JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Drilling and mechanised rock excavation technology solutions company Master Drilling, which was established in 1986 and listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange Limited in 2012, has declared a 23%-higher nigh-R100-million 2024 dividend while also moving the needle impressively on South Africa’s safety-enhancing and cost-cutting mining front.

While reporting record $270.8-million revenue and earnings of $58-million in the 12 months to December 31, Master Drilling has also engaged in helping to advance the rollout of new technology, which is expected to take people out of vulnerable areas, elevate grades, lower unit costs, streamline downstream materials handling, reduce tailings management, and offer a propensity to advance from mechanisation to automation.

Also announced on Tuesday, March 25, was a new global partnership with De Beers Group polycrystalline diamond (PCD) and ultra-hard materials manufacturer Element Six, a pioneer in the development and manufacturing of ultra-hard materials.

The pair intend to deliver diamond-enabled tunnelling that reduces waste rock generation.

In addition, very promising additional separate advances involving Master Drilling were outlined to Mining Weekly by African Rainbow Minerals (ARM) executive: growth and strategic development in the executive chairperson’s office Mike Schmidt following the Johannesburg Stock Exchange-listed company’s presentation of financial results on March 10.

“Those two specific projects can really move the needle in this space,” Master Drilling CEO Danie Pretorius enthused in a Zoom interviews with Mining Weekly. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.)

“In the medium term, we should be well positioned to help the mining industry to get down to some of those orebodies that were not accessible in the past,” an upbeat Pretorius opined.

A novel tunnel boring machine (TBM) at ARM, the diversified mining company headed by Dr Patrice Motsepe, is expected to open up a narrow tabular dipping platinum group metals orebody to allow narrow-reef boring to take place, so that upper group two reef extraction is maximised and waste minimised.

Master Drilling’s activity with ARM, as well as its widespread function in nearly 30 countries, has helped to provide it with stable $332.5-million order book and further extend its already extensive $695.8-million work pipeline involving innovative drilling technologies and mining solutions.

Meanwhile, Pretorius expressed pride in the maturation of the company’s inventive home-grown drilling and cutting technologies and displayed steadfastness in the its determination to enhance safety, uplift productivity, and magnify cost-effectiveness.

Beyond its core technologies, the far-reaching Fochville-based Master Drilling has strategically invested in asset-light digital ventures that encompass proximity detection solutions and integrated data and resource management systems specifically designed for mining operations.

Mining Weekly: What should be the big takeaway from your 2024 financials?

Pretorius: The two financial indicators that stand out are the profitability of the business and the balance sheet. For a company this size to increase the dividend 23% to nearly R100-million, with five times cover, is very important.

Is the transition to the green economy still a big driver of business for Master Drilling?

There are quite a few initiatives that we're busy with in the green economy space. Top of mind is the ARM project, the reef-cutting project that we’re busy with, which was mentioned in the interview you had with Mike Schmidt of ARM, and just some context on that. If we can successfully roll out that reef-cutting project, we can probably, in theory, halve the waste development of a mine. Typically, a 600 000 t mine could well become a 300 000 t mine, with the same ounces produced. This initiative is probably number one. Number two is the PCD blade cutting project, which is probably the most effective mining tool currently available, and we’re about to commission that in the industry as well.

Give us an update on the way Master Drilling is helping mining companies to fast-track access to orebodies, for example, African Rainbow Minerals, headed by Dr Patrice Motsepe?

Two important points to take away from the interview you had earlier on with Patrice and his team. The one is the shaft-boring project. Typically what it would mean for the industry is that we could probably drill a shaft down to depth in half the time.

What is the inside story of Master Drilling’s partnership with Element Six?

We've joined up with Element Six to help us with the research and development for the PCD blade cutting project, regarding the mix and what we can probably add from their learnings in the mechanical cutting space. That's pretty much the joint venture and the agreement we have with Element Six – to help us to optimise cutter consumption, which is the top cost driver when it comes to mechanical cutting,

How is Master Drilling’s digitiser A&R Engineering & Mining Supplies coping with demand?

This is a very dynamic industry. It's been driven by legislation worldwide, and as you probably see in the news, new legislation has been passed to increase the safety performance of mines or to force the miners to work safer. What A&R is doing in the safety space is probably underestimated. Maybe a step back. You must remember that about 50% of all mining fatalities and injuries stem from either winch operations and/or mobile equipment, including locomotives, and I think A&R deals head-on with those two. These guys have been floating below the radar for some time, and I think there's a lot of credit due to them for what they've been doing in the last decade. When we did the acquisition, the idea was to internationalise this business, to take them abroad. It was only a South Africa-based company, and I'm pleased to say today that we’ve moved these guys out to Mexico, just done a small acquisition in Chile, so we’re hoping, in the short-to-medium term, to have more of a global footprint, and for them to leverage the Master Drilling footprint internationally.

Talking internationally, to what extent has Master Drilling been assisted by geographic diversification in 2024?

This is one of the key strategic pillars of the business. It's held us in good state for the past 40 years, not only due to geographic expansion, but also being client-based, commodity-based. Geographical diversification has been fundamental to the growth of the business, and is probably one of the main reasons why we've managed to grow the company for the past 40 years to where it is today.

What are the priorities of Master Drilling as it goes forward?

There's no doubt that our priorities are to commercialise some of these projects that we've mentioned, whether it's the shaft drilling project, the reef-cutting project with ARM, the PDC cutting project, and a project for the TBM. The bottom line is that the sum total of the above is to mechanise mining operation, and to move away from explosive- driven types of operation. That's our key focus, to try and make that difference in the industry.

‘BETTER TOMORROW FOR GENERATIONS TO COME’

In past decades, Engineering News & Mining Weekly paid visits to Element Six on South Africa’s East Rand to gain insight into the ultra-hardness of industrial diamonds.

Now, Element Six’s delivery of a new diamond-enabled tunnelling solution is said to reduce waste rock generation by 17%-plus compared with traditional tunnelling operations.

In mining, tunnels are key for accessing mineral resources and providing transportation and ventilation networks for underground operations.

“Achieving high quality, nonexplosive tunnel construction with various aspects of value generated compared to traditional rock excavation methods is a key global challenge for tunnel builders—a challenge that Master Drilling and Element Six are positioned to address,” Master Drilling executive director Koos Jordaan highlighted in a media release.

Element Six CEO Siobhán Duffy pointed out that by extracting less rock during tunnel development, the solution developed in partnership with Master Drilling would ensure a “better tomorrow for generations to come”.