Société Nationale Industrielle et Minière, known as SNIM, which is one of Africa's largest iron ore producers, has ordered a package of Epiroc Pit Viper 351 drill rigs with advanced automation solutions that will be used at the new F'Derick mining site. Epiroc will, in addition, provide service supervision and spare parts.

The equipment order is valued at around SEK150 million (US$15 million) and was booked in the second quarter 2022.

"Epiroc has a long-term relationship with SNIM, and we look forward to continue supporting the customer with optimal productivity and safety at the new mine site," said Helena Hedblom, Epiroc's president and CEO.

The Pit Viper 351 rigs are manufactured in Texas, USA. They will be installed with automation features including AutoDrill, which allows for up to 100 per cent of the hole drilling cycle to be in automatic mode with high consistency and reliability of operations, and with AutoLevel, which minimises the time it takes to level and delevel and hence provides more time drilling. They will also be equipped with Epiroc's telematics system, which allows for intelligent monitoring of machine performance and productivity in real-time.