The drill rig that brought good fortune to Malaysia

When Oriental Fortunes decided to replace its aging drill rigs with modern equipment, no-one could have known just how fortuitous that decision would turn out to be.

The company put the Atlas Copco PowerROC T35 drill rig to work in the limestone quarries that it operates for the owners, Lafarge Cement, the global provider of building materials.

Since that day, the rig has been a true workhorse, drilling 8 hours per day, 7 days per week with very little downtime – for the past four years!

As a result of this high level of consistency and availability over such a long period of time, the company now says the rig is largely responsible for bringing good fortune, significantly boosting their business.

Oriental Fortunes provides drilling services in five limestone Lafarge quarries at Ipoh, Simpang Pulai, Rawang, Langkawi and Langat Selangor.

Site Manager Sariful Bahari B. Mohd Arif explains: “It was in 2010 that we decided to buy a new rig to increase our capability and our client, Lafarge, recommended that we look at the PowerROC T35 from Atlas Copco due to its good performance and high efficiency.

Arif adds that downtime has been extremely low and that production output in the fractured rock formations has significantly improved. Due to the robustness of this rig, its efficiency and high availability, he says the company has also been able to the save a lot of time in terms of service and maintenance.

Designed for drilling 64–115 mm holes, this tophammer rig has an extendable boom, a COP 1840 rock drill and Atlas Copco Secoroc’s T45 couplings and 89 mm ballistic button bits. It operates on benches 8 meters high using a 4 m x 3 m drilling pattern. Net average penetration is 1.6 m/min (40–45 m/h).

According to Site Manager Arif, it was a “first in mind “ choice. “Lafarge has had previous experience of Atlas Copco rigs at other sites and they knew they were robust and reliable,” he says. “The rig’s ability to drill straight holes and give long accessory life means that it was perfect for our application.”

The company has one service mechanic who follows the Atlas Copco Preventive Maintenance Schedule. Service intervals are set at every 250, 500, and 1 000 hours and to date, the rig has logged 5 864 engine hours.

Based on its experiences of the last four years, Oriental Fortune recently took another fortuitous decision. They intend to expand the business and have acquired two more PowerROC T35 rigs to help achieve the goal. One of the driving factors behind this decision, says Arif, was the support offered by Atlas Copco. “During the four years of running the PowerROC T35 we have received very strong support from the Atlas Copco service team. They have provided us with training on daily operation and maintenance and whenever we have made a service request they have responded quickly. This has enabled us to keep the machines running as required,” he concludes. And the PowerROC that paved the way? Still going strong.

Epiroc operated under the trademark “Atlas Copco” prior to January 1, 2018.