Based near Port Shepstone on the KwaZulu-Natal south coast, Brauteseth Blasting’s success has evolved into a national footprint – and beyond – with multiple drill rig acquisitions from Sandvik Mining and Rock Solutions bolstering its production capacity across South Africa and multiple industries, including mining.

In fact, remarks Sandvik Mining and Rock Solutions Account Manager Andre Blom, Brauteseth Blasting has acquired units from every Sandvik boom drill range in a single year.

“This included Leopard™ DI550 and Leopard DI650 down-the-hole (DTH) drill rigs from our Leopard range, the Pantera™ DP1500i and the Ranger™ DX800 and Ranger DX900i surface top hammer drill rigs,” Blom says. The two companies have built a strong partnership since 2005, when the first Sandvik rig was acquired by Brauteseth Blasting.

Brauteseth Blasting began mainly in the civil engineering sector and in quarrying, but has now moved decisively into surface mining as well. Clive Brauteseth, Managing Director since 1989, points to the geographic expansion now beyond KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape – into Limpopo, Mpumalanga, the Northern Cape and beyond South Africa into Zambia.

By this year, the number of Sandvik drill rigs acquired by the company over the years has reached almost 50, and more acquisitions are in the pipeline by the end of the year, Brauteseth says.

“We have built a strong relationship with Sandvik over my 35 years with the company,” he says. “We have some of the best equipment in the market, and keep it well maintained and up to date; this means continual investment in replacing plant regularly.”

He notes that the quality and performance of Sandvik drill rigs gives Brauteseth Blasting the uptime and reliability that its projects demand, backed up by the experience and skills of its stable and committed teams. The ongoing upskilling also ensures the latest technology investments are put to the most productive use in the field – to deliver the bottom-line results that keep customers loyal, it says.

Of Brauteseth Blasting’s acquisitions during 2021 into 2022, the Leopard range is designed for high capacity production drilling in medium-sized to large open-pit mining operations, while the Ranger DX800 and Ranger DX900i drill rigs serve mainly the construction and small mining sectors. In between, the Pantera DP1500i rig is a ‘cross over’ for applications in quarries and smaller open-pit mines.

With the experience of almost two decades of running Sandvik drills, Brauteseth believes Sandvik Mining and Rock Solutions has the edge in this market. This is important for the way that his company embraces new technology to help keep it a step ahead.

“When there is new equipment in the market, we are always interested in what it can do for our fleet capability and our customers,” Brauteseth says. “I really value Sandvik’s continuous innovation, and the way they listen to customers when pursuing those developments.”

Blom highlights the unique partnership between the companies, where Sandvik Mining and Rock Solutions provides solid OEM support to enable Brauteseth Blasting to remain self-sufficient operationally and technically. More drill rig acquisitions are in the pipeline for 2023, as the company’s growth trend only gathers strength.