STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN -- Epiroc, a leading productivity and sustainability partner for the mining and infrastructure industries, has won a large mining equipment order from CITIC Pacific Mining in Australia. 

CITIC Pacific Mining has ordered a fleet of Epiroc Pit Viper 271 XC blasthole drill rigs with advanced automation features for use at the Sino Iron open-pit mine in the Pilbara region in Western Australia. The powerful Pit Viper drills will be used to drill for magnetite, one of the main iron ores. 

The equipment order was booked in the third quarter 2022 and is valued at more than MSEK 300. 

“Epiroc delivered Pit Viper rigs to the Sino Iron site in 2019, and we are proud to continue this productive partnership as CITIC Pacific Mining is expanding the mine while optimizing productivity and safety,” says Epiroc’s President and CEO Helena Hedblom.   

“In the last three years, Epiroc has provided satisfactory after-sale services to help the three Pit Viper 351 drill rigs perform to expectation and has also successfully established mutual trust with CITIC Pacific Mining,” says Xianglin Cheng, general manager – Mining at CITIC Pacific Mining. “The confidence and trust are the major reasons for us to choose Epiroc.”

The Pit Viper drills are manufactured in Texas. They will be installed with automation features including AutoDrill, which allows for up to 100% of the hole drilling cycle to be in automatic mode with high consistency and reliability of operations; and AutoLevel, which minimizes the time it takes to level and delevel and hence provides more time drilling.

Delivery will begin in 2023.