Exploration drilling Serbian style - Atlas Copco

Drills of choice: The Pit Viper 275 is used at Poltava GOK to drill 251 mm blast holes for the
production of iron ore pellets. These drills represent state-of-the-art large hole drilling technology.
The best there is: Driller Victor Voznuk enjoys
the comfortable and ergonomic PV-275 cab.
The
Profitable pellets
How Ukrainian mine uses modern technology
to keep pole position in global iron markets
of Poltava
Poltava GOK (PGOK) is one of the most technically advanced iron ore mines in
Ukraine and, arguably, one of the most progressive of its kind in the world. M&C
looks at how it made the transition from Iron Curtain to iron exports.
The open pit iron ore mine near the town
of Komsomolsk in central Ukraine is
one of 10 deposits located on a single
5 km long magnetic anomaly strike. Owned
by Poltava GOK, it dates back to the former
Soviet Union when efficiency was not its
first priority.
However, following Ukraine’s independence
in 1992, and subsequent privatization,
everything changed and today the ore
dressing and processing facilities are almost
unrecognizable.
PGOK, which is owned by Ferrexpo plc,
is a modern, well equipped and highly
developed operation which, with annual
exports of some 10 million tonnes of iron
ore pellets, ranks among the world’s top
pellet suppliers.
The turning point in the history of PGOK
came when the new management made two
key decisions: firstly, to concentrate solely
on the production of pellets, and secondly,
to invest only in the most modern mining
equipment available. And it is the combination
of these two goals that has driven the
mine to success and given it a solid position
among international iron ore producers.
Modern drilling
The iron ore at the PGOK deposit is extracte d
from medium hard rock and to drill the required
251 mm blastholes, the mine specialists
chose the Atlas Copco Pit Viper 275,
a top-of-the-line rotary drill featuring the
computerized Atlas Copco Rig Control
Syste m (see box page 37).
Vladimir Chasnyk, parts and service
manager at Atlas Copco Ukraine has this
to say: “There’s no doubt that PGOK is one
of the most modern enterprises in Ukraine.
The company is the industry leader with
modern equipment and has a determination
to keep up with all new technical
developments.
Kiev
UKRAINE
Poltava GOK
“PGOK made up its mind to focus on
iron ore pellets – in contrast to the other
mines in the country which have a lot of
different products – and they recognized
the superior performance of the Pit Viper
to help them achieve their goals.”
Steady progress
By studying the productivity report, it is
easy to see why the Pit Viper is the rig of
choice here. Since it was first introduced
into the fleet in April 2006, productivity and
34 Mining & Construction – 3 / 2011