A few months ago, Australian mining technology firm Minnovare, secured significant investment from two highly-regarded private equity firms to aid in the global expansion of its flagship product, the Azimuth Aligner.

The company says that “delivering unprecedented efficiency to the underground drilling process, the Azimuth Aligner improves productivity, accuracy and safety while significantly reducing rig set-up time.”

Minnovare’s Azimuth Aligner enables a drill rig operator to achieve correct orientation in up to 90% less time compared to traditional labour-intensive manual alignment methods – which typically include a string line, plum bob and surveyor.

In addition to providing significant productivity gains, the Azimuth Aligner is a critical enabling technology for the introduction of autonomous, semi-autonomous and remotely operated rigs.  The cumulative effect of these technological advances is faster, more accurate, and better value exploration and production drilling for mining operations and a stronger customer service offering for drilling services providers.