by Peter Leckie, Head of Product – Axis, Orica Digital Solutions
Since October 2022, Orica Digital Solutions’ Axis Mining Technology has seen a steady stream of product improvements and is now releasing a slew of new technology, setting a new industry standard for surveying workflows.
Building on Axis Mining Technology’s history of bringing industry-leading hardware innovations to market—notably the Champ™ Gyro and Champ™ Ori—the past two years have seen a bolstered product development and an engineering team who are seeking to set a new industry standard, not only with Axis’ renowned hardware, but in tightly integrated software workflows for drillers and geologists alike.
In early 2024, software developments were released to support new, customer-requested workflows from office to field. Following soon after was the introduction of Champ™ Navigator 2, offering high-speed vertical continuous surveying and incorporating incremental increases in measurement precision that have since been applied to the whole Champ™ Navigator suite.
Significant advancements continued in late 2024 with the launch of AXIS Connect™—a new ground-up cloud application that seeks to offer industry-leading survey management via simplified workflows and modern integration points, enabling seamless interoperability with other industry-standard software platforms such as Seequent, CorePlan and Blackfox (AcQuire).
Less than six months later, in early 2025, another major announcement came with the introduction of the AXIS Aligner™. Launching at the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) conference, AXIS Aligner™ features a three-minute start-up time, ergonomic one-arm lift, and innovative push-button clamping mechanism, representing a significant advancement in the safe, easy and precise alignment of a drill rig.
Joshua Brink, Project Manager for Timberline Drilling—an early trial partner of the AXIS Aligner™—says, ‘I’ve had the opportunity to use the new AXIS Aligner on multiple drills, and it is great. The calibration time is incredible, and with the new lightweight design and magnetic clamping system, it’s going to be hard to beat.’
Also on display at PDAC was the soon-tobe-released AXIS All-Gyro™, which is the first downhole tool on the market to offer true all-angle, north-seeking surveying—a game-changer to now support measurements across all angles and modes from a single device. Housed in a significantly smaller enclosure and suited to application in both exploration and production applications, the AXIS All-Gyro™ looks to combine with the full stack of other Axis hardware and software, taking surveying into the future.
Peter Leckie, Head of Product for Axis at Orica Digital Solutions, gave insight into what is next for Axis: ‘Axis’ proposition is simple to describe, but requires close customer relationships and cutting-edge hardware and software to execute. We want to be the driller’s choice by making it as easy as possible for them to collect the measurements they need to as part of their campaign, and to be best in industry for support when things don’t go to plan. We want to be the geologists’ choice because our software enables them to execute their survey plans and make decisions effectively, and to lead the market in interoperability so their data goes where it needs to go. Happy geologists mean drillers can just drill, and happy drillers mean geologists get great execution of their plans.’
For more information visit: orica.com/axis
