Sandvik Mining and Rock Solutions will supply seven surface drill rigs to replace an aging non-Sandvik fleet at Barrick Gold’s Porgera gold mine in Papua New Guinea.
The order, which was placed in the first quarter of 2025, includes four Sandvik DR410i rotary blasthole drill rigs and three Leopard DI650i down-the-hole (DTH) drill rigs, as well as associated services. Drill deliveries are expected to begin in June and continue through November.
“Sandvik DTH and rotary drill rigs have proven to be both productive and reliable at our other operations across the globe,” said Glenn Heard, mining executive at Barrick. “We look forward to continuing our cooperation and deploying these value-adding surface drilling technologies from Sandvik.”
Separately, LXML added a new Sandvik jumbo drill rig to its Sepon underground gold-copper mine in Laos. The jumbo drill will aid the miner in continuously improving production efficiency, providing strong support for the production targets of 2025 and beyond.
The mine already has two Sandvik jumbo drills and this new one is expected to bring Sepon’s drill rig fleet to an industry-leading equipment availability rate of 85%.