JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Raise bore drilling company Master Drilling on Wednesday announced its expansion into India, where it will support a zinc mine, and Australia, where it will support a gold project.

The Johannesburg Stock Exchange-listed company said it would be deploying a large raisebore machine to a Vedanta group Hindustan Zinc mine as part of the initial $6-million Indian contact, while another of its large raisebore machines was being contracted to a specialist underground mining contracting company working on an Australian gold project.

“Both contracts are in commodities targeted in our strategic plan,” Master Drilling CEO Danie Pretorius said in a release to Creamer Media’s Mining Weekly Online.

Both contracts relate to underground ventilation works to be completed over the next two years.

The company said it would continue to explore new geographies and further diversify its contracting approach to maximise the utilisation rates of its machines and further develop its global footprint.

Established in 1986, Master Drilling offers innovative drilling technologies to the mining, civil engineering and building construction sectors.