As sometimes happens, Mitch Courte had been firmly embedded in another field before he joined the trenchless sector.
A licenced plumber and builder by trade, Courte’s initial exposure to horizontal directional drilling (HDD) was via his brother Kyle, who had worked in the industry.
Courte, by then, was into HDD boots and all, as they say, having, circa 2021, ventured out on his own.
That operation is now known as Boretec HDD and based at Doyalson on the Central Coast of New South Wales.
The strong suit of the business is in rock applications. The harder the task often the better according to Courte.
“Anything long, difficult, out there that other crews shy away from we enjoy,” he told Trenchless Australasia.
“Challenging shots — you name it. I like to be their go-to for solutions in that comms space.”
Water mains and pipeline installations represent domains the business could look to branch out to in the coming years.
For the moment Courte intends to build it around the rock boring niche.
“Look, you’ve got to drill dirt when you’ve got to drill dirt, but when you invest in the best German equipment money can buy for rock work it makes sense to stay in that space, if possible,” he said.
“That’s what we’re good at.”
The Boretec HDD crew can be found working predominantly up and down the east coast of New South Wales.
Courte has, however, taken a drill as far away as Western Australia to work on a project in late 2022.
The following year he had a serious look at TRACTO’s drill range having had his interest piqued by conversations with other operators and TRACTO’s Sales Manager Daniel Toms, previously.
At the start of 2024 he took delivery of a TRACTO 130ACS and in Courte’s words, “never looked back.”
Able to configure each drilling rig individually, Courte was impressed by the modular design of the GRUNDODRILL generation along with the increased rotation and flushing capacities.
The concept of intelligent control in which overall power is optimally transferred onto the individual components, as required, held special relevance given his operations.
It was on the N2P Evolution contract to support the extension of the NBN Co’s fibreoptic to an estimated eight million premises for Ventia, one of Boretec’s biggest clients, that Courte deployed this first drill from TRACTO.
Boretec HDD also operates three hydro vac trucks, and three horizontal directional drills across two crews, which helps maximise efficiencies.
“If there’s ever a break down, I can get to the yard and grab the replacement part I need without much holdup,” said Courte. “Running with only two crews helps in those situations.”
Earlier this year, he added a new TRACTO GRUNDODRILL 20ACS. Between the handover and operator training, Courte put around 800m of pipe in the ground with the machine, what’s more, through rugged conditions.
Among its virtues, the 20ACS offers four different rod types.
For Boretec HDD, having the option of two rock type rods means added flexibility. In this case to choose from EL80 rods with 210m of usable length in the rod magazine or EL101 with 144m of rods on board but with, it’s worth noting, stackable rod boxes that can be exchanged in minutes using the on-board crane.
“The rod times we’re getting in hard rock ground is insane,” said Courte.
“It’s the most efficient drill I’ve come across in rock. It produces unbelievable power.”
Aside from its flexible rod technology, the 20-tonne GRUNDODRILL 20ACS delivers high torque and advanced automation which for Courte make it something of the ultimate convergence between its predecessor the 18 ACS, known for reliability and its robustness, and TRACTO’s new generation ACS130.
In short, it’s the best of both worlds according to Courte.
“I think with the 20ACS it has the brains of the ACS130 and the brawn of the 18ACS,” he said.
“Even though it’s got more power than the 18ACS it has definitely borrowed from it in that sense — They’ve meshed the two together.”
The integration of intelligence, automation and intrinsic “smarts,” as Courte describes them, for the user goes well beyond the percussive mechanism.
“Once you set your parameters on a pullback essentially the machine is doing all the work for you,” added Courte.
“It’s basically set to its own devices. Much of the thinking including headaches have been removed. The drill does it all by itself.”
The training and tech support provided by TRACTO elevate, for a business like Boretec HDD, the product package making it a comprehensive offering.
With so much advanced technology at your fingertips, Courte said the week of operator training TRACTO offers is compelling.
“The only way to get the most out of a machine with so much tech is to learn the systems inside of it,” he said.
“If you’re not going to learn how to maximise its features what’s the point? You might as well stay with the other brands.”
Courte has already travelled to Germany twice with TRACTO. The first time was to attend the Hands On Days event where TRACTO provides a showcase and instructive demonstrations on many of their working products over the course of a week.
Courte, who followed that up with a trip to the Bauma machinery trade show last year, found it illuminating.
“There’s no other company I will align myself with,” he told Trenchless Australasia.
“TRACTO’s support and service is second-to-none.”
By way of example, Courte cited the time he had a ceramic seal let go while working on a job down at Ulladulla on the south coast of NSW.
The timing was less than an ideal. Not only did TRACTO go to great lengths to get the part there in time it mercifully allowed Boretec HDD to meet a critical deadline.
“So, they sent one of their technicians overnight from Brisbane in a service ute loaded with the parts to Ulladulla to get us up and running in a matter of two days,” recalled Courte.
It’s a 1200km trip, one way, on the best of days.
“It’s not uncommon for TRACTO to deliver that kind of customer service,” added Courte.
For more information, visit tracto.com/au
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