AL Drilling and Consulting

DRILLING

We specialise in water boreholes, prospecting and blasting in various types of geographical formations.

and BLASTING

AL Drilling and Blasting are experts in prospecting, blasthole drilling and blasting. Andy Volgraaff is the director and has over 21 years of experience in the drilling and blasting industry.

About Us

Strategy

To satisfy our clients. A&L Drilling’s aim is to provide reliable services that fully meet the needs of our customers in the specific time frame.

We seek to establish long-term relationships with clients. We want zero work related incidents. We believe in the importance of taking care of health and safety and the protection of the environment.

Vision

The vision of AL Drilling is to be the market leader in drilling and blasting techniques in South Africa as well as internationally.

We want our clients to experience that they can rely on us to complete any special project efficiently and on time with regard to health, safety and environmental consideration.

Mission

AL Drilling and Blasting's mission is to approach each challenge with reliable and secure solutions to meet the needs of our customers. We aim:

to conduct business in an honest and reliable manner under a strict code of business ethics
to care for our employees
to care for the environment
competitive prices

Sustainability

The empowerment of our staff is at the core of AL Drilling's vision for the future.

Training, skills development and permanent employment are our main objectives.

We hope to develop local people's potential to become outstanding drillers.

Andy has previously worked for a family drilling and blasting business in which he spent many years developing the needed skills and experience to start his own drilling and blasting company.

Andy also possesses experience in drilling through unconsolidated gravel deposits, typical of alluvial diamond exploration obtained in the Northern Cape (Greater Kimberley area, and in mines along the Vaal, Orange and Riet Rivers). He has also worked in Port Nolloth and Kleinzee, drilling blasting holes of ±11300 meters in a time frame of two weeks.

He has also completed work for Kliprand and Alexander Bay Diamond Mines and on various projects along the West Coast. He also has an excellent record of drilling blasting holes for, inter alia, De Beers, Trans Hex and various diamond mines around Kimberley including Cape Lime.

He is familiar with the Kalahari Clay, Bennett Iron Stone, and Iron Ore drilling. He has also drilled incline holes (± 70 Degrees) at PPC DeHoek Piketberg.

Cape Lime, Vredendal made use of his services for their blasting holes. Our recent average meterage per day is ±200m per rig in granite and up to ± 800m in calcrete working a 16 hour day.

Scope of Drilling Methods

Depending on the situation and formation encountered, we are able to employ any of the following methods to drill for water or to do prospect drilling.

Percussion Drilling

Percussion drilling is a manual drilling technique in which a heavy cutting or hammering bit attached to a drill string gets lowered in the open hole or inside a temporary casing.

Auger Drilling (4-16 inch)

An auger is a drilling device, or drill bit, that usually includes a rotating helical screw blade called a "flighting" to act as a screw conveyor to remove the drilled out material. The rotation of the blade causes the material to move out of the hole being drilled.

Reverse Circulation

Also known as RC Drilling. Reverse Circulation drilling uses rods with inner and outer tubes, the drill cuttings are returned to surface inside the rods.

Mud Rotary Drilling

Mud rotary utilizes tri-cone roller, carbide embedded, fixed-cutter diamond, or diamond-impregnated drill bits to wear away at the cutting face. Mud rotary is often used in soft sediments that may or not be saturated with groundwater.

Blasthole Drilling

Blasthole Drilling is a drilling technique whereby a hole is drilled in the rock surface up to certain depth, and then explosives are loaded to induce cracks on the hard surface of the inner geology formation for further deep drilling. This hole which is meant for loading explosives is known as a blasthole.

Drilling Equipment

ROC C65 Surface Drill Rig

The ROC C65 is a high-capacity down-the-hole crawler drill primarily designed for quarry blast hole drilling in virtually all types of rock formations for aggregate production and limestone for cement production with a hole diameter 92mm – 200 mm.

ROC D7 Top Hammer
Drilling Machine

Designed both for construction and quarrying work, the ROC D7 with cabin is a crawler drill with true 102mm top hammer capability, for bench heights up to 28m and a hole diameter of 76mm – 102mm