Holeguard is a concentrated micro-emulsion of water soluble co-polymers designed to deliver maximum drilling efficiencies by reducing friction, increasing cuttings removal, sealing drill collars for dust control and stabilising blast hole walls to minimise wall collapse.

Holeguard is supplied as a high activity liquid dispersion formulation that reacts rapidly at minimal dosage rates, penetrating deep into the strata surrounding a blast hole providing lubrication to the hole, increasing the lifting capacity for cuttings transportation and encapsulating water sensitive clays or shales. 

Applied as a preventative treatment, Holeguard delivers multiple drilling efficiencies for a site, increasing factors such as lifting capacity, while simultaneously reducing the time crew spend on corrective action such as re-drilling and sub-drilling. 

The pre-treatment is simply added into the drilling fluid or injected into the drilling water line at between 1-6kg per m³ of drilling fluid depending on the quality of the drill wall material.

The formulation is stable with excellent freeze-thaw stability and provides optimum results while remaining completely compatible with all other products in the Blastboss Performance Chemistry System.

David Handel, Australian industrialist and inventor and CEO at Blastboss, said: “Holeguard was specially developed as a highly effective preventative system to target the multiple inefficiencies that are associated with the blasthole drilling process. As a director of a leading international fine-particle management company, I witnessed how traditional blasting methods were causing universal site issues in terms of safety and operational efficiencies and developed the Blastboss Performance Chemistry system to combat this.

“Holeguard was developed using the latest technology after I noticed the amount of time and money sites were wasting fixing the issues caused by unstable blastholes. Holeguard penetrates into the layers surrounding a blasthole, resisting wall collapse and filling voids and fractures to create an all-round more stable blasthole. Holeguard is a sophisticated technology that is simple to apply and delivers maximum results in terms of increasing drilling efficiencies and reducing annual costs – we are excited to be able to provide this product as part of our Blastboss range.”

The company stated that Blastboss technology is set to positively impact the mining, quarrying and construction industries by greatly reducing the costs and maximising production through increased operational, processing and transportation efficiency.