25/09/2026
Every great story starts somewhere. Proud to reflect on Ron Sayers' journey and the foundations he created for Ausdrill.
Ron Sayers started at 14 as an apprentice motor mechanic at the Great Boulder Gold Mine in Kalgoorlie, learning early that keeping a drill running could mean the difference between a good shift and a bad one for the men underground.
Those years shaped the way he later ran a company.
Sayers moved through mining, maintenance and drill-rig sales before noticing something important. The contractors operating the machines seemed to be making far more money than the people selling them.
So in 1987, he mortgaged his house, bought a second-hand drill rig and started Ausdrill.
The timing was good.
Western Australiaโs gold industry was expanding rapidly, and Ausdrill grew with it. One of its earliest major jobs was at what would become Kalgoorlieโs Super Pit, where the company maintained a working relationship for more than three decades.
From that single rig, Sayers built an international mining-services business.
Ausdrill expanded across Australia and deep into Africa, providing drilling, blasting and contract mining services. By the time Sayers retired in 2018, the company employed more than 5,000 people.
But his reputation wasnโt built only on numbers.
People who worked around Sayers regularly described him as fiercely loyal to his crews and unusually grounded for someone running a major mining company.
He never seemed to forget being the young mechanic fixing equipment so somebody else could earn their shift.
Sayers died in 2022 at 70.
The company he started later became part of Perenti, a global mining-services group employing thousands.
But in Kalgoorlie, Ron Sayers is still remembered more simply.
A mechanic who bought one drill and built an empire.
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