Welsh slate producers Alfred McAlpine Slate have virtually eliminated hand drilling at their Ffestiniog and Cwt y Bugail Welsh slate quarries by buying two new Tamrock Commando 110E drilling machines from Sandvik Mining & Construction.

McAlpine decided to invest in the Commandos after seeing the Commando in operation at a Hanson Bath & Portland quarry on the Dorset island of Portland, where Hanson use four of them.

The Commando is the smallest, fully mechanised hydraulic, self-propelled drilling unit available on a four-wheel drive carrier and was designed specifically for confined spaces like dimensional stone quarries. It can drill holes up to 38mm to 9m deep.