Back in 2017 the Rhino 100HM raise boring machine was released in Australia with the support of customer and global mining contractor Byrnecut. After using the model successfully at several sites including Saracen’s Carosue Dam and Northern Star’s Jundee and Millennium mines, Byrnecut has now commissioned the machine on a 36 m long hole at Gold Fields’ Invincible operation. The Rhino is manufactured by TRB-Raise Borers in Finland but is equipped with Sandvik tools and is distributed by Sandvik.

The hole was for an escape way and was drilled to 1.06 m in diameter with the reamer head being pulled through at the collar. The Rhino 100HM is a fully mechanised and self-contained electro-hydraulic mobile raise borer designed for slot raising in underground mining. The average advance rate for the reaming of the hole was 1.3 m per hour and was completed in three shifts.

Mark Hanigan, GM at Byrnecut Australia commented: “This new technology is proving to be the way forward for small diameter slots and raiseboring on a truly mobile carrier.” Byrnecut says the Rhino 100HM has been designed to be a complete solution for the quick, effective and self-reliant approach for slot rising. It is capable of drilling up-hole slots to 750 mm in diameter up to 50 m in length. The design of the machine eliminates many aspects of the slot drilling process and makes this system more efficient and cost effective option for mine slot requirements.