Business: Ausdrill

In 2021 Ausdrill assisted to move the mine’s ore crusher to the Larego site. This includes works for a new crusher, feed line, and refinery (haul road construction, crusher circle, and facilities), as well as sensitive blasting around major power lines present on site that feed the largest towns throughout the SouthWest region. Ausdrill is providing a number of resourcing efficiencies at Larego by pooling resources and sharing its personnel across nearby mine sites. Our trusted team of locals, many of whom have worked in the area for almost 10 years, brings a proven and loyal foundation to our service provision.

While primarily an underground gold mine, Sunrise Dam commenced open cut mining at a satellite pit during 2021. Ausdrill has successfully been providing a variety of services, while efficiently and safely working around present-day underground operations.

The Mount Monger goldfield is marked by a series of historic workings extending northward under a shallow alluvial cover. Ausdrill have developed a valuable long-term partnership with Silverlake Resources by consistently delivering RC and diamond drilling expertise for over 8 years.

Despite the very remote nature of this project, Ausdrill’s exploration team have successfully delivered specialist RC drilling services. Our partnership has extended to working closely with geological and exploration managers to ensure the challenges of remote work are mitigated and that targets are met.

In line with BHP’s technology roadmap, our exploration crew have utilised our semi-autonomous hands-free drilling equipment to increase safety and efficiency on site. We continue to provide consistent results via deep navigational diamond and RC drilling – increasing accuracy and cost savings.

Our exploration team has been expertly providing diamond drilling and P.C.D chipping drilling to a number of sites across the Bowen Basin. In line with BHP’s technology road map, we have provided semi-autonomous hands-free drilling capabilities, which have increased safety on site and lowered costs.

Ausdrill was brought in to open a new extension to an existing pit. Swift mobilisation was required and delivered to obtain all necessary licenses and achieve full production status. Our drilling and blasting services at Millennium are provided within close proximity to an active underground mine. As such, vibration limits alongside significant dust suppression methods are employed to ensure that dust does not enter neighbouring mine portals or vent shafts.

The Ausdrill team was met with the need to mobilise, facilitate the on-site construction of two new Caterpillar MD6310 drills, and seamlessly take over drilling. Ausdrill provided a project manager with engineering capabilities to offer bespoke blasting knowledge and maximise coal production. Health and safety were also engaged early to create a shared, industry-leading protocol and meet all production milestones.

Ausdrill has delivered two significant projects at Eliwana: crusher pocket access, followed by rail corridors. Both of these projects required meticulous delivery and tight quality control: we provided specialised loading, blasting and timing techniques to keep vibrations and over blast within limits to protect sensitive heritage sites; delivered a perfect crusher pocket opening in the side of a sheer cliff while protecting a nearby dolerite dyke; and completed a 3000 ton concrete pour for a super structure Off Shore Processing facility. Thereafter, expertly blasting within 10 meters of this structure.

The Ausdrill team was met with the need to mobilise, facilitate the on-site construction of four new Caterpillar MD6250 drills, and seamlessly take over drilling just before the height of COVID-19. Our dedicated project lead worked hand-in-hand with our client, OEM, and each sector manager to ensure that the drill delivery plan was created and commissioned in a timely manner. Despite global challenges and record-breaking floods, our competent team met each key milestone, did not lose a single day of production, and achieved an excellent safety record.

This long-term contract has garnered over eight years of project partnership, with up to seven exploration rigs during schedule peaks. Our team has met challenging terrain, fractured ground and large water volumes with RC and diamond drilling expertise.

SIMEC Mining owns and operates a 10m tonne per annum iron ore mine in the Middleback Ranges in South Australia, approximately 60 kilometers from the town of Whyalla. These operations incorporate the Iron Baron, Iron Knob and South Middleback Ranges mine sites.Ausdrill has been providing specialist exploration services at Whyalla for over 7 years – beginning with one RC rig and expanding through to 4, following a successful contract extension. Faced with particularly hard ground conditions, our expert crew have continued to deliver as needed, including deep hole pockets of up to 500 meters.

Ausdrill has forged a successful partnership with BHP Iron Ore, delivering services to mines across the Pilbara region for over 12 years. Our team has brought a number of efficiencies to BHP mine sites, including: the use of Ausdrill-designed Rock Commander drills for specific contour drilling. The use of the Rock Commander has achieved an impressive increase in meters drilled, as well as size of hole drilled, as a result of the contoured slope the Rock Commander is able to work on.

Meanwhile, in line with BHP’s technology roadmap, our exploration crews have utilised our award-winning Ausdrill automated sampler and semi-autonomous hands-free drilling equipment to increase safety and efficiency on site.

Ausdrill has been delivering mining services at St Ives, on and off, over a 25 year period. In that time we have provided our specialised long-reach Rock Commander drill for probing and safer works around complex, unmapped historical underground workings; and navigated complex passes while backfilling previously mined stopes. As specialised lake drillers, our exploration team has consistently hit desired targets at Lake Lefroy. Meanwhile, our deep navigational diamond drilling capabilities have enabled significant cost savings.

Ausdrill have been providing mining services at Mungari for over 10 years. We have worked with our client to increase efficiencies around abrasive and hard ground with one-hole automatic drilling and high-precisions GPS functionality, as well as inhouse bit sharpening. We have also successfully managed excess water by carefully offsetting collar piping to preserve hole integrity; conducting depressurisation drilling; and practicing varied loading methods to offset shots.

The Ensham Coal Mine is a coal mine located 40 km east of Emerald in Central Queensland, Australia. The mine has coal reserves amounting to 1.48 billion tonnes of coking coal, one of the largest coal reserves in Asia and the world. The Ensham mine has an annual production capacity of 7 million tonnes of coal. Ensham consists of six pits on either side of the Nogoa River. Operations currently utilise the open-cut method of mining.

Ausdrill have been providing services at Ensham for almost 20 years and concluded at end of mine life. This long-tenure contract is the result of our ongoing successful service provision and the strong relationship we built with the client. We delivered specially-designed floor shots to mitigate the stability risks associated with high and low walls. Ausdrill also provided coal sample core drilling – via a small air core drill, along the coal seam – to refine the exploration data.

The Blair Athol Coal Mine is a coal mine located in the Bowen Basin of Central Queensland, Australia. It is located over the former site of the township of Blair Athol. The mine has coal reserves amounting to 195 million tonnes of coking coal, one of the largest coal reserves in Asia and the world. The mine has an annual production capacity of 12.9 million tonnes of coal. Coal was first discovered at this location in 1864 and has been mined from this area since this time by different companies. TerraCom, a wholly owned subsidiary of Orion Mining, recommissioned the site in 2017.

During this 5+ year team, our Ausdrill team had to contend with vibration restrictions related to a nearby cemetery. We engaged a specialised blasting contractor to ensure we were working to an accurate model for vibration prediction; used fully-programmable electronic detonators to minimise MIC; as well as adjusted our drilling diameters. We also explored time-change and pattern size options, to increase ground powder factor, while keeping under vibration limits.

Huntly/ Myara mine is surrounded by developments, so sensitive drill and blast processes and tight QA/QC have been an essential service during Ausdrill’s 10+ year project delivery. We work with our client to monitor weather patterns and wind direction to control blast acoustics and mitigate any air over pressure issues; and adjusted our drilling diameters, depths and stemming to safely continue work when operating within 50m of major power lines and 20m of a main public road. Situated within a water catchment area, a wildlife breeding zone and flanked by dieback affected areas, the mine site has required tight environmental QA/QC and drainage control – both of which have been successfully provided for over a decade.

At approx. 3.5 km long, 1.5 km wide and over 600 metres deep, the Superpit is one of Australia’s largest open cut gold mines. Ausdrill was awarded this drilling services contract in 1989 and has delivered over three decades of continuous operation.

In that time we have developed a genuine partnership with our client and a deep understanding of the site. The Ausdrill-designed Rock Commander (RC) 330 and RC 350 Longreach Drill – developed originally through tenure and experience at this very site – has transformed the safe and productive way our team works through the surface mining sequence. Designed around an excavator track base, these rigs enable greater reach and flexibility, providing a safe and highly efficient way to drill in a pit famous for large stopes and underground networks. At the height of the mining cycle 18 production and 3 RC rigs were achieving approximately 240,000 meters per month.