Brandrill Ltd has launched a Gardner-Denver 100, rated one of the largest production drilling rigs in the country.
The company recently completed refurbishing the ten-year-old rig and it will go into immediate use at BHP’s iron ore mine at Yarrie in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.
The rig was originally brought to Australia for use at the Argyle diamond mine before Brandrill purchased it and a twin about eighteen months ago.
The rig was completely refurbished by Air Drill Pty Ltd at Bassendean.
“The purchase and subsequent refurbishment has cost about $1 million for what is now a virtually new piece of equipment,” said Brandrill managing director Jeff Branson.
“The new replacement cost would be about $4.6 million depending on what is happening with our currency when the order is made.”
Mr Branson said that, in the past, only the owners of large scale mines with long lives could commit to purchasing production rigs the size and cost of a GD100.
“The bigger rig provides the benefit of larger hole sizes which translates into cheaper production costs for the client,” Mr Branson added.
