By the year 2035, mining civil activity in Western Australia is projected to surpass historical peaks, potentially averaging $25 billion per year.
Statewide some $49 billion in resources and civil projects are either currently under construction or already committed.
To this end, there is an emergence among local drilling contractors based in the state who are helping meet demand on major projects involving infrastructure installations that might have previously been serviced by an east coast counterpart.
Given the challenging conditions and ecologically vulnerable habitats that these teams are often required to navigate, demand is on the rise for larger Vermeer pipeline directional drills.
This is certainly what OEM and supplier Vermeer Equipment of WA & NT has noticed.
Large-diameter drilling, not unlike that which was undertaken at the Fitzroy Crossing, is of course a strong suit of the Vermeer Pipeline Drill product range.
Boasting optimised rod capacity, not to mention its pilot rod distance capacity, the Pipeline series continues to prove an ideal choice for drilling contractors who are venturing to the ‘slot’ in tackling some of the ambitious projects underway in both Western Australia and the Northern Territory.
Offering world class performance in thrust and pullback, the Vermeer 58T Class Pipeline HDD features high cycle operator controlled rod loader that helps reduce labour, and by inference downtime, involved with manually loading and unloading drill rod.
The Vermeer 58T Class Pipeline HDD enables a full set of rods to be loaded into the machine with a touch of a button and affords customers, who might require one, an optional integrated telescopic crane to load the stackable drill rod boxes.
Following the devastating once-in-a-century floods in early 2023 that destroyed the original Fitzroy Crossing bridge and its attached sewage pipeline, Water Corporation and CD Drilling partnered to fast-track a permanent replacement.
Here a Vermeer 58T Class Pipeline HDD was deployed to bore 30m below the riverbed ahead of installing a new $1.75 million wastewater main that will future proof the critical utility from debris and severe seasonal flooding.
The climate-controlled cabin for those operating in the Kimberley where temperatures consistently exceed 40º Celsius in the interior during the wet season, is something of a non-negotiable when factoring in the importance of comfort to safety and fatigue controls.
In the state’s northwest, particularly the Pilbara, where there is a pipeline of civil mining projects undergoing expansion in iron ore and critical battery minerals, the Vermeer 58T Class Pipeline HDD product range is handling long drill shots, some up to 750m long, in challenging hard ground. Geotechnical assessments in mining are a case in point.
Often underground and open-cut operations rely on these staged evaluations to identify water depressurisation factors and rock mass stabilisation before safe mining can proceed.
In short, managing groundwater pressure is critical to prevent catastrophic failures. Vermeer Equipment of WA & NT this year was commissioned to supply a Vermeer 58T Class Pipeline HDD – its fourth in recent years – for a special water depressurisation project.
Working in formidable ground conditions, the drill bored inclined pilot holes directly into the wall face at different lengths. This technique is used to safely relieve pore water pressure in mining highwalls or steep excavations.
The unit, on this occasion, was specified by Vermeer Equipment of WA & NT with a special air hammer to directly pulverise the fractured bedrock.
Debris is flushed out via a compressed air and a foam carrying agent and in turn helps maintain stability for the deep holes.
Vermeer’s intuitive control system here helps. An updated console designed to promote a user-friendly bore path adjustment experience for the operator, enables drilling consistency and greater precision.
The Vermeer also includes the AutoSteer system, in which certain drill head motions are automated for the operator.
With multiple HDD rigs now built-for-purpose in this niche application, it remains to be seen what inroads the HDD sector can make into mining. For the moment the future looks more than promising.
For more information, visit vermeer-want.com.au/
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