Modern Mining May 2015

COMPANIES

Master Drilling adds ‘flagship’

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.

T 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.

Centre: The RD8 on display at Master Drilling’s Fochville headquarters. Below: Danie Pretorius, Master Drilling’s CEO, about to inaugurate the machine.

24  MODERN MINING  May 2015