Wassara Water Powered Drilling Systems

complete systems for effective drilling in soil and rock

Wassara oIIers the mining and construction industry complete systems Ior eIIective drilling
in soil and rock, based on our core competence in water powered drilling.
The heart oI all the systems is the patented Wassara in the hole hammer which is
powered by high pressure water instead oI air. For the mining industry Wassara oIIers two
diIIerent systems: Wassara Production Drilling System which is used Ior drilling blast
holes and Wassara Slot Drilling System which is used Ior burn cut drilling. All components
in the systems have been designed to give a total overall optimum perIormance.
Wassara water powered drilling systems has enabled Swedish mining company LKAB to
scale up its sublevel caving operation in the iron ore mines in Kiruna and Malmberget by
roughly a Iactor two. This is due to the Iact that the Wassara system drills very long straight
holes which results in well Iragmented ore aIter blasting. This has made it possible to
increase the distance between sublevels Irom 15 to 30 meters resulting in large cost savings
Ior LKAB.
The systems also have a number oI environmental beneIits. Since the hammer runs on clean
water without any oil additives it results in a working environment Iree oI dust particles and
oil mist. Since a high pressure water pump is much more eIIicient than an air compressor
the energy consumption is roughly 25 oI a comparable air drilling system. A side eIIect
oI this is oI course that there is also a reduction oI CO2 emission, highly important in these
times oI global warming.
ST HO DRIING - MINING
The Wassara Production Drilling System consists oI hammers, bits, check valves, drill
tubes, high pressure swivels, high pressure hoses and electric high pressure water pumps. It
was originally developed Ior Swedish mining company LKAB who was in search oI a
drilling method which could enable them to scale up its mining operations. Neither air
hammers nor top hammers were deemed suitable Ior this task.
Up to this date LKAB has drilled more than 13 000 000 meters with the system. More and
more mines are now beginning to discover the beneIits oI the Wassara system.
SOT DRIING - MINING
The Wassara Slot Drilling System consists oI pilot hammers, bits, check valves, guided
drill tubes, drill tubes, high pressure swivels, high pressure hoses and electric high pressure
water pumps.
The Iirst step is to drill all the pilot holes. Then the pilot tube is inserted into the pilot hole.
The Iirst slot hole is then drilled parallel to the pilot hole thanks to the pilot tube. The
process is repeated until the required slot length is achieved. Finally the blast holes are
drilled. The advantage is that the blast holes can be optimized regarding direction and
numbers with respect to the slot. Blasting is then perIormed towards the slot.