Yara will take delivery of six of Sandvik's Pantera DP1600i drill rigs, which use the Top Hammer XL technology.

Yara's services contractor, Tapojärvi, secured the drilling deal as part of a 10-year partnership with Yara's Siilinjärvi open pit mine.

The Top Hammer XL system brings together the Pantera DP1600i drill rig with the new RD1840C rock drill and new LT90 rock tools.

The key benefit of the new technology is the expansion of the application area of top hammer drilling technology to significantly larger hole sizes, up to a diameter of 178 millimetres (7 inches).

All six drill rigs will also be controlled remotely with Sandvik's AutoMine Surface Drilling automation system.

"A single remote control station will be used for controlling the drilling operations of two rigs," says Tapojärvi's COO Martti Kaikkonen. "The system provides the capability to move the drill rigs from one hole to another by commanding from the remote station, and the rigs drill blastholes autonomously. Controlling the rigs from a remote centre improves the working conditions of our employees. It is cleaner, more ergonomic and safer."

OptiMine for Surface, a new solution for optimising surface drilling processes that produces real-time data on drilling productivity, equipment condition and availability, will also be used by Tapojärvi.

"Top Hammer XL, together with the AutoMine and OptiMine  systems, support Tapojärvi's technology strategy for more sustainable mining operations," says Jari Weman, Sales Manager at Territory North East Europe, Sandvik Mining and Rock Solutions. "