Drilling jumbo for Perkoa mines arrives in Burkina Fase

AIM Resources Ltd has advised that a drilling jumbo has arrived in Burkina....

  AIM Resources Ltd has advised that a drilling jumbo has arrived in Burkina Faso from Ghana, and is awaiting customs clearance.The jumbo will be used for development of the Perkoa zinc mine, situated 120km west of the country’s capital Ouagadougou in West Africa. Drilling jumbos are standard mining equipment used in the development of underground mine roadways and extraction of ore.The jumbo is a Sandvik Axera 7 model, which is comprised of an electro-diesel operated engine with two articulated hydraulic booms, which each host a drill head and carousel loaded with drilling rods. The carousel allows drilling rods to be changed by the operator from within the cabin, while the articulated boom allows drilling at any orientation. The hydraulic controlled drilling system, with added automatic functions allows productive high quality excavation, while on board instrumentation enables accurate positioning of drill angle, drill depth and drill position.Typically, these machines are used during the development of underground roadways, and can drill in a fan pattern at various diameters ranging from 43mm to 64mm.Initially the Jumbos will be used in the development of the portal (the main entry into the mine) and the decline from the recently constructed box cut. Following development of the decline, the jumbos will be utilised through out the mining.operation for the cut and fill phase of mining.