Month: January 2024

SHARING DRILL & BLAST KNOWHOW IN SAN JUAN

Posted on by Jari Silver

Explotec is a leading supplier of explosives and mining tools throughout Central America. Headquartered in Costa Rica, the company has created a solid network distributing its products to Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, and beyond. It also organizes training events.

A recent event took place in Costa Rica in November 2023. Focused on drill & blast, it drew 115 attendants from Central America to the Radisson San Jose hotel.

For expert insight, Explotec invited Robit’s Drillmaster Juan Padilla to showcase examples and discuss best practices in the choice of drilling steels and proper equipment commissioning. The event also hosted Emilio López-Jimeno, a renowned lecturer and blasting expert, who discussed the importance of choosing the right parameters for effective blasting.

“Robit’s role in these types of events is fundamental for developing our clients’ knowhow and thus their ability to gain more market share in drilling steels”, says Carlos Alarcón Álvarez, Technical Manager at Explotec.

Other speakers at the event included Luis Carlos, who spoke about blasting grid optimization, load factors, and improving fragmentation; Pedro Chaves discussed pre-cutting in blasting for mines and hydroelectric projects; Álvaro Rodríguez presented successful cases in blasting grid optimization and cost-cutting; and Carlos Alarcón examined the Royex rock breaking system as an alternative in fragmentation.

Picture from left: Luis Carlos, Carlos Alarcón and CEO Daniel Cruz (Explotec); Juan Padilla (Robit); Emilio López-Jimeno, Pedro Chaves and Álvaro Rodríguez (Explotec)

WESTAUZ CHOSE ROBIT FOR THE NORSEMAN GOLD PROJECT

Posted on by Jari Silver

In the late 19th century, gold fever was running high in certain southern parts of Western Australia. Among the prospectors were two brothers from the Shetland Isles, Lawrence and George Sinclair. They finally struck gold some 20 km north of Dundas, an already established find, and quickly realized the gold deposit was very prosperous. The Sinclair brothers founded a town on the site and named it Norseman – after their horse.

Today, that corner of Western Australia is known as the Goldfields region. The Central Norseman Gold Mine was founded there in 1935 and ran until 2014, making it Australia’s longest continuously-running gold mining operation. During that time, it produced over 5.5 million ounces, or more than 150 tonnes, of gold.

The gold reserves in the area were far from depleted, though. A few years later, Australian gold producer Pantoro Limited acquired 50% ownership of the Norseman Gold Project and, in 2022, brought back online three mines: the OK underground mine, the Scotia open pit and the Green Lantern open pit.

Underground operation at the Norseman OK mine is contracted by Westauz Mining, headquartered in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia. At the proposal of Robit’s Sales Manager Steve Tedge, Westauz agreed to run a development bit trial at Norseman OK in December 2022. Since Robit’s bits outperformed the competition by far in terms of cost-per-meter, Westauz awarded the drilling consumables business to Robit in early 2023.

“Throughout 2023, volumes have only grown at the OK mine site as the decline has been rehabilitated and access gained to the gold ore. Westauz is now using our Top Hammer underground bits, rods, shanks, and couplings”, says Steve Landreth, Robit’s Vice President Australasia.

Westauz have expressed their satisfaction with Robit’s can-do attitude and willingness to work with their customer. “In the early stages of the agreement, Westauz requested Robit make a design change to the development bits. Our engineering team was happy to oblige, and the bit now provides productivity gains in the drilling process. We are receiving very positive feedback, ranging from the Managing Director, General Manager, Project Manager, Mine foreman and operators”, Steve Landreth says.

For Westauz, the Norseman project has marked a significant growth in business. Plenty of excavating remains to be done at the site for years to come: according to current estimates, the remaining mineral resource in the area is around 4.8 million ounces, or some 136 tonnes, of gold.

Picture: Westauz jumbo at work & Norseman the horse has a statue in the town that was named after him.

NISS OPENED NEW DOORS FOR ROBIT IN THE US

Posted on by Jari Silver

Platinum and palladium are precious metals with unique properties that make them indispensable in many technological applications, particularly autocatalysts. As minerals, both are quite rare and are mostly found in just a few regions around the world. One of them stretches across the northern flank of the Beartooth Mountains in Montana, USA.

The area, geologically known as the Stillwater complex, hosts two underground mines, Stillwater and East Boulder – although “underground” may sound slightly misleading as the mining assets lie more than 2,700 meters above sea level in the mountains.

The mines are owned and run by the Sibanye-Stillwater Group, one of the world’s largest producers of platinum and palladium. The Stillwater mine has been in operation for almost 40 years and produces some 250–300 koz, or about 7,000–8,500 kg, of platinum and palladium concentrate yearly.

Since July of 2022, Sibanye has been using Robit’s consumables for jumbo and bolting drilling at the Stillwater Mine. That was the result of a fruitful cooperation between Robit and their distributor, NISS (Nasco Industrial Services & Supply), headquartered in Kellogg, Idaho. That cooperation turned out to be mutually beneficial.

“We had been looking for a reliable distributor who could help improve our market penetration for the mining sector in Southwest US. We hired a consultant for the job, and one of the largest US mining companies recommended NISS to Robit”, says Robit Sales Engineer Leif Olmstead.

“NISS had great access to mines through selling ground support products. Previously, they hadn’t dealt in drilling consumables, but this became a win-win situation: we gained a better foothold in a new market, and NISS could expand their product portfolio”, Leif explains.

The first customer Robit won with NISS was the Stillwater Mine in Montana. Stillwater is a large-scale operation that uses the “ramp and fill” method, where the excavated spaces are filled again with waste rock and tailings once the ore has been extracted. For jumbo work, the mine uses 3,200 and 4,305 mm Robit drifter rods and 45 mm semi-ballistic S model bits; for bolting, R28-R28 M/M Hex Steel rods. Sibanye-Stillwater are happy with the supplied tools.

“We hear the rod lifetime has improved over the previous supplier, and the jumbo bits are faster and have fewer plugging issues,” says Leif.

Work at the Stillwater Mine won’t be ending anytime soon: the estimated life of the mine extends well into the 2050s. As for Robit and NISS, it has proved a promising start for their future endeavors together.

Picture: The Beartooth Mountains, just northeast of Yellowstone National Park, are part of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.