Product overview · OP-01 · Australian Patent 2014273848
RipTerra™
High Kinetic Flow Tricone Drill Bit
The bit that clears its own path – faster metres, longer life, less dust, lower cost per metre from the first hole.
The problem every mine pays for
Every conventional tricone chokes on its own cuttings.
The convex underside – unchanged for 90 years – traps broken rock against the hole bottom and re-grinds it to dust: wasted energy, respirable fines at the collar, faster wear, and a 260–280 m/hr founder point beyond which more pulldown drills slower. Drilling performance, not rig power, sets the cost of every metre.
The RipTerra™ difference – patented kinetic flow
Confirmed in the field – the choke is removed.
- Concave-profiled underside – no stagnation zone; cuttings keep velocity
- Shaped discharge channels – flow steered either side of the jet nozzles
- Single-pass evacuation – rock exits before it can be re-ground
- Drop-in fitment – standard pin and change-out, site-normal settings
cuttings trapped · re-ground into dust
single-pass exit past the jets
Schematic – not to scale
At a glance
- Drop-in – zero rig modification
- Patented – AU 2014273848
- Field-proven on operating mines
- Cuts collar dust at the source
- Fewer change-outs, less live work
- Headroom for autonomous drilling
- Australian designed & engineered
- Breakeven holds at zero life gain
Proven in production – not projected
+15%
sustained over 10,560 m of production drilling – the site re-ordered
300–440
m/hr founder ceiling (+~30%) vs 260–280 standard, on D60K & 6240 rigs
2.6×
standard-bit life with the TurboTerra™ sub, proven at Bengalla
+30%
instantaneous penetration, zero bogging – independent proof-of-concept
Founder ceiling
Beyond the founder point, more pulldown drills slower.
A standard tricone traps broken rock against the hole bottom and re-grinds it. Give the cuttings a single-pass exit and the ceiling lifts.
Technical specifications
RipTerra™ at a technical level.
Every figure below is field-measured or drawn from the DrillTerra cost model. Full trial records and the live model are available in the evidence pack.
Configuration
- Product
- RipTerra™ kinetic-flow tricone
- Production unit
- 229 mm
- Ground class
- Soft to medium
- Face profile
- Concave, with shaped discharge channels
- Fitment
- Drop-in – standard pin and change-out
- Rig modification
- None – site-normal settings and bailing air
Field-measured performance
- Sustained ROP
- +15% over 10,560 m of production drilling
- Instantaneous penetration
- +30%, zero bogging
- Founder ceiling
- 300–440 m/hr vs 260–280 standard
- Bit life with TurboTerra™ sub
- 2.6× standard-bit life
- Change-outs avoided
- ~48 per rig-year
Economics (Hunter Valley inputs)
- Total drilling cost
- $8.96 → $7.45 per metre
- Saving per metre
- $1.51
- Penetration-only floor
- ≈$1.17 per metre
- Per rig-year
- $597K
- 5-year fleet NPV
- $51.8M
- Breakeven
- +11% ROP at zero life gain
Protection
- RipTerra™
- Australian patent 2014273848 – granted
- RockTerra™
- WO 2025/073006 A1 – filed internationally
- TurboTerra™
- Patent pending · international protection
Design principle
A tricone engineered around cuttings evacuation – not just cutting.
What it means in dollars
On Hunter Valley inputs, total drilling cost falls from $8.96 to $7.45 per metre – both terms improve: a longer-lived bit amortises cheaper and every metre takes fewer rig hours – roughly half a million dollars per rig-year. Downside fenced: at zero life gain, +11% breaks even – the field gave +15%.
Penetration gain alone is worth ≈$1.17 per metre – the conservative floor beneath the $1.51 anchor.
Total drilling cost per metre · Hunter Valley inputs
- Saving
- $1.51 /m
- Penetration-only floor
- ≈$1.17 /m
- Breakeven
- +11% ROP
Beyond the metres
Second-order gains, first-order value.
01Safety
~48 fewer bit change-outs per rig-year – less live work at the deck
02Dust
Regrind is the dominant fines source; RipTerra™ removes it at origin
03Carbon
850+ rig-hours returned → 138–354 tCO₂e avoided per rig-year
04Autonomy
+30% founder headroom for auto-drill optimisers to actually use
One platform · three products
A system, not a single tool.
Customer stories
Proven on operating mines, not on paper.
The evidence pack – on request
See it on your own numbers.
Every operation’s ground, rigs and rates differ – so we don’t ask you to take ours. Put your bit price, bit life and penetration rate into the live cost model and the case rebuilds itself on your inputs – in minutes.
- 014-page technical whitepaper
- 0296 s DEM simulation video
- 03Live cost model – your inputs
- 04Full field trial record
Faster metres · longer bit life · less dust · lower cost per metre – from the first hole.