SURFACE DRILLING
Epiroc’s new generation
SmartROC D65 DTH rig at
an iron ore mine in Sweden
SmartROC D65 DTH crawler drill rig that has
been on the market for nine years and which the
company says has become the market standard
in its class of rigs. “Customers are looking
forward to the new generation SmartROC D65
which has been tested with the latest technology
at an iron ore mine in northern Sweden,” says
Mattias Hjerpe, Product Manager. The rig was
developed both as the result of planned
development of a new SmartROC D65 within
Epiroc but also from customer feedback and
requests.
Hjerpe adds: “The new SmartROC D65 is
intelligent and is loaded with smart features
such as automated drilling and rod handling. In
addition, a new modern
control system makes it
simple to further develop
automated functionality.
One new functionality
already developed is the
AutoFeed Fold. With one
touch functionality, the
feed will fold for tramming
or position for drilling. Yet
another new feature is a
friendly user interface with
15 in touch screen which
will, for example, present
live measure while drilling
information.”
The new drill also has a lower fuel
consumption thanks to a more effective hydraulic
system (300 litres less hydraulic oil). Increased
productivity is brought by 8 m of pipes (previous
drill had 6 m) meaning users can drill a 16 m
production hole with only one pipe addition
which saves a lot of time.
The rig has also been designed to be ready for
more forthcoming automation features soon to
be released hence the description of it having
been future proofed. Including the machine
being tested in Sweden, several of the next
generation SmartROC D65 rigs are understood to
have been built, and are ready to be shipped to
mining customers in Australia.
New blasthole options
All of the blasthole market leaders – Caterpillar,
Sandvik, Epiroc and Komatsu have been launching
new and ever more advanced blasthole rig models.
The new Cat ® MD6200 rotary blasthole drill
has flexibility at its core; being designed as a
production drill with the flexibility to do pre-split
drilling. And, all of this is in a package that is
Caterpillar’s most transportable rotary drill yet.
The MD6200 can perform rotary or DTH
drilling in single-pass or multi-pass modes and
can drill holes of 127 mm to 200 mm (5-7.87 in)
in diameter.
It can drill at a negative angle up to 15°, which
enables matching the slope of the highwall for
pre-split drilling. This results in cleaner highwalls
with less waste material going to downstream
operations, according to Cat.
For traditional production drilling, the mast
can tilt from vertical out to 30°, while the
operator can adjust the mast angle in increments
of 5° from the touch screen in the cab — with no
special setup required.
The MD6200 can be transported over the road
with the mast on, so can roll onto a truck when
it’s time to move to another site. The new drill
also has the smallest shipping envelope of any
drill in its class, says Cat. In some configurations,
parts outside the shipping envelope can be
removed without the use of lifting tools, allowing
two people to prepare it by hand for shipping.
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38 International Mining | APRIL 2019