A mining-equipment company with a test mine in Sudbury is developing a new type of rock-bolting technology designed to make the job safer and more efficient.
Maarten van Koppen, an engineer and vice-president of product management with MacLean Engineering, was speaking at the Workplace Safety North mining health and safety conference in Sudbury recently when he said more can be done to make rock bolting and ground control safer for the bolting machine operator and anyone else working nearby.
One of the reasons for the annual conference is to find ways and procedures to do mining jobs more safely.
Ground control is the process of ensuring the stability of underground excavations and preventing falls of rock.
Van Koppen told the audience that MacLean is now working toward a new generation of bolting machines that will address two major technical hurdles: autonomous machines that can operate themselves and robotic machines that can work with a human partner.
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