Indian Institute of Technology (Indian School of Mines) Dhanbad has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with leading blasting technology company Orica Australia, under which the institute will receive 40 licences of BlastiQ software suite.
The BlastiQ software suite will also provide IIT (ISM) with the licences for SHOTPlusTM premier (for blast design and modelling in surface mines / quarries), SHOTPlusTM T (for blast design and modelling in tunnels and headings), SHOTPlusTM (for blast design and modelling in underground product blasting) and PowersieveTM (for fragmentation analysis).
BlastiQ™ is a cloud-based platform that provides effective storage, management, sharing and referencing of all kinds of blast-related information.
The platform will also assist blasting professionals in improving blast designs, achieving better quality blasts and reducing costs. Design, drilling, loading and initiation documents can be viewed in one location and it will make it simple to access blast design history and key performance indicators (KPIs). Therefore, it will enable the continuous improvement of blasting outcomes.
Orica is the biggest commercial explosives and fertilizer maker in Australia. It is also one of the world’s leading mining and infrastructure solutions providers. It is also known for production and supply of explosives, blasting systems, mining chemicals and geotechnical monitoring to cutting-edge digital solutions.
The MoU was signed on December 10 by the institute’s dean (R&D) and senior faculty member Shalivahan and Orica’s technical services manager Ankit Saxena. The signing event was presided over by IIT (ISM) director Rajiv Shekhar.
The programme was attended by other senior faculties of the institute as well as Orica’s managing digital initiative Alok Raj. Orica’s global senior manager digital initiative Peter Leckie joined the event virtually from Melbourne, Australia.
Addressing the event, Shekhar focused on the significance of collaborative research and development projects and digitalisation initiatives in the mining process in general, particularly in rock blasting.
A K Mishra, head of the mining engineering department at IIT (ISM), said, “After this agreement, an amount worth Rs 1,23,62,500 will be received free of cost for our undergraduate and postgraduate students. We will also be working on joint research and development projects and on joint outreach programmes. It will foster translational collaborative R&D projects beneficial for the industry, outreach programmes and student internships.”
