The constant demand for drilling in Africa’s mining industry means there are plenty of opportunities for those dedicated to serving the sector
As an essential mining activity – encompassing exploration, land-clearing, production, and more – drilling is a diverse service that is under perpetual demand across the continent.
Indeed, there is a constant stream of communication from African mine owners outlining the drilling campaigns – from auger through to aircore and everything in-between – successfully undertaken or describing the drilling activities that will need to be pursued in order to advance their respective projects. Fortunately for these companies, there is a wide variety of mining service providers operating across the continent which have demonstrated their capacity to meet this demand and stand ready to pick up this work when needed.
Spartan Drilling Services, for instance, has been contracted by Altona to continue the campaign at the Monte Muambe rare earths project in Mozambique. The workscope will focus on in-fill and down-dip drilling as well as exploration drilling, with the 2023 campaign aiming to expand high-grade orebodies in order to increase the resource base.
Perenti Ltd. has announced that its subsidiary, African Underground Mining Services, has been awarded a 60-month contract at the Newmont Subika gold mine in Ghana. Through its UMA joint venture, Perenti will undertake all underground development and production activities, support services and diamond drilling.
Corica Mali, a subsidiary of Corica Mining Services, will conduct drill and blast activities at the Goulamina Lithium Project. Corica received the contract from Leo Lithium – which includes six months of pre-production activities at the site – due to the company’s successful track record of operating in the West African region for more than 20 years.
Operating out of Accra, Sahara Natural Resources is another that boasts more than 20 years’ experience under its belt and is always on the look-out for opportunities to provide technical insight and its leading solutions. The diversified mining services company’s team of geologists, drillers and field technicians are on hand to take projects to the next stage and earlier this year helped Mako Gold identify 15 new gold targets at the Napié Project in Côte d'Ivoire. As outlined by the company, “good equipment, combined with the right personnel, ensures quality outcomes for clients”.
Murray & Roberts Cementation, a mining contracting company based in South Africa, has distinguished itself at Ivanplats’ Platreef Project when the client required a 950 m vent shaft to be drilled vertically within tight parameters to be equipped with a hoist and rope guides. Dirk Visser, senior project manager at Murray & Roberts Cementation, explained, “Using the wellproven German designed and manufactured Micon, Rotary Vertical Drilling System (RVDS), we were able to achieve the set parameters required for a rope guide installation. The worst deflection was no more than 0.05% – or 452 mm – and by the time we bottomed out, the deviation was only 0.02% – or 226 mm – off centre over a final drilling depth of 950 m.”
Micon’s specialised RVDS is a self-steering tool working on a close loop system which guides the tool using two-axis gyro inclination sensors which activate the hydraulic steering system. It can determine if there is any deviation from the vertical course and communicate this information to the operator on surface.
Sought-after solutions
Micon’s RVDS has proven its ability to enhance drilling accuracy and, following its success, there is little doubt it will be utilised for more work in the years ahead. Innovations such as this, that raise the standard of drilling operations, are in hot demand on the continent with solutions constantly being brought to the market.
Sandvik Mining and Rock Solutions, for instance, has introduced the first Pantera DP1600i drill rig into southern Africa. The new offering is the largest top hammer drill on the market and is capable of drilling hole diameters from 102 to 178 mm.
“By considerably expanding the hole size range of previous top hammer drills, the Pantera DP1600i challenges traditional DTH drilling on large quarries and surface mines,” said Vanessa Hardy, BLM for surface mining at Sandvik Mining and Rock Solutions. “In extensive field tests, the machine has proven to be a faster, fuel efficient and cost effective alternative to DTH drilling in hard, competent rock formations.”
Following suit, Epiroc has launched a surface radio remote drill rig for construction and quarrying, SmartROC T25 R, which offers a number of valuable features such as an exceptional coverage area, application versatility and a smart rig control system.
Marcus Leü, global product manager at Epiroc, remarked, “Fuel consumption has been optimised, and the rig is extremely powerful in relation to size, which allows for use in demanding applications in confined spaces. This rig is designed to be the obvious choice for operators within this segment, a rig that will make their working day a lot easier.
