Hugo Leblanc, a Castonguay driller at the Marbleton site, says that the drill performs extremely well in all rock types from hard granites to softer limestones. He has been operating the rig for over a year and says it is very fast, and drills good-sized holes using Sandvik GT60 rock tools.

“It is much better than other rigs I have used before,” Leblanc says. In particular, he likes the visibility, the in-cab quietness of the unit, and its accurate drilling — a deviation of only 1 degree in a 26-meter hole. He also praises the easy access for refueling and simple maintenance tasks and the computer diagnostic system which makes fault correction quick and simple. “I’d recommend this machine to everybody,” he says.

Leblanc is an experienced driller, and the transition to operating a brand new rig was smooth with two weeks training in a simulator to learn the layout and controls, followed by two weeks supervised drilling on site. He was then “good to go.” 

Article courtesy of Sandvik.