Robit drilling at La Arena: performance takeaways for hard-rock blast design
Reviewed by Tom Sullivan
First reported on International Mining – News
30 Second Briefing
Robit’s down-the-hole drilling tools have completed competitive field trials at the La Arena open-pit gold-copper mine in northern Peru, located on the Andean porphyry copper-gold belt. Testing focused on hammer and bit performance in high-altitude, hard-rock conditions typical of large porphyry deposits, with Robit equipment reported to maintain penetration rates and wear life against rival systems. For mine operators, the results point to potential reductions in bit change-out frequency and more consistent blast-hole quality in similar Andean geologies.
Technical Brief
- La Arena’s bench blast-holes were drilled in porphyry host rock with highly abrasive mineralogy.
- Test programme compared Robit hammers and bits directly against incumbent supplier tooling under identical rig settings.
- Trials were run at high elevation, imposing reduced air density and lower compressor efficiency on DTH systems.
- Bit performance was monitored through drilled metres per bit, gauge wear, and regrind intervals.
- Hammer behaviour was assessed via operating pressure, impact frequency and air consumption logged at the rig.
- Field crews tracked deviation and collaring accuracy to relate bit condition to blast-hole straightness and burden control.
- Maintenance data captured change-out time, thread damage and shank failures to quantify non-productive rig hours.
- Outcomes provide a reference for DTH tool selection in other Andean porphyry mines with similar altitude constraints.
Our Take
Robit’s appearance at both La Arena in northern Peru and the Kevitsa nickel-copper open pit in Finland suggests the company is stress-testing its DTH tools across very different rock types and climates, which is useful benchmarking data for operators considering standardising consumables across multi-continent gold-copper portfolios.
Gold and copper feature heavily in our mining coverage, and Robit’s repeat presence in these commodities indicates that drill-string performance is becoming a differentiator for open-pit operators in Andean and Nordic hard-rock settings where bit wear and hammer life strongly influence total drilling cost.
For Andean metallogenic belts like northern Peru, where benches often transition between oxide and harder sulphide zones, demonstrated tool resilience at La Arena is likely to appeal to mines planning pushbacks or deeper phases that will see higher-strength rock and more demanding blast patterns.
Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.
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