Atlas Copco put a unique and potent weapon in the hands of quarries and other rock drillers interested in cutting drilling and blasting costs when the company combined its Rig Control System (RCS) with its Global-Position-ing-System-driven Hole Navigation on surface drills. The SmartRig configuration for surface drills debuted in Europe in 2007 and finally made it to North America last year, onto Conco quarries in Springfield, Mo., aboard a ROC F9C, where they're saving enough to recoup the high-tech surface drill's $100,000 price premium in less than three years. rn"We were drilling an 8 × 12-foot pattern before and we've gone to 10×14 feet," says Chris Upp, Conco's director of quarry operations. "We may be at 12×16 before it's over with - that may work for us."
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