Sandvik Mining secured an order to supply a DR410i rotary drill rig, equipped for autonomous operation, to Mariana Minerals’ Copper One mine in southeastern Utah. The order was booked in the first quarter and has been delivered to the site, with commissioning of AutoMine Surface Drilling ongoing.
The project marks the beginning of a collaboration between Sandvik and Mariana Minerals to explore and advance autonomous surface drilling in a next-generation mining environment. Mariana Minerals has also purchased Deswik Mine Planning software for Copper One, expanding its investment with Sandvik to include digital assets.
At its Copper One site, Mariana Minerals is developing an “autonomy-first” operation, where equipment and processes are designed to be integrated into MarianaOS, Mariana’s internally developed autonomous orchestration platform.
As part of this approach, the Sandvik DR410i will be deployed as an autonomous-ready drill, with the rig integrated into MarianaOS using the high-resolution operational and subsurface data to optimize downstream decisions across the mine and processing plan.
“This project reflects a shared ambition to advance the role of automation in surface mining. By working closely with Mariana Minerals, we have the opportunity to further develop our autonomous drilling capabilities while supporting a new approach to mine design and operation,” Mats Eriksson, president of Sandvik Mining, said.
The Sandvik DR410i is a compact and high-performance rotary blasthole drill rig for surface mining, capable of drilling 152–251 millimeter holes. It features Sandvik’s iSeries architecture and DRi system. The latter enables real-time data capture and supports drill planning, execution and analysis.
Beyond the initial equipment delivery, both companies are working toward continued collaboration as the Copper One project develops and as Mariana Minerals progresses additional projects in North America.
Source: Sandvik Mining