Ausdrill (ASL) Shares – Company Profile

Ausdrill Limited was founded in 1987 and is based in Canning Vale, Australia.

The company is a diversified mining and services company providing services in mining, drill and blast, exploration, procurement and logistics, manufacturing, and telecommunications with operations in Australia, United Kingdom and Africa.

Essentially, the company provides two key operational services to the miners.

The first is capability studies and exploration work. The exploration activities include reverse circulation drilling, RAB drilling, and surface diamond drilling.

The second service is drilling and blasting services. The drill and blast business engages in production drilling and blasting for surface mining operations; construction drilling and blasting; probe drilling and in-pit reverse circulation grade control drilling and sampling.

Ausdrill has been listed on the ASX since 1994.

One of the chief benefits of a stock like Ausdrill is that it gains exposure to the benefits from the current commodity boom, but because of the way its business is structured, its earnings are far less volatile and it has less exposure to the kind of operational and resources risks faced by miners.

The company boasts a wide array of quality customers, with BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto, Newcrest and Leighton Holdings just some of Ausdrill’s roster of corporate clients.

The company has considerable infrastructure at many of these companies’ operations and, in addition to its broad range of customers, this provide some confidence in ASL’s ability to withstand competitive pressures.

Ausdrill’s competitors include companies like Altura Mining and Macmahon Holdings

The vast majority of the company’s operations are in Western Australia, with some operations in Ghana and South Africa (both in Africa).

The company has also announced that it has plans to move into the coal seam gas market via a joint venture with Tom Browne Drilling Services to form Energy Drilling Australia.