With today’s surface-mining industry going all out to cut its rising fuel bills, it is no wonder the new Sandvik DPi, which lops 10% off fuel consumpion, is attracting so much global attention.
Sandvik market manager for surface drills Pekka Kesseli says that the new Sandvik DPi series surface hammer rigs are made “to break the limits” and the drill has in-built intelligence to “bring out the best in every driller”.
Kesseli says that the global fuel-cost ramp-up prompted Sandvik Mining & Construction to pay particular attention to lowering thesilica sand north island new zealand fuel costs of the new DPi machine that has already attracted orders from the US, France and Nor-way, and which will be on show at the Electra Mining exhibition in Johannesburg, in September.
Kesseli says that the machine’s load-sensing compjaw crusher bb51 mt with metal detectorressor control ensures that the compressor remains inactive when the machine does not need air.
The DPi’s “intelligence” dictates that the machine avoids running at its full revolutions a minute unless those revolutions are needed at that moment inis manufactured sand good time.
A simulator package is also available to train personnel to make full use of the machine’s advanced user interface, easily adjustable drilling control system and storage of settings for particular drill sites being worked.
In designing the machine, Sandvik felt compelled, Kesseli says, to address the current global issues of diminishing fossil fuel resources, the global skills shortage, environmental protection and the high demand for metals and minerals.
“One operator can easily manage two machines at the same time”, as Mining Weekly was shown first-hand at the incipient Talvivaara nickel operation in Finland, where three brand-new machines are in operation for the company that is recovering nickel, zinc, copper and cobalt – and, perhaps, soon, also manganese.
The drill’s powerful high-frequency drifters are ideal for drilling 76-mm to 150-mm holes in opencast mines and quarries.
“We have had the DPi series in use for a couple of months now. One of the upcoming features we found particularly beneficial is the possibility to transfer the drill pattern to the rig directly from the designer’s computer, and, furthermore, the possibility to send the actual pattern back to the charging planning,” says Talvivaara mining manager Arto Suokas.