November 23, 2023
The Cementos Argos Mulaló Calera Planta quarry is located in the municipality of Yumbo in the Cauca Valley. This site is home to an exploration operation that moves around 13,200 tons of material per day, and drilling is a key process where there are always new opportunities to innovate.
For this site, Argos brought one of the smartest drilling rigs on the market to the country.
"It’s a very modern rig that the company acquired in search of efficiency and versatility. With this SmartROC T40, we’re going to ensure better blasting granulometry, avoid deviations in drill holes, and give peace of mind when blasting close to the community" confirms engineer Rodrigo Salcedo, Quarry Manager, Yumbo Plant.
The main feature of this rig is the advanced global geopositioning system that allows the whole drilling process to be optimized and the quality of holes to be improved with much more accurate depths, delivering better cuts for bench drills.
The SmartROC features Auto RHS (Auto Rod Handling System), which is the automated rod handling system that allows rods to be added automatically until the defined depth is reached. This solution reduces drilling times and has a direct effect on productivity and the service life of drilling tools.
"This machine is much faster and stronger, movements requiring just one button do two, three functions that we used to have to do manually, now you just press one button down and the machine does practically all the work", says Victor Yepes, Drill Operator at Argos.
Another feature of this rig is the efficiency of its hydraulic system as well as its fuel consumption.
"“On the one hand, the machine sends the specified hydraulic oil to the functions actually using it, which reduces consumption by more than 65%, and on the other hand, the automatic compressor load control system and the efficient use of motor RPM minimizes fuel consumption and achieves savings of up to 20% compared to other equipment. "
The acquisition of the SmartROC T40 makes it four Epiroc drills that Cementos Argos has now purchased for their quarries.
"The first machine we had was a FlexiROC T40 in 2015, we are now upgrading to a SmartROC T40. The experience has been very satisfying," says Alvarez Anyelo, Maintenance Professional, we chose this rig because of the high-performance package that comes pre-assembled with power, motor, compressor, flushing unit, and drill assembly for very demanding terrain like ours,” says engineer Alvarez.
With the great collaboration between the Argos team and Epiroc team, both companies are working together on one vision: to implement innovative technologies that take care of people and the planet.
"“We hope this equipment will serve as a benchmark for other Argos quarries due to its high potential for efficiency.”"
