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Horizons is drilling management software designed to give open pit mines and drilling contractors a clear, current view of what is happening across their drilling operation.
Horizons was born from a drilling optimization project in Ghana, West Africa.
DCA initially developed a manual reporting system to better understand operational inefficiencies and make drilling information visible across the site. The process then developed into a centralized reporting model. Once the value of the information and reporting structure had been proven in real drilling operations, DCA partnered with a specialized software company to develop it into the Horizons digital platform.
Horizons is therefore field-proven drilling software developed from the drilling operation upwards. Its functionality is based on the information drilling teams actually need to manage machines, production, delays and preparation activities.
Horizons helps drilling teams:
Horizons consists of two main interfaces: INSIGHTS and ORIGINS.
INSIGHTS is the central Horizons interface used by supervisors, engineers, surveyors, maintenance teams, project managers and others who need visibility across the drilling operation. It brings information from individual drills together into one operational view.
Through INSIGHTS, users can:
Instead of waiting for paperwork to be collected and manually compiled after the shift, supervisors and managers can see what is happening across the drilling fleet while the work is still taking place.
ORIGINS is the machine-side interface of Horizons.
A tablet is installed in the drill rig and linked to that specific machine ID. The operator uses it to complete the daily pre-start, enter shift information and report what is happening during the shift.
The information is synchronized with INSIGHTS, where it becomes visible across the wider drilling operation.
Operators can record:
Because the information is entered directly where the work happens, Horizons removes the need for paper shift reports and greatly reduces the delay between something happening on the drill and the rest of the organization knowing about it.
Do you think there's too much hassling with paperwork in your drilling process? Let's talk and see how Horizons might help you!
Contact UsHorizons digitizes the daily drill pre-start inspection.
The operator completes a simple checklist on the machine tablet and can add additional information when required. The results are immediately available to maintenance personnel, drilling supervisors and project management. If a fault is identified, the maintenance team can see it quickly and begin responding.
Horizons also creates a history of reported faults, machine condition and submission times. If a critical Category A fault is reported, the machine can immediately appear as down within INSIGHTS.
This gives maintenance and drilling management a shared, current view of machine condition instead of relying on paperwork moving between departments.
Horizons also works as daily drilling report software, replacing traditional paper shift reporting with digital reporting completed directly by the driller.
The operator uses the same tablet as for the pre-start and can select drill patterns assigned through INSIGHTS, mark completed holes and record relevant information throughout the shift.
This can include:
A breakdown entered by the driller becomes visible to maintenance and management through the INSIGHTS machine view. Instead of waiting until the end of the shift — or longer — to understand what happened, operational information becomes available across the organization in near real time.
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Successful blasting starts long before the blast itself. Drilling progress, hole execution, equipment availability, delays and the readiness of the next drill pattern all affect the performance of the wider drill and blast process. Horizons software supports drill and blast optimization by improving visibility and control over the drilling side of the process.
Horizons helps teams understand whether drilling is progressing according to plan, when a drill pattern is likely to be completed, where each rig needs to move next, whether the next drilling location is ready, and whether machine availability or operational delays are putting the schedule at risk.
This helps connect drilling, planning, maintenance and site preparation rather than allowing each function to work from separate information.
Traditional reporting is mainly retrospective: What happened during the previous shift? Horizons adds another question: What is happening now, and is something developing that could stop the operation later? Because once drilling time is lost, it cannot be recovered.
For mines looking for drill and blast optimization software, Horizons strengthens the drilling side of the process by providing the operational visibility needed to identify problems earlier, coordinate the next steps and reduce avoidable delays before they affect blasting and production.
Horizons is designed around the information drilling teams actually need to run the operation.
It works across drill brands. It does not depend on perfect sensor data. It does not require a heavy OEM-specific software environment.
And because it was developed from an actual drilling optimization project, its functionality is based on real operational needs rather than technology for technology's sake.
The objective is simple: One view of the drilling fleet. Better information. Faster decisions. Fewer avoidable delays.
Contact us today and let's see together how your mining operations could be optimized for best possible ROI.
CONTACT US
