Overview of the massi ve iron ore mine at Sishen Pit V iper 351 rigs drill the blastholes while ROC L8 rigs tak e care of crest drilling at the Sishen mine In addition the rigs are equipped with na vig ation systems and a laser based high w all detection de vice on the side of the cab ins for added visibility and safety One feature of the PV 351 that is par ticularl y appreciated is its easy and rapid tramming capability w hich contrib utes to the mine s fe xibility F or shor t mo v es betw een hole positions the to w er can be k ept in the upright position b ut can also be lo w ered for longer tramming In each case this socalled li v e to w er system enab les it to be raised or lo w ered with the complete drillstring in place Atlas Copco will pro vide suppor t to the ser vice and maintainance team of Sishen through product specialists with feld ser vice technicians a v ailab le on an as needed basis Effcient par ts suppl y and minimum do wntime is ensured b y ha ving estab lished a par ts store in Sishen A full y equipped assemb l y yard dedicated to the assemb l y of se v en PV 351 rigs has also been estab lished and at one point in time here three PV 351 units w ere at dif ferent stages of assemb l y The frst rig assemb led b y the Atlas Copco team reached commissioning in just nine da ys These ne w rigs will join ten PV 351 rigs already in operation at the site and as each one is assemb led it is trammed to the mine s test area and put though its paces until the mine management is satisfed All of the rigs are equipped with Atlas Copco s RCS Rig Control System w hich f acilitates a wide range of functions such as safety interlocks autole v eling drill perfor mance monitoring and drilling data collection K umba s latest rigs also include Ansul fre protection a drillstring thread g reas ing system a modifed electrical isolation system emer genc y shutdo wn wraparound decking for easy access to all ser vice areas to gether with h ydraulicall y retractab le surf acetow alkw a y stairw a ys Once all of the rigs ha v e been deli v ered K umba will ha v e the lar gest feet of Pit V i p e r 3 5 1 r ig s i n t h e w o r l d T h e r ig s a r e deli v ered totall y encased on special lo wbed trailers directl y to the site from Cape T o wn The de v elopment of K olomela Mine located 9 km southw est of P ostmasb ur g and 85 km south of Sishen is one of Anglo American s big four e xpansion projects the other three being in South America Unlik e Sishen the multipit K olomela comple x is appl ying the DTH drilling method using Atlas Copco DML as w ell as tw o R OC L8 rigs Here the rigs w ork on 12 m high benches and drill 203 mm holes to depths of 1314 m with a patter n of 5 x 5 m Depending on 6 Mining Constru C tion 1 2013