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Mechanical cutting is going to be key for mining going forward - Master Drilling MiningWeekly.com Audio Articles
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Mechanical cutting, in which huge progress is being made, is going to be key for the mining industry going forward, Master Drilling CEO Danie Pretorius emphasised on Tuesday, when his Johannesburg Stock Exchange-listed presented a dividend-yielding set of 2023 full-year results that included the best ever safety performance and the biggest ever order book.
"The industry can benefit big time from what we've already achieved in the field of mechanical cutting," Pretorius highlighted in a Zoom interview with Mining Weekly while reporting record-high revenue of $242.8-million and an order book that topped the $288-million mark. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.)
This rock-boring and exploration drilling company based in Fochville, on Gauteng's West Rand, serves Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Zambia, Mali, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru, and has a presence in the US, Canada, Australia, India, Turkey, China, Russia and France.
Providing more insight into mechanical cutting and why it is going to be so meaningful, Pretorius said: "In short, the emphasis is going to be on mechanical cutting helping miners to get down to depth in a much shorter space of time."
On whether mining companies see it in the same light, he added: "Speaking to the miners, we all agree that if you look globally today, all the easy reserves are long gone, and so we need to focus on how we can successfully mine the deeper reserves . Also, grade is not getting better and the logistics in the areas to be mined is not that easy."
Against that background, Master Drilling is advanced in developing mechanical cutting systems to get to those deeper levels quickly.
The emphasis is on speed. Long gone are the days when an investor will wait ten to 15 years for some dividends or some cash flows from a project.
"We need to squeeze down on the timing," Pretorius accentuated.
Hence the reason why Master Drilling has invested so much time and money in its mechanical shaft boring system (SBS) prototype being commissioned; its MTB mobile tunnel borer, which has already been tried at Mogalakwena platinum mine in Limpopo; its blade project, which is being sponsored by De Beers and Anglo; and its reef cutting system, which is being commissioned at its headquarters in Fochville, on Gauteng's West Rand.
Mining Weekly: Do you envisage that mechanical cutting going beyond mine development and also be used by mineworkers for mining without blasting?
Pretorius: Ideally, in a perfect world, yes. Maybe not in my lifetime, but maybe in 10 to 20 years from today. You can mechanically bore a shaft to one to two kilometres down, do the horizontal development with some sort of mechanical cutting means, and then go into the stopes with the reef cutting system, which we are developing. At that point, you'll probably have most of the tools in a box to mechanically mine a mine in future.
What will then become of the traditional explosives route?
I think that blasting is going to be phased out for a number of reasons, which include safety, re-entry time, and damage done to the rock environment, the geology. Will it be the next 10 years? Probably not, but there are many companies developing systems and ways to mechanically cut rock, and to move away from the use of explosives.
During results presentations, mining company Northam Platinum has commented on the work Master Drilling is undertaking for it, which involves the raise boring of a large shaft.
This is reportedly being done far more quickly than conventionally and also at considerably lower capital cost.
Could there be benefit in this for other mining companies?
The comparison for Northam at the time was to sink a 10 m to 12 m wide shaft to a depth of 1.5 km in far quicker time than the probable conventional eight to ten years.
The conventional route was also far more capital-intensive than for the three or four ra
This audio is brought to you by Wearcheck, your condition monitoring specialist.
Mechanical cutting, in which huge progress is being made, is going to be key for the mining industry going forward, Master Drilling CEO Danie Pretorius emphasised on Tuesday, when his Johannesburg Stock Exchange-listed presented a dividend-yielding set of 2023 full-year results that included the best ever safety performance and the biggest ever order book.
"The industry can benefit big time from what we've already achieved in the field of mechanical cutting," Pretorius highlighted in a Zoom interview with Mining Weekly while reporting record-high revenue of $242.8-million and an order book that topped the $288-million mark. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.)
This rock-boring and exploration drilling company based in Fochville, on Gauteng's West Rand, serves Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Zambia, Mali, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru, and has a presence in the US, Canada, Australia, India, Turkey, China, Russia and France.
Providing more insight into mechanical cutting and why it is going to be so meaningful, Pretorius said: "In short, the emphasis is going to be on mechanical cutting helping miners to get down to depth in a much shorter space of time."
On whether mining companies see it in the same light, he added: "Speaking to the miners, we all agree that if you look globally today, all the easy reserves are long gone, and so we need to focus on how we can successfully mine the deeper reserves . Also, grade is not getting better and the logistics in the areas to be mined is not that easy."
Against that background, Master Drilling is advanced in developing mechanical cutting systems to get to those deeper levels quickly.
The emphasis is on speed. Long gone are the days when an investor will wait ten to 15 years for some dividends or some cash flows from a project.
"We need to squeeze down on the timing," Pretorius accentuated.
Hence the reason why Master Drilling has invested so much time and money in its mechanical shaft boring system (SBS) prototype being commissioned; its MTB mobile tunnel borer, which has already been tried at Mogalakwena platinum mine in Limpopo; its blade project, which is being sponsored by De Beers and Anglo; and its reef cutting system, which is being commissioned at its headquarters in Fochville, on Gauteng's West Rand.
Mining Weekly: Do you envisage that mechanical cutting going beyond mine development and also be used by mineworkers for mining without blasting?
Pretorius: Ideally, in a perfect world, yes. Maybe not in my lifetime, but maybe in 10 to 20 years from today. You can mechanically bore a shaft to one to two kilometres down, do the horizontal development with some sort of mechanical cutting means, and then go into the stopes with the reef cutting system, which we are developing. At that point, you'll probably have most of the tools in a box to mechanically mine a mine in future.
What will then become of the traditional explosives route?
I think that blasting is going to be phased out for a number of reasons, which include safety, re-entry time, and damage done to the rock environment, the geology. Will it be the next 10 years? Probably not, but there are many companies developing systems and ways to mechanically cut rock, and to move away from the use of explosives.
During results presentations, mining company Northam Platinum has commented on the work Master Drilling is undertaking for it, which involves the raise boring of a large shaft.
This is reportedly being done far more quickly than conventionally and also at considerably lower capital cost.
Could there be benefit in this for other mining companies?
The comparison for Northam at the time was to sink a 10 m to 12 m wide shaft to a depth of 1.5 km in far quicker time than the probable conventional eight to ten years.
The conventional route was also far more capital-intensive than for the three or four ra
7 min