Hanil Cement improves drilling efficiency

Hanil Cement opted to invest in an intelligent Epiroc SmartROC T35 surface drill rig from Epiroc for use at its limestone quarry near Danyang, in the north-eastern region of South Korea.

For Hanil Cement’s whole machine fleet, the average number of drill metres per hour in September 2020 was 26.2, whereas for the SmartROC T35 it was 28.6. Likewise, average diesel consumption the whole fleet was 27.9lph, whereas for the SmartROC T35, it was 17.4lph.

Sang-Gil Lee, Hanil Cement’s resource team manager, explained: ‘Due to underground cavities and dynamic geological effects at Danyang, constant and accurate penetration is difficult during the drilling process. By replacing old equipment with this new, high-technology machine, we sought to improve operational rates and achieve safer, more stable quarrying.

"The drilling rate of SmartROC T35 is the highest in our machine fleet and the drilling quality is superior. We get precise, parallel holes at the correct drilling depth, which is needed to produce the optimal fragmentation size, and our diesel costs have gone down, too," he added.