Mincon Group PLC, the Irish engineering group specialising in the design, manufacture, sale and servicing of rock drilling tools and associated products, recently provided a further update on the ongoing development project for its hydraulic DTH hammer system which has the working codename “Greenhammer.”
The Greenhammer, in a 12 in size, has been installed on its first rig with a customer in Australia and Mincon says “is working in line with expectations during this engineering commissioning phase. It is anticipated that this commissioning phase may take several months while the integrity and robustness of the system in use is trialled and improved.” Mincon told IM that it will provide an update on the commercialisation of the new technology in 2019 after further testing is completed and more data has been collated.
The company added that initial speeds and ground penetration levels to date have been in line with expectations, and Mincon has started to gather the data sets from each drilling hole. This process will continue until mid-December, following which it expects to complete the complete physical breakdown of the components to examine and test wear throughout the system. All data and the system components will then be brought off-site to be analysed over the Christmas period.
“We have begun the tuning of the system elements in situ, with positive results, and we are drilling full holes to their required depth even in these initial days. We expect there will be some engineering refinements required in relation to component tolerances and system integrity that will require minor rework to continue the process of building reliability and sustainability. After this current programme of drilling, we will return to the rig in the new year for the next stage of the engineering commissioning in the field.”
The company concluded the statement: “In light of the engineering commissioning completed to date, our confidence is growing that the system is viable, commercially practicable, and will represent a significant step forward for Mincon when it is released for commercial deployment.”
