Epiroc adds to autonomous drilling portfolio with Pit Viper 291
Swedish mining engineering company Epiroc has launched the Pit Viper 291 blasthole drilling rig with improved autonomous features.
The Pit Viper 291 is capable of 279mm to 311 mm diameter holes and has a 38 tonnes bit load capacity. It offers 356 kN of pulldown capacity, 156 kN of pulldown force and 11,000 ft-lbs of torque.
The company said the single-pass rotary drill is designed to tackle larger diameter drilling in soft- to medium-ground conditions. Epiroc’s Rig Control System (RCS) allows the Pit Viper 291 to be configured with scalable automation features, such as fully autonomous drilling.
Adrian Speer, Product Line Manager Blasthole drilling, Epiroc, said the Pit Viper 291 had advanced autonomous features, and offered a combination of large diameter drilling on a small platform.
The unveiling of the Pit Viper 291 comes as Epiroc also releases its latest generation of rock reinforcement drill rigs at MINExpo 2021. The Boltec M10 and the larger Boltec E10 are fully mechanised rock bolting rigs for medium and large tunnels.
Peter Bray, Global Product Manager in Epiroc’s Underground division, said it has become more difficult to secure increasingly fragmented rock as mining operations deeper underground.
“The Boltec M10 and Boltec E10 introduce previously unavailable autonomous functionality, this is the benchmark in underground rock reinforcement,” Bray said.
