Master Drilling, a world-leading drilling company, will probably complete a €7m takeover of an underperforming Scandinavian drilling company and buy a Chilean drilling firm to expand its strategic footprint. JSE-listed Master Drilling reported a small increase in interim profit as it brought two more raise bore drilling rigs into production during the six months to end-June. Interim revenue rose 12.5% to $60.52m because of the deployment of two new raise bore drills. Raise bore drills make large holes between underground tunnels or tunnels and the surface. Master Drilling CEO Danie Pretorius said, however, this vertical work, accounting for the majority of its earnings, would soon become secondary to horizontal boring to drill tunnels to access ore bodies in a third of the time it takes to reach them using drills and explosives. He said 70% of underground mining was horizontal work, while the majority of the world’s mines were opencast, which was an area in which Master Drilling wan...
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