HDD Braamfontein (Rock Drilling)

This crossing consisted of the installation of a 200mm HDPE water line in hard rock.

We established our 4045 HDD rig and Straightline Air Hammer for this crossing. We encountered hard rock formations which took its toll on our hammers' tungsten carbide inserts.

At the tie-in point, the client dug down to the invert using pneumatic jackhammers, the rock formation was so hard that they broke 5 moils before lunch.

This crossing was across the main road that was constantly busy with traffic, including a dedicated bus lane. HDD causes limited traffic disruption when compared to open trenching which in this instance would have required the entire road to be closed off and traffic to be diverted to alternative routes. Let's not even start with the project duration when digging into a formation like this.

Rock drilling in general is always a costly exercise, the specialized tooling is extremely expensive, drilling in hard rock formations takes a toll on the rock tools. This is reason not many companies offer rock drilling as a service in South Africa.