Capital Equipment News March 2018

Contractor drills its way into African record books

Using diamond-impregnated bits and a standard rotary percussion rig, deep drilling expert Torque Africa Exploration recently drilled its way into the record books with a hole drilled in the Springs area reaching 1 148m. This is an African record and one of the deepest rotary percussion holes drilled worldwide in mixed and largely unchartered geologies and the contract calls for yet more and deeper holes in future. Nardus Bezuidenhout, Torque Africa director, explains that the company is part-way through its contract to bore several deep- level holes into disused mine stopes for the treatment of acid water mine drainage. These range from a few hundred metres below the surface to over 1 200 m for the deepest hole and require all the ingenuity of the company’s technical experts, as well as its owner, and renowned drilling expert, Bezuidenhout. According to Bezuidenhout, Torque Africa took on the job at the expense of other experts who said the risks of failure were too high. “We were never in doubt though and in conjunction with Pieter Coetzee and his team from Sandvik Mining and Rock Technology’s rock tools division, we planned the technical details of the operation.” Sandvik’s Product Manager – DTH Bits, Matthew Shoffner, also worked with the local team of experts to find the right technical solutions and it soon became apparent that the right tooling would be Research and development (R&D) plays a critical role in the innovation process, especially considering the increasing pace of technological progression and the ever-changing needs of end users. It is that strong commitment to R&D that is further propelling Monitech to the summit of the mining safety and monitoring solutions industry. R&D plays a very important role in the success of a business. Many companies do not grasp the significance of R&D until it’s too late. The role and relevance of R&D is paramount; it is the R&D function that provides a platform for creativity and innovation to flourish in an organisation. Based on this understanding, Monitech, a South African industry leader in mining safety and monitoring solutions, has put in place a strong R&D regime over the years, which general manager Renier Rautenbach maintains is the cornerstone and a critical arm of the company’s business.

pivotal and that Sandvik bits and hammers were going to be key to getting the job done efficiently. “Considering the unchartered nature of the geology of the area we chose to use standard bits and then switch to diamond impregnated bits as soon as formations became too hard or abrasive for them.” “This is exactly what we encountered after the initial depth of about 300 metres of dolomite and shale and from there on it was mostly hard quartzite with some khaki shale, black slate shale, mixed dolomite and quartzite, diabase and more quartzite. This made for some tough drilling, but was made considerably easier with the use of the diamond impregnated bits,” says Bezuidenhout. He explains that considering the forces at these depths only the highest quality bits could be used and even despite the higher cost of diamond impregnated bits, the durability was extended beyond 378 m per bit. This far outweighed the standard bit alternative which would have been 70 m and required constant pullouts. Bit changes can be complicated and time-consuming as pull back of the rods would take up to 24 hours to retrieve the 6m lengths to replace the tooling. A shanked bit at these depths would be even more catastrophic and could require drilling of a new hole if the bit could not be retrieved. “We had to deal with dolomite wetlands, dykes, voids and water ingress at all levels “Monitech has always focused on its customers’ needs and this has always driven our R&D roadmap. As a leader in our field, R&D enables the development of products relevant to the industry and the application,” says Renier. Renier reiterates that R&D needs to be a top priority for the growth of any company, especially at the level and pace of the ever-changing technologies. Gone are the days when product development was done with a one-size-fits-all approach due to today’s varying needs of customers, which, in many cases, require custom- built solutions. This approach has made Monitech a name to be reckoned with in mining technologies such as machine monitoring and proximity detection systems (PDSs) in South Africa. “Our products are developed in conjunction with our clients and we work closely with them to ensure that the end result meets their needs,” he explains.

Sandvik bits and hammers were key to getting the job done efficiently.

which made it tough. We were also required to drill the hole telescopically from its original diameter of 558.9mm at the top through various layers including a 310m deep grouted section, casing and eventual intersection of quartzite just beyond 300m at which point the drill diameter was down to a 172 mm bit. Thereafter we continued through various phases until prematurely intersecting the stope at 1 148 m instead of the predicted depth of 1 200 m. At this point the bit size was 124 mm and the hole ready to be used by our clients to receive pumped products that are a by-product of the treatment of millions of litres of acid-mine drainage. b To restate the importance of R&D, Monitech commits a sizeable amount of its turnover to this arm of the business. “Once the product has been tested and proven to perform as required, we are able to introduce the solution to the industry,” says Renier. “This has been the catalyst to realising our global business plan.” Monitech offers a wide range of products to the mining industry. These include the Monitech Machine Mounted Safety and Engineering Monitoring Devices; Personnel Protection on Roofbolting Machines; Monitech Roof Bolt Placement Systems; Monitech Object Detection and Avoidance Systems; Thermal Camera Systems; Bespoke Flameproof Solutions; Matrix Intellizone Proximity Detection Systems; Matrix METS Miner and Equipment Tracking Systems (Wireless Communications and Tracking); as well as turnkey project. b

Restating the value of R&D in innovation

CAPITAL EQUIPMENT NEWS MARCH 2018 44