Lady Loretta Mine boxhole drill proves effective at Mount Isa Copper Operations

A specialised piece of machinery loaned from Lady Loretta Mine (LLM) has allowed Mount Isa Copper Operations (MICO) to improve their operational efficiency.

Early in March, the S63 ore pass, one of the underground mining zones at MICO, developed logistical issues that required the drilling of a vertical shaft to allow reliable ore flow to the crusher.

Senior Raisebore and Drilling Operations Specialist, Mick Chiauzzi, says the assistance of LLM and Redpath saved a lot of time and planning at MICO.

“We didn’t have a raisebore drill onsite with the capacity to drill the vertical shaft, and so thanks to the team at LLM, we were able to borrow their boxhole rig to drill the required vertical raise,” Mick says.

Standing at 3.1 metres tall, the LLM Redpath boxhole rig ‘Redbore 30MDUR’ is a small capacity raisebore rig capable of drilling an upwards vertical bore at a one-metre diameter. Conventional drill rigs at MICO are capable of downward drilling only.

“Redpath and the MICO raiseboring teams worked to plan the packing down of the rig to ensure it could be transported in the R62 cage to level 21C and installed at the S63 site on level 30A,” Mick says.

The drilling was completed efficiently and successfully.

“I’d like to thank the team at LLM for the collaborative effort to improve efficiency.”