Surgical mining solutions

Surgical mining extracts a narrow, well-defined ore body directly through a large-diameter borehole, instead of removing the surrounding rock as well, minimising waste, surface footprint and dilution. It is, at heart, a drilling problem solved in a new way: our large-diameter pile-top drill, a platform proven in marine construction and shaft sinking, reconfigured innovatively to extract minerals rather than install foundations. We bring the drill and the drilling experience; the mining-specific sensing and data platform that guide it are integrated from specialist partners.

What we supply

• The drill and the drilling experience – a proven large-diameter pile-top drill platform, with the engineering know-how to apply it to a new extraction problem.
• Custom drill bit – cutting structure designed for the ore body and the duty, including the features the extraction method needs.
• Control systems & slip ring – the drive, control and electrical slip ring that run the downhole tooling and pass power and signal through the rotating string.
• Spoil management & airlift – clearing arisings as the bore advances, with the airlift / spoil-removal system sized to the duty. See airlifting.
• Automated drilling – automated weight-on-bit (AWOB) control and continuous monitoring of bit position and rotation, so the drilling process itself can run automatically and precisely.

Where we integrate

The piece we do not build is the mining-specific sensing, the real-time geotechnical assessment that distinguishes ore from waste at the cutting face and the data platform behind it. That is a specialist field in its own right. What we do is incorporate a partner’s sensor package and data systems into our equipment, designing the drill, bit and controls to carry and serve those sensors, so the proven platform and the third-party intelligence work as one system. We supply the precise, automated, instrumented drilling; the mineral-sensing intelligence is integrated from those who specialise in it.

The result is a route to lower-impact, more selective mineral extraction, recovering critical minerals with far less rock moved, less surface disturbance and a smaller environmental footprint than conventional methods, built on a platform that already works, not a clean-sheet machine.