Aquirian up on commercialised trial of drilling tech

Shares in Aquirian were higher after the mining services company began an extended commercialised trial of its Collar Keeper drill and blast technology at a minesite in the Northern Goldfields.

Aquirian’s wholly-owned subsidiary TBS Mining Solutions is trialling the system a fleet of EpirocT45 drill rigs at the undisclosed minesite.

The Collar Keeper system removes the need for collar piping — a manual, time-consuming and expensive process used to stop drill holes from collapsing — and avoids the need for redrills.

The company has alredy generated more than $6.6 million in sales from the Collar Keeper product but is working on a system that will mechanise and eventually automate its use.

Aquirian’s executive director of business development and innovation, Greg Patching, said the trial marked a major milestone for the development and commercialisation of the system.

The company said TBS had also received strong interest from several overseas mining companies and received its first orders for a commercial trial in Zambia starting next month.

Aquirian, which also operates training, recruitment and explosives storage businesses, listed on the ASX in July last year after raising $8 million in a heavily oversubscribed initial public offering.

Its shares closed up 1.5¢, or 4.5 per cent, at 35¢ on Tuesday.