Epiroc Boomer E2 Two-Boom Tunnelling Jumbo

The Epiroc Boomer E2 is a two-boom, rail or rubber-tyred underground drill jumbo designed for drill-and-blast tunnelling in cross-sections from 16 m² to 105 m² — the full range from exploration drives and drainage adits to large twin-tube highway tunnels and mine access declines. Each boom carries a BUT 45 boom and feed unit with a COP 1838HF hydraulic rock drill, delivering powerful percussive drilling in hard rock formations with hole depth capability to 5.2 metres and a drilling diameter of 41–64 mm. The two-boom configuration allows simultaneous drilling across the full tunnel face, cutting drill cycle time to half that of a single-boom unit and enabling faster blast round completion — a critical productivity multiplier in tunnelling projects where advance rate directly determines programme schedule and construction cost.

Saudi Arabia's infrastructure investment wave under Vision 2030 has created exceptional demand for underground tunnelling capability. The Riyadh Metro project — one of the world's largest metro infrastructure programmes — involved extensive bored and drill-and-blast tunnelling across Riyadh's varied subsurface geology, including hard limestone and cemented conglomerate formations where TBM progress was slow and drill-and-blast methods were preferred for short drives and cross-passages. The Boomer E2's compact design allows operation in cross-passages and station crossovers as narrow as 4.5 metres width, and its computerised boom positioning system (BCS) ensures drill pattern hole positions match the designed blast pattern coordinates to within ±50 mm, delivering the controlled blast geometry required in urban tunnelling near existing structures.

At the Al-Amar gold mine in the Riyadh province — one of Saudi Arabia's few operating underground gold mines — Boomer E2 jumbos provide the primary development and stope access drilling capability. Underground gold mining at Al-Amar targets high-grade vein systems in hard metamorphic host rock, requiring accurate drill-and-blast rounds to develop access drives, ore drives, and stope access raises to planned grade and profile. The Boomer E2's RCS (Rig Control System) electronic boom positioning records each drilled hole's as-drilled position and depth, producing a digital blast pattern record that the mine's drill-and-blast engineers compare against the design to identify deviations before charging commences — a quality control process that reduces overbreak and associated dilution.

The NEOM linear city project in Tabuk province involves ambitious underground infrastructure including service tunnels, transport links, and utility corridors in the granite and gneiss of the Hisma and Midyan terranes. As this project's underground construction phases advance, drill-and-blast tunnelling methods using Boomer-class jumbos will be essential for the short-drive corridors, emergency exits, and cross-passages that TBMs cannot economically address. Razz Middle East works with major tunnelling contractors and mining companies across Saudi Arabia to supply and support Epiroc Boomer E2 jumbos, providing operator training, OEM spare parts, and field service engineers for underground equipment maintenance.