Boart Longyear’s (ASX : BLY) new Asia-Pacific headquarters at Burbridge Business Park, Adelaide Airport, is now fully operational, with giant drill rigs for minerals exploration being overhauled and rebuilt at the facility.

The first reconditioned rig, a UDR 1000 has left the facility’s workshop en route to BHP Billiton’s Nickel West exploration drilling site in Leinster, east of Geraldton in Western Australia.

The new facility is a Centre of Excellence for large surface and underground drill rig design and development and is home to more than 40 BLY engineers, an increase of 25 since 2009. A Deep-hole Exploration Technology Cooperative Research Centre will be co-located on-site, which includes a 5351 sq metre workshop and a 1975 sq metre office

Boart Longyear’s Vice-President for Asia-Pacific, Mr Kent Hoots, noted that the new Airport facility consolidates the Company’s two previous Adelaide locations at Mitchell Park and Lonsdale.

“Our new regional headquarters includes a workshop facility which will serve as a main overhaul/repair centre for Boart Longyear’s Asia Pacific rig fleet,” he said. “The new facility features a prototype Engineering and R&D centre for large surface and underground mineral exploration drill rigs.

“The Adelaide Airport site includes an overhaul and refurbishment service centre for third party clients as well as a state-of-the-art testing facility for both surface and underground drill rigs. It will be home to more than 170 staff,“ said Mr Hoots.

Mr Hoots noted that the airport location was chosen because of its central position.

“Most of our staff live south of the Adelaide CBD and the airport location was a good compromise for all.

“Also, the airport provides good access to major highways and access to the port,” he said. “For a number of reasons we believe Adelaide is the right location for Boart Longyear’s Asia-Pacific headquarters and this exciting new facility will allow us to conduct several complementary functions under one roof,” Mr Hoots said.

About Boart Longyear

Boart Longyear is a 120-year-old global mineral exploration company that provides mineral exploration services and drilling products for the global mining industry and also has a substantial drilling presence for water exploration, environmental sampling, energy, and oil sands exploration.

Headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, with 2010 sales of US$1.5 billion and over 9,000 employees worldwide, the company conducts contract drilling services in 40 countries, and provides mining products to customers in over 100 countries. Regional offices and operations are located in Asia Pacific, EMEA, Latin America, and North America.

The company can be found on the Web at www.boartlongyear.com