He will also soon have a reference site for two production drills he believes can make Atlas Copco the market pacesetter in one of the world’s major energy coalfields.
Orders for the Pit Viper PV 275 and DML 60 from Rio Tinto Hunter Valley Operations will see the units delivered around the end of March and June, respectively, this year.
“It’s a particularly big step forward for Atlas Copco because these sorts of machines haven’t been sold in New South Wales for a lot of years,” Swan said.
“It’s going to create great exposure for these drill rigs in the Hunter.”

Atlas Copco’s acquisition of Ingersoll Rand Drilling Solutions in July 2004 (now known as Atlas Copco Drilling Solutions) was followed by the transfer of sales and support responsibilities for the product to Atlas Copco Construction and Mining Australia. The long period of distributor sales and service inactivity has ended.

“One of the rigs, the Pit Viper PV 275, is new to Australia,” Swan said. “There are no units currently running in Australia. I believe it will be the first of many to be sold.
“Once people see it in operation and get some faith in our ability to back the machine, which is always the biggest thing, I expect a lot of positive things to happen. Competitors have got machines in the field; we’ve got some very old machines, up to 10 years old, still in the field. But I believe with these new rigs we will become a force to be reckoned with, no doubt at all.”

The PV 275 multi-pass rotary blast-hole drilling rig is ideally suited to overburden drilling. A track-mounted unit with tophead-drive, it can drill to about 60m and deliver bit load force up to 311.4kN. The standard drill pipe diameter is 180mm and rotary bit size 270mm.

The Atlas Copco DML is a crawler mounted, hydraulic top-head drive, multi-pass rotary drilling rig specifically designed for production blasthole drilling to depths of 55m with a 9.1m drill pipe change. A versatile unit, the DML can be configured as a high pressure drill for DTH drilling.
A diesel engine on the standard DML drives the air compressor and hydraulic system. Operation of the drill is performed using electric over hydraulic controllers ergonomically located so that the operator faces the drill centraliser while drilling.

Swan said strong thermal coal demand and the prospect of higher prices was driving new investment in Hunter Valley projects despite the well documented capacity issues at the port of Newcastle.
“Capital equipment sales are still on the go, which I believe will increase,” he said. “Mines are being approved and there is a lot of expansion happening.”