Examples
Prefix Suffix Value Hole_id Length Character
1 No 1, 2, 3
A 1 No A1, A2, A3
940- rc 1 No 940-1rc, 940-2rc, 940-3rc
bh- 1 Yes 3 0 bh-001, bh-002, bh-003
N_ 201 Yes 4 x N_x201, N_x202, N_x203
bh 8 Yes 2 0 08bh, 09bh, 10bh
RC 901 No RC901, RC902,RC903
Press Apply on the blast pattern design form, and a blast pattern will be generated
3. Clip Blast pattern to area on the top bench
From the Delete menu select Outside boundary and you will be prompted to Select a
closed segment. Click on any point on the top bench outline and you will get an image
similar to the one below.
Hint:
If you want the point descriptions displayed for the drill hole collars, you can modify and re-
save the blast.ssi styles file, or select another styles file to use from the Customise menu,
Default preferences and then make the changes you require to the Presentation tab and
apply the form.
4. Save the string file and load the holes to the blast database
From the File menu select Save, string/DTM and name the file bp1.str
Note:
After loading a blast pattern to the database, the string layer is deleted and holes from the
database displayed. This is to avoid having two copies of the blast pattern in graphics at the
one time, which could potentially contain conflicting information after an editing operation.
Strictly speaking you do not have to save the string file, because from v5.2 it is possible to
download a pattern from a blast database back into string file format.
From the Database menu select Database and then Upload blast holes into database.
Note make sure you are using the blast database menu as shown below, and not the
geological database menu.
On the Load Blast Holes to Database form, type in bp1 for the Report file name and Apply
the form. You will notice that there are two panels at the top of this form, labelled Duplicate
holes in database and Extra holes in database respectively. These two panels warn you
when a blast pattern with the same identification already exists in the blast database, and
gives you the option of what to do in this case.
There are two situations where you would have a duplicate blast pattern. The first situation is
when you mistakenly type in a duplicate Pattern Identifier on the Blast Pattern Design form,
in which case you should cancel the Load Blast Holes to Database form and edit the
Pattern Identifier before continuing the Load Blast Holes to Database operation.
Hint: use string maths to change the d2 field to a unique Pattern Identifier, before
proceeding.
The second situation is where you have modified an existing pattern and now wish to
overwrite the original pattern stored in the blast database with the new information.
Now repeat steps 1 to 4 as listed previously, to design a blast similar to what is shown below,
but this time use the Rock Mass Classification (RMC) polygon file rmc_955.str, name the
blast BP2 and design the holes from 955 to 950 relative level.
5. Design a blast pattern with more that one burden and spacing using the auto
spacing and burden from polygons option
First recall the pit pickup, bench960_950.str, and Rock Mass Classification (RMC) polygon
file, multiple_rmc_zones.str, by dragging the files, one at a time into graphics.
From the Blast Design menu select Create blast pattern and you will be prompted to Select
area for blasting holes. In this case select an area similar to that shown in the image below.
Now press the Enter key or the F2 key to accept the selected area.
Next, fill in the Pattern Settings on the form Blast Pattern Design, selecting the option to
Modify burden and spacing by polygon, name the blast BP3 and design the holes from
960 to 955 relative level.
Clip the Blast pattern to the area on the top bench. You should get a blast pattern similar to
the following image.
Note:
Some editing of holes will be required at the contact zone between different RMC areas, as
the burden and spacing conditions can not be honoured in all cases at these locations.
There are also new menu items Blast hole crest tolerance and Blast create offset line by
distance under the Blast design menu. These options are useful when, for example, a
minimum set off distance from a final pit wall is required. Holes that are within this set off
distance can now be highlighted and edited using these new functions.
Summary
You should now be familiar with how to create blast patterns using the auto spacing and
burden from polygons option and loading the holes to the blast database.
Included with the blast tutorial data set is a macro called 02_auto_rmc_patterns.tcl, which
when executed runs through all the steps in this section of the tutorial
Load and tie in a firing pattern
Overview
1. Unload a blast pattern from the blast database into a string file format
2. Charging blast holes
3. Tie in a firing pattern
4. Upload firing pattern to blast database
Requirements

Run macros 01_data_setup.tcl and then 02_auto_rmc_patterns.tcl to set up
exactly the same data set as will be used in this exercise.
1. Unload a blast pattern from the blast database
First recall the pit pickup, bench960_950.str, by dragging it into graphics.
From the Database menu select Database and then Download blast holes from database.
Note make sure you are using the blast database menu as shown below, and not the
geological database menu.
On the Select Database form, select blast_tutorial.ddb and the Hole pattern ID of BP1
Select the blast hole layer, from the layer selector (see image below), to make it the active
layer
You should now have a graphics display that looks similar to the image below:
2. Charge all holes
From the Charging tools menu select Charge and then All holes.
Fill out the Charging Details form as shown below and Apply the form. You will now get a
charge report, charging.log. Close this report once you have inspected it to make sure hole
charging has gone as expected.
3. Tie in a diagonal firing pattern
From the Firing sequence menu select Generate firing sequence, and fill in the form shown
below
For this exercise, select the Diagonal-Pattern template. Use the holes from the Active layer
(blast hole layer) and write the output to the layer tie_in. The diagonal pattern can also be
referred to as a row by row firing sequence.
After applying the form, define the first row of the pattern by clicking and dragging to identify
the tie in for the first row see the image below.
You should end up with a display similar to the image shown below.
Note:
1) The tie in delay information is written into the description fields of each of the blast holes,
so the information can be saved and uploaded to the blast database.
2) The tie in lines have been created in the new layer, in this case called tie_in, and you
should switch to that layer and save the file if you wish to keep a copy for plotting, later recall,
visualising etc., as this string file is not saved when uploading the tie in information to the
blast database.
Note:
There are also functions to animate and step through the blast firing sequence.
From the Firing sequence menu, select Firing animation to animate the blast. The slider on
the blasting toolbar will now be active and you can use it to step through the blast firing
sequence, to help with troubleshooting and visualisation.
4. Upload tie in pattern to the blast database
From the Database menu select Database and then Upload blast holes into database.
Note make sure you are using the blast database menu, and not the geological database
menu.
Apply the Loading Blast Holes to Database form, and select the blast_tutorial.ddb file on
the next form and click Apply.
You should now have a form that looks similar to the following:
Make sure you tick the option to Overwrite with new blast holes, as you now wish to
replace the original data with the new pattern, including the firing sequence information. Type
in bp1 for the Report file name and apply the form.
Apply the Draw holes form, and the Define Query Constraints form. The firing sequence
information will now be loaded to the blast database and the holes contained within the
database displayed in graphics.
Note:
You can view a single blast hole by selecting the Database menu, then select Display
followed by View a blast hole. Note make sure you are using the blast database menu, and
not the geological database menu. You can change the display styles for such things as
explosive, stemming etc. by selecting the Database menu, then select Display followed by
Blast hole display styles.
5. Tie in a V firing pattern
Clear graphics and recall the pit pickup, bench960_950.str, by dragging it into graphics.
Select the blast hole layer, from the layer selector to make it the active layer.
From the Firing sequence menu, select Generate firing sequence and fill in the form as
shown below.
For this exercise, select the V-Pattern template, use the holes from the Active layer (blast
hole layer) and write the output to the layer tie_in.
After applying the form, define the apex of the V pattern, and the two sides of the V, by
clicking and dragging each line as shown in the image below.
6. Tie in a customised firing pattern
Clear graphics and recall the pit pickup, bench960_950.str, by dragging it into graphics.
From the Database menu, select Database and then Download blast holes from database.
Select the blast hole layer from the layer selector to make it the active layer.
From the Firing sequence menu select Customised firing sequence, and fill in the form as
shown below.
For this exercise no template has been used and you are able to tie in the holes in any order
or pattern that you select.
After applying the form, select some holes to define the holes in the first row. In the example
below, the holes for row 1 have been selected by clicking on the end points of the row, and
then pressing the Escape key.
From the Firing sequence menu, select Increment row number and then select the next
row in the firing sequence by clicking on either the start point, any inflection points or the end
point.
Once you have finished a tie in row, press the Escape key and you will be prompted to start
the next row. When you have completed all rows in the firing sequence, press the Escape
key twice to finish the operation.
Summary
You should now know how to unload a blast pattern from a blast database into string file
format, then charge all the holes, tie them into a firing sequence, and upload the information
back into the blast database.
Included with the blast tutorial data set are 3 macros called 03a_load_&_tie_pattern1.tcl,
03b_v_pattern.tcl and 03c_custom_pattern.tcl, which run through all the steps in this
section of the tutorial.
Create a blast boundary and blast solid
Overview
1. Unload a blast pattern from the blast database into a string file format
2. Create a blast boundary, using a destruction cone around every blast hole
3. Create a blast solid using the blast boundary
Requirements

Run macro 01_data_setup.tcl and then 02_auto_rmc_patterns.tcl to set up the
data set to be used in this exercise.
1. Unload a blast pattern from the blast database
Select the blast hole layer, from the layer selector, to make it the active layer
You should now have a graphics display that looks similar to the image below.
2. Create blast boundary string
From the Blast Design menu select Create blast boundary string and then fill in the form
as shown below.
Note:
The option to Overwrite cone angle has been ticked. Normally the value you enter as cone
angle in the blast design defaults is used, but in this case the option to temporarily override
the value has been selected.
If you also want to view the cones that this function creates, tick the option to Create cones.
By increasing the Arc distance you can reduce the number of points generated when
creating the blast cone, hence speeding up the operation of generating the blast boundary.
You should now have a graphics display that looks similar to the image below.
From the Blast design menu select Clip blast boundary by crest string and then follow the
prompts to clip the blast boundary.
3. Create blast solid
From the Blast design menu select Create blast solid, and fill in the form as shown below.
You should now have a blast solid displayed in graphics that looks similar to the image below.
From the File menu select Save, then string/DTM and name the file solid_bp1.dtm
Summary
You should now know how to unload a blast pattern from a blast database, into string file
format, and then create a blast boundary from which you can then generate a blast solid.
Included with the blast tutorial data set is the macro 04_blast_boundary_&_solid.tcl, which
will run through all the steps in this section of the tutorial.
Create a blast report
Overview
1. Generate a blast report using a blast design and a solid created from the blast pattern.
Requirements

Run macro 01_data_setup.tcl and then 02_auto_rmc_patterns.tcl and
04_blast_boundary_&_solid.tcl to set up the data set as used in this exercise.
1. Recall the pit pickup string file and blast pattern
From the Database menu select Display and then Display loaded blastholes.
On the Select Database form, select blast_tutorial.ddb and Apply the form
On the Draw holes form, make sure Add constraint to holes is ticked and Apply the form
Next, fill out the Define Query Constraints form as shown below and Apply the form.
You should now have the blast pattern and pit pickup displayed in graphics. Familiarise
yourself with this data by zooming in, rotating etc. before continuing.
2. Generate a blast summary report
From the Report menu select Blast summary and then fill in the form as shown below.
Note:
There are three options for the report type. Generally the consolidated report is the best
option to select, as it will still produce a report in most situations even if some information is
not available.
For example, if the blast pattern contains two rock classifications but the blast solid contains
only one object/trisolation, then a detailed report cannot be produced because there is no way
to determine what proportion of the volume belongs to which rock classification. In this case
the consolidated report will still produce a report using the total combined volume.
Apply the Modify Blast Solid Details form without changing anything.
Note:
The option Override blast solid details allows you to temporally override the blast solid
details when producing a blast report. The idea here is that the blast solid detail entries for
Blast pattern, and Rock mass Classification, must match the information stored in the
database for the specified blast pattern, in order that a complete blast report can be
generated. By ticking this option, a second panel is enabled, from which you can select
values to temporarily use to generating the blast report.
You should now have a blast summary report, bp1.not, displayed.
3. Generate a blast work order report
From the Report menu select Blast summary and then fill in the form as shown below:
Apply the Modify Blast Solid Details form without changing anything.
You should now have a blast work order report, work_order_bp1.not, displayed.
Summary
You should now understand how to generate a blast summary report, and a blast work order
report using a blast design and a solid created from the blast pattern.
Included with the blast tutorial data set are the macros 05a_blast_report.tcl and
05b_blast_work_order.tcl which will run through all the steps in this section of the tutorial.
By completing all of the exercises in this tutorial, you will have an overview of most of the new
drill & blast design and reporting functions using features added in Surpac Vision v5.2.
Pre-split Holes
Overview
1. What are Pre-split Holes?

2. Creating Pre-split Holes along a segment
3. Creating Pre-split Holes along a straight line
Requirements

string tools (specifically string maths).
1. What are Presplit Holes?

Often holes are drilled at relatively close spacing along a planned fracture plane. These holes
are referred to in Surpac as presplit holes. Surpac can create presplit holes along a straight
line, or along a segment. The example below shows presplit holes created along a segment,
and in a straight line. One set of holes are created from one segment, the crest of a bench, to
another segment, the toe of the ramp. The horizontal holes, which could be used as drains in
a pit wall, or for sampling, were created along a straight line.
2. Creating Presplit Holes Along a Segment
Recall the file bench940.str into graphics. Draw the string numbers. You should see the
following:
Click and drag in the graphics viewport to become familiar with the file. Note that the following
string numbers are used:
String Description
1 ramp strings
940 940 elevation design toe
950 950 elevation design toe and crest
960 960 elevation design crest
We will be creating a pattern near the ramp from the 950 elevation to the toe of the ramp.
The holes we will be creating are shown below:
Since presplit holes can only be created in plan view, we need to return to a plan view.
Window in on the ramp area, as shown below:
From the Blast design menu select Pre-split holes along a segment, click down on the 950
crest as shown, and drag (holding the mouse key down) to the top of the ramp, then release
the mouse key.
If, as you were dragging, any other segment was highlighted, you may have selected a
different string. If any other string was selected, press the Escape key and try again.
Once you have successfully selected the 950 crest string, the Pre-split Parameters form will
be displayed. Fill in the form as shown below and press Apply:
A detailed explanation of each field on the Pre-split Parameters form follows:
Spacing input
Either Spacing or No holes (i.e., "Number of holes").
If you select Spacing, you will be prompted to enter the spacing distance between holes. The
number of holes is calculated based on the line length, and displayed on the form. As shown
on the Pre-split Parameters above, if the line length is 112.283, and the spacing is 5, the
number of holes is 23 (truncated integer value of (112.3/5 + 1) ).
If you select No holes, you will be prompted for the number of holes you want drilled between
the first and last points. The spacing between holes is calculated based on the line length,
and displayed on the form. If the line length is 112.283, and you enter number of holes as 11,
the spacing between holes will be 11.228 (112.283/ (11 - 1) ).
Collar Elevation
Either Fixed, Selected Segment, DTM layer, or DTM file.
of all presplit holes created will be set to this value.
If you select Selected Segment, the collar elevations of all holes will be set to the elevation of
the selected segment at the specified distance along the segment.
which contains a DTM. The collar elevation of each hole will be set to the elevation of the
DTM at the XY coordinates of the collar location.
Note:
also whether or not you wish for this file to be displayed. The collar elevation of each hole will
be set to the elevation of the DTM at the XY coordinates of the collar location.
Toe Elevation
Either Set Length, Set Elevation, DTM layer, DTM file, or Set to Segment.
created will be set to this value.
elevation of the toes (end, or bottom point) of all holes created will be set to this value.
If DTM layer is selected, you will be prompted to enter the name of another existing layer
which contains a DTM. This layer must contain a DTM that is numbered object 1, trisolation 1.
This DTM must be a DTM surface and not a 3D solid model. In other words, the DTM must
have been created using the function CREATE DTM, and not with any of the solids modelling
tools. The toe elevation of each hole will be set to the elevation of the DTM where the hole
intersects the DTM.
If DTM file is selected, you will be prompted to enter the name of an existing DTM file, and
whether or not you would like to see the DTM file displayed. The nominated DTM must be
numbered object 1, trisolation 1, and it must be a DTM surface - not a 3D solid model. In
other words, the DTM must have been created using the function CREATE DTM, and not with
any of the solids modelling tools. The toe elevation of each hole will be set to the elevation of
the DTM where the hole intersects the DTM.
If Set to Segment is selected, after the form is applied, you will be prompted to enter a
Segment offset, and a Fix Value. You will then be prompted to select a segment, and, if the
segment offset amount is not zero, you will be prompted to select which side of the segment
you wish the toes to be extended. Where possible, the holes will be extended to the segment
at the nominated offset distance. In some cases, such as interior corners shown below, you
must choose between maintaining the bearing or the offset of the hole.
If you set Fix Value to Bearing, the orientation of the holes will remain perpendicular to the
collar segment, but the offset will not be honoured. If you set Fix Value to Offset, the offset
distance will be honoured, but the bearing of the hole will not be perpendicular to the collar
segment.
Bearing Offset
Bearing and Hole Bearing

If Hole Length is Set to Segment, hole bearing and dip will be determined by the geometry of
the selected segment so the bearing, hole bearing, and dip will not require input. If Hole
Length is anything else, you must enter the method for calculating the bearing of the hole as
either Set Bearing or Perp. to Segment. If you select Set Bearing, you must enter a value
for Hole Bearing (from 0 to 360). The bearing (also know as azimuth) of all holes in this
pattern will be set to this value. For vertical holes, hole bearing may be set to any value. Zero
is commonly used for the bearing of vertical holes. The bearing is measured as the azimuth in
plan view from the collar to the toe, or end of the hole. The value entered for Hole Bearing will
be used for all holes, regardless of the orientation of the segment. If you select Perp. to
Segment, all holes will be created perpendicular to the segment.
Hole Dip
the selected segment, and bearing, hole bearing, and dip will not require input. Hole dip may
be set to any value from -90 to 0. The dip of all holes in this pattern will be set to this value.
For vertical holes drilled down, hole dip should be set to -90. For horizontal holes, the dip
should be set to zero. The dip is measured as the angle from the horizontal plane to the toe,
or end of the hole.
Hole Diameter
Clip to Boundary
After you apply this form, if CLIP TO BOUNDARY is set to Yes, you will be prompted to
select a closed segment. All holes whose collar location would have fallen outside this
boundary will be deleted. Direction of the boundary segment is ignored. In other words, if the
segment is anticlockwise, it is treated as if it was clockwise for determining if a hole is inside
or outside the segment.
Pattern Identifier
The pattern identifier is a string of text and/or numbers that will be written to the field
blast_pattern if the data is written to a database. The pattern identifier is written to the D1
field of the first point of the segment which represents each hole.
Hole ID Prefix
2, 3, etc.
Hole ID Suffix
Starting Value
numbered 102, the third hole to be numbered 103, etc, then you would enter a starting value
of 101.
Pad Hole_id, Length, and Character
To ensure that holes are presented in order when viewing them in a database table, you may

Examples
1 No 1, 2, 3
A 1 No A1, A2, A3
940- rc 1 No 940-1rc, 940-2rc, 940-3rc
bh- 1 Yes 3 0 bh-001, bh-002, bh-003
N_ 201 Yes 4 x N_x201, N_x202, N_x203
bh 8 Yes 2 0 08bh, 09bh, 10bh
RC 901 No RC901, RC902,RC903
After pressing APPLY at the Pre-split Parameters , you will be prompted to select segment
which will be used as the toe position. Select the ramp string as shown:
You should now see the presplit holes created: type in the command PD and select the d3
description field to get a display similar to that below
Note that the holes are numbered with the prefix 940-, suffix of "ps", and are drilled from the
950 crest down to the ramp toe.
The result will be a series of two-point segments in the layer blast hole layer which represent
individual holes. The first point of the segment is at the collar, and the second point of the
segment is the toe, or end of the hole. If the layer blast hole layer does not exist, it gets
created. If there are no strings in the blast hole layer, or if the blast hole layer does not exist,
the string number used for the holes will be the design string number. If there are strings in
the blast hole layer, the string number assigned to the holes will be one greater than the
maximum string number.
Use ERASE DESCRIPTIONS to erase the hole numbers. Spin the data around on the screen.
You should see something like this:
Use IDENTIFY POINT and click on the collars and toes of some holes. Note that the following
data is present in the string file:
D1 D2 D3 D4 D5
Collar (start of segment) DrillBlast1.1 Hole ID Hole Number Hole Length Diameter
Toe (end of segment) blank blank blank blank blank
We want to ensure that we only create holes which are at least 1.5 meters long, as anything
shorter is not worth blasting.
Use DRAW DESCRIPTIONS (alias PD) to draw description field D4 on all points.
Return to plan view, and window in on the southern end of the presplit holes. You should now
see that at least one hole is less than 1.5 meters in length. Your hole lengths will probably not
be exactly the same as what is displayed.
You will need to delete these holes. Select menu Delete and Single hole, then click on all
holes less than 1.5 meters in length.
Save the file as PATTERN940-2.STR
You have now completed creating a presplit pattern along a segment!
3. Creating Presplit Holes Along a Straight Line
If you have just completed the previous exercise use LAYER DELETE ALL (alias LDA) to
delete all layers except for the main graphics layer, and to delete all data in the main graphics
layer. Select and drag the file bench940.str into graphics. Display the string numbers. You
should see the following:
Click and drag in the graphics viewport to become familiar with the file. Note that the following
string numbers are used:
String Description
1 ramp strings
940 940 elevation design toe
950 950 elevation design toe and crest
960 960 elevation design crest
We will be creating horizontal drain holes on the pit wall. The holes we will be creating are
shown below:
We will be using a DTM of the pit wall in this area to set the elevation of the holes. This is only
done as an example to demonstrate how presplit holes can be created in a straight line, and
how the elevations of the collars can be set using a DTM file.
In practice, there is probably a better method: there would probably be a desired elevation
that the collars could be set at, and using PRE-SPLIT SEG along a contour line at that
elevation would probably be a better way to actually complete this task. This approach is only
used to demonstrate PRE-SPLIT LINE.
First, we must create a DTM of BENCH940.STR. Use CREATE DTM to do this. The resulting
file will be BENCH940.DTM:
It is not necessary to display this file in graphics in order to use it to create holes
Since presplit holes can only be created in plan view, you need to return to a plan view.
Window in on the north end of the two ramps, as shown:
From the Blast design menu select Pre-split holes along a line, click down on a point
approximately halfway between the 960 crest and the 950 toe as shown, and drag (holding
the mouse key down) to a point just south of there, then release the mouse key. If you have
any problems, just press the Esc key and try again.
Once you have successfully selected a line, the Pre-split Parameters form will be displayed.
Fill in the form as shown, and press Apply:
The exact coordinates of the Line Origin may be slightly different for you - as long as they are
close to what is shown here, that is OK.
In this case, note that we are nominating a DTM to set the collar elevations. What this means
is that the elevation of the holes created will be equal to the elevation of the DTM at the given
XY coordinates of each hole.
We are also setting the Bearing of the holes to be Perp. to Segment (perpendicular to the
line we clicked and dragged). After this form is applied, we will be prompted to select which
side of the line we clicked and dragged to create where we want the holes to be drilled.
By setting the hole dip to zero degrees, we will be creating horizontal holes.
With a prefix of 950-, a suffix of d, and a starting value of 701, the holes will be numbered
950-701d, 950-702d, 950-703d, etc.
A detailed explanation of the fields on the form follows:
Line Origin
The X (easting) and Y (northing) of the first point clicked with the mouse will be displayed.
These coordinates can be edited on the form.
Line Length
The length of the line (from the first point the mouse was clicked to the point where the mouse
was released) is displayed. The length of this line can be edited on the form.
Bearing (of the line)

The bearing of the line (from the first point the mouse was clicked to the point where the
mouse was released) is displayed. This bearing can be edited on the form.
Spacing Input
Either Spacing or No holes (i.e., "Number of holes").
If you select Spacing, you will be prompted to enter the spacing distance between holes. The
number of holes is calculated based on the line length, and displayed on the form. As shown
on the Pre-split parameters form above, if the line length is 40, and the spacing is 4, the
number of holes is 11 ( (40/4 + 1) ).
If you select No holes (i.e., "Number of holes"), you will be prompted for the number of holes
you want drilled between the first and last points. The spacing between holes is calculated
based on the line length, and displayed on the form. If the line length is 40, and you enter
number of holes as 9, the spacing between holes will be 5 ( 40 / (9 - 1) ).
Collar Elevation
Either Fixed, DTM layer, or DTM file.
of all presplit holes created will be set to this value.
Note:
The collar elevation of each hole will be set to the elevation of the DTM at the XY coordinates
of the collar location.
also whether or not you wish for this file to be displayed. The collar elevation of each hole will
be set to the elevation of the DTM at the XY coordinates of the collar location.
Toe Elevation
Either Set Length, Set Elevation, DTM layer, DTM file or Set to Segment.
created will be set to this value.
elevation of the toes (end, or bottom point) of all holes created will be set to this value.
If DTM layer is selected, you will be prompted to enter the name of another existing layer
Note:
If DTM file is selected, you will be prompted to enter the name of an existing DTM file, and
whether or not you would like to see the DTM file displayed. The toe elevation of each hole
will be set to the elevation of the DTM where the hole intersects the DTM.
If Set to Segment is selected after the form is applied, you will be prompted to enter a
Segment offset, and a Fix Value. You will then be prompted to select a segment, and, if the
segment offset amount is not zero, you will be prompted to select which side of the segment
you wish the toes to be extended. Where possible, the holes will be extended to the segment
at the nominated offset distance. In some cases, such as interior corners shown below, you
must choose between maintaining the bearing or the offset of the hole. If you set Fix Value
to Bearing, the orientation of the holes will remain perpendicular to the collar segment, but
the offset will not be honoured. If you set Fix Value to Offset, the offset distance will be
honoured, but the bearing of the hole will not be perpendicular to the collar segment.
Bearing Offset
Bearing and Hole Bearing

the selected segment, and bearing, hole bearing, and dip will not require input. If Hole Length
is anything else, you must enter the method for calculating the bearing of the hole as either
Set Bearing or Perp. to Segment. If you select Set Bearing, you must enter a value for Hole
Bearing (from 0 to 360). The bearing (also known as azimuth) of all holes in this pattern will
be set to this value. For vertical holes, hole bearing may be set to any value. Zero is
commonly used for the bearing of vertical holes. The bearing is measured as the azimuth in
plan view from the collar to the toe, or end of the hole. The value entered for Hole Bearing will
be used for all holes, regardless of the orientation of the segment. If you select Perp. to
Segment, all holes will be created perpendicular to the segment.
Hole Dip
the selected segment, and bearing, hole bearing, and dip will not require input. Hole dip may
be set to any value from -90 to 0. The dip of all holes in this pattern will be set to this value.
For vertical holes drilled down, hole dip should be set to -90. For horizontal holes, the dip
should be set to zero. The dip is measured as the angle from the horizontal plane to the toe,
or end of the hole.
Hole Diameter
Clip to Boundary
After you apply this form, if CLIP TO BOUNDARY is set to Yes, then you will be prompted to
select a closed segment. All holes whose collar location would have fallen outside this
boundary will be deleted. Direction of the boundary segment is ignored. In other words, if the
segment is anticlockwise, it is treated as if it was clockwise for determining if a hole is inside
or outside the segment.
Pattern Identifier
The pattern identifier is a string of text and/or numbers that will be written to the field
blast_pattern if the data is written to a database. The pattern identifier is written to the D1
field of the first point of the segment which represents each hole.
Hole ID Prefix
2, 3, etc.
Hole ID Suffix
Starting Value
numbered 102, the third hole to be numbered 103, etc, then you would enter a starting value
of 101.
Pad Hole_id, Length, and Character
To insure that holes are presented in order when viewing them in a database table, you may

Examples
1 No 1, 2, 3
A 1 No A1, A2, A3
940- rc 1 No 940-1rc, 940-2rc, 940-3rc
bh- 1 Yes 3 0 bh-001, bh-002, bh-003
N_ 201 Yes 4 x N_x201, N_x202, N_x203
bh 8 Yes 2 0 08bh, 09bh, 10bh
RC 901 No RC901, RC902,RC903
After pressing APPLY at the Pre-split Parameters form, you will be prompted to select the
direction to which the holes will be drilled. Select a point to the east of the line as shown
below:
You should now see the presplit holes created:
Note that the holes are numbered with the prefix 950-, suffix of "d", start at hole 701, and are
horizontal.
The result will be a series of two-point segments in the layer "blast hole layer" which
represent individual holes. The first point of the segment is at the collar, and the second point
of the segment is the toe, or end of the hole. If the layer "blast hole layer" does not exist, it
gets created. If there are no strings in the blast hole layer, or if the blast hole layer does not
exist, the string number used for the holes will be the design string number. If there are
strings in the blast hole layer, the string number assigned to the holes will be one greater than
the maximum string number.
Spin the data around on the screen. You should see something like this:
Save the file as pattern940-3.STR

Summary
You should now know how to generate a pre-split holes along a segment or a defined line.
Included with the blast tutorial data set are the macros 06a_presplit_holes_segment.tcl and
06b_presplit_holes_line.tcl which will run through all the steps in this section of the tutorial.
Blast Database Concepts
Overview
1. Tables and Fields in a Drill & Blast Database

2. Creating a New Database for Drill & Blast
3. Upgrading an Existing Blast Database
Requirements

databases.
1. Tables and Fields in a Drill & Blast Database
Table and fields for a drill and blast database are shown below:
TABLES Collar Survey Translation Sample Styles Charging

hole_id hole_id table_name hole_id code hole_id
y depth field_name samp_id field_name samp_id
x dip code depth_from from_value depth_from
z azimuth num_equiv depth_to graphics_colour depth_to
max_depth description graphics_pattern explosive
hole_path line_colour detonator
blast_pattern line_style delay
FIELDS blasting_method line_weight booster
delay marker_size det_position
drill_rig marker_style Num_of_ boosters
ground_water_level plotting_colour Num_of dets
hole_diameter plotting_pattern
rock_class style_type
subdrill table_name
surface_delay to_value
2. Creating a new Drill & Blast Database
From the Blast design profile, select the Database menu then Database and Open
database. Enter the name of the new database (eg. temp) and Apply the form
Apply the forms as shown below:
At this point a database will be created and you can see that a connection is made to the
database in the status items at the bottom of the screen.
From the Database menu, select Database then Close database to disconnect from the
database.
3. Upgrading a v5.0 Blast Database
From the Blast design profile, select the Database menu then Database and Upgrade blast
database.
Note: Make sure you are using the Database menu from the drill and blast menu bar and not
from the geological database menu.
Select the name of the blast database as shown below and apply the form.
Tick the two boxes as shown below and Apply the form
Click Yes as shown on the form below:
You should now have an understanding of database concepts including tables and fields,
creating a new database and upgrading a v5.0 database
Loading the Blast Database
Overview
Loading Sample Intervals into a Database
Requirements

databases.
1. Loading Sample Intervals into a Database

From the Blast design profile, select the Database menu then Database and Open
database. Select grade_control.ddb and Apply the form.
From the File menu, select Open then String/DTM file
Open upload_holes1.str into the blast hole layer, as shown below:
From the Blast design profile, select the Database menu then Database and Upload blast
holes into database
You will now see the form as shown below.
After reviewing the above form, click Apply.
Following is an explanation of each field on the form:
Overwrite with new blast holes
If one or more holes in the blast hole layer have exactly the same hole id (name) as holes
already in the database, then you can select whether or not to overwrite the existing data in
the database with this data.
If duplicate holes exist and Overwrite is set to "Y", all data in any table in the database with a
hole id which is listed under "Duplicate Blast Holes" will be deleted. Collar and survey
information (and optionally, sample and charging data) for the new holes will be loaded into
the database.
If duplicate holes exist and Overwrite is set to "N", the database will be left untouched, and
none of the data from the blast hole layer will be loaded to the database. As an example, if a
hole named 950-801 exists in the database, with data in the collar, survey, and sample table,
and you select to overwrite it, all of the data pertaining to hole 950-801 in the collar, survey,
and sample tables will be deleted.
Load sample data

If you select "Y", you will be prompted to enter the name of an interval table. Sample intervals
will be created in the nominated table
If you select "N", you will not be prompted to enter a table name. No new sample intervals will
be created in any table in the database.
(Sample) Table name

The sample table selected here must be an interval type of table (i.e., the table must contain
the following fields as a minimum:
TABLE NAME SAMPLE

hole_id
samp_id
FIELD NAMES
depth_from
depth_to
It is not necessary to have sample element fields in order to create sample intervals. In the
example immediately above, the SAMPLE table only contains hole_id, samp_id,
depth_from, and depth_to. It does not contain any sample element fields, such as gold,
silver, copper, ash_content, DDT_ppm, etc., and yet it is acceptable to load sample intervals
into such a table. Fields may be added afterward with the ADD FIELD option.
Additional rows of data will be written to the nominated table. The hole_id will be taken from
the string data in the blast hole layer. The samp_id will be taken from the sample prefix, suffix,
and sample id method chosen. The fields depth_from and depth_to will be calculated from
the sampling method selected.
Sample prefix
All samples will be created with an incrementing alphanumeric (letters or numbers) sample
name (sample ID). Any characters which you wish to precede the alphanumeric portion of the
sample name can be entered here. You can use the characters "%ID%" to represent the hole
ID.
For example, if the hole ID was 940, and you wanted the samples to be numbered 940-1,
940-2, 940-3, etc., you would enter "%ID%-" as the sample prefix. The sample prefix may be
left blank. If it is blank, the samples will be numbered 1, 2, 3, etc. or A, B, C, etc.
Increment start
name (sample ID), starting at the number or letter specified here. For example, if you wanted
the first sample number to be 101, the second sample to be numbered 102, the third sample
to be numbered 103, etc, then you would enter a starting value of 101.
Sample Suffix
name (sample ID). Any characters which you wish to come after the alphanumeric portion of
the sample name can be entered here. For example, if you wanted the samples to be
numbered 1rc, 2rc, 3rc, etc., you would enter "rc" as the sample suffix. The sample suffix may
be left blank. If it is blank, the samples will be numbered 1, 2, 3, etc. or A, B, C, etc.
Padding Length and Padding Character
To insure that samples are presented in order when viewing them in a database table, you
may want to "pad" the numeric portion of the hole with a character. For example, if you
wanted samples numbered ABC-001, ABC-002, ABC-003, etc, you would set Pad Length to 3,
and set Pad Character to "0".
Increment method
Either continuous or reset at each hole. If you want your samples to start incrementing at
each new hole, use reset at each hole. If you want your sample numbers at the start of each
hole to be one greater than the value at the end of the previous hole, use continuous
For example, if you were taking two samples per hole, and set Increment method to reset at
each hole, Sample prefix to %ID%-, Increment start to "A", and were starting with hole ID
DH5, you would get sample ids of: DH5-A, DH5-B, DH6-A, DH6-B, DH7-A, DH7-B.
If you were taking two samples per hole, and set Increment method to "continuous", Sample
prefix to %ID%-, Increment start to "A", and were starting with hole ID DH5, you would get
sample ids of: DH5-A, DH5-B, DH6-C, DH6-D, DH7-E, DH7-F.
Below are some examples of sample ids:
Sample Increment Pad Pad Sample Increment

Hole ID Example Sample ID
Prefix Start Length Character Suffix Method
950-8 1 0 0 continuous 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
950-8 A 1 0 0 continuous A1, A2, A3, A4, A5
950-8_1, 950-8_2,
950-8 %ID%_ 1 0 0 continuous 950-8_3, 950-9_1,
950-9_2
950-8-A, 950-8-B,
950-8 %ID%- A 0 0 continuous 950-8-C, 950-9-A,
950-9-B
BM098, BM099,
DH3 BM 98 3 0 continuous BM100, BM101,
BM102
DH3_1, DH3_2,
DH3 %ID% 1 2 _ reset DH3_3, DH4_1,
DH4_2
DH04-1a, DH04-2a,
DH04 %ID%- 1 0 0 a reset DH04-3a, DH05-1a,
DH05-2a,
Sampling method and Sample length(s)
Either fixed length, varying lengths, or single sample.

If you select fixed length, sample increments will be created at the sample length specified
down the hole. If you enter a sample length shorter than the hole length, multiple samples per
hole are possible. If you enter a sample length equal to the hole length, you will get one
sample per hole. If you enter a sample length longer than the hole length, the sample length
will be equal to the hole length.
If you select varying lengths, sample increments of uneven length will be created at the set
of sample lengths entered. The sample lengths must be separated by semicolons.
For example, if you wanted samples from 0 to 1, 1 to 4, and 4 to 9, you would enter 1;4;9.
If you select single sample, you will get one sample per hole. If you leave sample length(s)
blank, the sample will be equal to the length of the hole. If you enter a sample length equal to
or shorter than the hole length, the sample will be set to that length. If you enter a sample
length longer than the hole length, the sample length will be set equal to the length of the hole.
End sample method

The end sample method allows you to select how to deal with the last sample in a hole, in the
case where the depth_to value of the last sample is not equal to the hole length. Where the
depth_to value of the last sample is equal to the end of the hole, the End sample method is
irrelevant.
The options for End sample method are: ignore partial sample, include partial sample,
extend to hole length, extend on tolerance, or include if min length.
If you select ignore partial sample, then any part of the hole after the last full sample will be
ignored. For example if you specified fixed samples of 10m and your actual hole depth was
53m, then the remaining 3m after the last full sample (40m to 50m) would be ignored.
Hole depth: 53
Fixed sample length: 10
IGNORE PARTIAL SAMPLE
hole_id samp_id depth_from depth_to
DH3 DH3_1 0 10
DH3 DH3_2 10 20
DH3 DH3_3 20 30
DH3 DH3_4 30 40
DH3 DH3_5 40 50
If you select include partial sample, then any part of the hole after the last full sample will be
included as a partial sample. For example if you specified fixed samples of 10m and your
actual hole depth was 53m, then the remaining 3m after the last full sample (40m to 50m)
would be included as a sample of 3m.
Hole depth: 53
IGNORE PARTIAL SAMPLE
DH3 DH3_1 0 10
DH3 DH3_2 10 20
DH3 DH3_3 20 30
DH3 DH3_4 30 40
DH3 DH3_5 40 50
DH3 DH3_6 50 53
If you select extend to hole length, then any part of the hole after the last full sample will be
included as part of the last sample. For example if you specified fixed samples of 10m and
your actual hole depth was 53m, then the last sample in the hole would be adjusted to be
from 40m to 53m.
Hole depth: 53
EXTEND TO HOLE LENGTH
DH3 DH3_1 0 10
DH3 DH3_2 10 20
DH3 DH3_3 20 30
DH3 DH3_4 30 40
DH3 DH3_5 40 53
If you select extend on tolerance, then any part of the hole after the last full sample will be
included as part of the last sample if it is with the specified end of hole tolerance value. For
example if you specified fixed samples of 10m and your actual hole depth was 53m, then the
last sample in the hole would be adjusted to be from 40m to 53m if the end hole tolerance
was greater than 3m, otherwise the over drill would be ignored with the last sample being
from 40m to 50m.
Hole depth: 53
End hole tolerance distance: 5
EXTEND ON TOLERANCE
DH3 DH3_1 0 10
DH3 DH3_2 10 20
DH3 DH3_3 20 30
DH3 DH3_4 30 40
DH3 DH3_5 40 53
Hole depth: 53
End hole tolerance distance: 2
EXTEND ON TOLERANCE
DH3 DH3_1 0 10
DH3 DH3_2 10 20
DH3 DH3_3 20 30
DH3 DH3_4 30 40
DH3 DH3_5 40 50
If you select include if min length, then any part of the hole after the last full sample will be
included as a partial sample if it is of at least the specified minimum length for a sample. For
example if you specified fixed samples of 10m and your actual hole depth was 53m, then the
remaining 3m after the last full sample (40m to 50m) would be included as a sample of 3m
providing the specified minimum distance for a sample was greater than 3m.
Hole depth: 53
Minimum distance: 1
INCLUDE IF MIN LENGTH 1
DH3 DH3_1 0 10
DH3 DH3_2 10 20
DH3 DH3_3 20 30
DH3 DH3_4 30 40
DH3 DH3_5 40 50
DH3 DH3_6 50 53
Hole depth: 53
Minimum distance: 7
INCLUDE IF MIN LENGTH 7
DH3 DH3_1 0 10
DH3 DH3_2 10 20
DH3 DH3_3 20 30
DH3 DH3_4 30 40
DH3 DH3_5 40 50
After the database is loaded, you will see a text file pop up with the results of loading the
database. An example report is shown below:
This particular report indicates that the data was loaded successfully, and that any partial
sample increments at the end of the hole were disregarded.
Summary
You should now be familiar with how to create a new blast database or upgrade an existing
blast database and upload sample intervals into the database.
If you want to see all of the steps performed in this chapter, either run or edit:
01_data_setup.tcl
02_auto_rmc_patterns.tcl
03a_load_&_tie_pattern.tcl
03b_v_pattern.tcl
03c_custom_pattern.tcl
04_blast_boundary_&_solid.tcl
05a_blast_report.tcl
05b_blast_work_order.tcl
06a_presplit_holes_segment
06a_presplit_holes_line
07_blast_database
Note: At times the macros will pause, displaying Click in graphics to continue in the
message window. You will need to click in graphics each time to allow the macro to continue.
Also, you will need to Apply any forms which are presented.

Surpac Drill and Blast Tutorial

Încărcat de

Informații document

Drepturi de autor

Formate disponibile

Partajați acest document

Partajați sau inserați document

Opțiuni de partajare

Vi se pare util acest document?

Este necorespunzător acest conținut?

Drepturi de autor:

Formate disponibile

Surpac Drill and Blast Tutorial

Încărcat de

Drepturi de autor:

Formate disponibile

Drill and Blast

Surpac Minex Group Pty Ltd

About This Manual

Surpac Minex Group

Surpac Vision v5.2 installed

1. Open up blast design profile

Drilling parameters which are customisable include:

Bearing - also referred to as azimuth

Burden - distance between rows

Diameter diameter of drill hole in units of measure (ie. metres or feet)

Dip the angle of a hole above or below the horizontal

Spacing - distance between holes in a row

Subdrill distance - extra drilling length to add to each hole

An example of presplit holes is shown below:

Charge depth - can be automatically adjusted to hole depth

Charge interval - multiple charge intervals separated by stemming are allowed

Delay time (in milliseconds) - defaults to 400 milliseconds

Reports and Volume Calculations

The following will be presented in this chapter:

Opening the blast design profile

Prior to performing the exercises in this chapter, you will need:

Surpac Vision v5.2 installed

1. Opening up the blast design profile

The following concepts will be presented in this chapter:

1. Setting up and adding to the blasting design defaults

Prior to performing the exercises in this chapter, you should have:

Surpac Vision v5.2 installed

1. Blast Design Defaults Drilling Defaults tab

3. Blast Design Defaults Rock Classifications tab

Rock Name - Basalt Fresh

4. Blast Design Defaults Firing defaults tab

5. Rock Mass Classification polygons - RMC polygons

Note - the data entered is case sensitive.

The following concepts will be presented in this chapter:

Prior to performing the exercises in this chapter, you should have:

Surpac Vision v5.2 installed.

1. Recall input data set

A detailed explanation of each field on this form follows:

Origin X The X coordinate of the origin of the grid.

You have three choices here:

Hole ID Hole ID Starting Pad Pad Pad

940- rc 1 No 940-1rc, 940-2rc, 940-3rc

bh- 1 Yes 3 0 bh-001, bh-002, bh-003

N_ 201 Yes 4 x N_x201, N_x202, N_x203

bh 8 Yes 2 0 08bh, 09bh, 10bh

RC 901 No RC901, RC902,RC903

The following concepts will be presented in this chapter:

Prior to performing the exercises in this chapter, you should have:

Surpac Vision v5.2 installed

1. Unload a blast pattern from the blast database

First recall the pit pickup, bench960_950.str, by dragging it into graphics.

2. Charge all holes

4. Upload tie in pattern to the blast database

6. Tie in a customised firing pattern

The following concepts will be presented in this chapter:

Prior to performing the exercises in this chapter, you should have:

Surpac Vision v5.2 installed

1. Unload a blast pattern from the blast database

First recall the pit pickup, bench960_950.str, by dragging it into graphics.

3. Create blast solid

The following concepts will be presented in this chapter:

Prior to performing the exercises in this chapter, you should have:

Surpac Vision v5.2 installed

1. Recall the pit pickup string file and blast pattern