Mining Magazine > Panorama > Cubex QXR drill success

Cubex has reported that Morobe Mining Joint Ventures (MMJV), owned by Harmony Gold Mining Co. and Newcrest Mining, has successfully completed its first year of reverse circulation drilling and horizontal dewatering using the Cubex QXR 1120 drill at the Hidden Valley gold mine located in Morobe province, Papua New Guinea.

The Cubex QXR 1120 and QXR 1320 high performance drills remain a market leader for boom arm production drilling, pre-split drilling, reverse circulation and horizontal drilling. The machines operate using an on-board air output of 38.2 m3/min at 34.5bar of pressure, or 44.6m3/min at 24.1bar.

The mines’ remote location at 2700m altitude has presented a challenge for the supply of equipment, which lead Cubex to establish an agreement for regular site visits by factory technicians and engineering staff from its Australian operations.

Stephen Broad, mobile maintenance superintendent at MMJV commented: “The QXR drill is utilised for reverse circulation grade control drilling, a critical part of the mining sequence onsite, and has operated successfully at 2700m altitude without modification. Our drilling program requires us to create 140mm diameter holes up to 30m deep, often in clay, broken and wet ground. The rigs performance is quite impressive.”