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MINERAL EXPLORATION
where ERG has exploration assets , in December . This focused predominantly on the navigation , autonomy and drilling aspects of NOMAD , according to Baensch .
“ The terrain in the areas tested comprised shallow cover over residual regolith and proved the suitability of implementing NOMAD in the region perfectly ,” he said . “ The robot excelled in boosting operational efficiency by an astounding 400 % compared to conventional manual exploration methods .”
In addition to deploying the unit for ERG Arabia ’ s use , the company is also seeking partnerships with industry , government and research institutions as a means to contribute to sector-wide exploration progress .
Robotic RC exploration drilling
It is a different type of partnership between Australia ’ s Ausdrill and Sweden ’ s Epiroc that has led to the enablement of automation in the exploration drilling arena .
It was in 2018 when Ausdrill , part of Perenti and Australia ’ s leading drilling services provider , experienced strong demand from the exploration industry to “ go auto ”. Some mining clients , the company noted , were aiming for a technology shift within a specific period .
Ausdrill has about 40 exploration rigs , both Reverse Circulation ( RC ) and diamond / core units , and decided it needed to partner with a leading manufacturer to meet the growing demand .
Having previously worked closely with Epiroc in the development of its drill and blast rigs , Ausdrill proposed the two companies join forces to collaborate on solving the automation challenge , specifically for RC technology . Today , the success of that collaboration is manifested in the latest exploration rig from Epiroc – the Explorac RC30 Smart – an RC drill rig that is the first of its kind .
Launched in October 2023 , it features fully automated rod handling , high-speed operation , process monitoring , remote control and a range of other improvements that make the job faster , safer and more efficient , Epiroc claims .
The project set out to solve very specific issues , according to Eric Gobbert , Ausdrill ’ s Senior Manager Business Development and Improvement .
“ We wanted to keep the operator outside of the drop zones around the rigs ,” he said . “ We wanted advanced interlocks and safety monitoring , continuous monitoring of the process as well as improvements to reliability and maintenance , and we wanted to get it done as fast as we could .”
Automating the rod handling function of an exploration rig is a considerably more complex task than for a production drill rig . For one thing , rod handling on production rigs is isolated to the mast as they carry enough drill rods on board ,
allowing for permanent safety barriers to be installed so that the rods cannot fall out .
In contrast , exploration rigs drill to much greater depths than production rigs , requiring access to multiple drill rods from outside the mast area , increasing the risk to the operator . This means for deeper holes using rods supplied from a truck , the rod handling system needed to be ‘ taught ’ to start from a new position for every hole .
David Benton , Epiroc ’ s Global Product Manager for Exploration , said the Explorac RC30 Smart rig seamlessly combines automated sequences and embedded interlocks to eliminate high risk and repetitive tasks while offering the largest pullback capacity of any Epiroc exploration rig to date .
Another clear advantage of automation , besides increased safety , is less wear and tear on consumables given that tasks such as rod handling are repeated in the exact same manner every time . This increases equipment uptime and helps facilitate predictive maintenance .
Gobbert highlights Ausdrill ’ s initiative to engage in a long-term project to introduce handsfree technology and automated drilling processes . “ We call this ‘ Hands Off Steel ’ which also became our catchphrase for bringing automation into the RC drilling industry here in Australia ,” he said . “ In terms of automating the rod handling function , it was obviously a fitting
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