Advantages of Electronic Detonator Application

Electronic detonators have been available tor approximately five years but their widespread acceptance lias been slowed in part because of their high

cost compared to traditional pyrotechnic detonators. Most miners are aware of the superior accuracy and flexibility that electronics deliver, but are often hard pressed to quantify the benefits that these advantages bring. Large - scale operators, such as open cast coal miners, found it particularly difficult to make the transition to electronics because of the large price tag and risk attached to such a decision. These operators had to sec that electronic detonators could pay for themselves and deliver the goods.

Two North American mine operators have looked long and hard for electronics detonators and have voted to use them as a significant part of their blast programmer. Taft Coal sales & Associates, which is located in the Warrior Coal Basin of Alabama, US. is the largest open pit coal mine in the state with production of 750,000 short t/y of thermal coal. The blasters at Taft were frustrated with their conventional detonators, because the limited choice of delay times with pyrotechnics meant that some of their overburden blast had to stop in the middle of the hills covering the coal deposits.

Mine management at Taft, knowing that they had to find some solution to these challenges, turned to their explosives supplier. Nelson Brothers for help. The answer was the i-kon™ Digital Energy Control System from Orica. Anytime a blaster can get a tool like i-kon™ that he can program and make it do what he wants it to do, when he wants to do it, and it's got checks and safety features, then that's a tool that a blaster wants to get in hands. The results that the i-kon System delivered were immediately apparent. Taft Coal management saw decreased vibrations, improved cast movement and increased dragline productivity.

They were also able to double the size of their blasts while reducing air blast from 128 db to 121 db and they were able to stretch their blast design and add multiple start points to eliminate the hillside stops that were compromising fragmentation results. One example of i-kon™ 's flexibility was a blast featuring four different start locations that allowed the blast to move uphill, which improved fragmentation even further. Taft's Drill and Blast Supervisor, Glen Wilson felt that i-kon™ had done a tremendous job by enabling the mine to increase blast size while reducing vibrations. I-kon™ technology has been exactly as presented and it's made a big difference in blasting. Meanwhile, in the Powder River Basin in Wyoming, North Rochelle mine, another Nelson Brothers customer, was looking for something new in its never-ending quest for more efficient ways to mine coal. The majority of coal production at the North Rochelle mine, comes from dragline stripping, so cast blasting efficiency is a critical factor in maximizing dragline productivity and overall cost control.

Tom Field, Technical Rep at Nelson Brothers introduced Orica's i-kon System at North Rochelle and the results have been impressive, i-kon™ has improved the blast programme from the word go. Each and every blast has been successful.

The cast has been there. The fragmentation and 'diggability' has been there and there has been no back break into the new highwall, Triton mine

management didn't have to take Tom's word for the results because they use very accurate laser surveying and an aerial measurement system to measure material movement before and after blasts. They also knew that a 1% increase in cast to final was needed (o pay for the increased cost of the electronic detonators Ihe blast results made the manager's very happy indeed.

The results that: electronic detonators liave delivered at coal operations are impressive but it's not just coal miners who arc seeing these kinds of benefits The accuracy and flexibility that electronic detonators like i-kon™ make possible have also delivered measurable improvements to underground miners and quarry operators all around the world, in all kinds of rock.

The change to electronic detonators in so many blast applications has meant that blasting is now more science than art. Blast engineers are free to design blast plans not previously possible with the added assurance that the blast will perform exactly as designed thanks to the precision of the detonators. There's little wonder why so many miners are now 'casting' their vote for electronics and their impressive accuracy and flexibility.

Grammar Study

Suffixes

When you are reading, you will come across unfamiliar words. It is often

possible to guess the meanings of these words if you understand the way

words in English are generally formed.

AFFIXES

PREFIXES + (STEM) + SUFFIXES

An English word can be divided into three parts: a prefix, a stem and a suffix.

Pre- means 'before'; a prefix, therefore, is what comes before the stem.

Consider as an example, the prefix de- (meaning 'reduce' or 'reverse') in a

word like demagnetize (meaning 'to deprive of magnetism'). A suffix is what is

attached to the end of the stem. Consider as an example the suffix -cr (meaning

'someone who') in programmer ('the person who programs'). Both prefixes and

suffixes are referred to as affixes. Prefixes usually change the meaning of the

word; for example, un-changes a word to the negative. Unniagnetizable means

'not capable of being magnetized'. Suffixes, on the other hand, change the word

from one part of speech to another. For example, -ly added to the adjective

quick gives the adverb quickly. Let us now consider some suffixes and their

usual meanings.

	SUFFIXES
NOUNS	VERBS	'ADJECTIVES	ADVERBS
-ance	•ize	-able	-ly
-ence	-ate	-ible
-or	-fy	-less
~~	~«	1-

 

-1st	-ify	-ical
-ness		-ish
		-ive

 

Exercise 1
Study these tables and try to find additional examples. Use your
dictionary if necessary
Noun-forming suffixes
SUFFIX	MEANING	EXAMPLES
-anse	state	performance
-ence	quality of	independence
-er. -or	a person who, a thing	programmer, operator.
	which	compiler, accumulator
-ation	the act of	execution
-tion
-ist	a person who	analyst, typist
-yst
-ness	condition who	cleanliness
-ion	action/state	conversion
-ing	activity	multiplexing
-ment	state, action	measurement
-ity	state, quality	electricity
-іап	pertaining to	electrician
-ism	condition/state	magnetism
-dom	domain/condition	freedom
-ship	condition/state	relationship, partnership, friendship
-ary		binary
Verb-forming suffixes
SUFFIX	MEANING	EXAMPLES
-ize		computerize
-ate	To make	automate, activate,
-fy		calculate
-en		simplify harden, widen
Adverb-forming suffix
SUFFIX	L_MEJ^ING	EXAMPLES
		electronically, logically.
-ly	in the manner of	comparably, helpfully

Adjective-forming suffixes
SUFFIX	MEANING	EXAMPLES
-al		computational, logical
-ar	have the quality of	circular
-ic		magnetic, automatic
-ical		electrical
-able	capable of being	comparable
-ible		divisible
-ous	like, full of	dangerous
-ious		religious
-fill	characterized by	helpful
-less	without	careless
-ish	like	yellowish
-ed	having	computed, punched
-ive	quality of	interactive
-ing	to make or do	programming, coding, processing, multiplexing

Exercise 2

Read the following sentences and underline all the suffixes. Then try to find out what parts of speech the words are.

1. The systems analyst provides the programmer with the details of the data processing problems.

2. CRT terminals are very useful interactive devices for use in offices because of their speed and quietness.

3. The new microcomputer we purchased does not have a Fortran compiler. It is programmable in Basic only.

4. A computer is a machine with an intricate network of electronic circuits that operate switches or magnetize tiny metal cores,

5. In very large and modern installations, the computer operator sits in front of a screen that shows an up-to-date summary of the computer jobs as they arc being processed.

6. The introduction of terminals and screens has partly replaced the use of punched cards.

7. Binary arithmetic is based on two digits: 0 and 1.

8. Multiplexing is when many electrical signals are combined and carried on only one optical link.

9. Computers are machines designed to process electronically specially prepared pieces of information.

10. The computed results were printed in tables.
Exercise 3

Some forms of the words in 1— below were used in the text "What Is

a Computer?" (Unit 1)

Fill in each blank with the appropriate form of the words.

1. Operation, operate, operator, operational, operationally, operating

a. A computer can perform mathematical____ very quickly.

b. One of the first persons to note that the computer is malfunctioning is
the computer_____.

c. The job of a computer operator is to______ the various machines in a

computer installation.

d. The new machines in the computer installation are not yet____.

2. Acceptance, accept, accepted, acceptable, acceptably

e. A computer is a device which_________ processes and gives out

information.

f. The students arc still waiting for their__________ into the Computer

Science program.

g. It is_____ to work without a template if the flowcharts are not kept on

file.

3. Solution, solve, solvable, solver

a. It may take a lot of time to find a_______ to a complex problem in

programming.

b. A computer can ____ a problem faster than any human being.

c. A computer has often been referred to as a problem____.

4. Remark, remarkable, remarkably, remarked

a. Today's computers are_____ faster than their predecessors.

b. Systems analysts will often make_____ about existing programs so as

to help make the operations more efficient.

c. There have been_____ developments in the field of computer science

in the last decade.

5. Communication, communicate, comimmicable, communicative.

communicably

a. A computer must be able to____ with the user.

b. Fibre optics is a new development in the field of_____.

c. Some people working in computer installations aren't very_________

because they are shy.

Fill in each blank with the appropriate form of the words.

6. Calculation, calculate, calculating, calculated, calculator, calculable,

calculus

a. A computer can do many kinds of____ quickly and accurately

b. _ ___ is a branch of mathematics for making___ without the use of

a_____ machine.

c. A computer can_____ numbers much faster than a manual____.

d. Some problems aren't_____ without logarithm tables.

7. Mechanic, mechanism, mechanize, mechanical, mechanically,
mechanistic, mechanics, mechanization, mechanized

a. Today's computers are less_____ than they used to be.

b. The_____ devices in a computer system operate more slowly than the

electromagnetic devices.

c. The_____ of the brain is very complicated but unlike a computer it

isn't_____.

8. Necessity, necessitate, necessary, necessarily, necessities, need, needed

a. Because it is expensive to set up a computer department it is_____ to

budget well for the basic_____ of the installations.

b. A good programmer isn't_____ going to be a good systems analyst.

c. Students' lack of understanding of the basic concepts in computer
science may____ the instructor to restructure the course.

9. Dependence, dependion, dependable, dependably, dependent,
dependency, depending

a. The length of time a programmer takes to make a program will vary

____ on the complexity of the problem and his ability and

experience.

b. One can always_____ a computer to obtain accurate answers because

it's probably the most_____ machine in the world today.

10. Teclmology, technological, technologically, technologist

a. Computer____ is a fast growing discipline,

b. The_____ improvements of computers are reducing man's workload

Prefixes

We have already seen how suffixes change the part of speech of a word. Let us now consider some prefixes, their usual meanings, and how they change the meanings of English words.

 

 

Exercise 1 Study these tables	and try to find additional examples. Use your
dictionary if necessary.
		Negativc and positive prefixes
	Prefix	Meaning	Examples
nn- in- im- il- ir-	not, not good enough	immagnetized, tmpunched incomplete impossible illegal irregular, irrelevant
	non-	not connected with	non-programmable, non-impact
Neg	mis-	bad, wrong	mispronounce
	dis-	opposite feeling	disagree, disconnect
	anti- de- under-	against reduce, reverse too little	antisocial demagnetize, decode underestimate
Positive	re-	do again	reorganize
	Prefixes of size
	Prefix		Meaning		Examples
	semi- equi- maxi- micro- mini-		half, party equal big small little		semiconductor equidistant maxicoraputer microcomputer minicomputer
	macro- niega-		large		macroeconomics megabyte
	Prefixes of location
	Prefix		Meaning		Examples
	inter-		between, among	interface, interactive

Prefixes of time and order
Prefix	Meaning	Examples
ante-	before	antecedent
pre-		prefix
pnme-	first	primary, primitive
posl-	after	postdated
retro-	backward	retroactive
Prefixes of numbers
Prefix	Meaning	Examples
semi-	half	semicircle
mono-	one	monochromatic
bi-	two	binary
tri-	three	triangle
quad-	four	quadruple
penta-	five	pentagon
hex-	SIX	hexadecimal
septem-	seven	September
oct- eight	octal
dec- J ten	decimal ____
Other prefixes
Prefix	Meaning	Examples
pro-	for	program
auto-	self	automatic
co-	together	coordinate
neo-	new	neoclassical
pan-. - і	all	Pan-American

Exercise 2