International Directional Services (IDS) has entered into an agreement with Australia’s Minnovare to distribute the Azimuth Aligner® drill rig alignment system.

The agreement will see the product available from IDS on a rental basis within its core distribution market of the US.

IDS, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Granite Construction Inc, said mining clients now had “an even greater selection of tools and brands from a single source…well-positioned to provide excellent service and coverage”.

The Azimuth Aligner is used in mining exploration and civil construction projects to automate the drill-rig alignment process. Minnovare claims it reduces rig setup times by up to 90%, increases drilled metres per shift by up to 20%, reduces costs per drilled metre by up to 15%, sets up 100% of holes within tolerance and increases revenue per rig by up to 10%.

The product is currently deployed at over 100 international mine sites and tunnelling projects, according to Minnovare.

Jason Smith, General Manager at IDS, said: “With this new alliance, IDS will continue to be able to supply its customers and the mining/drilling industries with some of the most innovative and advanced technology available for azimuth alignment systems.”