Modern Mining May 2015

COMPANIES

awarded a contract at Barrick’s El Indio mine in Chile, thus beginning its strong relationship with Latin America. Landmarks for Master Drilling along the way have included the acquisition of its first Wirth HG380 raise borer – then the largest in the world – in 2001, the acquisition of Master Drilling Exploration (formerly known as Drillcorp Africa) in 2006, giving it a foothold in explora- tion drilling, the design and manufacture of its first dedicated low-profile, blind-hole drilling rig in 2011, and its JSE listing in 2012. In 2013 it achieved a world record in directional drill- ing on a Lonmin shaft, drilling a 1 070 m deep, 5,5 m vent shaft, partially completed. The company’s record of innovation is excellent and it is currently looking at ways of getting around the main drawback of raise bor- ing as compared to conventional shaft sinking – the need for bottom access. It is also working on adapting its existing raise boring technology for horizontal drilling and – to this end – has two development projects underway in coop- eration with Sibanye Gold and Petra Diamonds (at the Cullinan mine). Photos by Arthur Tassell

to roughly 30 %. Currently gold projects account for 32 % of its revenues followed by copper (15 %), iron ore (20 %), polymetallic (16 %) and platinum (7 %). He also pointed out that while the group was exposed to all stages of the mining process (which he identi- fied as the exploration, capital and production stages), the bulk of its revenue (just over 80 %) was derived from the production stage. “The mining downturn has led to the cancellation or deferment of many mining projects but the effect on Master Drilling has been limited since we rely on the capital stage – essentially new projects – for only about 12 % of our revenue,” he said. “The production stage of mining has been far less affected by the min- ing downturn.” Pretorius founded Master Drilling in the late 1980s with a single 24R Robbins rig and has seen the company grow since then into a major JSE-listed entity with a global reputa- tion. Geographical diversification was part of its strategy from the early days, its first cross- border contract being undertaken in 1992 at the Shabanie mine in Zimbabwe. A year later the company went even further afield, being

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