Wassara

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Water-Powered Drilling Systems

Wassara offers the mining and construction industry complete systems for effective drilling in soil and rock, based on our core competence in water-powered drilling.

 

Address
PO Box 1067,
SE141 22 Huddinge,
Sweden
Phone
Fax Number
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Wassara offers the mining and construction industry complete systems for effective drilling in soil and rock, based on our core competence in water-powered drilling. At the heart of all systems is the patented Wassara™ in-the-hole hammer, which is powered by high-pressure water instead of air. It is the use of high-pressure water that brings a number of advantages such as long straight holes, low energy consumption, and a working environment free of oil mist and dust.

Production drilling systems and slot drilling systems

For the mining industry Wassara offers two different systems: the Wassara production drilling system, which is used for drilling blast holes, and the Wassara slot drilling system, which is used for burn-cut drilling. All components in the systems have been designed to ensure optimum performance.

Water-powered drilling systems for sublevel caving

Wassara water-powered drilling systems have enabled Swedish mining company LKAB to scale up its sublevel caving operation in the iron ore mines in Kiruna and Malmberget by approximately a factor of two. This is due to the fact that the Wassara system drills very long, straight holes, which results in well-fragmented ore after blasting. This has made it possible to increase the distance between sublevels from 15m to 30m, resulting in large cost savings for LKAB.

The systems also have a number of environmental benefits. The hammer runs on clean water without any oil additives, which results in a working environment free of dust particles and oil mist. Since a high-pressure water pump is much more efficient than an air compressor the energy consumption is roughly 25% of a comparable air drilling system. An additional benefit of this is a reduction of CO2 emissions — highly important in these times of climate change.

Wassara production drilling system.
Wassara slot drilling system.
Wassara drilling in the LKAB mines.
The Wassara hammer with stabilised casing enables straight drilling with superior precision.
Slot with blast holes prior to blasting.

Blast-hole drilling systems

The Wassara production drilling system for blast-hole drilling consists of hammers, bits, check valves, drill tubes, high-pressure swivels, high-pressure hoses and electric high-pressure water pumps. It was originally developed for Swedish mining company LKAB, which was in search of a drilling method that could enable it to scale-up its mining operations. Neither air hammers nor top hammers were deemed suitable for this task.

LKAB has currently drilled more than 13,000,000m with the system. More and more mines are now beginning to discover the benefits of the Wassara system.

Slot drilling systems

The Wassara slot drilling system consists of pilot hammers, bits, check valves, guided drill tubes, drill tubes, high-pressure swivels, high-pressure hoses and electric high-pressure water pumps.

The first step is to drill the pilot hole, and the pilot tube is then inserted into the pilot hole. The second hole is then drilled parallel to the pilot hole thanks to the pilot tube. A new pilot hole is drilled and the process is repeated until the required slot length is achieved. Finally the blast holes are drilled.

The advantage of this method is that the blast holes can be optimised regarding direction and numbers with respect to the slot. Blasting is then performed towards the slot.

White Papers

  • Water-Powered Drilling in Mining

    Wassara technology uses water to power the drilling hammer. This gives unrivalled benefits and possibilities in mining. Wassara meets the need for drilling deeper and narrower, more cost-efficient and more environmentally friendly. This makes the water-powered technology the optimal choice.

  • Water-Powered Drilling: The Water Hydraulic DTH Technology

    The Wassara technology uses water to power the down-the-hole (DTH) percussion hammer. This makes it the superior choice for many drilling applications where air-powered DTH hammer, top hammer or rotary drilling equipment are normally used.

Press Releases

  • New MD at Wassara

    Stefan Swartling has been appointed Managing Director for LKAB Wassara AB. He assumed his new position in 27 September 2013.

  • New CEO at LKAB’s Subsidiary Wassara AB

    Peter Schmid takes over as CEO at the Swedish mining company LKAB’s subsidiary Wassara AB from the September 1. He will be located at the head office in Stockholm, Sweden. Peter has a Master of Science degree (MSc) in Industrial Engineering and Management and has more than 25 years of

  • Wassara Water Powered Drilling System for Rana Mines in Norway

    Rana Mines is making considerable investments in a new main level and a change of mining method to sublevel caving, going from open pit to underground mining. Since the design adopted by the mine will require openings and production blastholes longer than what is appropriate for existi

  • Wassara Launches Updated Version of W80 Hammer

    Wassara, renowned for offering complete systems for effective drilling in soil and rock to the mining and construction industry, has launched a new model of the W80 hammer: the W80 N2. The W80 hammer in the upgraded version has an increased piston weight, increased striking velocity an

Projects

Address
LKAB Wassara AB
PO Box 1067
SE141 22 Huddinge
Sweden

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