Increased safety in underground drilling with Atlas Copco’s new Diamec Smart series

Atlas Copco has introduced core drilling rigs that eliminates many of the hazardous

operations for mines involved in underground core drilling.

The risk of handling inner tubes and drill rods, while extracting core samples, is a

well-known problem for drillers around the world. Despite safety regulations, accidents with severe injuries still occur.

Atlas Copco’s Diamec Smart core drilling rigs have an advanced control system that

enables automatic functions such as drilling and adding and removing of rods. By using the unique rod handler, the operator can perform the work from a safe distance. All adding and removal of in the hole (ITH) equipment are done automatically.

The automatic functions is not only increasing the safety for the operators, it also

improves the working environment and increases the productivity. A three meter long inner tube with core samples can weigh about 100 kg and the handling is heavy and hazardous. The rod handler eliminates operator fatigue and helps keeping the pace during an entire shift.

Martin Sommers, Vice President Marketing - Exploration Equipment at Atlas Copco,

explains: “There is an increasing focus on safety within the mining industry and the new Diamec Smart series sets a new standard for underground core drilling rigs. Customers that have tried automatic drilling and rod handling never want to go back to the old way of drilling.”

The new improved control system on the Diamec Smart is based on the Rig Control

System (RCS) that is used for all drilling rigs from the Mining and Rock excavation

business area at Atlas Copco. More than 20 important improvements have been made in both hardware and software compared to the previous control system, making it even more robust and reliable.