Orica Digital Solutions introduce Next Gen SHOTPlus

Latest evolution of SHOTPlus suite designed to lead drilling and blasting into the future

ORICA Digital Solutions have announced the launch of Next Gen SHOTPlus – a groundbreaking evolution designed to lead drilling and blasting into the next era with intelligent blast design and modelling capabilities.

For 35 years, the SHOTPlus suite of applications has been a leader in intuitive and powerful digital workflows. Developed by drilling and blasting professionals, for drilling and blasting professionals, to effectively improve designs and achieve optimal outcomes, SHOTPlus has become a mainstay across the mining, quarrying, and construction industries.

Leveraging market-leading design tools and predictive modelling capability, Orica Digital Solutions are equipping drilling and blasting professionals with the tools they need to quantify the impact of engineering decisions on drilling and blasting outcomes and the associated downstream impacts in near real time, eliminating guesswork from the process.

Rajkumar Mathiravedu, senior vice-president of Orica Digital Solutions, said: ‘Next Gen SHOTPlus empowers drilling and blasting engineers to move beyond descriptive drill and blast design so they can design, model, and optimize for the best outcome.

‘Engineers can easily share blast models and predicted outcomes with multiple stakeholders, allowing for collaborative assessment of the highest-value blast design, in the context of the entire mining value chain.’

Powered by the Orica Digital Solutions platform, Next Gen SHOTPlus unlocks the power of the Model Through Time – a cloud-hosted digital replica of the customer’s mine/quarry through space and time which provides a dynamic, data-driven replica of their operations and enables real-time tracking and storage of spatial data for enhanced and collaborative blast design and modelling. The collaborative nature of the Model Through Time enables in-app design review capabilities for managing drilling and blasting approvals within Next Gen SHOTPlus.

Incorporating Orica Digital Solutions’ proprietary physics engine, Hellfire blast damage model, and Advanced Vibration Management solution, Next Gen SHOTPlus allows drilling and blasting engineers to model and predict blast movement, damage, and vibration.

Predictive blast movement modelling is enabled by the Predict physics engine, allowing engineers to understand the impact of decisions on the post-blast muckpile. The blast damage feature provides three-dimensional damage modelling, allowing engineers to evaluate the predicted damage generated on both blasted and in-situ rock masses.

Blast vibration seamlessly integrates Orica Digital Solutions’ Advanced Vibration Management platform to ensure users can predict and assess the impact of the environmental constraints of their drill and blast designs.

‘Orica Digital Solutions third-party integration enables users who design outside of the Next Gen SHOTPlus ecosystem to benefit from market-leading modelling capabilities,’ added Mr Mathiravedu.