Raisebore Australia expands fleet with world-leading technology
Raisebore Australia cements itself as a significant player on the global raiseboring market with a new drill that provides improved safe-work practices and operational efficiencies to the mining and construction industries.
Leading privately owned South Australia-based raiseboring specialist Raisebore Australia (RBA) has further invested significant capital in world-leading technology that will not only provide major safety advancements to the mining industry, but also offer operational efficiencies.
For RBA, the acquisition of its second Atlas Copco 91RH raiseborer further opens mining opportunities in Australia and cements the company as a strong competitor in the global marketplace.
The company has already operated across seven countries and was recently awarded a two-year contract in India. This increase in the RBA fleet will allow further diversification in the international raiseboring field.
“Our latest investment reflects our confidence in the Australian mining industry and highlights our view that raiseboring is now an international marketplace. The acquisition expands our fleet to four machines of nominal 5.0m capacity diameter, three machines of 3.5m diameter capacity and six slot machines,” says Rod Bertram, RBA Managing Director.
The Atlas Copco 1000 volt 91RH follows the January 2010 purchase of the Atlas Copco 415 volt 91RH to offer various voltage alternatives to our clients.
“We found the 415 volt 91RH to be an outstanding performer, so pursued the 1000 volt 91RH. Both raiseborers offer the latest computerised technology with data-logging capacity, while its operating system is what we consider the most advanced in the world today. Due to its efficiency, it will reduce the cost per metre of raiseboring,” says Bertram.
The Swedish design is semi-automatic, which eliminates the manual handling of the 127/8” (327mm) diameter drill rods, which are a requirement to comply with OEM specifications to ream shafts of 4.0 metre and greater diameter.
“RBA considers safety improvement as the most important factor in all our acquisitions, so we see the machine’s automation feature a major safety factor for companies when using large-diameter raiseborers,” says Bertram.
The machine is currently undergoing commissioning in Kalgoorlie and will be available to the Australian and international markets from early-February 2014.
RBA is the only company to own these Atlas Copco raiseborers in Australia and has received onsite training from Atlas Copco representatives from both Sweden and the United States. RBA has appointed a Compliance Superintendent to manage the introduction of the new machine, while continuing training for other machines within its fleet to complement the market-leading support from Atlas Copco.
RAISEBORE AUSTRALIA www.raisebore.com.au
Always good to read what happens in the raise boring industry in Australia.