Tag Archives: exploration drilling

EML369 Multi-Load

An evolution in ‘hands free’ exploration drilling

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Evolution Drill Rigs out of Queensland, Australia, believes it has come up with a cost-effective and time saving solution to one of the most labour-intensive parts of the exploration drilling operation: handling drill rods.

Its Evolution EVO Multi-Load drill rod handling system is a true “hands free” diamond drill rod & casing handling and storage system, according to General Manager, John Slattery, explaining that it has been designed to work with most current exploration drill rigs, including the Evolution FH2000 & FH3000 and Sandvik DE840 & DE880 drills.

Evolution is not the first to come onto the market with a hands free rod handling system – readers may be thinking of Boart Longyear, Epiroc, Major Drilling, MEDATech Engineering’s Borterra division and others here – but Slattery is convinced the EVO Multi-Load system has the potential to make the biggest market impact.

“By choosing to design a system to work in conjunction with existing rig designs, the drilling contractors are able to utilise existing equipment with a few small changes,” he told IM. “Rather than invest in completely new drill rigs and handling systems, they can save significant capital outlay by investing in the EVO Multi-Load system.”

The other benefit of working with the existing rigs is the increased efficiency of rod tripping operations by using the existing rig main winch, he explained. “The ability to trip rods in 9-m lengths on deep holes during bit changes and ‘Navi-runs’ is a significant time saving method when compared to tripping rods in either 3-m or 6-m lengths as some other rod handling systems are limited to,” Slattery added.

The company already has one company speaking to these benefits too, with South32 recently running a 12-month trial of the EVO Multi-Load prototype at the Jessica and Cararra exploration projects in the Northern Territory of Australia. The company conducted this trial with its contract partner DDH1 Drilling, owned by Perenti, and said it was a “success” with plans to deploy the system on other South32 exploration projects in its 2025 financial year. South32 also provided funding to support Evolution’s prototype field trial and ensure the equipment was suited for ongoing use.

Slattery said the company’s ongoing testing of the prototype rig – in the workshop and the field – had led to an ongoing improvement plan ahead of commercialisation.

“Our engineering staff have worked closely with our customer DDH1 Drilling during the EVO Multi-Load development and our workshop team continued this during the testing phase and field trials,” he said. “We identified some areas for improvement during the workshop testing, which were incorporated into the rod loader prior to the field test: the sequencing of adding and removing rods from the loader has simplified the operation and helped with productivity.

“We have a few more updates in the pipeline to streamline the tripping process and increase overall productivity.”

This process has been aided by collaboration with DDH1 Drilling, according to Slattery, allowing the company to understand the contractor’s methods and requirements for handling rods during deep coring and directional drilling. “This allowed us to further develop our concept into a working prototype,” he said.

DDH1 Drilling’s experience with the use of several other types of drill rod handling system has allowed Evolution to benchmark operational cycle times against competitor products and confirm the productivity of the EVO Multi-Load system, he added.

Outside of the top head drive multi-purpose drills the Evolution system has already been designed to work on, there is the prospect of expanding this list further with a few small tweaks.

“In regions outside of our native Australia, such as Africa and South America, there is a large existing fleet of multi-purpose drills that could most likely use the system,” Slattery said.

This speaks to the faith Slattery has in the global potential of the system.

“We believe the majority of the drilling contractors and mining companies are interested in improving the operational safety around drilling projects in general, and drill rod handling is a big part of that,” he explained. “The EVO Multi-Load drill rod handling system has been designed around the needs of deeper core and directionally drilled holes, large volumes of drill rods, as well as the need to deal with different pipe and casing sizes. These more complex drilling programs are normally undertaken by the larger mining companies that have been calling for reduced human involvement in the drill rod handling process for some time.”

He concluded: “Our system has been designed to work with a range of rod and casing sizes and is flexible enough to be used on any brownfields exploration drilling program that involves the need to drill deep holes.”

IMDEX focuses on drilling fluids, AMC BORE HOLE STABILISER release to boost productivity

Environmental, Equipment maintenance, Explosives and blasting, Mining consumables, Mining equipment, Mining safety, Mining services, , , , ,

IMDEX is talking up the use of drilling fluids as part of its holistic focus on improving drilling performance when out in the field.

The company’s drilling optimisation solutions combine best-in-class technologies, sensors, and motors to deliver improved performances, but, for IMDEX Drilling Optimisation General Manager, Charles Macfadyen, drilling fluids are at the start of the value chain, maximising the data delivered from the company’s technology and tools.

“Costs are always increasing, so the emphasis is on precision drilling: drilling smart metres and drilling efficiently,” Macfadyen said.

“It all relies on fluids to be able to do that. Fluids are an essential part of the drilling process with the potential to unlock hidden productivity when used effectively.”

He says while the oil and gas industry has long understood the importance of fluids and the skills of mud engineers, the understanding within the mineral exploration community has not been as widespread.

“There is a big difference in the cost of exploration drilling between oil and gas, and mineral exploration, but the science and logic will come to mining; the understanding that it’s far more than just a fluid, there’s an understanding of what equates to precision and enhanced performance that makes it special.”

Additional costs caused by higher operational standards, environmental restrictions and increased hole depths will continue – and could be the catalyst for a greater understanding of the part played by fluids, according to IMDEX.

IMDEX has around 100 drilling fluid products to cater for specific regional and global requirements, with the most recent addition being AMC BORE HOLE STABILISER™ (BHS).

BHS is a multifunctional product formulated specifically for air drilling applications, particularly drill and blast applications.

It helps prevent a wide range of down-hole problems including poor collaring, hole decay or sidewall instability, provides a degree of lubrication to the hole and will improve the lifting capacity of the air stream for cuttings transportation, according to the company.

Use of BHS in an underground mine in Western Australia resulted in an increase of up to 40% more metres drilled per day, reduced drilling consumables by up to 50%, improved load times and explosives use for explosive crews, and reduced HSE risks through less manual handling to mobilise and install casing, IMDEX says.

“For drill and blast, the side wall imperative is for both function and efficiency,” Macfadyen said. “BHS delivers improved productivity while using less explosives and less redrills.

“IMDEX drilling fluids are much more than a fluid – you actually get the knowledge that comes not just from making premium fluids and understanding that over more than 30 years, but also the knowledge that comes from our understanding of the drilling market, and of rock knowledge.

“Others don’t have that rock knowledge. It’s the tangible knowledge that at any given moment in time you know what you’re drilling through, the geological understanding, the resource definition, the granular knowledge behind how to optimise your fluids program to cater for that.

“Whether it’s orientation, mineralogy or any geological understanding it’s the essential knowledge that you need to develop a fluid or optimise a drilling program.

“It puts us in a leading position. Unlike others, IMDEX is able to leverage intimate rock knowledge, lab capabilities and global mud engineers to unlock the potential of any drilling program.”

IMDEX’s presence in 70% of major mining operations globally has allowed the company to foster this knowledge, according to Macfayden.

Geodrill to carry out 350,000 m of drilling for Endeavour Mining

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Geodrill Ltd says it has been awarded significant multi-rig long-term drilling contracts with Endeavour Mining, which will see it carry out work across its West Africa gold operations.

The contracts with Endeavour Mining are for a total 350,000 m of exploration and mine reserve drilling across its key West African operations for a period of two years. This will see Geodrill use  up to 10 drill rigs from the company’s existing fleet.

The contracts are expected to generate revenues of $31 million over the term of the contracts.

Geodrill currently has a rig fleet of 71 drill rigs operating in West Africa, Egypt and Peru.

Geodrill President and CEO, Dave Harper, said: “This third significant contract win, within a relatively short time frame, and again with a key valued top tier gold producer, underscores the strength of our reputation and an endorsement of our drilling expertise in our core geographic region and beyond. Most importantly, these contracts add top-line revenue growth this year extending through to 2024 which will provide an even stronger base to build on.”

Endeavour Mining has operating assets across Senegal, Cote d’Ivoire and Burkina Faso and a strong portfolio of advanced development projects and exploration assets in the highly prospective Birimian Greenstone Belt.

Geodrill wins exploration drilling contracts from Perseus Mining in Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire

Mineral exploration, Mining services, Precious metals, , , ,

Geodrill Limited says it has been awarded significant multi-rig long-term drilling contracts with Perseus Mining Ltd to carry out exploration work at its projects in Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire.

The contracts with Perseus are to be completed by August 2023 using up to 15 drill rigs from the company’s existing fleet, generating revenue in excess of $45 million over the contract term.

Geodrill currently has a rig fleet of 71 drill rigs operating in West Africa, Egypt and Peru.

“Geodrill continues to build meaningful relationships and revenue by expanding contracts with top-tier gold customers in our core geographic region,” Dave Harper, CEO and President of Geodrill, said. “These contracts bring top-line growth, improving economies of scale and support our goal of delivering consistent earnings in 2022.”

Perseus currently has three producing gold mines, one in Ghana and two in Côte d’Ivoire, including the recently commissioned Yaouré Gold Mine (pictured) which achieved commercial production in March 2021. It is on track to produce more than 500,000 oz/y of gold with three mines in operation, generating a cash margin of more than $400/oz from financial year 2022.

Dando Drilling officially launches Infinity Range of rigs

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Dando Drilling International has officially launched its Infinity Range of drilling rigs, bringing with it a new modular and scalable way of manufacturing rigs for the mineral exploration, water well and geotechnical drilling sectors.

Launched in the presence of the Lord-Lieutenant of West Sussex, Susan Pyper (pictured in the centre), on July 1, the event – attended by IM – saw Pyper and Mark Jones, Managing Director of Dando (pictured left), unveil a plaque to commemorate the occasion. It was followed by a visit from the Right Honourable Nicolas Gibb, MP for Bognor Regis and Littlehampton and Minister of State (Education), on July 2.

UK-based Dando has created a centralised design across the drilling sectors, which can be scaled up or down, and fitted with the appropriate equipment for each application with its Infinity Range.

This new approach to rig design allows Dando to offer multiple variations including pullback capacity, undercarriage type, engine power and options of auxiliary equipment, without rigs needing to be designed and engineered almost from scratch.

“The Infinity Range incorporates Dando’s ‘bespoke’ mantle while maximising the use of ‘off-the-shelf’ components enabling the company to accelerate the build and delivery time of its rigs, whilst improving safety and reducing environmental impact,” the company said. “The range also includes new Sonic and Multitec rigs and various rod handling options, further providing the ability to meet customer demands and requirements and enhancing safety.”

Among a plethora of options aboard these new rigs is the incorporation of two engines – a larger one to power the compressor and smaller one for the hydraulics – the ability to operate the rigs via radio remote control; and tracked/crawler, trailer, skid or truck/pickup undercarriage.

Mark Jones, Managing Director of Dando Drilling International, said: “During the past year, Dando has been responsive and adaptive to change, with the outcome being our industry-leading design which offers versatility, cost efficiency and shorter lead times. The Infinity Range showcases the very best of British engineering and, with almost infinite permutations across the key drilling sectors, enables us to deliver our customers truly bespoke rigs.

“With over 150 years of experience in the drilling industry, along with the best of modern engineering, Dando’s new Infinity Range applies innovation to its robust rig design to create a sustainable model of rig manufacturing for the future.”

The company is currently in the process of constructing the first Infinity rig for a water well customer in Ethiopia. There are expectations the Infinity Range will also catch on in the exploration sector given there are many existing Multitec rigs in use across the globe at projects.

Dando Drilling balances modularity with customisation with Infinity Range of rigs

Mineral exploration, Mining equipment, Mining services, , ,

UK-based Dando Drilling International has announced the launch of its new Infinity Range for the mineral exploration, water well and geotechnical drilling sectors. The Infinity Range uses a modular rig design that allows Dando to create bespoke rigs for its clients at competitive prices.

The new rigs allow multiple variations including the mounting, engine size and various options of auxiliary equipment, all at, the company says, competitive pricing and delivered on an efficient timeline. The attached image shows Chief Design Engineer, Luke Palmer in front of a screen of renders for the new rig design.

In addition to serving the aforementioned sectors, Dando’s Infinity Range offers a new series of Multitec rigs to allow customers to service different drilling sectors through the simple change of hydraulic components.

“Dando’s Infinity Range was designed with three main principles in mind: versatility, shorter lead times and cost efficiency, whilst improving safety and reducing environmental impact,” the company said.

Contractors and companies often need rigs for specific projects with challenging terrains, drilling depths and drilling techniques. Dando’s Infinity Range can be used for projects of varying sizes and geographies, providing a “one-stop shop” for any drilling needs, the company said. The range also includes new Sonic rigs and various rod handling options, providing customers with the ability to meet their demanding requirements.

The Infinity Range has been designed in such a way that Dando is able to take one rig and simply enhance or fit various components including mast options, rotary heads, engines, pumps and mounting options and, along with personalisation through paint customisation, create rigs that are bespoke to each client. The range also incorporates the latest engine designs and offers EU Stage V engines options for all machines.

“Designing and manufacturing specific rigs for specific jobs can often be an expensive exercise,” Dando said. “With the new Infinity Range design, Dando can use one design which is then totally customisable, allowing clients to be in control of the specifications and the cost.”

Mark Jones, Managing Director of Dando Drilling International, said: “I am delighted to introduce Infinity Range, created by our brilliant team of designers and engineers. The industry-leading design was created with our customers in mind, offering versatility, cost efficiency and shorter lead times. With almost infinite permutations, Dando’s Infinity Range offers truly bespoke rigs.”

Back in December, Jones told IM that the first of the company’s new rigs to be built this year will have certain features that stand out from the average drill rig on the market.

New Major Drilling rod handling rigs start turning at Hecla’s San Sebastian mine

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Two new Major Drilling EF-75 drills have arrived and are now turning at Hecla Mining’s San Sebastian mine in Durango, Mexico, the drilling services company says.

The drills arrived in March and are part of Major Drilling’s fleet improvements, adding innovative rod handling capability to the project, it said.

“We are thankful that we are partnered with a company like Major Drilling that can provide newer, innovative drills,” Stephen Redak, Exploration Manager Mexico, Hecla Mining, said.

Hecla’s San Sebastian property is a silver and gold mine, where exploration work is underway in two main veins. Using these new drills at the San Sebastian project enhances Major Drilling’s 12-year history with Hecla in Mexico. This has seen more than 354,000 m drilled since 2009.

Major Drilling’s EF-75 core drill is new equipment for the Mexico branch. It combines safety with a high level of productivity, according to the company.

With the rod manipulator, operators benefit from rod handling, horizontal stacking and a safety screen to protect them while lifting and lowering rods. The rig is capable of depths of up to 2,700 m.

Workers are protected by rod handling innovation, and they improve results using a unique mast designed for accurate core orientation, the company says.

David Boucher, Major Drilling Mexico General Manager, said: “Hecla has been a long-time client of ours in Mexico, and we are very excited to bring these new drills out in Durango to really see what they can do at San Sebastian. We are very happy to have this equipment turning in Mexico.”

Major Drilling’s USA Division previously partnered with Hecla at the Fire Creek Mine in Nevada (now under care and maintenance). The company’s exploration teams have also drilled at Hecla surface exploration projects in other locations in the western USA.

Master Drilling continues diversification plan in uncertain market

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Master Drilling Group continued to add to its client and service base over the course of 2020, with bright spots reported in exploration drilling and the West Africa gold sector.

Its 2020 financials were hit by COVID-19, with revenue dropping 17% year-on-year to $123.1 million and operating profit declining to $12.3 million, from $24.1 million in 2019.

Danie Pretorius, CEO of Master Drilling, said: “Master Drilling’s overall performance for the year was weighed down by the weak global economic growth environment entering 2020, which was compounded by the material impact of COVID-19, across the 23 countries in which we operate, from a human, financial and operational perspective.

“Although the group experienced a significant decline in revenue in the South American operations, primarily due to government-imposed COVID-19 restrictions, this was offset by regions such as India, Africa and Scandinavia which remained operational and received various stimulus packages.”

Despite a decrease in revenue, the company’s net cash generation increased 72.7% to $25.5 million as it contained capital expenditure by balancing maintenance with emerging opportunities.

In the second half of the year, Master Drilling was awarded new exploration projects and mobilised an additional fleet to service existing clients, with a considerable turnaround in drilling and exploration activity becoming more apparent and creating a healthy pipeline, it said.

Around a year ago, Master Drilling fulfilled the conditions to acquire Geoserve Exploration Drilling, increasing the South Africa-based company’s ability to offer exploration drilling, reverse circulation drilling, geotechnical investigations and grade control drilling services.

Its commitment to Africa saw the continent become the largest contributor to the group in terms of revenue and profits over the course of the year. Aggressive expansion into West Africa continued as part of the group’s diversification strategy, with a specific focus on gold, which has seen a surge in demand since 2019.

Master Drilling also continued to grow its presence in new markets, including Australia, Russia and Central Asia. It secured new contracts with a focus on raiseboring and mechanised mining services, too.

As at December 31, 2020, Master Drilling’s sales pipeline totalled $539.9 million with a stable order book of $212.8 million (2019: $142.1 million).

“In the short to medium term, the sales pipeline is expected to normalise and increase with further tactical acquisitions and joint ventures supporting performance,” it said. “Opportunities to diversify outside of the traditional drilling business into areas such as artificial intelligence will also continue.”

Although capital has been tightly managed in response to the uncertain environment, Master Drilling says technological innovation remains a key priority for the company.

Aligned to this, Master Drilling announced a 40% investment in AVA Solutions, a specialist in data-driven mining fleet management solutions, this month.

Commenting on the investment, Pretorius said: “Our recent investment in AVA is aligned with our strategy to diversify our services and invest in businesses that help us meet our clients’ demand for increased mechanisation and digitisation. Other opportunities with low capital requirements and short return cycles are currently under review.”

He concluded on the annual results: “Although the shape of recovery remains uncertain, we have seen a turnaround in the past six months across the commodities and regions that we are already exposed to. Having made significant investments in our fleet, technology and geographical diversification over the past couple of years, we are now positioned to capitalise on the predicted commodities bull run without requiring additional capital investment.”

Kumba’s Kolomela, Sishen iron ore mines to deploy Rosond nex-gen exploration drill rigs

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Rosond of Midrand, South Africa, is combining automation, software, data analytics and machine learning to create a next-generation drill rig that will help transition the company from contractor to technology provider.

The company dispatched the final batch of 28 state-of-the-art drill rigs to Anglo American’s majority owned Kumba Iron Ore operations in the Northern Cape in December, to be rolled out at Kumba’s Kolomela and Sishen iron ore mines. This forms part of a R2 billion ($134 million), five-year tender clinched by Rosond to supply Anglo American with the latest drilling technology as it modernises its geoscience operations.

“We really believe that this is going to be a future game changer,” Ricardo Ribeiro, Managing Director of Rosond, said.

In the face of COVID-19 lockdown restrictions, Rosond said it was able to compress a year’s work into six months. It collaborated with a leading Italian manufacturer to develop the advanced drill rigs, which will be deployed for core, percussion and reverse circulation drilling.

“I am happy to report that the last two drill rigs were dispatched in December 2020,” Ribeiro added. “We are excited to see the entire fleet operational early this year. These are some of the most highly-advanced exploration drill rigs in the world.”

The drill rigs feature increased safety with the automation of most of the arduous and dangerous manual labour involved, Rosond says, taking away the need to handle the drill rods, and load and unload heavy equipment from the drill rigs.

The rig operators are housed in a climate-controlled, air-conditioned control room for an improved work environment that, in turn, assists with fatigue management and also boosts productivity and accuracy, Rosond says.

The opportunity to build such rigs also arose with several women being deployed as part of a team at Kumba. Recruiting and training this team formed part of Rosond’s tender with Anglo American, Ribeiro explained.

Rosond took the strategic step in 2012 to begin developing new technology for the drilling and exploration sectors, with the drill rigs leveraging the latest developments in software, telemetry and automation.

“We brought in a lot of technology from the construction and oil and gas industries to develop specific functionalities such as dust suppression and automation, as well as software and telemetry systems,” Ribeiro said.

The 28-strong fleet at Kumba will be deployed in an 80 km radius to optimise exploration drilling by providing critical geological data about the sites under investigation, Rosond says.

Having successfully developed the hardware of the new drill rigs themselves, the future plan is to launch a software division to focus on the application of data analytics and artificial intelligence in optimising the drilling process, as well as promoting machine learning.

“We are optimistic that in the future our drill rigs will be able to identify all the necessary parameters in order to be able to guide the operators seamlessly,” Ribeiro said. “The end goal in our development process is to have a full autonomous drill rig.”

Swick Mining working on drilling and technology business demerger

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Swick Mining Services says it is working towards a demerger of its drilling and mineral technology businesses following a strategic review.

The announcement came at the same time as the ASX-listed METS firm revealed Drilling Business revenue and EBITDA results of A$149.6 million ($111 million) and A$24.6 million, respectively, for its 2020 financial year. A 9% increase in underground metres drilled saw the company beat its 2019 financial revenue total of A$142.9 million, while the impacts of COVID-19 and ramp-up costs at the Pogo mine contract (Northern Star Resources) saw EBITDA drop from A$28.2 million in the previous financial year.

During this period, the company’s deep exploration division launched new DeepEX rigs, which Swick says are the world’s most powerful underground mobile rigs with capacities to drill exploration holes up to 3,000 m of NQ2 core. Two DeepEX hybrid rigs are currently deployed at client sites, it said.

And the company successfully completed on-site trials of its Orexplore technology, the major technology underpinning its mineral technology business.

These site-based trials were undertaken at Sandfire Resources’ DeGrussa copper-gold mine, in Australia, for a three-month pilot project and at Sweden-based mining and smelting company Boliden for a five-month paid pilot project.

“The first trial at the DeGrussa mine resulted in approximately 9,000 m of core scanned in total, generating 20 TB of 3D data – the largest and most continuous dataset of its kind in the world for a single mine site,” Swick said. “With the trial complete, Orexplore has engaged two world-class subject matter experts to assist Sandfire and other potential clients understand the benefits of a comprehensive Orexplore data set.”

Earlier this month, Swick said Orexplore had been awarded its first in-field commercial agreement with St Barbara Ltd at the Gwalia mine in Leonora, Western Australia.

Despite these wins over the last year-and-a-bit, the company said a strategic review had recommended the company carried out a demerger of the Drilling Business and the Mineral Technology Business.

This could be tied to the fact that, at a group level, Swick reported a net loss after tax of A$6 million in the 2020 financial year, which, it said, reflected the lower Drilling Business earnings and ongoing investment in the company’s Mineral Technology Business, Orexplore.

Swick Managing Director, Kent Swick, said: “Financial year 2020 has presented a unique and challenging set of circumstances with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The business has quickly adapted during this difficult period, ensuring we maintained continuity of operations and protected our people on site both internationally and locally.

“I am pleased with the ability of our Drilling Business to deliver robust earnings in this environment and secure new work with existing clients, including our two largest contracts for Northern Star and BHP, which provide a strong platform for the business as we enter the 2021 financial year.

“Meanwhile, our efforts in the Mineral Technology Business are starting to show value, with successful site-based, paid trials in the year for our Orexplore technology and the award of our first ever in-field commercial agreement earlier this month.

“We have a clear strategy for these two businesses and are now progressing with the outcome of our strategic review to demerge the Drilling Business and the Mineral Technology Business to allow them to pursue their respective strategies and ultimately deliver the greatest value to Swick shareholders.

“Meanwhile, Swick is in a strong financial position, with gearing excluding AASB16 lease liabilities reduced to A10.6 per cent in the year. Swick has A$12.7 million cash and A$18.5 million in undrawn facilities, providing the liquidity that has enabled us to win and deliver on new work, invest in new technologies including DeepEX and Orexplore, and continue providing value for shareholders in these uncertain times through dividends and share buybacks.”