Modern Mining May 2015

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MODERN MINING

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May 2015

COMPANIES

he RD8 – which will be on site at

the Palabora mine by the end of

May 2015 – weighs 120 tons when

fully assembled and is the largest

raise borer ever manufactured by

Master Drilling and one of the biggest in the

world. It is equipped with two hydraulic packs

for maximum flexibility and has four vari-

able drive DC motors, providing 1 600 kVA

of installed power. Fully designed in South

Africa (with Emerson assisting with the so-

phisticated control system) but largely manu-

factured overseas, it is seen by Master Drilling

as the key to boring deep-level, large diameter

shafts in future projects, as it can bore holes of

up to 8 m in diameter to a depth of 1,5 km.

Earlier this year Master Drilling, reputedly the world’s largest

owner and operator of raise boring machines, announced

that it had been awarded a contract by Palabora Mining

Company (PMC) to construct two 6,1 m diameter,

1,2 km deep ventilation shafts at PMC’s copper mine in

Phalaborwa. It said at the time that it would be using its

brand new RD8 raise boring machine, then in the final

stages of development, to bore the shafts. The machine is

now fully completed and

Modern Mining’s

Arthur Tassell

– together with other members of the media and mining

analysts – recently had the chance to view it at Master

Drilling’s Fochville headquarters on the West Rand.

Centre:

The RD8 on display

at Master Drilling’s Fochville

headquarters.

Below:

Danie Pretorius,

Master Drilling’s CEO, about

to inaugurate the machine.

Master Drilling adds ‘flagship’