April 16, 2012
"We all have varying levels of experience; some have no big drill experience and others have only seen the levers in big rigs. I think this is great exposure to technology and I can see how the drillers’ skills have increased."
There is a variety of drill rigs at the company’s six mine sites, but over the next few years the entire fleet is expected to consist of Atlas Copco Pit Viper 271 blasthole drills. In addition to the greater efficiency of these single pass rigs, the mine will achieve commonality of parts, consumables and human resources. Even before the first Pit Viper had been shipped to the first site, Yandi Mine, training was already under way in Perth using a simulator and the Master Driller program. In the classroom we met Dan Rolston, Drill & Blast Superintendent at the Yandi Mine, who, despite many years of drilling experience, was taking the course alongside drillers Ben Zeller, David Jack and Bill Thorpe. Rolston has even used a Pit Viper drill in the past, although not one with the Atlas Copco Rig Control System (RCS). He said: “We all have varying levels of experience; some have no big drill experience and others have only seen the levers in big rigs. I think this is great exposure to technology and I can see how the drillers’ skills have increased.”
