When the sky is not the limit

South African company Master Drilling continues its expansion and diversification drive, writes Leon Louw.

Many homegrown South African companies in the mining, technology, and equipment manufacturing space have become international household brands over the years. Mining is engrained in the South African DNA; thus, it comes as no surprise that the country keeps producing world leaders in the industry. All these companies have their own remarkable story to tell, but most of them grew organically from humble beginnings. One of the most extraordinary South African stories of late is that of Master Drilling.

The company drilled its first hole in 1986, when Danie Pretorius, an engineer by training, established his own drilling operation. Pretorius plied his trade in Anglo American’s Western Deep Levels Gold Mine (today TauTona Mine), situated on top of the richest gold mining reef in the world. Western Deep is an extremely complex operation, working conditions are challenging and, of course, it is one of the deepest underground mines in the world. The mine employed some of the most innovative thought leaders in the history of South African mining. Solving complicated engineering problems, and being surrounded and influenced by great intellectuals, served as fertile ground for an enquiring mind. Pretorius saw solutions where nobody else did and innovated when a challenge seemed insurmountable. What’s more, this native from the Northern Cape liked taking risks, as he does today. The secret is that these risks are calculated and executed with precision — and that has become the Master Drilling mantra and culture. That, together with custom designing solutions for specific problems, and repeatedly coming up with jaw-dropping drilling and shaft-sinking technology.

Talk of the town

As Master Drilling morphed into a global drilling technology phenomenon, these three values remained the mould into which the Fochville success story is cast. Even though the small town of Fochville, close to where Pretorius was first introduced to the underground world, is still Master Drilling’s base, the company has spread its wings far and wide. Today, the company has 160 rigs deployed across 20 countries, providing a comprehensive range of drilling and raise-boring services to the mining industry.

It operates throughout Africa and globally in countries like America, Peru, Mexico, and Chili. The fact that Pretorius is one of the most down to earth CEOs around, belies an astute business sense and an ability to attract top investors. But most of all, he has managed to lure top engineers and visionaries, able to think out of the box, to join the company. In fact, Pretorius and his team are grappling with how exactly to define Master Drilling at a time when mining is undergoing irreversible change, and where modernisation, automation, and mechanisation have become the talk of the town. “We often ask ourselves if we have become a technology company instead of purely providing drilling solutions,” says Pretorius in a recent interview with African Mining. Master Drilling’s speciality remains, of course, shaft sinking and raise boring, but over the years, they have ventured into unknown territory in search of the ultimate solutions to site-specific problems.

Making mining more productive

In their quest to make mining more productive, less costly, less labour intensive, and safer, they have entered, drilled, and sunk stopes, tunnels, and shafts from South Africa to Mexico and back, and the footprint continues to expand. The Horizontal Raise Bore Project at Petra Diamonds’ Cullinan Mine close to Pretoria a few years ago was a feat to behold; although, sadly, the company got a lot of flack for it. What they attempted at Cullinan had never been done before in any kimberlite mine in the world. To hear the machine starting up and the raise bore making its way back — horizontally — through friable rock, leaving a perfect tunnel in its wake, was one of the most impressive sites I have ever seen underground. Despite extreme conditions and unthinkable challenges, Koos Jordaan, executive director at Master Drilling, pushed through and achieved something that defies traditional beliefs and received way too little media attention. Jordaan, never scared to take on a challenge and, like Pretorius, an engaging and down to earth personality, is at the forefront of Master Drilling’s drive to change the face of mining. At Cullinan, he opened a new frontier, which might, with more refining and research, become a trump card in creating a blast-free underground environment. It might not be Master Drilling who perfects the art, but they proved that it is possible to employ a vertical raise-boring method to open up a horizontal hole, 180m long and with a diameter of 4.5m, in awfully unstable ground conditions.

Becoming an institution 

Master Drilling’s stand at the entrance to Mining Indaba has become an institution and has prompted endless debate after each new launch. This year at Indaba, the company unveiled its new disruptive mobile tunnel boring solution (MTB), which will be ready for commissioning towards the end of the year.   

According to Jordaan, the MTB was developed in response to the growing demand for a mechanised tunnelling contract service offering that addresses safety and efficiency challenges on new and existing operations. “The new solution may also make it possible for marginal projects to pass feasibility hurdles due to cost and time savings,” says Pretorius.

 “This disruptive technology allows continuous mining and requires no blasting, thereby significantly enhancing mining efficiencies. It is as advantageous at the capital stage of mining projects, with quicker deployment and access to the ore body, as it is at the production stage, through substantial productivity increase when opening up ore reserves or increasing a mine’s footprint,” Pretorius adds.

The MTB can bore out an excavation of 4.5m and/or 5.5m in diameter at a rate that, according to the company, exceeds conventional tunnel construction methods. The MTB can deliver various infrastructure solutions, such as for declines, ramps, haulages, and contact tunnels in hard rock, with compressive strengths of more than 300MPa. To assist with its manufacture and operation, Master Drilling partnered with Italian company Seli Technologies, a company that has half a century’s experience in civil mechanised tunnelling. The continuous process involves excavation, support, and waste removal, which creates a smooth circular excavation that does not disturb the side walls of the tunnel. In addition, the geometry makes for a stable and strong tunnel and, because it is a non-explosive continuous process, it increases the on-face time and delivers higher production advances on a cost-efficient basis.

Despite talk about modernisation, and the need to develop new technology, Pretorius believes that the issues mining companies are facing today is no different from 20 or 30 years ago. “The key issues have always been about efficiencies, costs, and labour. As a contractor or a supplier, you need to figure out what you can do to assist the miners; what you can do to make a difference in their lives,” says Pretorius.       

Blind holes to mechanisation

Master Drilling’s first assignment in 1986 was to drill a blind hole of 660mm on a little crawler at the Premier Mine (today Cullinan Mine). The trough machine used by the company was, at that stage, the first ever to do so. “That machine was designed as a solution to deal with a very specific problem the mine had in terms of production. Then, and still today, we focus on specific solutions and do not try to sell a set product,” says Pretorius. Jordaan adds that a company needs to understand its client and the problems and challenges they face.

For Pretorius, the dream has always been to fully mechanise and automate a mining operation, which explains the emphasis on innovation and new technology. “That’s what Koos and the team are keeping themselves busy with. For us, mechanisation is a non-drill and non-blast operation that you can do seven days a week and 31 days a month,” says Pretorius. A change in technology will be a game changer for Master Drilling. Mining companies have no option but to change the way they have been mining over the past 30 years. With all the headwinds they have faced, including low commodity prices and prohibitive costs, most mines have done what they could re-mining pillars and fixing the balance sheets, but the focus has to shift to technology and mechanisation. “Mechanisation ultimately needs to be a non-blasting environment and it must be a continuous operation; how you do it is a different discussion. That is where our focus should be: a non-blasting, safe environment.”

“This is exactly what Master Drilling is trying to figure out in Fochville,” says Pretorius. “The question should be: what can we do, technology-wise, to get quick access to ore bodies? To try to get a continuous operation going?” It is probably safe to say then that Master Drilling is no longer only a drilling company, and it has in fact evolved into a technology company. Its shaft-boring projects are non-traditional drilling operations. It is not a raise-bore hole — it is developing a shaft in the ground by removing people and replacing them with a monster of a machine. The Blind Shaft Boring System that Master Drilling is developing will increase the speed at which a mine will be able to access the ore body, which will make a significant difference, and that is not drilling. In the US, instead of using normal drilling methods that would not have been possible for this shaft, they are drilling a ventilation shaft through an aquafer by means of reverse circulation. “Yes, I think we can say that we are a technology company. The next challenge for us will be the integration of all these systems. The integration of the MTB machine, the integration of the shaft machine, where you can actually fully mechanise this operation, the timing thereof, and who interacts with whom, and with what, that will be the issue to focus on in the future,” says Roelof Swanepoel, chief strategy officer at Master Drilling.

No risks, no reward

So, what makes Master Drilling different? What has enabled a little company from an obscure town called Fochville to become a global leader in the world of mining and drilling? “Master Drilling is different because of its ability to take calculated risks, and because we accept that we cannot always be successful. This business has a very good track record of taking risks and being the first mover. There are not many companies that can say they were first to venture into South America, or that they were the first to attempt a horizontal raise bore in an underground kimberlite mine. We’ve done this, and we accept that there is a possibility that the project will fail, but we are also aware that we should learn from our failures. We have been able to establish this culture and it remains a driving force to enable innovation,” says Swanepoel.

The success of Master Drilling can be ascribed, mostly, to the relationships and networks that they have built up over the past 30 years. “That, credibility and reliability to deliver, are of paramount importance,” says Jordaan. The company has diversified extensively since its first steps in the 1980s, both in terms of geography and business, and it has really become a hallmark of a company embracing change rather than shunning it. “Diversification is good; it gives you stability, and it also gives you a reach to different markets, but at the same time, it brings complexity to the organisation. When we consider diversification, we are very selective,” says Jordaan.

The big issue in South African mining is that when you go underground, it is like stepping into a movie made 150 years ago. In comparison, when on surface, in the winding room, or in the processing plant, you will see the best technologies available anywhere in the world. “We need to figure out why miners today are still loading with a scraper winch? That technology has been around for 50 years and it has not changed. We were taught as youngster engineers many years ago that this is probably the most inefficient way to mine. Why do we still use these methods? The answers are simple. If you try something new and it fails, you are gone and dead. But if you keep on doing what you did yesterday and the day before and you must satisfy your manager, you do not really want to change,” says Pretorius.

Change is at the heart of whatever Master Drilling does, and hopefully this culture persists as the company makes further inroads into the international market. For Master Drilling, the sky is not even the limit. Mention the sky and space, asteroids, or mining underwater, in the company of Jordaan and Co., the response is a detailed explanation of how and when — not if or maybe. 

Leon Louw is a writer, editor and specialist in African affairs and mining