Month: January 2020

Welcome to Denver – 46th Annual Conference on Explosives and Blasting Technique

Posted on by Jari Silver

Join us at the Hyatt Regency Denver at Colorado Convention Center for the 46th Annual Conference on Explosives & Blasting Technique, the largest gathering of explosives technology in the world. This show provides access to a broad market of explosives users, products and accessories. Last year more than 1,800 people attended including blasters from over 57 countries. They came to learn about the exciting advances in the field of explosives application, research and technology. More than 140 booths of products; equipment; blasting tools and innovative technology, setting the standards for the explosives industry, were also displayed.

The conference is scheduled for Jan. 26-29, 2020, with the Blasters Weekend beginning on Saturday, Jan. 25.

You will find us at the booth #903.

More info at: www.isee.org/conferences/2020-conference

Warmly welcome, Robit team

Partnership in the AUSTRALIAN OUTBACK

Posted on by Jari Silver

Western Australia is a land of extremes. It’s sitting on the oldest rock crust on Earth, formed three billion years ago. It’s most likely also home to the oldest life forms on our planet, dating back even further, some three and a half billion years.

Today, human life forms in the state are mostly concentrated on the fertile coastal areas. In contrast, the vast central parts – the Outback – consist mostly of sparsely inhabited hot desert. In these circumstances the only significant economic activity is mining. 15% of all the world’s iron ore is produced in Western Australia; the state is also a major extractor of gold and bauxite.

A young Matt Izett started out as a driller’s assistant, or “offsider”, for a major drilling operator in Western Australia in the 1980s. By the turn of the century he was managing a branch office of a mining supplies company.

In 2005 Matt took another leap forward and founded Ranger Drilling with his wife Julie, specializing mostly in Reverse Circulation (RC) drilling for customersoperating in the West Australian iron ore market. In fourteen years Ranger has, through consistent growth, become a major player in the industry with 19 drill rigs.

A reliable choice for remote locations, RC drilling is a preferred method for mineral exploration. It uses far less water than diamond drilling, making it ideal for arid areas such as Western Australia, where sourcing water is expensive.

Since the beginning, Ranger has made a point of constantly optimizing and customizing tools, equipment and drilling techniques. In this mission, Ranger have enjoyed a great relationship with Robit Australia (formerly DTA) over the last ten years.

Robit supplies Ranger with RC hammers and bits. “We have made DIFOT a priority with Ranger as their business has grown the offering in mining, exploration, and hydro”, says Mark McGrath, Regional Sales Manager, Robit Australia. “Our team does its best to ensure Ranger can continue to provide world class customer service each and every day.”

Top Hammer theoretical and practical training in Ecuador

Posted on by Jari Silver

Training organized by: Maqoperador S.A. (Ecuador) and Robit PLC
Objective: To give Top Hammer drilling tool customers theoretical knowhow and practical training to ensure maximum drilling performance
Location: Guayaquil, Ecuador
Date: November 22, 2019
Drill bits used: Robit HTG bit 45C76 DSR vs. a bit from another brand
Reported by: José Rodríguez, Sales Manager, Robit

Summary:

In ensuring maximum performance in Top Hammer drilling, one key element is selecting the optimal drill bit. To this end, a series of training sessions for our customers in Ecuador were organized jointly by Maqoperador, the distributor of Robit’s tools in Ecuador, and Robit.

In the theoretical part of the training we covered a wide range of topics such as drill string elements, energy flow through the drill string, correct drilling parameters, selection criteria for button bits, and total drilling costs.

For the practical training, Maqoperador arranged a visit to a quarry where the performance of two T45x76 mm bit designs was measured: a Robit Drop Centre Retrac bit vs. a bit from another brand. The other brand had overlarge 13 mm buttons whereas our bit was 11 mm. Typically customers see oversized carbides as a good feature, but our tests proved otherwise.

The difference in penetration rate was significantly in favour of Robit: 1,8 m/min vs. competitor at 1,06 m/min. In other words, Robit was faster by more than 70%.

Being able to drill faster with less effort also means a better energy flow from the drill string to the rock. This is why differences in overheating were also expected between the bits. If percussion energy is not correctly transmitted from the drill string to the rock, it will dissipate into heat, creating additional problems. Due to the overlarge buttons, the energy was not efficiently transmitted to the rock, so the competitor’s bit was overheating the shank adapter at 150 °C, while with the Robit bit, the shank adapter kept a much cooler temperature at 98 °C.

To ensure the reliability of the results, the testing was performed with the same drill rig, the same operator in the same quarry, using the same drilling parameters at a distance of 1 metre between the holes of each bit.

What was particularly rewarding for us to see was how actively the attendees participated in the training. Events like this are very rarely, if ever, arranged by other brands or distributors, so they truly add great value for our customers and help enhance the Robit brand. We will soon be organizing the same training in other parts of the world. Stay tuned!

Gigantic dry dock rising on the Kola Bay

Posted on by Jari Silver

In the coming years, the use of liquified natural gas (LNG) in transport and industry is expected to grow significantly. That is a key reason why earlier this year, a Robit Steel Fist pilot bit started to penetrate granite rock in the Kola peninsula.

As far as fossil fuels go, LNG is by far the most environmentally friendly – it has the lowest CO2 emissions per unit of energy while also having the highest heating value. Thus, it has big potential as a future transport fuel alongside biofuels, hydrogen and electric mobility, and most major fossil fuel companies have begun investing in it.

Treasure hidden beneath the permafrost

Russia has the largest natural gas reserves in the world. The bulk of those reserves is sitting under the permafrost in northwest Siberia, in the Yamal Peninsula and its offshore areas. Recent years in the region have seen a massive investment in the so-called Yamal project, a joint venture between Russian, French and Chinese companies, which includes a huge LNG plant, in operation since 2017.

The Yamal project is now being followed by the Arctic LNG-2, another major international joint venture, located in the neighbouring Gyda peninsula. It has an ambitious plan to cut the production costs by placing the LNG production plants offshore in the Gulf of Ob on so-called gravitybased structures (GBS). These reinforced concrete structures are built on a shipyard, towed to the intended location, and then sunk onto the seabed.

Arctic village transformed

Until recently, Belokamenka was a small village just north of Murmansk in the northwest corner of Russia. In 2017 it was chosen as the location for the new shipyard where the GBSs are to be built. This means a massive transformation in the area, covering more than 150 hectares. The shipyard will have two dry docks, each 400 x 175 m, the largest in Russia. Currently the construction site employs some 4,000 people.

The construction of pipe pile walls for the dry docks is performed by NK-Teplokhimmontazh and the drilling contractor Spetsfundament Plus. It involves the drilling of no less than a thousand piles, up to 32 metres deep, through sand and loam into the granite bedrock. Their tool of choice for this Down-the-Hole job is the large diameter Robit Steel Fist Casing System. Drilling work on dry dock #1 is now completed and will continue into 2020 on dry dock #2.

In 2022, the first GBS built in Belokamenka is expected to start its 1,600 km voyage, with the help of a powerful tugboat fleet, across the Barents Sea to its destination in the Gulf of Ob.