Engineering and Mining Journal - Whether the market is copper, gold, nickel, iron ore, lead/zinc, PGM, diamonds or other commodities, E&MJ takes the lead in projecting trends, following development and reporting on the most efficient operating pr
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BAUMA 2013 production costs dramatically. The blastholes needed to be drilled longer and much straighter. Intensive development began and one solution to the problem was to use water for power transmission. To power the down-the-hole (DTH) hammer, LKAB used air, and so did everyone else. Using water instead of air for both powering and lubrication of the equipment, they wanted to increase drilling. Longer and straighter blastholes would yield more iron ore per blast, an important part of lowering the production cost. Using water would also improve the work environment by minimizing oil mist and dust in the air. The new water-powered drilling technology proved to be able to drill both straighter and deeper into the ore body. Today LKAB has increased its blast hole depth to 56 m, compared to the previous 28 m. Each blast now gives eight times more ore than before. The water-powered drilling technology is an essential part of LKAB's great success in the world market. Wassara's water-powered drilling technology has now been used to drill more than 18 million m of blastholes. Scaling up from 12 to 28 m between levels and drifts, drifting was reduced by 70% and the volume per drilled meter increased by 500%, according to LKAB. COMPANY PROFILE- PAID ADVERTISEMENT The ALL Family of Companies A legacy of excellence is unstoppable. In 1964, the ALL legacy began with three brothers and one crane. Three generations later, our business values echo the family values handed down by our founders. We base our daily operations on their unshakable code of conduct and their vision of unequivocal service. Unequivocal service. Prior to our founding, contractors owned their own equipment—and all the headaches and expense of maintenance. ALL Erection & Crane Rental Corporation's founding philosophy was to not only shift ownership, but to own the maintenance responsibility. Today, customers expect that we will provide reliable machines to get a job done, and, to meet that expectation, we train every member of our team to understand that we are more than a crane rental company; rather, we are a fleet maintenance company. The difference was understood by our founders. In short, constant maintenance positively affects customer productivity and the value of the ALL brand. ALL has grow to be better prepared, both in advance with properly maintained machines, and in eventuality, with the best mechanics and a war chest of parts on the ground ready to take flight when the inevitable episode of downtime 104 E&MJ; • JUNE 2013 occurs. These parts, service, and even the equipment itself are delivered along a supply route, which also took great planning. This is ALL, and the legacy is now unstoppable. Growing new branches grows the supply route. The model of geographically tangent growth is a system steadfastly adhered to by the ALL enterprise to ensure that local, regional, and national customers benefit from the strength of the entire family of companies. We never open outposts to stand alone, unsupported. Instead, we have grown carefully for three generations. We consider each new branch to be a necessity to local customers, but also part of a chain, one made stronger link by link. For more information, visit www.allcrane.com/legacy. Contact Information: ALL Erection & Crane Rental Corp. (headquarters) 4700 Acorn Drive Cleveland, OH 44131 800-232-4100 (toll free) 216-524-6550 (local) 216-525-3683 (fax) Website: www.allcrane.com www.e-mj.com