DRILL & BLAST
“With these technologies available you will be able to make drilling more accurate therefore being able to design better blast specifications to get better results with blasting. “Blasting can be made sustainable by using all the current technologies so that you are optimising each blast and getting right first time rather than having to deal
DataCloud MinePortal software
with any problems that may occur with a bad blast. With the drilling rigs, how they are today, we are able to get a better understanding of how the holes have drilled. With this technology we are able to use it to our advantage when creating a blast design.” With the explosives themselves,
Skelair International’s drill & blast manager, Gary McGuire
McGuire says, “With the technology available today we are able to understand where the explosives are to be positioned
within the blast to give us the best results. Modern explosive trucks are improving the way the explosives are mixed leading to more power creating better results. Te changes made by using all this technology we are seeing better results with fragmentation and this means the productivity of the quarry increases. Tis has a knock-on effect for downstream processes such as transport, separation and processing.”
COMPACT DRILLING SOLUTION E
nergold Drilling, a drilling solutions company that services the mining and energy sectors,
has recently completed the first phase of drilling exploration works in the UK ahead of schedule following the rental of the EMCI 7.50 drill rig. To avoid a long-distance mobilisation of one of its own fleet of drill rigs Energold was in search of a UK-based compact rotary drill rig that was also set up for wireline drilling. Energold approached Skelair International for a fully compliant drill rig with a specification suitable for its project. Skelair is the UK’s distributor of the
full EMCI range and recommended the EMCI 7.50. This rig is available for rent as standard with a wireline capacity of 150m. Chris Jones, operations manager (EMEA) at Energold
Energold Drilling is using Skelair’s EMCI 7.50 rotary drill rig for applications including wireline drilling
Drilling, says: “It was important to us to find a compact rental drill rig that, like our own rigs, was fully health and safety compliant and we could rely on for performance. The rental of the EMCI 7.50 from Skelair was particularly
attractive to us for exactly those reasons and it meant that we didn’t have to mobilise one of our own rigs from Europe or indeed Africa.” Mounted on a rubber track crawler and
remote controlled, the EMCI 7.50 has a 56kW Diesel Deutz engine and a 38-litre stainless steel tank. Although a smaller rig, the EMCI 7.50 available from Skelair is a very competent rotary rig fitted with a wireline winch to satisfy the needs of the industry for wireline drilling. Steph Keane at Skelair International,
says: “EMCI 7.50 is suitable for a variety of drilling methods and in particular wireline is drilling up to 150m depth. The rig is also fitted with an automatic SPT hammer for geotechnical drilling applications. With a rotary head speed up
to 500rpm and a maximum torque of 500 daNm, the rig acted as the ideal solution for Energold’s requirements of accessibility, power and adherence to UK health and safety regulations. The rig has performed competently for Energold and the additional accessories that are available with our rental rig have proven invaluable.” l
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