Saudi Arabia has been a dominant force in the global oil market for more than 80 years. With the inevitable shift away from fossil fuels gaining pace, the country is now in the midst of a profound transformation that will diversify its oil- and gas-dependent economy.
The main goals of the future Saudi economy are outlined in the ambitious Vision 2030 program, which involves heavy investments in several sectors. One of them is tourism, which will see massive infrastructure and other construction projects in the coming years.
Another focus area is mining: Saudi Arabia is rich in a number of valuable minerals such as gold, phosphates, and bauxite, and the government is actively wncouraging foreign investments in the sector.
These developments have made Saudi Arabia an attractive growth market for global players in the industry – and Robit is no exception.
Robit took a decisive step forward early this year by signing a distribution deal for their drilling tools with Aginco, the Kingdom’s leading supplier of drilling equipment and tools. Founded in 1978, Aginco serves the mining, engineering, and construction sectors with top-of-the-range materials and extensive professional services.
Aginco seemed like the perfect match for Robit, says Robit’s Distributor Business Manager Ahmad Afridi. “Both parties saw big potential for synergy. Robit is a well-known brand in Saudi Arabia. As Aginco also represents Normet and other top brands in underground mining and construction, we have a great product portfolio to serve similar customers.”
“Aginco is also a growth company like Robit. We are excited to work together to gain a larger share in this heavily competitive market. I see major growth in the following years in mining alone”, Ahmad says.
From Aginco’s perspective, the collaboration marks a significant milestone in their mission to support Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 goals. Aginco’s director, Faisal Sindi comments: “We are excited to partner with Robit, a globally renowned brand in the drilling industry. This collaboration aligns perfectly with our commitment to bringing world-class products and services to Saudi Arabia. Together, we aim to contribute significantly to the Kingdom’s economic diversification and growth, particularly in the mining sector, which holds tremendous potential.”
Picture: Foundation work for the massively ambitious NEOM project in the northwest corner of Saudi Arabia
Phalaborwa is a vast mining complex located next to the mighty Kruger National Park in the northeast corner of South Africa. It is host to several valuable minerals such as copper, phosphate, zirconium, iron, and vermiculite.
One of the entities within the Phalaborwa complex is the Foskor open-pit phosphate rock mine. Phosphate is a critical mineral in fertilizers. Before the foundation of the Foskor mine in the 1950s, South African agriculture depended on imported phosphate rock. Today, largely thanks to Foskor’s success, South Africa exports phosphate fertilizers worldwide.
Drilling and blasting at the Foskor mine in Phalaborwa is operated by Brauteseth Blasting, a family business founded in 1983 in the KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) province of South Africa. The company started as a small-scale civil blasting company catering to KZN’s construction industry. In forty years, it has grown into a major national player, contracting to more than 20 quarries, five large-scale mining operations, and several construction sites.
Brauteseth has built its success on two cornerstones: a highly skilled, motivated staff and continuous investment in top-of-the-range technology and equipment. This focus on quality tools extends to consumable parts as well.
Brauteseth Blasting operates eight drill rigs at the Foskor mine. As their consignment agreement with their then-supplier of DTH hammers and drill bits was ending in late 2023, Robit SA approached Brauteseth, requesting a performance test of Robit’s and the then-current supplier’s DTH tools.
The extensive testing period started in October 2023 and was completed in February 2024. Robit’s tools included the D65 QL60 3½” API REG blast-hole hammer and 165 mm QL60 Flat Face blast-hole bits.
“The test results were clear: Robit’s tools outperformed the competition in terms of penetration rate and cost-per-meter”, says Duane Kukard, Area Sales Manager at Robit SA.
Convinced by the tests, Brauteseth Blasting signed a consignment agreement to supply their drill rigs at the Foskor mine with Robit’s DTH 6″ equipment.
Since May 2024, all eight of Brauteseth’s rigs in Phalaborwa have been drilling blast holes with Robit’s tools – now with increased efficiency and profitability.
Last year saw a massive geotechnical operation at the Oregon State Capitol: the entire building had to be jacked up off the ground. Robit’s micropile casing systems played an important part in the process.
The Oregon State Capitol building has faced many misfortunes throughout its history. The first capitol burned down in 1855 – only a few months after its inauguration. The second capitol met the same fate in 1935.
However, fire is not the only force of nature that has put the state capitol in peril. Large parts of Oregon, including the capital city of Salem, sit on a tectonically active fault line called the Cascadia Subduction Zone.
In March 1993, a 5.6-magnitude earthquake – the largest in the Pacific Northwest in over a decade – cracked the cupola of the Capitol and created a massive bulge on its west end. Parts of the building remained closed for repairs for almost two years.
Over the following decades, the State of Oregon conducted several studies to determine how best to protect the historic building from further seismic events. After investigating various options, the review committee decided on seismic isolation. In other words, the foundation of the building would rest on so-called pendulum isolators and a seismic joint that allows the entire complex to move independently in any direction from the surrounding ground during an earthquake.
This would be no small task; it meant that the Capitol building would have to be lifted off the ground. This would be achieved by constructing a shoring tower structure on which the building would rest while the new isolation system was being built. As the Capitol had needed extra space for years, it was also decided that an additional basement level would be constructed.
The main contractorship for the geotechnical work was awarded to Pacific Foundation, a family business based in Vancouver, WA. The company started as a smallscale drilling operation in 2012; since then, it has grown into a large contractor capable of tackling complex geotechnical challenges.
Regarding challenges, the Oregon State Capitol project was far from a typical scenario where, slightly simplified, you arrive at the job site, drill the piles into the ground – and that’s it. Here, the first challenge was to gain access underneath the Capitol and excavate enough space for the drill rigs to fit in. This phase started in late 2022.
The work continued throughout 2023 and entailed drilling micropiles into the ground across the entire footprint of the building. At best, seven drill rigs worked simultaneously in narrow spaces with only a few inches of clearance above. Two-thirds of the micropiles were Robit casing systems, while one-third, the outside piles, were double rotary systems. The micropiles supported a total of 175 shoring towers upon which the jacked-up building would sit until the work was completed. The tower construction and the jacking operation were performed by trusted partners.
By Christmas 2023, the micropiles, totaling as many as 722, were installed. By late January 2024, the building was resting on the shoring tower structure, paving the way for the seismic isolation system and reconstruction efforts.
For Pacific Foundation, mission success has probably never been more critical. The project required massive amounts of structural engineering and careful planning and coordination by all participating parties to stay on schedule and maintain safety – not to mention that while the work was in progress, the state legislature was in session just a few feet above.
The construction work at the Capitol will continue into 2025. Once finished, the historic marble building should finally be able to stand firm against any future seismic events.
Shoring towers stretching across the entire footprint of the Capitol building.
Kauno Määttä was a familiar name to Finnish wrestling fans in the 1960s and 70s: he won the Finnish Greco-Roman wrestling championship in his weight class several times. In his day job, however, Kauno did not make the headlines despite being a respected professional: he drilled wells.
Kauno’s career as a driller continued into retirement and was passed on to the next generations. In the late 1980s, Kauno’s primary school-age grandsons, Sami and Simo Manninen, got the spark when they got invited as helpers for a well-drilling job.
The spark ignited a lasting passion, and as a result, the brothers’ own company, Oulun Porakaivot, was finally born in 2012. It operates throughout Finland, and its core business is drilling geothermal energy fields for large properties. Oulun Porakaivot also handles the design and permitting of the energy fields and has a wide range of customers from the public sector to commercial properties and housing cooperatives. They also drill individual geothermal and water wells for detached houses and other small properties.
Oulun Porakaivot operates six drilling rigs and has long been Robit’s contract customer, using Robit products for all key consumables such as rods, ring bits, drill bits, and pilots. Panu Haulos, Design Engineer at Oulun Porakaivot, has noticed a welcome improvement in the quality of drilling tools.
“Reliability of consumables is critical in this sector. The wells are getting deeper – up to 450 meters – and the plots of land are often small: if the first hole falls short, there may not be enough room to drill a new one. In consumables, we have to look at the cost of a drill meter from an overall economic perspective: performance, drilling speed and fuel consumption. Robit’s products have been consistently reliable and have performed excellently in deep wells. And today’s hammers and bits are more durable than before,” says Panu.
For about a year, Robit has been developing a new four-inch DTH hammer, branded Robit H4, for well drilling. Testing in cooperation with customers is an integral part of product development. The H4 hammer was optimized and finalized as per customer feedback. Robit’s Sales Director Kimmo Kangas approached Oulun Porakaivot and offered them an opportunity to test the new hammer. A suitable test site was found in Helsinki, at a housing cooperative’s future energy field, where 23 wells will be drilled to a depth of 390 metres. Kimmo has followed the development of the H4 hammer from the beginning and has seen its potential.
“The functionality, reliability and penetration rate of the H4 are outstanding. However, the most significant improvement is fuel consumption, which is significantly lower than the competition. Typically, for example, in a 200-meter well, the compressor consumes about two litres of fuel per meter. On the H4 hammer, the consumption has been as low as one and a half litres. That’s a crucial difference,” says Kimmo.
Low fuel consumption is one of the key assets of the H4 hammer.
Panu Haulos confirms that the H4 has achieved very low fuel consumption figures at the drilling test site. The two companies have been in close cooperation for years.
“Robit’s domestic production is definitely a plus for us: we can get parts with a fast response time. They react quickly to our needs, around the clock if necessary. Robit has also been able to help in special cases where off-the-shelf products have not been available. For example, we had a project where the hole we were to drill had to be absolutely straight. Robit tailor-made us a special guiding rod that did the job,” says Panu.
In many sectors of the economy, growth indicators have recently taken a downward turn. This is not the case in the thermal well market, at least not for Oulun Porakaivot.
“The trend is upward, and demand is constantly growing and diversifying. Of course, this is partly due to technological advances that allow us to drill deeper wells. In Finland, the city of Helsinki, in particular, is a strong driver of progress in this field. The city, striving to move away from fossil-based district heating, has streamlined the permitting process for geothermal heat”, Panu says.
Picture from left: Ville Alanko, Simo Manninen, CEO Sami Manninen, Panu Haulos (Oulun Porakaivot); on the right Kimmo Kangas (Robit).
OCI, LLC, headquartered in Brookville, Pennsylvania, has been servicing the US drilling industry since 1997. Their core businesses include designing and building drilling tools and systems, equipment sales, rental and service, and consulting clients on methods and materials in their drilling projects.
OCI’s sales offering includes Down the Hole hammers and shock absorbers. UK-based Bulroc rose to prominence in the 1970s as a leading manufacturer of DTH hammers and related accessories. Jim Rupert, one of the founders of OCI, had been working with Bulroc hammers since the early 1980s, and it was only natural that when OCI was founded in the 1990s, they would partner with Bulroc.
The same successful partnership continues to this day with OCI and Robit, which acquired Bulroc in 2016. DTH hammers, along with piling tools, remain a key part of the Robit product line in OCI’s varied portfolio.
“We are a design and build manufacturing company that also mass produces micro piling casing and other industry products. We manufacture the micropile casing and the tooling used along with it. Our offerings include sub adapters, head adapters, swivels of various models, drill pipes of various types, drill string components, augers, core barrels, kelly equipment, and auxiliary equipment. We are not limited to a product line; we offer unique opportunities to manufacture specialized drilling and construction equipment “, says Dave Franklin, Technical Sales and Project Management at OCI.
The OCI–Robit partnership continues to serve the drilling industry across North America successfully.
“OCI feels we have a strong, healthy relationship with Robit, and we look forward to many opportunities in the near and distant future. Our clients have always been happy with Robit tools and the support we offer them as a team approach. Together, we provide a full scope of products and services,” Dave Franklin sums up.
BIC is an acronym most geologists are familiar with. It stands for Bushveld Igneous Complex, situated in South Africa. It’s one of the world’s most significant geological features due to its size, age – and mineral wealth.
BIC is the largest layered igneous intrusion within the Earth’s crust. Put simply, a layered intrusion is an underground formation of rock formed from magma that cooled down and solidified in layers, much like a layered cake. Each layer can have different types and concentrations of minerals, making these formations especially interesting for geologists and mining companies.
The Bushveld Complex contains the world’s largest known resources of platinum group metals, chromium, and vanadium. Most of the chromium resources are concentrated on the eastern limb of the Complex, which runs across Limpopo, the northernmost province of South Africa. One of the major producers of chromium ore in Limpopo is the Dwarsrivier mine, located some 130 km southeast of Polokwane, the provincial capital.
The Dwarsrivier mine has been in operation since 1999. Since 2015, it has been run by Assore South Africa. The mine produces more than a million tonnes of chromium ore yearly.
Mining is a competitive industry, and cost control plays an important part – and this applies to drilling tools as well. Recently, the Dwarsrivier mine began to use Robit’s Top Hammer drilling consumables.
“Drilling requirements are essential to ensure that face holes for blasting are drilled fast, efficiently, and within budget. Quality and cost are the top priorities”, says Dewet Pretorius, Mining Manager at Dwarsrivier.
In addition to cost and quality, Dwarsrivier were on the lookout for a supplier with effective after-sales service – something that had been lacking up until then.
“With Robit, our overall costs have decreased, production has improved, and the Robit team is providing us with good after-sales service as well”, Mr Pretorius says.
South Africa holds about 70% of the world’s chrome reserves and is the largest producer of ferrochrome in the world. Dwarsrivier will continue to contribute to this effort for a long time: the current plan extends the mine life well into the 2040s.
In the picture from left: Babra Shai, Site supervisor, Robit – Dewet Pretorius, Mine Manager, Dwarsrivier – Trevor Van Biljon, Area Sales Manager, Robit
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.
Fingeo is a Finnish drilling and piling contractor with solid experience. They also carry out more extensive projects, including civil engineering. For drilling consumables, the company relies on the quality, reliability, and competitive price of domestic Robit.
Founded in 2008, Fingeo Oy is now part of the E.M. Pekkinen Oy group.
“Our goal has been to develop our operating methods and provide a high-quality overall service. Fingeo has traditionally been strong in drilling and piling contracting. In recent years, we have expanded our service offering to include extraction by wedging and blasting and rock reinforcement by shotcrete, grouting and bolting. “We now also offer comprehensive foundation work contracts, which makes it easier for the client as the same contractor takes responsibility for the work from start to finish. We have the flexibility to handle smaller projects as well as larger ones. Our extensive experience in soil and rock drilling, together with other civil engineering professionals, ensures an overall sustainable contract and smooth project management,” says Veli-Antti Pekkinen, Project Manager at Fingeo Oy.
Construction continues to be strong in the Helsinki region
While Fingeo’s operations mainly focus on the Helsinki metropolitan area, several projects, particularly demanding piling contracts for industrial and bridge projects, are carried out throughout the country.
“In the future, we will increasingly offer our services in different parts of the country, especially in challenging projects and large turnkey contracts. We have plenty of work for the rest of the year as construction in the capital region continues to be strong on the ongoing sites. As for new projects, the future is not quite as clear,” says supervisor Jukka Jääskeläinen.
Wide variety of work methods, skilled staff
For drilling and anchoring, Fingeo uses a large variety of methods and a wide range of special equipment.
“Our pipe piling projects range from a few piles to construction sites with several thousand piles. Tensile anchoring is used, for example, in trench shoring to absorb tensile forces. Our areas of expertise also include specialities like offshore drilling from a raft and combi walls for trench support.”
“The backbone of our equipment consists of pipe piling and anchoring machines and drill rigs, of which we have about a dozen units. While the machinery is state-of-the-art, our motivated and highly skilled staff is key to successful projects. Our team has an excellent working atmosphere. Our minimal turnover rate speaks for that,” says Kai Jaakkola, supervisor.
Robit – the trusted partner for consumables
Drilling and piling is a consumable-intensive business. Fingeo’s main supplier in these applications is Robit, with its products manufactured domestically in Lempäälä.
“At the moment, we get practically all our wear parts from Robit: for quarrying, that includes rods and bits; for piling, we use their reamers, pilot bits, and DTH hammers. We appreciate their domestic manufacture and great customer service that ranges from sales to delivery to problem-solving. Robit actively develops technically advanced products, and the manufacturing quality is high. Their consumables allow us to drill further, resulting in cost savings. And while Robit’s products are definitely at the top of the market, they are also competitively priced. It’s quite a rare equation,” Jääskeläinen and Jaakkola say.
Thanks to its rich gold deposits, the Cajamarca region in northern Perú has been home to gold mines since the Inca times. One of the current mines is Cerro Corona, where Robit recently became the preferred supplier of DTH drill bits.
Cerro Corona mine, owned by Gold Fields Inc, is located on the eastern slope of the western Andes, some 80 km north of the regional capital of Cajamarca. The open pit mine is expected to produce some 2.1 Moz (about 60,000 kg) of gold and 407 kt of copper in concentrate over its 15-year mine life.
The rich gold deposit is hosted by diorite porphyry, an extremely hard rock embedded in limestone. MUR-WY, the drilling contractor at Cerro Corona, uses the so-called pre-splitting method, where closely spaced holes are drilled and lightly charged, causing fractures that isolate the gold-bearing rock from the surrounding rock mass. Successful pre-splitting requires very straight holes, and, as always, this should be achieved with optimal cost, penetration rate, and tool lifetime performance.
Robit believed their tools might improve productivity, so they contacted MUR-WY in 2021 to arrange test drillings for 5” DTH bits at Cerro Corona. Test drilling is typically a very hands-on type of work where you monitor and make adjustments on the spot with the contractor. However, the COVID pandemic complicated things.
“In 2021, access to the mine was heavily restricted, so we had to get creative with MUR-WY to follow up on the tests. We ended up monitoring the performance remotely through WhatsApp videos and messages”, says José Luis Cisneros, General Manager of Robit SAC.
Luckily the restrictions were eventually lifted, and Robit’s Regional Sales Manager, Martín Rodriguez, was able to revisit Cerro Corona and conclude the tests, which proved highly successful.
“On average, compared to the tools they had used, we reached 20 to 25% better yields with our DHD340 Flat Face Premium bits and 40 to 50% better with our D45 HD hammers.
“We detected several ways to improve productivity. Not only did Robit’s components perform better, but a key factor is also the service we can provide. We are now the preferred supplier for DTH consumables at Cerro Corona. There are still challenges to tackle, but we will work with our strategic partners from MRU-WY to articulate better ways to approach their needs and increase security regarding the project’s required logistics”, Martín says.
In the first half of the 20th century, the Norra Djurgårdsstaden district in Stockholm, Sweden, was a busy industrial center and port area with an oil port, a coal port, a free port, and even a seaplane base. Today, it is one of the largest urban development areas in Europe.
The Norra Djurgårdsstaden development project was kicked off in the early 2010s. The first 700 apartments were completed in 2012, and construction work is expected to continue well into the 2030s.
The overall plan includes construction work in five sub-areas in the district. One of them is Project Saltkajen in Södra Värtahamnen, where a new pier with an associated bridge will be constructed, and the existing quay will be rebuilt. The city of Stockholm signed the contract, worth SEK 610 million, with Skanska.
Foundation work for the project includes extensive pipe piling and sheet piling in demanding conditions: more than 500 SSAB RD pipe piles (711 mm and 508 mm) will be drilled and connected by welded interlocking sections, creating a continuous retaining wall against horizontal and vertical loads.
Skanska chose the Robit Steel Fist (SF) casing system to drill the RD piles. SF is a solid choice for all DTH applications where the casing is left in the ground. Skanska has successfully used it in previous projects, such as the Slussen reconstruction in Stockholm.
As construction continues, Norra Djurgårdsstaden is slowly transforming into a modern, environmentally friendly, sustainably built district with 12,000 homes and an estimated 35,000 new jobs. Värtahamnen will be home to some 5,000 people, and 20,000 will work there. With new walkways, shops, restaurants and nightlife, it will also be an inviting entry point for international visitors arriving in Stockholm by boat.
When developing products for use under several conditions, it is vital to consider the experiences of people using the products. In modern times, it is possible to simulate all sorts of conditions in a lab environment or using computer models. But these can often only give an indication of the product’s performance in the real world, whereas those working in the conditions set by said real world can tell you a lot more.
For the above reasons, Robit has a long tradition of working with its distributor partners and end-customers alike regarding product development. The end-users know their equipment and circumstances better than anyone, so they can often test new and existing products under true-to-life conditions. This way, one can ensure that the test results correspond to the products’ actual performance and durability capabilities.
Collaborating towards better efficiency
One of Robit’s long-term test partners is Stevin Rock, which operates a limestone quarry in the United Arab Emirates with a fleet of Down the Hole (DTH) machinery. They have been using Robit-manufactured DTH tools since 2016. Stevin Rock has been using the full suite of Robit’s drilling consumables, with a 4″ hammer as their workhorse of choice and adaptors, drill tubes, and 110 mm and 127 mm bits aiding the work.
The initial contract was made after Robit succeeded in the trials at the Stevin Rock quarry. Robit’s products triumphed with a longer life span and lower cost per meter than the competition at the time. While some alternatives provided a higher penetration rate, this benefit was trumped by the higher number of breakages it brought. They decided to go with Robit, which offered known products that provided conclusive and consistent high performance.
In the years since the initial contract, Robit has proven itself as the right choice with an excellent overall life span of products, a high level of service, and numerous supporting drill master visits. Indeed, these visits have been the core of the support and collaboration towards the customer. A Robit drill master has been visiting the site on support duties a couple of times a year to help Stevin Rock optimize their processes. In addition, Robit and their distributor partner DeltaCorp Global have conducted on-site practical and theoretical training sessions for the operators and mechanic teams on hammer assembly, preventative maintenance, bit wear, failure modes, and best drilling practices.
Robit always aims to find the best possible distributors for each region; the goal is to find those who understand the local market, culture, and general thinking. In DeltaCorp Global, Robit has one such winner. During the years, DeltaCorp has fostered a very close working relationship with Stevin Rock. This allows them to consistently offer timely and relevant support for the customer across their organization. DeltaCorp’s representatives conduct at least one visit each week to one of Stevin Rock’s three sites. The purpose of the visits ranges from stock deliveries to management meetings, where product quality and life span, as well as stock levels and forecasts, are assessed. While on-site, the representatives will also visit the drill rigs to receive direct feedback from the drill operators. On top of all that, the DeltaCorp representatives maintain constant communication with Stevin Rock’s site management, working swiftly in the event any concerns should be raised, such as a sudden need for urgent deliveries, an unforeseen breakage, or some other operational problem.
Thanks to continuous support, Stevin Rock has improved the results they get with their equipment even further. When the initial contract started in 2016, the average life span of a drill bit was 2,000 meters, with hammers reaching approximately 8,000 meters. With all the training given to the personnel to help them make the most out of their tools, the efforts to optimize the drilling processes, as well as the product improvements from Robit’s Engineering and Production teams that based on the customer’s feedback, the average bit life span has extended to 4,500 meters, with the hammers regularly exceeding 25,000 meters.
While the durability and solid performance of the drilling consumables first made Stevin Rock give Robit’s drilling tools a chance, they have since gotten several more reasons to stick to their decision. And while they have been periodically testing multiple competing products, they have not had a reason to switch.
“We have been using Robit’s products for years and cannot fault their performance or service. We run an open tender every two years, and they always come out on top. Robit’s commitment to collaboration and continuous improvement is their great strength. However, their local Distribution Partner is also strong; with their reliable supply chain management and quick reaction times, a solution is always available to us 24/7.”
Stevin Rock Operations Manager Brian Howard under the Arabian sun.
Collaboration as the basis for product development
During their years working with Stevin Rock, Robit has been conducting numerous tests on many hammers and bits. All these tests have aimed to increase the life span of the products, as well as their performance, with minimal downtime and breakages so that the customer can reduce their drilling costs to the minimum. Tests carried out with customers have been at the heart of Robit’s product development process. Those trials have led to discoveries and breakthroughs that have guided the designs of their latest products, with the upcoming H-series hammers as a good reference point.
The new H-series hammers have been designed with performance and versatility as their guiding principles. The goal was to provide customers with a hammer range that they could utilize in different environments with minimal breakages and maximized utility for each operator’s circumstances. Customer feedback led Robit to develop a new modular design, offering increased flexibility and adaptability to varying conditions. With a few simple changes in the assembly of the hammer, the user can customize it for their needs; whether one wants to run them with improved productivity in mind or needs to be able to use a lower capacity compressor, the H-series hammers can be modeled to suit these requirements.
In practice, the modular design allows Robit to offer four hammers in one base design. The assemblies vary between high power and low volume, as well as foot valved and tubeless. Thus the following variations are available: high power with a foot valve, high power tubeless, low volume with a foot valve, and low volume tubeless. The high-power assembly offers high blow energy and air volume, resulting in a fast penetration rate and is suitable for deep-hole drilling. On the other hand, the low-volume assembly provides lower blow energy and air consumption, which are ideal for soft ground while keeping the hammer energy efficient.
As an example, Stevin Rock was looking for a faster drilling hammer to improve the potential productivity. Robit provided them with two assemblies of the new H-series models with differing internal arrangements to control the airflow, one with low air volume and the other with high air volume. These new hammers were to be tested against the tried-and-true D45 hammer from Robit’s older hammer range. The tests showed a considerable, consistent improvement across the board. The penetration rates went up in all tests, with the smallest increase at 14% and the most significant improvement at 30%. The highest penetration rate reached during the tests was 63.18 meters per hour. These results also correlated with those seen in earlier trials, ensuring the validity of the results.
With the new hammer range, Robit wants to bring more options to the market while still guaranteeing high performance. Because if one thing has become crystal clear during their collaboration with their customers, no two drill sites are the same. For this reason, they will make sure to let their customers’ and distribution partners’ voices be heard when developing new products and improving on the old ones.
This is an edited version of an article originally published in Global Mining Review, May 2023.
Peñasquito Mine, located in the State of Zacatecas in Central Mexico, is the second-largest silver mine in the world and also a major producer of gold, lead, and zinc. The giant has been successfully served by a fresh partnership between a new dynamic distributor and Robit.
The scale of operation at Peñasquito is so massive that it’s more like a small city than just an open-pit mine, with its own airport, a 1,900-bed camp with full dining, laundry and recreational facilities, and even a radio station. Opened in 2010, it currently produces some 31 million ounces, or almost 900 tons, of silver per year.
Mining is a thriving industry in Mexico, with several distributors competing over their share of the drilling consumable market. Peñasquito Mine is owned by Newmont, the world’s largest gold mining corporation. This did not stop Marlous Supplies and Services, a newcomer in the field, from landing a distribution deal for Robit DTH tools with Newmont.
Marlous was founded in the spring of 2020 by Martín Ocaño, who has an accomplished track record in the business.
“I have dedicated 24 years to the commercialization of products and services, in mining and public and private companies. For years I had been working on the idea of forming a company dedicated to supplying different products to the mining industry”, Martín says.
“Our key strength against the competition is that we focus completely on giving good attention and service to our clients, always covering their needs, interests and concerns, including after-sales. This has distinguished us and helped us enter and gain ground in the toughly competed mining market.”
In the search for a reliable supplier for drilling tools in their portfolio, Marlous decided the best option was Robit, given their experience and product quality. In the case of Newmont Peñasquito, Marlous was in the right place at the right time.
“Newmont’s main supplier of drilling tools was failing to deliver products in time. We had a similar product available, so we were able to help them out, and from then on we were allowed to start serious testing”, Martín recalls.
Currently, Marlous is supplying a major part of the DTH drilling tools used at Peñasquito. These include Robit D88 and WH4 hammers as well as QL80 and TD40 drill bits.
A key factor in their success at Peñasquito has been the technical personnel working on-site in close cooperation with the Newmont staff. This includes monthly meetings where the results of the previous month are analyzed and points of improvement can be identified.
“We are always open to feedback and encourage our customers to comment on any detail, anomaly or possible improvement. They appreciate it when their comments and observations are taken into account and implemented as soon as possible”, says Martín.
Still a young and small company, Marlous has already established a firm foothold in the Mexican mining sector. Growing steadily, the company is building on a balanced synergy between the quality of products and impeccable customer service.
Picture: The Marlous team, from left; Martín Tapia, Erik Coronado, Guadalupe Rivera, Ignacio Beltran, Carlos Tapia, Rodrigo Aravena. Martín Ocaño, Narciso Beltrán and Miguel Beltrán were out on business.
Rich in copper, silver, gold, and lead reserves, Peru is a global giant in the mining industry. Iron ore is also a significant export, although known deposits are limited to a single region.
Antonio Raimondi was an exceptionally versatile scientist. Born in Milan, Italy in 1826, he emigrated to Peru in 1850. A year later he became a professor of natural history at the National University of San Marcos in Lima. In the following years, he founded a medical school and a chemistry department there. Raimondi was also a passionate geographer, traveling extensively across the country conducting geological, botanical, and zoological studies. It was on one of these journeys that he discovered a vast iron ore deposit in the Marcona District in the Nazca province, some 500 km south of Lima, in 1870.
It wasn’t until the 1950s that the exploitation of iron ore in Marcona began. Since 1992 the open pit operation has been run by the Chinese-owned company Shougang Hierro Perú, during which time the production of iron has grown sixfold.
A large share of the drilling and earthmoving operations at Shougang Hierro Perú is conducted by Cosapi Mineria, a subsidiary of Cosapi S.A., one of Peru’s biggest construction and engineering companies. Cosapi Mineria specializes in massive earthworks and the development of open pit mines.
An open pit operation typically makes extensive use of Down-the-Hole tools for pre-split and buffer drilling. That’s why Shougang Hierro Perú was an attractive target for Robit SAC to approach with their offering.
“The iron deposit at Shougang Hierro Perú consists of very hard and abrasive materials. You can find competent soils with compressive strengths of 250 to 300 MPa”, says José Luis Cisneros, General Manager of Robit SAC.
“We contacted Cosapi Mineria and carried out the first test in early 2020 with 7-inch bits and a D65 hammer. Since then, we have been working ever more closely with Cosapi, providing them with material innovations to increase performance.”
“In recent months we have been working together with Cosapi in a testing process of the main DTH providers in the market. Thanks to the constant monitoring by our Assistance Engineer Kevin Salas, and the development of the right products through our DTH Sales Manager, Martín Rodríguez, we have been able to generate new ways of improving the operation and proposing drilling targets with higher standards”, José says.
The open pit operation requires a lot of double bench pre-splitting, performed with D45 HD hammers and 5-inch bits, ballistic buttons, and a convex face. The bits have obtained an average duration of 1,400 meters, and an average speed of 32 m/h.
Recently, Cosapi signed an extension contract for their operations in two of the open pits at Shougang Hierro Perú. Impressed by the tests conducted with Robit, they granted a consignment agreement, trusting Robit with 60% of the consumption of drilling tools over the competition.
“This is the first contract of consumption for DTH tools in Latin America where we will provide assistance and stock for the client’s operation, including technical service, maintenance of hammers and management of drill bits”, says José.
“We hope to show Cosapi Mineria and the market that Robit SAC has the necessary resources to keep exceeding the expectations of our strategic partners.”
A project is underway in Helsinki, Finland to build a completely new tram line, along with new municipal infrastructure and green spaces. The contractor Destia is using a wide range of Robit wear parts for soil and rock drilling in the project.
The alliance model project will involve the construction of approximately 4.5 kilometres of tramway and associated street areas and municipal engineering between Nihti and Pasila. The project will also include the renovation of street areas as well as improved pedestrian and cycling connections. Preconstruction started in Nihti in July 2021.
A massive groundwork project
An alliance group led by Destia is working in challenging street conditions in the middle of urban Kalasatama. The group’s share of the construction work on the new line comprises some three kilometres of road, the entire cross-section of which will be rebuilt in the course of the project.
“The section will be built on a pile slab structure, covering a total area of over 36,000 square meters, or about the size of five football pitches. During the project, about 100 kilometres of individual piles 15 to 20 meters in length will be used for road foundations,” says Alexei Kesonen, Project Manager for Foundation Engineering at Destia Oy.
At the same time, a ramp will be built for the possible future construction of a tunnel to Sörnäinen.
“The support structures of the ramp and tunnel walls combine three techniques: pipe pile wall, sheet pile wall and combi wall. Based on excavations, each was chosen to save time and, of course, to achieve a highquality result. The ground on the site varies widely from soft clay to hard rock to bouldery fill.”
“A wide variety of drilling equipment, sheet pile drivers and piling rigs are needed on site, allowing the choice of optimal working methods. With skilled workers, the right equipment and careful planning, even the largest projects can proceed on schedule,” says Kesonen.
Using domestic wear parts is an asset
Destia has a long history of solid cooperation with Robit on wear parts for soil and rock drilling.
“You can always trust the quality of Robit’s products and their service level as a domestic manufacturer. Speed of delivery is also excellent, which is an absolute must, as the schedules are tight, and work cannot stop because of missing parts. Robit supplies us with drilling consumables directly from their factory in Lempäälä. Of course, we also store them onsite, which ensures there is no downtime.”
“The pipe piles are installed using Robit’s 18″ DTH hammers, 508 mm SR XL2 ring bits, 508 mm SR pilots and L-model impact shoes, which arrive on site pre-welded to the pile ends. For the installation of combi wall piles, Robit Prime ring bits and pilots are used. For the supporting wall anchors, we are using Robit’s DT (Drill Through) technology, which allows us to drill the pilots into the rock through the ring bit assembly,” Kesonen says.
Construction of the new tramway line started in the summer of 2021. If all goes according to plan, the line will be operational by the end of 2024, greatly streamlining cross-town traffic: you can get from Kalasatama to Pasila by tram in 15 minutes. The route will also conveniently link trams to trains and the metro at several transport hubs.
Picture: Construction Engineer Alexey Selivonchyk of Destia presenting the Robit SR pilot.
One of the world’s largest construction projects is currently underway in Saudi Arabia near the northern end of the Red Sea. It is the future site of Neom, an ambitiously futuristic city planned to cover a total area of 26,500 km2 – more than twice the New York metropolitan area.
Still mostly on the drawing board, Neom is planned to comprise various high-profile regions, each catering to different needs. By late 2022, the plans for four regions have been publicized. Sindalah, a luxury island resort on the Red Sea, is expected to be the first physical showcase of Neom, scheduled to open in early 2024. Trojena will be a mountain destination for year-round skiing, while Oxagon is going to be a coastal clean industry hub.
The region that has attracted the most press coverage and provoked discussion worldwide, is called The Line. It is planned to consist of a single structure that is 500 m tall, 200 m wide – and no less than 170 km long, stretching from the Red Sea coast deep into the desert.
The Line is planned to house nine million residents, all with access to their basic services within a five-minute walking distance. Eliminating the need for cars, it is planned to use high-speed trains for transport within the city.
The transport system of The Line will consist of two separate railroads: one for the high-speed passenger trains and the other for freight services. The rail system will require the excavation of some 28 km of tunnels.
The tunnel construction bid was won by the Korean consortium of Hyundai E&C and Samsung C&T. The value of the order is estimated at no less than US$1 billion.
In the summer of 2022, the bidding for jumbo drilling and rock tools in the tunnel project was won by Jinyang R&S, one of the largest jumbo drill rental companies in Korea. Jinyang manages some 35 jumbo drill units, renting them with operators to tunneling and mining sites, mostly within South Korea.
Rock tools for the tunnel jumbos will be supplied by Robit. Since their distribution deal struck in 2017, Robit has supplied Jinyang with rock tools for several domestic job sites in Korea; the Neom deal, however, is unprecedented in scope.
“This is a huge project and a major deal for Robit for the coming years”, says Sales Manager Sunyong Choi of Robit.
At the future tunneling job site, the first test drillings using Robit’s tools started in November 2022. Still in its infancy, the entire Neom project is guaranteed to keep drawing widespread attention.
Forepoling is a method of supporting a weak roof of a mine or a tunnel, used traditionally in soft, loose, or caving ground. To make use of this method, poles, timber, steel tube, or slabs are driven into the ground before or during excavation. The method has been used for centuries, both in smaller mines as well as larger tunneling operations. Along with time, forepoling has of course also developed as a method and the old wooden supports have been replaced with more sustainable and rigid supports made of metal. These newer supports are capable of supporting the tunnel roof even under broken rock conditions.
However, even broken rock is not an obstacle for tunneling when you are using Robit® Casing System. Made for the modern iteration of forepoling, nowadays also referred to as a “tube umbrella”, the casing system offers a holistic system for the work. The drilling system consists of casing tubes, which are drilled through the overburden in the shape of an umbrella, therefore supporting both the sides and the roof of the tunnel equally. Once in place, the drill is removed, and the casings are filled with grouting to strengthen and solidify them even further. The Robit® Casing System allows for easy driving of the casing tubes into the ground with low torque demand and is, quite naturally, fully compatible with Robit drilling bits and rods.
In the winter of 1986, a road construction job was underway in Kittilä, Finnish Lapland. Some rock was blasted, and out of curiosity, a geologist working nearby decided to examine the boulders – and found something. Today it is the site of the largest gold mine in Europe.
Gold was found in several boulders, and the Geological Survey of Finland began prospecting the site. The deposits turned out to be quite rich. More than twenty years passed until gold mining finally began in the Kittilä mine; first in an open pit in 2008, and underground a couple of years later.
Since 2012, mining in Kittilä has been exclusively underground. Today, Agnico Eagle Finland extracts some two million tonnes of ore each year, with annual gold production of around 7,000 kilograms.
Since May 2021, Robit has been supplying drilling tools to the Kittilä mine under a long-term contract. This includes, among other things, a turnkey drillmaster service, including a sharpening service. Robit supplies the products from their consignment stock, located 350 metres underground in the mine.
In Kittilä, Robit is dedicated to finding ways to cut costs per drill meter in cooperation with the customer. When the need arises, tailor-made products can be developed to meet the customer’s needs. A case in point is cable bolting, a common method used in underground mining to reinforce the rock before extraction.
“Cable bolting posed some problems. The drilling gear did not work properly in broken rock; the flushings escaped into the rock fractures and the drill bit would get stuck,” says Kimmo Kangas, Sales Manager at Robit.
“We suspected that the problem was caused by the side flushing of the bit. Our customer tried what would happen if you welded the side flushing shut – and it helped. We then made a series of bits at the Lempäälä factory that were modified in the same way,” says Kimmo.
Robit’s R&D Engineer Mika Koskinen was closely involved in the development work. “The results improved, but not quite enough. We discussed this with the bolting rig operators, trying to figure out what to do next. Based on the mining company’s views and our own design ideas, we developed the second iteration of the bit, which was substantially different. It finally solved the flushing problems, and drill meters began to reach excellent levels,” says Mika.
The new high-performance drill bit has been in use at the Kittilä mine since early 2022. Plenty remains to be drilled, as the mine is expected to operate until 2034 with the current ore reserves and production volumes. By then, new deposits may well be discovered in the course of prospecting.
Carbon neutrality is a globally accepted goal to minimise the negative effects of climate change, in which energy production plays a key role. The current military crisis in Europe is a reminder that nations should also strive for maximal energy self-sufficiency. Geothermal energy provides one promising, cost-effective path toward achieving both goals.
In Finland, the growth of geo-energy has been rapid in recent years. One of the key actors in the sector is Rototec, Europe’s largest geo-energy company with more than 60,000 energy wells drilled. Founded in 2007, Rototec has grown strongly in Finland and operates also in Sweden and Norway.
While geothermal energy has long been a popular energy source for single-family houses, Rototec is focusing more on supplying geo-energy for large properties such as hospitals, shopping centres, and factories.
A geothermal system requires one or more bore wells, drilled to a depth of 150–250 metres, depending on the amount of energy required. Robit has been supplying Rototec with drilling tools since the early years of the company.
“Robit, as a big domestic manufacturer, was a natural choice for us. 99% of the holes we drill are four-inch wells and Robit has a comprehensive line of tools for that. Currently, all our drill bits are from Robit,” says Hannu Puolitaival, Technical Director at Rototec.
The fruitful, mutually beneficial cooperation spans back more than a decade and focuses on customer-oriented service.
“Over the years, we have worked closely together to develop drill bits to better meet our needs. We test the products, and share our experience and comments with Robit for further development. One of Robit’s assets is their agility: after our feedback, they can produce new, improved prototypes at a fast pace for testing. Of course, the fact that they have domestic manufacturing helps too,” Hannu says.
“Another strength is that Robit can make small batches. If we’d need, say, five units of a particular new drill bit for testing, that poses no problem. Not all manufacturers can do this,” says Hannu, and adds one more thing: “I have especially liked the fact that Robit has a dedicated person managing all communication with us. It makes our cooperation seamless and straightforward.”
Wolfe Island sits at the north-eastern end of Lake Ontario, at the entrance to the Saint Lawrence River. The Canada–US border runs immediately to the south of the island, leaving it on the Canadian side. A ferry connects the island to the city of Kingston, Ontario.
A popular destination for nature lovers, Wolfe Island’s resident population tends to double or triple in the summer. For years, the ferry has been running near or even over capacity during the busy seasons. That’s why the Ontario Ministry of Transportation launched a major improvement project in 2020. Its goal is to replace the old ferry with a new, larger one, which requires significant upgrades at both ends of the ferry line: Kingston Dock on the mainland and Marysville Dock on Wolfe Island.
The General Contractor for the Marysville Dock project is Facca Inc. from Lakeshore, Ontario. A family business now in the fourth generation, Facca has built a reputation as one of the premier civil construction contractors in Ontario over several decades. They perform all the foundation work, and most of all other work on the Marysville Dock project with their own forces.
“We have been doing our own deep foundation work – piled foundations and sheet piling, some drilled shafts in earth – for about 15 years now. However, this job is only the second for which we’ve performed hard rock drilling of this scope, and the first we’ve done completely with our own forces”, says P.Eng. Steven Gardonio of Facca.
On their Down the Hole hammers for the project, Facca has used both the Robit DTH Prime system and the Robit Steel Fist system, supplied by Pinnacle, Robit´s Canadian distributor. Through their extensive piling expertise, Pinnacle’s Mitch Yorston and Jim McPhail have also provided valuable technical support for Facca.
“We’re putting in about 1,800 m of caisson with the Primes through a mixture of clay, sand, and till, with 250-ish meters of that socketed into the very strong (approaching 200 MPa UCS) limestone bedrock.” “There are a total of 87 caissons on the contract, some more than 27 meters in length. Nine were first installed on a dolphin from our barge with technical assistance from Pinnacle. This work went so well that we decided to purchase from Pinnacle the drill setup required – Down the Hole hammers and associated – and the remaining caissons were installed at the main ferry dock”, Steven explains.
“With the Steel Fist, we’ve been drilling some of the more difficult of the approximately 220 toe pins embedded 2.4 m into the bedrock.”
“We’ve been extremely happy with the performance of our equipment from Pinnacle and Robit bits. All drilling is full RC, and the process of drilling overburden – soft to hard clay and dense glacial till – from inside of the pre-driven pipe piles and locking into the ring bit at depth has not been an issue at all.
“Often, we can lock into the rings without halting rotation, very smooth, as was the drill-through process. Same for the Steel Fist, we’ve managed to drill material out from piles without rotation so as to not engage the wings and lock into the shoulder at depth, saving us significant time. We realize this is unorthodox, but it’s been working for us”, Steven says.
The CA$70M ferry dock project is still very much in progress. If everything goes as anticipated, Wolfe Islander IV, the new state-of-the-art, fully electric, zero-emission ferry – first of its kind in Canada – will start operating between the new Kingston and Wolfe Island docks in November 2023.
Replacing and repairing bridges improves mobility and can increase quality of life in communities. In the Northeast U.S.A., M.A. Bongiovanni, a General Contractor out of Syracuse, NY, is helping to maintain our beautiful roads by providing the foundation for safe, resilient and reliable infrastructure.
M.A. Bongiovanni specializes in the Water/Wastewater industry and in geotechnical work, including driven and sheet piles, retaining walls, piers and drilled shafts. When they were chosen to replace a bridge on New York State Route 8, they turned to OCI Division of Global Drilling Suppliers for drill tooling. As often occurs in geotechnical drilling, ground conditions require special accommodations. This job was no exception with piles needing to be placed in overburden consisting of cobbles and boulders. Drilling of overburden without casings could result in collapsed holes and tool loss.
Of Course, drilling in these environments calls for the right equipment. The job required the installation of 22 centerline soldier piles, 24” diameter, through 33’ of overburden and 7’ of rock as well as 11 wingwall soldier piles through 30’ of overburden and 9’ of rock. The Robit® Steel Fist wing bit system was the clear choice.
OCI Division of Global Drilling Suppliers is a manufacture of drill tools, drilling accessories, and design-built drilling equipment. As a distributor of Robit products, they assisted M.A. Bongiovanni with their first Steel Fist concentric overburden drilling system. The drilling process utilized the Robit® DTH SF (Steel Fist) and Robit® Hyper 181 18” hammer with a single rotary head duplex drilling operation. Robit was able to manufacture and deliver the Steel Fist pilot through OCI within the job’s 6 week window before drilling started. Drill tools utilized by M.A. Bongiovanni, manufactured by OCI Division of Global Drilling Suppliers were:
Dual Swivel having high-pressure air inlet and discharge to enable drilled spoils containment includes a J-slot driver for driving 24” OD casing.
Canister style drill rods, 20” OD
Vibration dampening equipment
Over the hammer stabilizer, 20” OD
Inline oil injection equipment
Inline water injection equipment
OCI Division’s onsite field consultant was present while tooling up and during initial drilling, and is pleased to report all expectations were met and exceeded with the Steel Fist’s performance. The solid construction of the wings held up very good with no carbide loss or trouble with opening or closing during loading or unloading of casing material
Speed to finish a project is very important when replacing a bridge, as the structure being repaired typically restricts traffic during the work. Using the Robit® Hyper 181 down-the-hole hammer with the Robit® DTH SF XL2 for use with 24” OD x.500 wall casing material all holes were successfully drilled on schedule and under budget.
