Epiroc’s New Concept Mining Opens Hydraulic Rock Drill Facility

KEY POINTS

• Epiroc’s New Concept Mining launched a new HRD production facility in Johannesburg, South Africa.
• The new plant aims to localize assembly and increase manufacturing efficiency, supporting South African mining operations.
• The facility integrates sustainability efforts, with plans for expanding solar energy capacity.

On September 13, New Concept Mining (NCM), a division of Swedish company Epiroc, opened its Hydraulic Rock Drill (HRD) production facility in Aeroton, Johannesburg. 

NCM is a ground support solutions supplier based in South Africa. In 2019, Epiroc bought it, and it was rebranded as New Concept Mining Powered by Epiroc, or NCM. Through this transaction, NCM’s specialised ground support solutions and Epiroc’s global reach were united. Originally made in Sweden, HRDs were mostly sold in South Africa. 

A portion of the parts were made in South Africa, sent to Sweden for assembly, and then returned to South Africa.

Head of Epiroc Ground Support Product Development Greig Knox give details on the sidelines of the launch that the company realized this process was inefficient and, at the beginning of last year, decided to turn this into a South African product and begin production and assembly in the nation, at this new plant. 

“Since the research and development engineers who will be expanding the product portfolio are situated in Johannesburg, moving it to South Africa also means that we can support the product better.

“They can easily and quickly access the mine and learn how the mine operators use the equipment, and we can better understand how the equipment is used and handle faults when they are discovered, allowing us to continuously improve the product,” Knox said. 

Production staff from South Africa traveled to Sweden as part of the reallocation in order to decommission the production line there and gain an understanding of the production process.

Advanced features of the HRD to improve safety and performance

According to a report by Mining Weekly, production has already begun at the HRD plant in South Africa, with NCM aiming to manufacture approximately 12 devices per day. Knox said that this is scalable to up to 100 units per day if necessary.

By the next year, the HRDs should be completely prepared for the South African market. For the new factory, NCM has reassigned and upskilled its current personnel. It is anticipated that the HRDs will increase drilling efficiency by increasing both speed and safety. 

Knox stated that less harsh working conditions were required for rock drill operators, who had to put up with loud noises and a lot of vibration.

“Reducing vibration and the amount of time exposed to vibration was one of the design criteria for the HRD. We’re cutting down on the quantity of grease mist that operators are now exposed to, Knox noted, in addition to eliminating the requirement to inject grease into the pneumatic supply line in order to lubricate the drill. 

Better penetration rates, durability, better water consumption, support application, lower energy consumption, and lower infrastructure costs are some of the other advantages of HRD. The business also plans to produce new HRD products. 

Sustainability efforts at the new Aeroton facility

Phase 1 currently involves local assembly and provision of the product in its current state while Phase 2 would involve digitalization and the abolition of compression and air dependency, Phase 3 would involve developing batteries and increasing their efficiency.

 The Ground Support Facility of Epiroc houses the HRD plant, and the company’s other buildings are situated in the same block in Aeroton. Knox emphasized that the facility was in a good position to receive steel for use in manufacturing. It is also near Rustenburg, where a lot of the products are regularly supplied. He continued by saying that it also offers quick and simple access to the Durban port for goods export.

At its Aeroton facilities, Epiroc, a big energy consumer, installed a 1.3 MW solar power plant. According to Knox, the company is in the initial stages of its sustainability journey and is aiming to increase its solar capacity as well as switch to a battery-powered backup system.

In the Ground Support Facility, the company also demonstrated its testing capabilities. Testing for quasi-static tension and shear as well as dynamic effect on ground support are among the capabilities.

NCM made investments in testing facilities in 2017 to establish itself as a major player in the world, according to Knox. In the past, engineers and sample carriers would fly to Canada to conduct the tests.