headings was ~12 hours. Using ICS, this was reduced to roughly 10 hours. This 16% decrease in cycle duration meant that, over a 24-hour period, an additional partial cycle could be accommodated. In practical terms, the headings could advance ~2.3 rounds per day with ICS, compared to ~2 rounds per day before. Cumulatively over a month, this translated to a significant increase in development footage. The mine recorded an increase from approximately 200 rounds per month to about 232 rounds per month in the trial areas – about 16% more rounds, closely matching the cycle time savings. However, due to other constraints (manpower, blasting schedules, etc.), the net improvement in overall development meters realized was around 8–10%. This is still a substantial productivity gain considering no additional equipment or shifts were added. Figure 1 illustrates the comparison of cycle components before and after ICS. Notably, the formerly timeconsuming support stage was largely absorbed into the normal cycle without extension: shotcreting (plus any delayed bolting) was accomplished within the blast re-entry window. The development jumbos and crews could operate more continuously with fewer idle periods waiting for ground support completion. Figure 1 – Development cycle time breakdown per round before and after ICS implementation. The shotcreting stage was moved in-cycle, significantly shortening the delay before the next drill-blast Figure 1
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