Modern Mining November 2019

very costly. Mechanising the process and allowing earlier access to orebodies could have a dramatic effect on new mine development and allow more projects to pass the hurdle rate.” He added that raiseboring – which is at the heart of the Master Drilling offering – was a fully mecha- nised process but was only applicable where bottom access existed, ruling out its use on ‘greenfield’ shaft projects, and in certain geologies. Jordaan said that there was now a need for Master Drilling to show intent. “This is exactly what we’re doing with the current trial which is putting to the test the pilot cutter head and gearbox drive, which are the key to the entire system – and the highest risk components. We have about 70 tons of equipment on site, much of it sourced locally. We have a number of KPIs we are measuring, with prob- ably the most important being the rate of advance in the shaft barrel. As a broad generalisation, conven- tional sinking allows about a metre of advance per day. Our goal is to increase this to at least 3 to 5 m a day – using about a fifth of the personnel one would normally need – and based on the results we’re get- ting so far we believe this is achievable.” According to Jordaan, development of the SBS is being implemented over five phases, with the present trial representing phase one. “If the trial is successful, then – subject to the agreement of our 49 % equity partner in the development of the SBS, the IDC – we’ll move to phase two, which will be the manufacture of the entire 350-ton, 45 m-long system. Further phases will see the machine being further tested with phase five being the full roll-out on a major mining project.” He added that Master Drilling believed that about 60 % of the SBS’s

The ‘front end’ of the SBS with, on the left, the vacuum units.

“Further phases will see the machine being further tested with phase five being the full roll-out on a major mining project.”

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