On one particular project, Boart Longyear mobilized underground coring rigs to a client’s mine in the US where the mine was faced with a big water problem that was making the underground exploration coring impossible to complete. The mine had two shafts located at different levels, one above the other. The deeper shaft had pumps installed and was ready to pump water to the surface. However, the upper shaft had flooded with water – where there were no pumps.

Typical underground coring setup.

Rather than attempt to install additional pumps in the flooded upper shaft to remove the water, Boart Longyear moved their underground coring rigs down to the lower shaft and drilled a fan-shaped series of up-holes to the flooded shaft above. The idea worked, effectively using gravity to drain the water from the upper shaft to the lower shaft where the pumps were then able to move the excess water to the surface. The mine was able to continue operations in the upper shaft and Boart Longyear was able to start the diamond coring exploration drilling.

On another project, the mine was thought to be dry. After the underground coring began, the Boart Longyear crew ended up finding water – a lot of it, quite unexpectedly. The crew was able to come up with a plan to manage the water so the exploration drilling could be completed. After pressure grouting in a cement collar casing, a blow-out- preventer (BOP – used to seal, control, and monitor water to prevent blow outs and the uncontrolled release of high-pressure water) and rock pack were installed successfully, shutting the water in. Most instances where that amount of water is encountered play out quite differently. Everyone has experienced, or knows someone who has, a situation where a high volume of water blows all your tooling out of the hole, resulting in a complicated mess.

Other examples of unexpected challenges include creative solutions using Boart Longyear’s own engineered underground rigs on the surface. The Drilling Services Underground Coring division mobilized rigs to a mine site where a delay in underground diamond coring exploration had the underground rigs idle on the surface. Someone saw the rigs waiting and asked if the idle underground rigs could drill flat-angled holes on the surface. Accepting the challenge, the underground coring rigs have been drilling these low, flat-angled boreholes ever since.

The mine site has a limited surface disturbance permit – which means that to reach the geological formations outside the area of their disturbance permit, Boart Longyear’s Underground Coring division is operating underground rigs on the surface to drill low-angled and flat holes that surface rigs often can’t reach because of their truck-mounted tall masts.

The underground rigs can drill at low angles from -40 degrees down to flat. They drill underneath the area where the mining client isn’t allowed to disturb the surface. This means exploration coring can follow ore veins without disturbing the surface and drill beneath the area outside of the issued disturbance permit.

The boreholes are 2600 ft to 2700 ft (792.48 m to 822.96 m) at a -40 to -12 degree angle. Boart Longyear has the tooling and the expertise for that type of drilling but was unable to accomplish the job with surface rigs because when set up flat, you’re going to be 12 ft (3.66 m) off the ground because the mast is way up on a truck carrier. With the underground rigs, a work platform or deck was constructed, which enabled the team to work right up close to them.

The Boart Longyear Drilling Services Underground Coring division in the US runs all Boart Longyear-engineered and manufactured LM and MDR rigs. The LM series of rigs feature easily interchangeable components, allowing for space constraints without sacrificing depth requirements. These modular coring rigs offer easier access in tight underground spaces and mobility for easier moves from hole to hole or shaft to shaft. Boart Longyear’s patented tooling offers safer and more efficient up-holes at any angle.

The underground coring rigs in the Drilling Services’ fleet are modified and customized, as compared to the commercially available Boart Longyear underground coring rigs. For example, the LM90 is souped up with a 150-horsepower engine instead of the typical 90-horsepower engine and includes additional modifications for increased depth capacity and core size.

The Drilling Services Underground Coring division has the experience and technical expertise to drill dewatering galleries, geotechnical borings, tunnel investigations, grouting services, and utility borings. The division also has experience with overcore drilling to measure in-situ stress. Overcore drilling involves drilling a hole to depth with a small diameter EX- or AX-sized bit, placing a probe to measure strain response data, and then using a special resin to glue the probe in place. After drilling out a larger diameter core to retrieve the probe, the overcore sample and probe are used for stress testing the rock formation to plan for ground support. This method is often used in both horizontal tunnels and vertical shafts to measure the amount of stress the rock can take.

Another unique application for underground rigs and crews is drilling on the surface into high walls for dewatering purposes. Flat to close-to-horizontal boreholes – from 10 degrees up to 10 degrees down – can be used to create self-draining dewatering boreholes in high walls. Pressure grouting in a cement collar casing keeps the hole from collapsing and can be used with a BOP valve in case the mining client wants to shut the water in the rock formation.

To maintain the integrity of the hole, installing slotted polyvinyl chloride (PVC) keeps the hole from collapsing. If you go through a broken zone, when water starts flowing, the hole can bridge off after a couple of months. The PVC keeps the hole open and the water running.

The benefit of using underground rigs for this type of drilling is the difference between large rotary rigs that produce chip samples and use lower rotation per minute (rpm) and higher torque whereas a coring rig operates at higher rpms and less torque. Chuck-drive underground coring rigs drill slower, straighter, and deeper and collect core for further analysis.

Geologists can use core samples from horizontal drilling into a high wall to look for fractures, faults, and oxidation (to identify water-bearing zones). They can also be identified in chip samples using rotary drilling rigs, but it’s more difficult to see them that way. A core sample provides a better physical view of the rock formation. Drilling high walls with underground coring rigs accomplishes two goals with one borehole – dewatering and obtaining core samples for assaying for fractures, faults, and oxidation.

LM90 with customized feed frame. Expert drillers from left to right: John Sanchez, Jimmie Maggard, Marcus Woody, and Sal Renteria.

Whether it’s an underground coring project or a surface application for underground coring rigs, the drilling crews are the real heroes at Boart Longyear. They have wide-reaching (global) resources to find unique and inventive solutions for complex, technical, and sometimes immense drilling challenges and they’re not afraid to ask questions.

More than just a can-do attitude, great work ethic, diverse skills, vast experience, technical knowledge, and a commitment to safety and each customer’s success, they get the job done. Drillers, driller assistants, welders, mechanics, supervisors, and other support personnel travel to work in remote locations, in all kinds of challenging weather, climates, and altitudes, all while spending extended time away from their families. The work is strenuous, involves extensive training, and requires their full attention for safety’s sake.

These real heroes all contributed to Boart Longyear’s latest safety achievement of 10 million man-hours and one year of being lost-time injury-free. A big congratulations to all the drilling crews and support personnel on this company-wide accomplishment! Denis Despres, Chief Operating Officer stated, "On a site level, we value the everyday procedures from standardized pre-start information meetings that focus on daily job tasks and associated hazards and risks, our online data management system, including the system’s mobile app, and the daily team and individual-based field level risk assessments. At Boart Longyear, it is everyone’s responsibility to work safely."

Originally published in Issue 11 of Coring Magazine, November 2019

Martin Rivet is the Director of Engineering for Drilling Services at Boart Longyear. Growing up in Haileybury, Ontario, he took an early interest in the mining industry, joining the company at age 16 as a mechanic’s assistant. He continued his education earning a degree in mechanical engineering and with his gained experience took on new positions as an engineer, an EHS professional, a product manager, and most recently, the director of the Drilling Services engineering team. Martin now lives in Salt Lake City, Utah working on global engineering projects, including the development and implementation of TruProductivity.

Our host, Jon Peterson (Geo Jon for fun), works for the Products division as a Customer Service Representative. Jon graduated from the University of Utah in 2015 with his Bachelors of Science in Geology. He’s worked for Boart Longyear for the last two and a half years and interned as a geologist with an exploration company for about six months prior to coming to work for Boart Longyear. Jon has been married for a year and a half and in his free time enjoys trail running, hiking, working on his yard, spending time with family, and playing with his black lab Dexter. 

We would love to hear your questions and comments below. Thanks for listening and if you liked this episode, share it on LinkedIn, Facebook, or Twitter. 

Take the next step for your drilling project
with Boart Longyear Drilling Services

Photo: Brian Maeck recognized the following Boart Longyear employees for Safety Excellence: Alan Adaros, Exequiel Espinoza, Rodrigo Garcia, Jose Ponce, Jaime Vidal, Karina Rojas, Orlando Galvez

Crews gave Denis Despres, COO, Brian Maeck, Global EHS Director, Fernando Riquelme, RD – LAM, Guillaume Dubuy, RD – EMEA, John Kirkwood, RD – APAC a heart felt site induction, not only discussing critical risk, but also what drives them to ensure safety excellence at work.

The crew took their time explaining the new Critical Risk Management program and associated site risks to visiting EXCO representatives, three Regional Directors and the Global EHS Director, further demonstrating their buy-in and passion towards safety.

Examples such as when the crew recognized that they were too close to a rock wall they, supported by the site EHS advisor, took it upon themselves to install a screen to catch loose rock. Every step of the way, the Chilean teams have thought about each process element, and truly have put safety first, not only impressing their BHP customer but also leadership from other Regions, and our Executives. I thank them all for their safety leadership and dedication in raising the bar.

-Brian Maeck

Site collateral – crews each had Critical Risk Management posters and cards with controls posted on the back; and confidently spoke about the associated risks on their site and process. They also directed the attention of the visitors to the 16 EHS Management Field Reference standards, highlighting applicable requirements.

Hand’s off! Crews do not touch rods or tubes to ensure fingers and hands are not injured in the process.

To learn more about Boart Longyear's contract Drilling Services, find your local Boart Longyear representative.

Our host, Jon Peterson (Geo Jon for fun), works for the Products division as a Customer Service Representative. Jon graduated from the University of Utah in 2015 with his Bachelors of Science in Geology. He’s worked for Boart Longyear for the last two and a half years and interned as a geologist with an exploration company for about six months prior to coming to work for Boart Longyear. Jon has been married for a year and a half and in his free time enjoys trail running, hiking, working on his yard, spending time with family, and playing with his black lab Dexter. 

We would love to hear your questions and comments below. Thanks for listening and if you liked this episode, share it on LinkedIn, Facebook, or Twitter. 

Deven Wood, Operations Manager of the Boart Longyear Pump Division, has been with the company since 2003. Deven began as a driller and field supervisor, and later gained experience with the rotary group before transferring to the pump division.

Our new host, Jon Peterson (Geo Jon for fun), works for the Products division as a Customer Service Representative. Jon graduated from the University of Utah in 2015 with his Bachelors of Science in Geology. He’s worked for Boart Longyear for the last two and a half years and interned as a geologist with an exploration company for about six months prior to coming to work for Boart Longyear. Jon has been married for a year and a half and in his free time enjoys trail running, hiking, working on his yard, spending time with family, and playing with his black lab Dexter. 

Learn more about Pump Services

We would love to hear your questions and comments below. Thanks for listening and if you liked this episode, share it on LinkedIn, Facebook, or Twitter. 

To quantify drilling efficiencies, something must be measured. Which metrics mean the most and provide the best information on finding ways to improve performance and increase a mining company’s return on investment? This article focuses on the key metrics in exploration diamond core drilling: safety performance, schedule, price, and quality core recovery.

Safety is first and foremost. It’s a moral responsibility to provide the safest working conditions and a safety culture where each and every employee knows they have the right and the responsibility to stop any unsafe work. Boart Longyear’s investment in robust Environmental, Health, and Safety (EHS) programs pay off with consistently improving incident rates (having fewer reportable incidents) and lowered severity ratings of the incidents that occur.

An incident can be categorized as recordable or lost-time, but the severity rating is a key factor that insurance companies consider. This is their first indication of the actions and culture a contractor brings to the site. An ancillary benefit of improving incident rates is a lower insurance rate and these tangible cost savings from drilling safely are passed on to the client.

For customers, a contractor’s safety performance also affects the mine’s safety performance record. If there’s a haul truck incident, it doesn’t affect the drilling contractor, but if the drilling contractor has a recordable or lost time incident it affects both the safety performance of the drilling contractor and the customer (mine site) because it happened on the mine’s property.

Safety programs ensure that wherever a Boart Longyear driller or driller assistant goes to work, the client can expect the same safe results. That consistency and value in safety is a big reason clients choose Boart Longyear Drilling Services. The safety commitment, culture, and programs at Boart Longyear align with their own, and client-specific programs are easily embedded as Boart Longyear employees are well-versed in adopting and working within the highest safety standards.

When evaluating a contract’s value, it’s tempting to assume the hourly prices from the drilling contractor represent the total cost. This negates the value proposition of a well prepared, resourced, and time-sensitive contractor. There are additional costs to consider such as support staff including safety personnel, geology staff, and drilling program managers, as well as costs for drill pad construction, water hauling, supervision, drilling mud, surveying, and equipment rentals. While these costs aren’t in direct control of the drilling contractor, inefficient safety and operating practices can impact these additional costs and can easily overrun any initially perceived savings.  

A key metric affecting cost is the number of feet or meters drilled per shift. An estimate of feet/meters per shift is used to calculate the schedule based on the number of shifts required to complete the drilling program. The customer uses this calculation to schedule onsite support personnel, support equipment (dozers/helicopters etc.) and any other services for the program (camp/fuel etc.).

When the drilling contractor drills more efficiently, thus completing the drilling program in a shorter amount of time, the customer can leverage savings on their support costs. If the drilling takes longer and the schedule isn’t met, costs go up as a result of the drilling contractor being onsite longer to accomplish the required feet/meters. That’s the key metric – the footage based contract stays the same, but costs go up if the drilling contractor takes longer to achieve the feet/meters needed. The drilling contractor still gets paid roughly the same amount, but the customer’s costs go up.  A recent example of this had a Boart Longyear crew jump into an unfinished project after the initial, lower-priced contractor struggled to complete what should have been a six-week project. At week eight and only 1/3 of the way complete, Boart Longyear was called in and completed the remaining drilling for the project in only four weeks.

Boart Longyear Drilling Services is currently measuring all the different increments that make up a 12-hour shift to find efficiencies in each of those individual steps – bit on bottom, charging the rods, wireline time, shift changes, transportation, mud programs, etc. By measuring each step in the drilling program, additional efficiencies can be identified and savings shared with the customer.

For example, wireline activity takes up a significant amount of time during each shift. It’s necessary to retrieve the core, but how can we do it faster – how can we pull the tube faster without damaging the hole or slipping core? Can we figure out a way to make the tube head drop faster without knocking the crown off the bit when the tube lands?

This is part of Boart Longyear’s commitment to Operational Excellence, a program in place using the Hard Work Cycle – achieving drilling efficiencies through continually looking for ways to improve processes and think outside the box.

Downtime can be a big schedule issue and directly affects the fixed costs of having support equipment and personnel onsite during the drilling program. Minimizing downtime is a key goal. From the contractor’s perspective, the loss of billable time directly impacts the bottom line. 

The lack of production also adds unbudgeted costs to the client’s program, a clear lose-lose situation. Having a solid preventable maintenance program and an adequate inventory of critical spare parts is a positive hedge against what can occur.

Boart Longyear Drilling Services has protocols and processes for what’s called a “rig-down” status. It is all-hands on deck to get the issue resolved. Whether it’s a hydraulic failure, an engine has gone down, or some other breakdown like a staffing issue, there’s a sense of urgency to ensure the customer is served in the best possible way. Whether it’s mechanical or otherwise, the protocol is to get the issue resolved within 24 hours. If that means someone or something needs to get on a plane, that’s what happens to keep downtime to a minimum. A good preventive maintenance program helps, but it’s what you do in the face of a breakdown that matters.

Core recovery is the end product. It’s ultimately what the customer is paying for, so this metric is key to measure the drilling program’s success. If there’s not quality core in the box, there’s no value to the customer. In the end, the data from that core is the value to the mine.  If core recovery is insufficient, so is the value provided.

Drilling and retrieving quality core depends on the expertise of the driller and the condition of the tooling and equipment. First, the driller’s knowledge and understanding of the ground conditions is imperative. This information guides the driller’s decisions in selecting the correct equipment, tooling, bits, etc. to smoothly drill, penetrate quickly, and recover the core intact.

In addition, Boart Longyear operates a robust drilling fluids management plan. The mud program incorporates the driller’s knowledge of the ground condition and the challenges it presents. Understanding the ground condition and the equipment, the driller tunes into his drill using his instrumentation and the feedback the rig provides to analyze what is happening downhole. For complicated and technically challenging ground conditions, where core recovery is not going as planned, Boart Longyear drillers leverage the experience of the drilling fluids company. Reputable drilling fluids providers can send out an engineer to check the drilling fluids systematically. The old saying that two heads are better than one is key to solving core recovery issues. The two teams work together to figure out what changes to the fluids and drilling equipment are necessary to get the quality core recovery and penetration desired.

The driller also has to know his equipment, watching the gauges and listening to the rig, recognizing when it’s doing the job and when it isn’t. When encountering a core block – when the core just doesn’t want to penetrate up into the barrel – the driller can continue drilling, but all he’s doing is grinding up the core. Instead of drilling 5 feet and getting 4 inches of core recovery he can stop and look for answers. This is a big step for drillers who are paid according to productivity. Drillers are programmed (you could even say they’re wired) to get the most productivity. It takes a smart and knowledgeable driller to stop going after the feet/meters and deliver maximum value by stopping to focus on core recovery.  In difficult ground, it’s best to pause and evaluate the core barrel assembly, drilling technique, and the drilling fluids program. That practical approach ensures value to the customer.

To learn more about retrieving quality core, listen to INSITE Podcast Episode 4: Quality Core, where 35-year industry veteran, Robert Jex, discusses the importance of quality core, how things can sometimes go wrong when retrieving core, the impact of not retrieving quality core, and some troubleshooting tips for core recovery.

Through the years, new innovative technologies have helped improve drilling efficiency. For example, the Genuine Q Wireline core retrieval system introduced by Boart Longyear back in 1953 revolutionized the diamond drilling industry. The system increased productivity on the work site and made tripping core from the bottom of the hole safer for the drilling assistant. The advantages of the genuine Q system quickly generated industry-wide adoption of Boart Longyear’s wireline technology.

Boart Longyear consumables have been equally innovative. The recently launched XQ wireline coring rod threads are stronger, last longer, and provide easier make and break for improved productivity and bottom line savings. 

XQ wireline coring rod

The high productivity coring system features a W-Wall coring rod which is 30% lighter – increasing depth capacity and reducing driller fatigue when manually tripping rods. The new NXQ and HXQ W-Wall coring rods feature patent-pending, double-upset tubing, with faster wireline tripping speed. The Quick Descent head assembly and the industry-leading Longyear color series diamond coring bits are also examples of recent innovations that improve productivity. Each system component increases shift capacity and productivity, delivering increased efficiencies.

Industry-leading top drive coring rigs and hands-free rod handling equipment offers both productivity and safety. Answering the demand for innovative rod handling, the FREEDOM Loader and top drive coring rig combinations provide simple and fast rod tripping that is 100% hands-free.

Additionally, Boart Longyear has invested in an Operational Excellence team and platform for continuous improvement to develop the next generation of efficiency and productivity enhancements in the mineral exploration industry. A key component of the Operational Excellence mindset is the Hard Work Cycle and reporting. The Hard Work Cycle reporting includes meeting with clients to go over feet/meters per shift, any downtime hours and the cause. Reviewing the metrics with our clients and showing areas where we can improve productivity on our side and theirs provides a unique and compelling transparency.

For example, measuring all of the aspects of a drill site might give visibility to the number of hours of lost drilling/productivity resulting from site access issues. Blasting, ventilation issues, and cage delays are examples of issues affecting productivity that are controlled by the client, but working together minimizes their impact and increases drilling efficiency.

The beauty of measuring drilling metrics is that you have data to discuss what’s happening on the drill site and look for ways to improve efficiencies and lower costs. Boart Longyear knows that it’s all about providing the maximum value to the customer.

The biggest metric that might impact whether you win additional contracts is, “Are they happy with the outcomes of the drilling program?” Was the project completed safely, on schedule, providing quality core that provided the information necessary to make decisions about future exploration or mine development? Were any issues resolved to their satisfaction and transparent reporting provided?

Drilling metrics matter because key performance indicators measure how well a customer was served. Measuring what was delivered quantifies the customer’s satisfaction and provides goals for future projects.

This article originally appeared in GeoDrilling International, October 2018 edition, pages 16-17.

The MDR500 was the long-term brain child of Geoff Moroney (Drilling Services Asia Pacific Fleet & Asset Manager) and John Kirkwood (Drilling Services Asia Pacific Regional Director). The project was given the go ahead in the third quarter of 2016 after market research indicated that there was a desire from sections of the Australian market for a medium depth underground diamond drill rig which was in the most part self-sufficient and could move quickly from hole to hole. The concept design kicked off at the start of December 2016 and the first completed rig rolled out of the workshop in early December 2017.

The basis of the idea was to convert the existing MDR150s in the Australian fleet into MDR500s. The original MDR150 was designed and built by Geoff Moroney and Nathan Kaesler (now Global R&D Engineering Manager) nearly 10 years earlier, back when Geoff was working on tooling and Nathan was a fresh, keen, new engineer at Boart Longyear. The MDR150 consists of a 75kw power pack and a nimble 400 series feed frame mounted to the telescoping boom of a very solid Normet carrier, finished off with 144m of on board rod storage. It is perfect for quick, short holes on sites where the manual handling of rods into the drill string is allowed. The MDR500 meets the increasing demand within the market for a mobile rig for deeper holes combined with the ever increasing push to reduce manual handling. That combined with the MDR150’s being almost 10 years old, most in need of a major rebuild and with several key control system components outdated, it made sense to convert these MDR150’s into new MDR500s.

With the project coinciding with the first prototype tests of the upcoming LMi underground power pack platform it was an easy decision for the design group to choose the new 110kW LMi design to power and control the drill that consists of a Boart Longyear HQ high speed drilling head mounted on a 700 series feed frame and utilizing a standard underground rod handler. After the basic concept was decided upon, the project became somewhat of a complex packaging task for the Asia Pacific Drilling Services Engineering team. Finding ways to shoehorn all of the LMi components along with the 500m of rods onto the carrier and then design an arm that could hold the much heavier drill out the front of the rig while still allowing a full 360 degree horizontal and plus 90 to negative 90 degree drilling angles to be achieved was no easy task.

An innovative concept from Stewart Jones allowing for the front rod bin to sit over the front axle during transit and then tilt into a vertical configuration on either side of the rig during use allowing for ergonomic rod handling was an additional bonus along the way. The project was certainly not without its challenges with some strengthening of the Normet chassis and a larger front axle being required to take the substantially heavier load now carried by the front of the machine.

The tight project timeline meant that the design and build had to happen concurrently and the team in the workshop, under the direction of the lead fitter on the project, Darren Watson, did a superb job of building and assembling the first rig despite only having half-finished designs and partial drawings in the beginning. Designing the hosing runs for the MDR500 was a mammoth task given the amount of movement required from the front arm and the workshop team were pivotal in the design and build of this, much of it being designed in the workshop at the rig.

As the heavy lifting on behalf of the mechanical team was nearing completion the design baton had well and truly already been passed over to the then products engineering electrical and control systems duo of Bernie Chia and Glen Verrall to make this rig come to life with all control of both the setup functions and the drill handled through either the touch screen interface in the cab of the carrier or from the LMi electronic control panel. Glen worked his magic to weave the additional MDR functions seamlessly into a modified version of the LMi software.

Throughout the project the engineering team was in close contact with the end users in the field, chiefly Matt Barnes who leads the operational team at the MMG Dugald River Mine in Queensland where the first two MDR500s were deployed. This collaboration occurred through every phase of the project starting with a site trip by the engineering project team to scope out the requirements of the rig with Matt and his team to ensure that the end result would be just what was required. The team’s involvement continued throughout with Matt being an invaluable subject matter expert and also a key participant in the design reviews and risk assessments. The project was closed out with an engineering site visit in early January 2018 and then again in March coinciding with the operational deployment of each of the MDR500s to Dugald River. The primary purpose of these visits being to train the operators on the features of the new rig and to be at hand to fix any issues immediately should they arise.  Luckily there were no significant issues and Glen was able to use the trips as a valuable source of driller feedback for further LMi software development.

The first MDR500 arrived on site and after going through its routine site clearance inspections basically went straight to work drilling its first hole without issue. This was in no small part due to the significant contributions from the operations team throughout the project and the quick adoption of the new rig by the drillers. The drillers at Dugald River were quick to pick up the MDR500’s new LMi control system and their level of acceptance of the interface has been very pleasing. The Dugald River team were quickly outperforming their meter rate achieved with the previous MDR150s and are now averaging an impressive 2 additional meters per hour.

A third MDR500 is nearing completion in the Adelaide Workshop and when complete, will be used as a carrot for attracting new work with several potential sites currently being discussed. If the market demand remains strong the intention is to steadily convert the aging fleet of 8 remaining MDR150s into MDR500s over the next few years with the possibility of sourcing additional carriers to make even more if required.

The MDR500 has and is continuing to be a success in the field and a key point of interest for the Asia Pacific Drilling Services team when negotiating underground drilling contracts. The success of the project was obviously the result of a lot of hard work, but also the excellent teamwork and collaborative effort exhibited by the various Boart Longyear functional groups involved, with many more people than could be mentioned here playing an important part in the project.

Robert Jex started working in the drilling industry 35 years ago as a driller assistant. Now, Robert oversees the coring division in the US and Mexico. Working for Boart Longyear for the past 30 years, Robert has experience in both surface and underground operations here in the US and globally.

On this episode, Robert discusses the importance of quality core, how things can sometimes go wrong when retrieving core, the impact, and some troubleshooting tips for core recovery.

Learn more about Surface Coring Drilling Services

We would love to hear your questions and comments below. Thanks for listening and if you liked this episode, share it on LinkedIn, Facebook, or Twitter. 

Currently employing nearly 40 engineers to design solutions for the resources drilling industry, Boart Longyear’s engineering team might be one of the company’s best kept secrets, although not on purpose.

It’s not a common business model, where a contract drilling services company also sells drilling products. But Boart Longyear does exactly that—the company provides a variety of professional drilling services to exploration and mining companies; it also designs, manufactures, and sells reliable drilling rigs, quality tooling, and accurate instrumentation.

Thanks to its team of engineers located throughout the world, the company is able to develop products and put them through rigorous testing in the hands of its own Drilling Services personnel. Tools and equipment are not only tested in the lab but also in the field. The collaboration between members of the global engineering team and Boart Longyear’s drillers elevates the performance of both Boart Longyear Drilling Products and Boart Longyear Drilling Services.

Some engineers are dedicated to Drilling Services projects – focused on developing solutions and safety innovations specifically for our contract Drilling Services teams. Other engineers are dedicated to developing solutions and safety innovations for commercialization for the Drilling Products division that then sells these products to the market. However, subject matter experts and synergies are leveraged across divisions for maximum potential as well.

Drilling Services brings technical issues or suggestions for improvements to engineers, who then research, design, and develop solutions. Solutions are also suggested by engineering –using the latest technologies, sometimes on problems that Drilling Services didn’t know they had. Engineered solutions are tested, tweaked to perfection, produced by our manufacturing team and implemented by Drilling Services.

The Drilling Products division focuses on designing solutions that help drilling contractors achieve more with less, safely. Boart Longyear drilling products are known for being high-quality products with proven results. The Products business works closely with Drilling Services to test new products before going to market. Products designs new bits, coring rods, in-hole tools, and production drilling tools and then uses Drilling Services to test, measure results for validation, and receive feedback. The engineering team generates valuable proprietary technologies which are instrumental to the global products business and protects those innovations with patents or maintains them as trade secrets.

This partnership between Boart Longyear engineers and Drilling Services benefits everyone in the industry as many of the solutions developed are also considered for commercialization. Boart Longyear Drilling Services uses the highest-quality, safest and most innovative equipment and tooling available, developed by Boart Longyear Drilling Products. As a result of the unique Boart Longyear business model and the collaboration with Drilling Services, Drilling Products customers know they’re using thoroughly tested equipment and tooling.

Here are just a few examples...

Over a six month period (May – October 2013) Boart Longyear used an LM75 drill rig with a Drill Control interface (DCi) to drill a total of 5,726.3 meters using a BQTK size diamond core bit. This was an increase of 907.7 meters drilled over the previous six-month average, which resulted in a unit cost improvement of $2.90 per meter average and monthly productivity increase of 13.5 percent. Read more…

Using patented technology, the new Longyear bits have diamonds that are chemically bonded to the matrix creating a more versatile, faster penetrating, and a longer-lived bit. The new Longyear bits retain the smooth drilling characteristics drillers prefer, resulting in more core in the box on every shift for every crew. Available in 16mm more open, express geometry for even higher cutting speeds as well as 16mm Stage and 25mm Stage 3 configurations. Read more…

Recently, a mining client in Canada requested that Boart Longyear develop a mobile drill rig to solve the issues faced in moving their existing operating StopeMaster equipment safely and quickly through the mine. Read more…

Boart Longyear combined proven technology from its most popular surface coring drill rigs to create the powerful LF160 which was fully tested and vetted with Drilling Services prior to commercialization.

When paired with the FL262 FREEDOM Loader, the LF160 combination is ideal for targeting sophisticated surface drilling exploration contracts that stipulate some of the highest safety standards, without compromising on productivity. Learn more…