Update on Hydraulic DTH System

Mincon Group plc

Update on the Mincon Hydraulic DTH system

Mincon Group plc (ESM: MIO AIM:MCON), the Irish engineering group specialising in the design, manufacture, sale and servicing of rock drilling tools and associated products, today provides a further update on the ongoing development project for its hydraulic DTH hammer system ("Greenhammer").

System on the rig

The Greenhammer, in a 12-inch size, has been installed on its first rig with a customer in Australia and is working in line with expectations during this engineering commissioning phase. It is anticipated that this commissioning phase may take several months while the integrity and robustness of the system in use is trialled and improved.

Iteration and improvement

Initial speeds and ground penetration levels to date have been in line with our expectations, and we have started to gather the data sets from each drilling hole. This process will continue for a further week, following which we expect to complete the complete physical breakdown of the components to examine and test wear throughout the system. All data and the system components will then be brought off-site to be analysed over the Christmas period.

We have begun the tuning of the system elements in situ, with positive results, and we are drilling full holes to their required depth even in these initial days. We expect there will be some engineering refinements required in relation to component tolerances and system integrity that will require minor rework to continue the process of building reliability and sustainability. After this current programme of drilling, we will return to the rig in the new year for the next stage of the engineering commissioning in the field.

In light of the engineering commissioning completed to date, our confidence is growing that the system is viable, commercially practicable, and will represent a significant step forward for Mincon when it is released for commercial deployment.

ENDS

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