As you celebrate your 35^th anniversary this year, looking back, what have been some of Master Drilling’s greatest milestones in Africa?

Founded in 1986, Master Drilling delivers innovative drilling technologies and has built trusted partner relationships with blue-chip major and mid-tier companies in the mining, civil engineering and building construction sectors and across various commodities worldwide. Our operations span across the African continent in the DRC, Zambia, Mali, Ghana and Sierra Leone. Furthermore, we have operations in Latin America in Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru. Master Drilling also has a presence in the US, Canada, Australia, India, Turkey, Ecuador and China.

Some of our milestones include listing on the JSE in 2012; securing the Kolomela contact in 2013; acquiring the Atlantis RB company in 2018; developing the MTB concept; expanding our drilling footprint with the acquisition of Geoserv; and finally, investing in AVA in 2021. 

Can you elaborate on your horizontal raise boring (HRB) method and mobile tunnel borer (MTB) solutions and their applications?

Horizontal development represents 70-80% of underground development. Conventionally this is being done through drilling and blasting methodology. The MTB allows for a mechanized boring of a horizontal excavation. There is no blasting involved that would lead to fractured ground or safety hazards. Furthermore, the design is modular to assist miners with moving the machine to underground workings. The machine will increase productivity and is best suited for the capital expansion in mines.

How does your investment in AVA better position you in the market and add value to your service?

AVA Solutions (“AVA”) is a specialist in data-driven mining fleet management solutions. AVA has achieved significant recognition in South Africa by creating a captive market for its disruptive, hardware agnostic and quick to implement Software as a Service (SaaS) model at much lower costs to other solutions. Currently, AVA’s unique digital platform analyses and tracks more than 1,800 load & haul vehicles across 28 different sites in five countries for a range of blue-chip companies.

The next developments for AVA’s scalable platform will focus on new elements including scheduling and logistics that will enable mines to not only improve productivity of the load and haul value chain but of the entire mining value chain

What are the challenges you encounter when operating in South Africa and how does it compare to other mining jurisdictions?

Mining is about 8% of GDP in RSA and employs around 450,000 people. South Africa is sitting on 70% of the world PGMs. Furthermore, South Africa is well endowed with other very significant minerals such as gold, manganese, and iron. Although most commodities are on a bull run, we have some unique challenges in RSA.

The challenge is to attract foreign direct investment into mining. Our share of the global exploration spend in RSA is around 1%. The lack of FDI can mainly be attributed to policy uncertainty, labor unrest, skills deficit and a poor power supply.

Master Drilling works with key stakeholders in the industry such as the IDC and some tier 1 miners to develop technology that will revolutionize the industry. We are seen as a thought leader when it comes to rock cutting technologies and we have seen a positive impact in our order book because of the improved commodity prices. 

Furthermore, having made significant investments in our fleet, technology, and geographical diversification over the past couple of years, we are now positioned to capitalize on the predicted commodities bull run without requiring significant additional capital investment. Master Drilling has a very flexible business model and diversified footprint that helps us to quickly adapt and utilize opportunities.

We are confident that we will remain an important player in solving some of the unique problems the South African mining industry faces.

Which areas of growth are you targeting for Master Drilling over the next two years and what is your strategy?

Our strategy will remain focused on solving the key issues of clients. This is related to aspects of safety, cost and productivity. Hence, we will look at opportunities for organic and inorganic growth. On the inorganic growth side, we continuously look for key M&As that fit with our solutions offering and that will challenge the status quo.

We also continue to develop and use new and disruptive technologies such as MTB, SBS and a more holistic and comprehensive turnkey operation where we deliver a complete solution. This implies getting involved in the consultation, design, concept testing and providing a drilling/boring and auxiliary service.