Sandvik will soon launch what it calls the industry’s first ROPS compliant acid-proof underground drilling cabins.
It stated the cabins will be available on its new DD422i underground development drills.
According to Sandvik these rigs have been developed specifically for ‘intelligent development drilling’ and have new drilling and boom control and features a ‘next generation carrier”.
Speaking at the launch of the machine Sandvik’s vice president for underground development drills, Ulla Korsman-Kopra, said the jumbo will be the most advanced underground rig on the market, and is part of a wider push by the company to help miners face the serious challenges plaguing the industry now, such as ongoing safety issues and the drive for cost efficiency, as well as the push into deeper mining.
Korsman-Kopra told Australian Mining that “after spending years building up the platforms, the sub-systems, and making sure the technology works across its various other machines we were able to go from the design to the construction of the rig in a matter of six months”.
In a company statement Sandvik’s director of underground drilling, Jan Petzold, explained that “acid-proof cabins on our underground drill rigs have been FOPS-compliant since 2005, but ROPS certification is an important complement to the existing standard safety features on all our Next Generation drill rigs”.
It developed the new cabins as it found stainless steel used in the construction of acid-proof cabins has not been had the strength requirements for ROPS compliance.
Recent independent accredited testing by Finland’s MTT Vakola, Measurement and Standardization, confirms the acid-proof cabins on Next Generation underground drill rigs from Sandvik Mining are now fully compliant with both EN ISO 3471 (ROPS) and EN ISO 3449 (FOPS).
Petzold added that “we’re now the only equipment supplier in the world offering FOPS/ROPS-certified acid-proof cabins for drill rigs up to 35 tonnes”.