Service: Surface Mining

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.

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.

The Sanbrado Gold Project is a low-cost, high-grade operation – one of the highest margin gold projects in West Africa. Sanbrado is located 90 km east-southeast of Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso and covers an aggregate area of 116 km².

AMS was awarded this contract late 2019 and went on to construct and fit out of the mine infrastructure, including wash bay facility and workshop fit outs. AMS commenced the open-cut mining operations, on time and on schedule. The project scope is full service open pit mining, including: establishment, site preparation, short & medium term mine planning, drill & blast, load & haul, grade control, dewatering, and mobile maintenance works.

The project currently runs with 5 main production excavators, 11 trucks, 2 graders, 2 water trucks and 4 dozers.

In its first year of production, Sanbrado is expected to produce more than 300 000 oz of gold and an average of 217 000 ozpa in its first five years and 153 000 ozpa over the current 10-year life of mine.

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.

Iduapriem mine comprises the Iduapriem and Teberebie properties in a 110km2 concession and it’s located in the Western Region of Ghana, some 70km north of the coastal city of Takoradi and about 10km south-west of the Goldfields Tarkwa mine. Iduapriem mine is an open-pit mine and its processing facilities include a carbon in-pulp (CIP) plant with a gravity circuit.

In 2018, Iduapriem mine increased production 11% year on year to 254K oz and again to 275K oz in 2019 (the mine highest production since 2004). The production increase was driven by key factor of mining deeper and higher-grade areas in the Teberebie pit, where AMS was contracted to mine. AMS was awarded the mining services contract in February 2014 worth about 15 million US Dollars per year which is reviewed annually. Under the mining services contract, AMS is responsible for supplying all incidental goods, mining fleet and skilled labour necessary for the proper completion of the works and the performance of the contract. AMS employs 357 people at the Iduapriem project with 38% of the workforce coming from the catchment areas and the host region, and the remaining 62% being employees from the other regions of Ghana.

AMS has worked with respect to the environment and safety for its employees without affecting our ability to deliver AAIL required mining target KPIs. In December 2019 AMS was awarded a 1-year contract extension generating revenue of $45m for open pit mining services, equipment supply and maintenance. Following our revised production schedule issued by AGA, AMS labour numbers effective 16th April 2020 reduced to 267 people with 39% of the workforce coming from the catchment areas and the host region, and the remaining 61% from the other regions.

In the present day is AMS’s Senegalese journey; a journey which began almost exactly three years ago in 2016 as part of the business’s ongoing footprint expansion strategy. AMS’s venture into the country has kicked-off with the Mako project in the southeast, and the (at least) six-and-a-half year gold project will lay the foundations for AMS to replicate the same model already successfully implemented across much of the rest of West Africa. The project currently runs with 3 main production excavators, 14 CAT 777F trucks, 7 DPI Panteras rigs.

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.