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Gold/Mining/Energy : Rock Resources -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: the Chief who wrote (1800)	3/28/2000 6:56:00 PM
From: Mike Gold	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1996

Chief, is this drill rig earmarked for Rock Resources? If so, I'm in! centredaily.com Tuesday, March 28, 2000 Huge drill leaves Philipsburg for Chile By MARGARET HOPKINS Centre Daily Times PHILIPSBURG - A massive drill - as wide as a three-car garage and taller than a six-story building - is scheduled to leave manufacturer REICHdrill today for the copper mines of Chile. More than 100 company employees and their families, local legislators and economic development officials on Monday watched the 170,000-pound C-750-D inch onto the truck that will take it to Houston. The $900,000 drill is due the first week in May to reach Santiago, where it will be assembled for an international trade show, said Drew Drebitko, owner and president of REICHdrill. After the show, the drill heads 150 miles inland to the copper mines. Drebitko, co-owner Doug Burns-worth and several other REICHdrill employees will be on hand to help with assembly and the drill's initial start-up. The drill's size was matched by employees' considerable efforts to produce it in four months and one day, Drebitko said. "We received the order in Novem-ber and did seven months of work in four months," said Drebitko, who said one employee due to retire Dec. 31 stayed on the job to help make the drill. Billed by the company as "the world's most powerful drill," the C-750-D uses two diesel engines that produce 755 horsepower each. While other rigs have double engines, none has the same power, Drebitko said. Although the company has sold smaller drills outside the United States, this is REICHdrill's first rig customized for high-altitude operation. The mines are located 10,000 feet to 15,000 feet up in the Andes Mountains. Drebitko and Burnsworth anticipate future sales because the company now has a distributorship in Chile, the world's largest producer of copper. The drill caps four years of double-digit growth by the company, which began producing drills in 1982. When Drebitko bought it from then-parent company Chicago Pneumatic, REICHdrill produced nine drills a year. Company employees numbered 12. Today the company produces 60 to 80 drills a year and has 75 employees, said Drebitko, who declined to give annual revenues. Continued expansion is in the works. The company plans to add 40,000 square feet to its facility and double employees in the next few years, Drebitko said. Some of that growth will come from international sales. The company plans to concentrate marketing of its equipment in South America and Ireland, Burnsworth said. While REICHdrill's competitors may make seven times more drills, REICHdrill can be more responsive to customers' needs because it's a smaller outfit, Burnsworth said. "We also have made improvements to existing technology, so our drills work faster, are more user-friendly and are easier to maintain," Burnsworth said. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Margaret Hopkins can be reached at 231-4643 and mhopkins@centredaily.com.