Barrick, Sandvik partner for Porgera surface fleet replacement

Barrick Gold (NYSE: GOLD; TSE: ABX) has actually chosen Sandvik Mining and Rock Solutions to provide 7 surface area drill gears to change an aging non-Sandvik fleet at its Porgera cash cow in Papua New Guinea.

The order, which was positioned in Q1 2025, consists of 4 Sandvik DR410i rotating blasthole drill gears and 3 Leopard DI650i down-the-hole (DTH) drill gears, along with connected solutions. Pierce shipments are anticipated to start in June and proceed with November 2025.

Sandvik DR410i is a portable, effective and technically progressed drill gear, developed for rotating and DTH openings from 152 to 254 millimeters (6 to 10 inches). Leopard DI650i is a self-supporting, crawler-mounted, smart DTH drill gear for requiring high-capacity manufacturing boring, covering opening sizes from 115 to 203 millimeters (4.5 to 8 inches).

2 of the Leopard DI650i drills at Porgera will certainly be furnished with the reverse flow (RC) tasting choice Sandvik presented for its front runner DTH gear in 2021. The RC boring system, which is completely incorporated right into the Leopard DI650i system, gives a trusted and precise technique for ore body recognition and quality control.

” Sandvik DTH and rotating drill gears have actually shown to be both efficient and dependable at our various other procedures around the world,” Barrick mining exec Glenn Heard claimed in a press release. “We eagerly anticipate proceeding our collaboration and releasing these value-adding surface area boring modern technologies from Sandvik.”

New Porgera Limited (NPL) is 51% had by PNG stakeholders, with Barrick and Zijin possessing the continuing to be 49%. NPL has actually designated Barrick Niugini as the driver of the Porgera mine.

Situated at an elevation of 2,300 meters, Porgera at first started manufacturing in 1990 under Second Dome, which Barrick obtained in 2006. Porgera was put on treatment and upkeep in April 2020 and returned to procedures in December 2023.

The procedure consists of both a below ground mine and open pit and hosts an orebody with gauged and shown sources of 13.3 million gold ounces and presumed sources of 5.56 million gold ounces.

All 7 surface area drills at Porgera will certainly be attached under Sandvik’s Remote Checking Solution (RMS), which Barrick turned out to its whole international below ground fleet of greater than 200 linked Sandvik vehicles, loaders and drills throughout 2023. RMS has actually currently lowered upkeep prices while boosting uptime throughout Barrick’s Sandvik fleet.

The surface area boring financial investment comes simply months after Barrick partnered with Sandvik to provide vehicles, loaders and drills for Porgera’s below ground procedures. The initial below ground devices were provided in 2024 and shipments are anticipated to proceed with 2028.

” We are thrilled to expand our collaboration with Barrick from below ground to the surface area procedure, where we will certainly offer our most current modern technologies and work together to maximize performance and expense performances,” claimed Mats Eriksson, Head Of State of Sandvik Mining and Rock Solutions.

Sandvik Mining and Rock Solutions and Barrick prolonged an international structure arrangement in late 2023, improving the lasting collaboration in between the OEM and extracting significant.

Sandvik’s existing entity in Papua New Guinea will certainly better increase regional capacities and the labor force to sustain the expanding Porgera fleet.