Diamond Drilling

Diamond drill and secondary support have been at the heart of our Company since the beginning. We have a proud performance level that places us in a category above the rest. Our production level is approximately 6000m diamond drill and secondary support production levels are well above our customer’s target.

Our aim is not to be the biggest diamond drill and secondary support company in the world, but certainly the best.

We are geared to work on mines with hydropower and pneumatic services. All our diamond drill and secondary support equipment are well maintained and we have spare units available at all times. This reduces our downtime and will undoubtedly ensure that production levels are always maintained.

Diamond drill and secondary support are specialist jobs, and our people are well trained and have excellent skills in terms of their trades.

Our diamond drill division do prospect drilling, cover drilling, water sealing and the consolidation of highly fractured ground conditions. Our services are currently utilized on one of the more demanding mines in terms of water sealing. Our owner has successfully serviced the mine for nearly a decade.

Recent developments for us include:

• We acquired surface drill rigs and have started a surface drilling division.

• We have purchased underground longhole drilling rigs and have started doing underground diamond drilling.

Water Sealing

One of the most threatening occurrences in a mine is being inundated with water. Not only could this lead to mine closure, but is could in certain instances present a threat to life.

Other forms of water intersections present their own set of challenges and threats and therefor it is in the interest of health and safety and longevity of a mine to seal the water intersection. We have 25 years experience in water sealing and have successfully completed numerous water sealing projects.

Some of the typical services we offer include:

• Ring Seal. During this operation holes are drilled to intersect a water feature ahead of a development end. Different number of holes can be used to effect the seal. We inject the feature with gout, chemicals or a combination thereof.

• Pre-cementation. Shafts are often subject to intersect or pass through areas with known water features. In order to successfully develop through these areas, pre-cementation is required.

• Sealing of ad-hoc water intersections. We have experience in development ends that have intersected water through blasting operations. This is one of the more challenging forms of sealing, but we have completed numerous similar projects.

• Sealing of nuisance water. Often mining operations expose water that are so little that it is left to seal at a later stage

Water Sealing

Secondary Support is the application of additional support to ensure long term stability in the working place. Originally secondary support was installed after a working place had deteriorated. The strategy on most mines have now changed to a preventative strategy to ensure safety and stability in specific working areas.

Due to the complexity of the contributing factors affecting the ground conditions in an area, a number of different support systems are being employed to achieve the desired support density as required by the Rock Engineer.

The following is a list of all the types of Secondary Support that we specialize in:

• Installation of long anchors.

• Installation of clamp sets.

• Installation of arch sets.

• Rehabilitation of tunnels.

• Application of wetcrete & thin liner.

• Application of voidfill.