D r i l l e r s i n South Africa s Northern Cape Province use rotary and DTH technology to maintain high productivity and effciency on the iron mines hard r ock benches W hen Jacob Zuma President of South Africa announced a major infrastr ucture upg rade for the w est coast it w as good ne ws for the iron ore producers of the Nor ther n Cape When complete the pro g ram will boost freight transpor t in the re gion to 100 million tonnes per y ear w hich means a substantial increase in the capacity of the roads and rail w a ys used b y the mines to get their products to por ts for w orldwide e xpor t Th is d e v e lo pme nt w ill a ls o g r ea tl y b en eft the nation Practicall y all of South Africa s iron ore is mined from the lar ge open pit operations in the Nor ther n Cape w here com petition is ferce and high producti vity and effcienc y are essential par ticularl y in vie w of the present economic do wntur n Ag ainst this backg round the equipment being used to drill the b last holes Pit V iper a nd R O C L8 ri gs fr om A tl as C op co i s a k e y element for both the mines themselv es as w ell as mining contractors D e n n i s S t o n e f e l d Applications Manager with Atlas Copco in Gauteng points out that there are more than 30 Pit V iper rigs as w ell as R OC L8 units at w ork in the re gion with more Atlas Copco b lasthole drills on order F or man y mines the Pit V iper has bec ome th e equ ipmen t of ch oice a nd this is due to a combination of three things e xplains Stonefeld The y are v er y rob ust the y represent the latest drilling technolo gy a nd th e y co me wi t h st r on g t ec h ni c a l su p po r t I also think it is tr ue to sa y that the Pit V iper series has set a ne w standard in the industr y In the Kalahari area the iron is dominated b y the b lood red mineral hematite betw een the to wns of K ur uman and P ostmasb ur g in the nor th of the pro vince The comparati v e purity of the ore here mak es it e xceptionall y hard w hich presents a major challenge for high producti vity drill and b last operations T o tackle these conditions on the benches the mines in this area as w ell as else w here in the pro vince are using the R OC L8 mainl y for presplit drilling equipped with DTH D o wn t h e H o le h a m m e r s a n d Pi t V i p e r r i g s a l t e r n a t i v e l y u s i n g r o t a r y d r i l l i n g o r high pressure DTH drilling i ron clad optimism Despite the recent decline in the global mark et for iron ore lar gel y due to a slo w do wn in China the iron producers of the Nor ther n Cape are optimistic and in v esting in increased effcienc y for the future K umba Iron Ore at Sishen near Kathu i s a t y p i c a l e x a m p l e O w n e d b y A n g l o A m e r i c a n A f r i c a s l a r g e s t i r o n o r e p r o d u c e r and the tenth lar gest in the w orld K umba operates a massi v e singlepit open cast mine that stretches 13 km nor th to south and 25 km across at its widest point As the mine deepens the width is e xpected to reach 5 km Opened in 1947 the Sishen pit is no w big enough to house most of the mine s ore preparation plant and ancillar y f acilities M o r e i mp o r t a n t l y f or t h e m a r k e t K u m b a claims the most consistent and highest qual i t y i r o n o r e i n t h e w o r l d w i t h t h e S i s h e n operation producing some 40 million tonnes per y ear Fur ther to the south is Sishen s sister mine K olomela F or merl y kno wn as Sishen South this site offciall y opened in 2012 b ut star ted shipping ore fv e months ahead of schedule When the K olomela pit reaches full production in 2013 it will increase K umba s ore output b y 9 Mt per y ear Another major operator in the area is Assmang Jointl y o wned b y African Rainbo w Minerals ARM and Assore Assmang is a steel industr y specialist supplier w hose iron ore resources complement its mang anese operations both nor th and south of Sishen The compan y s Khumani comple x with a mining lease co v ering some 7 300 hectares for merl y kno wn as BMK includes three main proper ties Br uce w hich star ted operating in 2007 and King w hich opened in 2011 There is also a de v elopment prop er ty Mokaning as w ell as tw o f ar m proper ties that ha v e not y et been e xploited t he Kumba operation In common with most other mining operations in the area K umba s Sishen pit operates 24 hours a da y w hich places high demands on all of the equipment and especiall y the drill rigs Expected a v ail ability and utilization fgures are high so maintenance is carefull y planned to a v oid do wntime The huge open pit is nor mall y w ork ed with singlepass rotar y drilling on benches 18 m high The drilling feet including up to 17 Pit V iper 351 rigs drills 311 mm v er tical b last holes using Secoroc tricone bits and T eamallo y pipes This is achie v ed with a b urden of 72 m and a spacing of 83 m W orking the iron benc hes of S outh Africa Pit V iper 351 rotary drill rigs at the K umba Iron Ore mine and right a Pit V iper 271 at King mine 4 Mining Constru C tion 1 2013