ONLY
THE BEST
AT BREST!
Productivity
at ten granite and quartzite quarries in France is increasing dramatically
- thanks to the high performance of a robust crawler rig and the
introduction of a powerful new rock drill.
 |
| Blasting
operations in one of the quarries in Brest, France. |
A drilling contractor who
knows just what he wants
French
drilling contractor Forage Le Hir has been working in the Brest
area of north-western France for decades.
The ten quarries in which the company operates are within a 100
km radius and account for 75 per cent of its total workload, the
remainder being stabilisation operations in ports and harbours.
Atlas Copco has been the main equipment supplier to the company
since 1980 and the current rig fleet comprises a ROC F7, a ROC 460
and a ROC F9 unit equipped with the high-powered COP 2550 rock drill,
which delivers up to 25 kw impact power.
Working on 18 metre-high benches, the ROC F9, equipped with Secoroc
T-51 rods, achieves an average penetration rate of one metre per
minute drilling 89 mm diameter holes. This compares to an average
of 0.75-0.8 m/min using the ROC F7 rig.
 |
| Company
owner Bernard Le Hir (right) with Benoît Etienne, Business
Line Manager at Atlas Copco in France. |
Specific
aim
Bernard
Le Hir, owner of Forage Le Hir, purchased the ROC F9 in September
last year with the aim of reducing drilling time by 20 per cent
and achieving smoother production all round.
As a sub-contractor, he is effectively paid for the number of
metres drilled - so a 20 per cent increase in productivity has
the potential for a significant increase in earnings.
He says: "We are delighted with the new equipment, which
is a good solution for us. It makes us more competitive and the
higher productivity means that, in the long run, we can increase
the amount of work we undertake. And that will more than compensate
for the extra fuel consumption required by the larger engine on
the ROC F9.
"It is another good solution for us to have a really powerful
rockdrill like the COP 2550. It means that we will be very competitive
for future work."
 |
| Power
all the way: The new high performance ROC F9 rig equipped
with the COP 2550 rock drill. |
Self-sufficient
Mr
Le Hir has a staff of five employees, one of them in administration
and four drillers. He says that the company had just one drill
rig operating in two quarries in the 1980s
Now the ROC F9 and ROC F7 rigs service 10 worksites with a total
annual production of four million tonnes per year - which illustrates
just how far drilling technology has advanced over the past two
decades.
Benoît Etienne, Business Line Manager for the French subsidiary
Atlas Copco Forage et Demolition, describes Forage Le Hir as "a
self-sufficient contractor". It is a company which prefers
to manage and service its own equiment - but counts on Atlas Copco
to help with specific issues. And it is a relationship that suits
both parties.
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