What many people may not know is that the drillers and engineers of Boart Longyear have been involved in some exciting historical drilling projects in a variety of other applications, too. Drilling equipment for moon exploration is one such example (read Drilling Beyond Earth); but closer to home, the company has assisted with projects to explore and define foundation and structural integrity below the earth or even under bodies of water.

In the late 1920s, members of the Longyear team were contracted to test drill the route of a proposed vehicular tunnel under the East River to connect Manhattan to Brooklyn in New York, USA. The tunnel was intended to reduce transportation congestion due to the slow and unreliable ferry service that existed at the time. The Longyear company provided preliminary boring samples used to determine what was beneath the surface of the river. Characterizing the samples’ type of rock and its hardness allowed geologists and engineers to determine what equipment should be used for tunneling, how long it should take, and at what cost. Although the initial tunnel project didn’t receive support and funding, it laid the groundwork for a later project—the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel—which was started in 1940 and opened in May of 1950.

A similar challenge of traversing a wide body of water required assistance from the Longyear team in 1929. Joseph B. Strauss, a visionary engineer, was tasked with his team to design the proposed Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, California, USA. As chief engineer, Strauss requested the services of Longyear to investigate the rock formations beneath the San Francisco Bay where the bridge would be constructed. Longyear started boring in the Bay in November 1929 along the sites of the proposed piers and anchorages. [i]

Due to the turbulent waters of the channel, the drillers had to be creative as to how they would retrieve the core samples beneath the tumultuous surface. Strauss was big on safety, requiring bridge workers use safety lines, work over safety nets, and even wear some of the first hard hats. The Longyear crew constructed a platform over the water supported by a boom—an A-frame—and guy-wires anchored to the shore. The platform allowed the team to suspend their drilling equipment securely on top and safely above the bay. Despite the problems of deep water, ocean traffic, storms, and tidal movement, the team was able to finish the work on schedule with complete core sample recovery.

The geological samples and subsequent data supplied to Strauss proved that the rock formations could bear the weight of the foundations and enable the huge bridge structure to be built. The information was provided in a full report to the board of engineers in February 1930 and the bridge was determined to be “feasible economically and structurally.”

This great news meant Strauss and his design team could move on to the next phases of engineering and constructing the Golden Gate Bridge. In gratitude for Longyear’s contribution, Strauss wrote, “The work done by your company, having been entirely satisfactory, and the relations between us and your drillers having been cordial and pleasant, I am glad to make immediate payment of the balance due.” [ii]  

Payments received by the company totaled close to $15,000 for the boring contract. It wasn’t for another three years (January 1933) that construction began and a groundbreaking ceremony for the bridge was held. The Golden Gate Bridge was completed in May 1937 at a total cost of $35,500,000.

Click below images to view larger.

From left to right

Images 1 and 2: “Engineers Speed Plans for Golden Gate Bridge” - A Pacific Street and Road Builder article from March 1930 stating “test borings reveal solid rock foundations and showing a photo of boring operations at the Lime Point side of the bridge in Marin County, California.

Image 3: “Borings Started for Gate Span” – Photos shows in the Vallejo California Chronicle, Sebastopol California Times, and Cresent City Triplicate newspapers on November 29, 1930. The article shows a photo of Longyear’s diamond-tipped drills used for bore sampling the rock at the San Francisco end of the bridge, next to Fort Point.

Image 4: “Getting Down to Bedrock” – A San Francisco Examiner article, dated February 14, 1930, picturing engineers, including Strauss, inspecting boring samples from the Golden Gate Bridge project.

A truck-mounted LS600 sonic rig taking core samples near a dam site.

Shortly after the Golden Gate boring project, the Longyear company became involved with drilling projects for the construction of hydro dams around the country. In the 1930s, Longyear drillers did test borings for several of the twenty planned dams under the jurisdiction of the Tennessee Valley Authority. These dams were part of a comprehensive plan for the reclamation and development of the Tennessee River—covering an area of more than forty thousand square miles and over seven states.[iii]

Later twentieth-century construction-type projects for Longyear drillers included boring for core samples for the Missouri River Project, and the first foundation test borings for the Fort Peck Dam in Montana—the project’s first major hydro dam.

Today, Boart Longyear continues to assist with construction and rehabilitation projects around the world using even more advanced technologies and equipment. The company regularly uses sonic drilling technologies which are ideal for avoiding many of the challenges experienced with conventional drilling methods.

Sonic drilling offers quality control in conjunction with the production and installation of geotechnical construction elements. The sonic method can actually eliminate the need for circulation-type drilling allowing the driller to work safely in situations that involve sensitive structures, vulnerable site conditions, difficult geology, or have restrictive conditions. Sonic drilling also provides measurements and samples to evaluate actual conditions across a given site during the progress of exploration and construction.

A few examples of Boart Longyear’s sonic drilling assistance with tunnel, bridge, and hydro dam projects in the twenty-first century include: [iv]

• Casing installation for the Boston Central Artery / Tunnel Project CO9A4, Massachusetts, USA. As part of the process of installing three jacked tunnels under the 13 railroad tracks at South Station in Boston, specialized sonic drilling was used to install casing through some of the most difficult combinations of historical fill materials—steel rails, brick tanks, woodpiles, granite seawalls, reinforced concrete slabs, track ballast rock, clay, stratified sands, till and weathered bedrock.

• Installation of a grout curtain at Clearwater Dam in Missouri, USA. The project required a drilling method with the ability to penetrate and sample both the body of the dam and its foundation without the use of air or water circulation. Sonic drilling was used to investigate a deep sinkhole and affected a remedial plan involving drilling 15-degree battered grout holes through embankment fill to construct a grout curtain.

• Sonic drilling comparison for a tunnel design pilot study on the Combined Sewer Overflow Control program, Anacostia River Project in Washington DC. Sonic drilling was used to perform continuous soil coring with approximately 100% core recovery and careful installation of multiple piezometers.

• Micro-pile installation testing near the Holland Tunnel in New Jersey, USA. Sonic drilling was compared with conventional drilling to advance micro-piles through silty sand overburden, overlying till, and schist. Not only was the sonic drilling 33% quicker for installation of the micro-piles, waste was also eliminated to nearly the volume of the sonic core, which minimized disposal costs. 

Bridges, tunnels, dams, and even buildings are all safer because of the work done to investigate, test, and secure the foundations. Although considered a small contribution to these engineering marvels, Boart Longyear employees are proud of the heritage the company has earned and its involvement in each part of history.

For more information on Boart Longyear’s construction drilling capabilities, including sampling core, anchoring, micro-piling, jet grouting, and ground freezing, visit the overburden and construction tooling section.

[i] https://www.goldengate.org/bridge/history-research/bridge-construction/joseph-strauss/

[ii] Edmund J Longyear, and Walter R Eastman. 1984. “The Mesabi and Beyond”; Pg 181

[iii] Edmund J Longyear, and Walter R Eastman. 1984. “The Mesabi and Beyond”; Pg 192

[iv] George R Burnhart, Boart Longyear Technical paper. 2006. “Sonic Drilling Offers Quality Control and Non-Destructive Advantage to Geotechnical and Construction Drilling on Sensitive Infrastructure Sites.”

Golden Gate Bridge Photos from historical records, the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District and found here https://www.goldengate.org/exhibits/engineering-the-design/

Golden Gate Bridge Photo courtesy of Umer Sayyam

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.

Lost Time Injury Rate:

Lost Time Incidents x 200,000
         Total Work Hours

2018 was a challenging year with new employees entering the business with generally less experience, which increased job task risk. Globally consistent hazard and risk-focused onboarding and a higher level of operational risk communication through soft-start initiatives, pre-shift information meetings, and field level risk assessments, has assisted in mitigating that risk, which can be seen in recent severity rates.

The company’s programs and simplified company field standards published in January 2018 ensured understanding of company safety expectations. Also, the full utilization of the company’s online data management system mobile app has the ability to track, trend, and identify data at-risk sites, which has helped the organization respond proactively before an injury occurs. Boart Longyear’s new lead indicator programs online saw a 93% success rate in 2018, further driving severity rates down. Over 5,000 management interactions were performed by global leadership, over 50,000 training courses were completed, and over 11,000 corrective actions were completed in the company’s online systems.

These programs have again evolved for 2019 by including the company’s first ever Critical Risk Management Program. Utilizing 10 years of taxonomy data, the organization identified six critical risks. The company will now use the mobile app for inspecting Critical Controls that must be in place to mitigate the identified risks.

Global Director of EHS and Training, Brian Maeck stated, “A lot of support for these programs have come from our operations group. Business leaders were the first ones to utilize the tools to ensure we all do our part in keeping our workforce safe. I could not be more pleased with the 2018 outcomes.”

Drills are driven, flown, and hand-carried into remote locations to help discover and define precious resources. Drill teams leave their families and the safety of modern technology to help search for the next big strike. The satisfaction of being part of the bigger picture is incredibly rewarding, but nothing is more rewarding than returning home and sharing the adventure with friends and family. Being part of an exploration team takes extensive training, knowledge, and trust. From the first day of employment, team members are trained in proper operating procedures and safety of each task required of them. They build knowledge from each project they complete, building a wide range of competencies and the ability to problem solve onsite issues.

As the years go by, the employee moves from novice to veteran, offering years of experience to help complete the most demanding projects. In the drilling industry, the more experience an employee has, the more they become invaluable. Training is the base and knowledge creates the structure of a great team member, but trust is what keeps all projects moving forward to the end goal. It’s confidence in each other, from the new hire to the twenty-year veteran that they will operate safely. If a team member sees an unsafe act, they will say, “STOP” before that act potentially becomes an incident.  Boart Longyear utilizes the Stop Work Authority which empowers all team members, regardless of seniority, to stop work anytime there is an unsafe condition. . Knowing that your colleagues have your back, and you have theirs, allows for safe and productive work. Proper utilization of the Stop Work Authority maintains a safe job site; yet there are moments on every project that someone should have said “STOP,” but it never happened. What prevents an employee from speaking up? Let’s drill down into three safety scenarios from different companies and projects around the world that can help teach employees to speak up.   

Drilling requires employees who are mentally and physically tough. The job requires men and women who can work in a wide range of weather conditions, completing demanding tasks like tripping pipe and handling casing. In the past, when a job becomes too difficult to complete the other team members will shout to “Man up” or other unwelcomed words of encouragement. On a cathodic protection well project in west Texas, two team members were attempting to remove a 12” tricone bit from a stabilizer while the tooling was in the table. After several unsuccessful attempts to unscrew the bit, employee A told employee B to use the 48” aluminum pipe on the table. Employee B knew that the wrench was the wrong tool for the job and as he started to explain that, employee A said, “Man up, stop being afraid.” On the second attempt to free the bit the wrench exploded with the handle hitting employee B above the left eye requiring 18 stitches. Two other team members watched the entire event happen without speaking up or saying, “STOP.” Drilling is a rough and tough job where no one onsite wants to look weak. However, that is how accidents have the potential to become fatal. All team members onsite had the proper training to say, “Stop. This is the wrong tool for the job.” A good safety culture starts with eliminating the “man up” ways of operating and replaces it with team members who trust one another. Team members who are willing to speak up when a procedure is unsafe. Man up can quickly become man down when no one speaks up.

Drilling is a skill that is developed over years of experience; often the driller on site has triple the experience as the new hire. On a coring project in the Atacama desert, a drill crew was setting up the rig for their third 1,000 meter hole. The driller attached the mud hose to the pump and prepared to start pumping drill fluid. Several hours into the first shift of the new hole, the mud line blew off the pump, striking a helper and knocking him to the ground. 

Learn more about Boart Longyear's safety culture of individual empowerment and how everyone is responsible for safety in the Make it Safe video.

The helper suffered a small laceration and bruising. An accident investigation uncovered that the whip check safety cable was not attached per standard operating procedure. An employee onsite said that before joining his new crew they always connected the wire but his new driller and crew did not attach the cables on the previous two holes. The employee thought the driller knew best for his rig and did not speak up. Safe projects are the most efficient, and safety depends on following proper procedures every time. All employees on site should have said, “STOP” on the first and second hole when the safety cable was not attached. 

Drilling is a complex process requiring every team member onsite to be focused on the tasks at hand. Rotating tooling, suspended tooling overhead, slips, trips, and falls are just a short list of hazards while working around a drill rig. On a construction project just outside downtown Toronto, a two-person team drilled 6” auger holes to 17 meters. The two had worked together for over ten years on similar projects across Canada. It was a rainy Tuesday morning, and the team had five holes to complete for the day. The team would switch roles from driller to helper after each hole, allowing both employee A and employee B the opportunity to work in both positions. After the second hole, employee A noticed on social media on his smartphone that a family member had been injured in a car accident. As the team progressed onto hole three, employee B was drilling as employee A was preparing augers. Employee B could tell that employee A was not himself, but they continued to work. As they connected the final auger, employee A put his hand on the head while employee B was still drilling and employee A smashed his pinky and ring finger. When employee A was asked what happened, and why he would place his hand in a pinch point, he was at a loss. He further explained that the car accident photos on social media had him thinking about his family and not the job. Smartphones give us the ability to be updated on situations in a moment’s notice and because of this technology we can physically be on the job site and mentally be somewhere else. Employee B said at the accident investigation that she knew something was wrong but did not speak up. After the fact, employee B said she should have shut down the rig and let employee A take time to find out the severity of the injured family member. The Stop Work Authority is designed to stop unsafe acts, and sometimes that act can be checking to make sure a colleague is mentally safe.

In each scenario, there was a moment where an accident could have been prevented by saying “STOP.” No one starts the work day with the intent to be unsafe or injured. In general, accidents happen from a lack of training, a lapse in judgment, complacency, or being distracted. Some employees worry about that moment of awkwardness from stopping a colleague or being wrong about stopping a colleague. The moment of awkwardness that could occur by saying “STOP” is a feeling that is short-lived, compared to the memory of knowing you could have stopped the unsafe act before your colleague was injured or killed. That awkward feeling is far better than saying, “I am sorry” to the family of an injured or killed employee. The Stop Work Authority was created to prevent catastrophic events and to educate everyone on site. No team member will be upset by the use of a Stop Work Authority that was unnecessary. If that situation occurs, it is a perfect time to educate the team on the task and the risk involved. The level of risk increases by the distance to the nearest trauma center. Modern medicine has significantly increased patients’ odds of fully recovering from a catastrophic injury. A worker who crushes his hand on a job site in downtown Los Angeles has an excellent chance of full recovery. However, a worker on a core rig in the Cascade Mountains has less than a 50% chance of keeping the appendage, let alone regaining mobility. Medical advances are only impactful if the injured can be treated immediately by a state-of-the-art trauma center. Saying “STOP” is always the right decision.  

To be a Boart Longyear employee is to know that safety is a core value. The ultimate goal of every project is to bring the team members home safely. Stop Work Authority works because of the trust the team has in one another. It creates a secondary safety net allowing everyone onsite the ability to say stop before an accident becomes catastrophic. Proper utilization and execution of the Stop Work Authority come from training, knowledge, and trust. Every person on a Boart Longyear job site is welcome and expected to speak up when they see an unsafe task. The Stop Work Authority is a powerful tool that creates an evolving safety culture that is actively improving upon itself every day. 

Learn more about Boart Longyear's safety culture of individual empowerment and how everyone is responsible for safety in the Make it Safe video.

Reducing risk in any situation can mean the difference between a healthy life and serious injury, or even death. Your head is especially vulnerable on the job site and is the reason hard hats are required to protect against the unexpected. It seems obvious, and after all that safety training it shouldn’t be a question whether to wear appropriate safety gear or not, yet head injuries from lack of wearing a hard hat still happen.

In an article entitled, “Hard Hats Protect Our Greatest Safety Device,” Brock Yordy, a global drill trainer and consultant, states, “We play a voluntary game of brain damage roulette any time we think it is OK to not wear a hard hat on any jobsite with overhead hazards.”

To properly protect your head, your hard hat should fit securely and be inspected daily. Originally published by National Driller, this article explains what to look for and why head protection is so vital. Some of the questions, observations, and tips given about hard hats could possibly save your life.

Take a closer look at this recommended reading by clicking here, “Hard Hats Protect Our Greatest Safety Device.”

Has your hard hat saved your life? Share an experience by clicking on the gray discussion bar below.

The opinions and recommendations contained in the recommended article are solely those of the author. This article has been used by permission. It can be found published on National Driller.

In a recent article published by National Driller and entitled, “Tips for Situational Awareness to Keep Drilling Jobs Safer,” Brock Yordy, a global drill trainer and consultant, states, “If we know what is dangerous and respect it, we can minimize the possibility for failure that leads to injury or death. Reducing risk or tragedy depends on situational awareness of the entire job.”

Mr. Yordy shared with us that during his career he has worked on several Boart Longyear sites in North America and Latin America. Along with these and other exciting career experiences, he’s learned a lot about understanding ones surroundings to best adapt thinking and behavior and create a safer working environment.

This informative article continues with a number of insights and beneficial tips to guide drillers through recognizing what hazards are present and the actions they can take to keep them and their crews safe. Points made include understanding the environment, conditions, weather, and consideration of local wildlife. Next, drillers need to adhere to consistent practices, trying not to introduce variables that could catch people off guard.

“The risk area around rotating drill rods is the first that gets taken for granted.” This truth often leads to trouble in the field and allows Mr. Yordy to introduce observations and more helpful information that drillers should consider.

We recommend reading the full article, “Tips for Situational Awareness to Keep Drilling Jobs Safer,” written by Brock Yordy and published on National Driller’s website.

Boart Longyear employs progressive and effective safety programs to protect the health and safety of our employees, contractors, and visitors at all of our sites and facilities. The company enjoys a unique position as not only are we a pioneer of innovative equipment, but through our Drilling Services division we also get to use the equipment in the field and experience firsthand what is needed to get the job done right. Safety tips are continually shared and situations monitored to educate and cultivate an interdependent safety culture.

Please share your safety tips by clicking on the gray discussion bar below.

This is not a new thought as we hear so often about ‘best practices’ and have many laws, regulations, policies, and procedures that we must adhere to. Protection, safety and security is often the underlying reason behind what we are required to do. We must abide by the law to stop at a red light not because of the threat of a ticket, but because ignoring it could bring severe consequences to ourselves, others, or property.

In the drilling industry, safety is critical. Although equipment is continually improving for productivity and safety, human supervision and interaction are still required and we know, as the English poet Alexander Pope pronounced, “To err is human...”

No one is perfect, but that is the fun of living in a world with so much variety. We would all like to think we have it all figured out, but the reality is that we always have something new to learn. And sometimes we go through an experience and immediately adjust behavior only to find that a short time later our habitual tendencies put us right back to before we learned our new-found experiential knowledge. Who hasn’t been sunburned more than once, or that blister reappears because once again we didn’t use gloves when gardening?

So, how do we learn from our mistakes and help others learn from these mistakes so they don’t go down that same possibly hazardous path? There are obviously many things that can be done, but here we will approach one way that has made a huge impact on improving safety for drilling activities around the world.

Boart Longyear’s Environmental Health and Safety team (E&HS) incorporated an incident-management database system to track, report, and promote a conscientious safe working environment. The company is not the first to use such a system, and fortunately many companies today have similar safety database systems. The premise behind the system is to reduce risk by helping people learn and change so they will practice safer behaviors and proactively address hazards before they result in an injury.

Employees are trained to report any incident, big or small, and designated employees enter all incidents, near misses, and management interactions into the incident management system.

• A gas cap is missing from a vehicle… it is typed into the system.
• A deer runs in front of the truck… even without contact, it’s entered as a near miss.
• A driller feels dehydrated and is required by his manager to go drink more water… it’s reported and entered in the system.
• An employee uses a wrench and bruises an elbow… It’s entered into the system.

A “Daily Incident Report” is emailed out daily around the world. Employees review the daily incident report to make them aware of potential hazards and in turn make needed behavioral or procedural changes—now that’s continual improvement!

Recent upgrades to the Boart Longyear incident management system have included a mobile app version for ease of use including entering data, tracking incidents, near misses, and management interactions. An easy-to-use inspections module was also recently added to the system. Information can be completed 100% in the app, with or without an internet connection, and then sent to the global collection database instantaneously or when the person gets back into reach of cellular or WIFI connections.

We don’t know anyone that would disagree on the benefits of implementing more safety procedures to keep employees and others safe. Even a precarious daredevil has built-in safety nets to give his audience thrills for yet another day. Where the incident reporting system goes beyond the safety nets is that it also captures the before-unseen information for potential harm and flags it for an immediate thoughtful response.

When a company uses a safety management system, there are many advantages to the knowledge that is collected and disseminated. The priority is safety and warning others of potential risks always helps to place harm at a well-planned distance.

Exploration and mining companies look for contractors that make safety a high priority. Lost-time incidents (LTI) are the last thing anyone wants. It’s not only about making sure people work safely, but that they can go home to their loved ones in the same physical condition as when they reported for work.

Incident management systems do cost time and money to train on, implement, and utilize. But that cost is small in comparison to saving a life and protecting investments. In the long run, safety and incident management systems increase productivity and keep operations running successfully.

At Boart Longyear, “Safety First” is a core value. The incident management system is a great way for all employees to share while making safety a daily focus. Many times the system has proven to be a useful part of the repertoire of EHS tools that keep everyone responsible, accountable and safe.  

For Boart Longyear, fostering a safety culture that emphasizes why we work safely is more than just a safety program—it’s the way employees work every day. No matter what you do, take time to make safety part of your daily activities.

With the current procedure, the StopeMaster rig had to be escorted by a scoop in front of and behind the equipment on every move. The StopeMaster rig is essential in production drilling in the mine, but slow to move and it would hold up traffic on the ramp as it moved throughout the mine. This process was costing the mine time and resources.

In order to solve this challenge, Boart Longyear’s Drilling Services engineering team created a multi-phase plan to add both functionality and mobility to the existing StopeMaster equipment. The first phase of the plan was to design and build a more mobile StopeMaster rig, then move to hands-free rod handling, and finally to semi-autonomous drilling.

With the combined dedication of many remarkable Boart Longyear employees around the world, the team started engineering a new Stopemaster MDR rig that would solve the issues the mining company was experiencing.

A few weeks before the MDR rig was to be delivered, representatives from Boart Longyear’s Drilling Services team accompanied the mine’s pre-assessment team to scour every nook and cranny of the prototype rig to proactively identify and address conformance to the customer’s standards.

To ensure successful deployment of the new StopeMaster MDR mobile drill rig, a specialized Boart Longyear team spent 16 days onsite working out all the fine details and making sure everything was up and operating smoothly. The team included dedicated percussive drillers and a senior production designer.

On the afternoon of March 10, 2018, the very first Stopemaster MDR rig took to the ramp as it entered the portal for its inaugural deployment at a mine in Northern Ontario, Canada. Shortly thereafter, it collared its very first hole.

From the moment the rig arrived at the mine, the Boart Longyear team worked diligently with the customer to rapidly address any new concerns identified by the onsite reviewers. Over the subsequent days, the drilling team quickly learned the new LMi interfaces - a couple of joysticks, a knob, and a touchscreen had replaced the recognizable matrix of gauges and controls native to the stalwart StopeMaster machine. 

(Left-to-Right) Boart Longyear employees: Willie Coderre, Tyler Allin, Zane Clark, Al Portugie, James Forest, Dan Kirkey

After days of fine tuning the rig and tweaking the software controlling the rod handling aspects of the drill, the drillers were finally allowed to drill. These enthusiastic men cooperated as a tag team to complete the first 17-meter hole that expectantly broke through a known water fault that cascaded 4°C water down onto the drill and drillers. 

Then it was time for a crew change, and a new set of drillers embarked on the project. The next hole had to be drilled in the stope with a cascade of refreshing Canadian ground-water endlessly spewing onto the drill. Without much of a grumble, the assigned driller donned his oilers and dutifully braved the damp, frigid conditions, rod after rod. The drill was struggling to dig with the last few rods, so the dedicated driller pulled them all to check the bit, then sent the drill string right back up. Only later was the penetration issue attributed to a malfunctioning valve, but the driller trudged through. With half a meter to go, the shift was over and it was time to quit for the day.

Due to logistical challenges that followed, some members of the drilling crew were, for one reason or another, temporarily unavailable. Another team member accepted the challenge of training on the new drill.

Willie Coderre tramming the MDR into its first Stope.

He diligently battled through the still undiagnosed valve issue to complete the last half meter of the previous hole and followed that performance up by completing a 17-meter-long hole of his own. With the drill onsite for well over a week at this point, the latest driller now held the “Most Meters Drilled” title for the new StopeMaster MDR rig. 

After agonizing over the extremely slow penetration rate, the striking bar on the drifter snapped with only three more meters left in the hole. The crew replaced the striking bar and completed the stubborn hole. 

While repositioning the drill for the next hole, the driller was quickly able to identify a weakness in one of the actuators that deploys the drill’s outriggers. The drill was again shut down and made safe before the team made their way back up to the surface to brainstorm a plan to reinforce the outrigger. With a plan in hand, the team took another maintenance day to execute the fix.

With the outrigger issues now resolved, the drill was successfully repositioned and began another hole, this time with the team focusing a keen eye on the detailed micro-behaviors throughout the drilling process. The drilling team was able to identify and diagnose the misbehaving valve and in no time, the new drill received a replacement part. A couple of hoses here, a few bolts there, and the feed pressure control was snatched from the Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) and temporarily placed back into the hands of an experienced longhole driller.

Finally, with multiple issues resolved, the team united to attempt to get some meters drilled without issues. With the drill behaving much better, five holes were easily drilled for a total of 83 meters that day.

Although challenges were initially experienced with the prototype, having the Boart Longyear team available onsite meant they could quickly adapt, adjust and correct any problems. Because of their dedicated teamwork, the crew was able to deliver on the customer’s request to upgrade the StopeMaster to a mobile drill rig with rod handling and semi-autonomous drilling.

The newly commissioned StopeMaster MDR rig solved the issues of moving the StopeMaster, making moves from stope to stope faster and requiring less time and resources from the mine. The StopeMaster MDR equipment is also safer with rod handling capabilities and semi-autonomous drilling with a new LMi control panel which controls both the rod handler and the StopeMaster MDR rig.

The SMA recognized Boart Longyear as the mining contractor with the best safety stats in 2017. The hours worked in 2017 included a specialized shaft sinking project and the demobilization of the Cameco McArthur River as the mine moved to care and maintenance.

The SMA uses reported stats for safety incidents including first aid medical consultant frequency, medical incident frequency, modified work days severity, lost time injury, and days lost severity to base the recognition.

SMA is an industry-driven organization representing the mining and mineral exploration industry with over 25 mining operations in the province. The Saskatchewan Mining Association is an industry-funded organization that has been in existence for over 50 years. The SMA is considered by provincial and federal governments to be the Voice of the Mining Industry in Saskatchewan. SMA represents its members by engaging in government advocacy, public awareness, including educational outreach and member development.

Below, pictured left to right: Rob Jackson, SMA Board Liaison to Safety Committee, Honourable Bronwyn Eyre, Minister of Energy & Resources, Jimmy Barrieau, EHST Regional Manager, Boart Longyear and Mike Carr, Deputy Minister, Labour Relations & Workplace Safety

Boart Longyear operates the exclusive LR90H Horizontal Drilling Rig for mine dewatering. This FOPS Level II certified rig drills a hole at a 5-degree angle for self-draining dewatering – directly against a high-wall face for the best productivity. This electric rig offers completely hands-free rod handling and can drill 152 to 182 m (500-600 ft) in a shift to depths of 450 m (1500 ft).

Recently, a client requested that the driller controls be moved away from the rig for 24/7 operations. At night, it’s difficult to monitor high walls visually. By moving the driller and the controls away from the high-wall in a remote operations cab, drilling can safely occur even at night when high-wall movement can be missed visually.

The LR90H drill rig will continue to work directly against the high-wall and the driller controls will be extended to a custom trailer and a remote operations cab that can be approximately 150 feet away from the high-wall, thus removing the driller and crew from hazards.

The LR90H is equipped with hands-free rod handling.

The remote operator system will maintain the current control panel functions in the cab and have a pass function that only allows operation from one location at a time to avoid unwanted operation of any function.

The new remote cab will move the driller out of the rig and away from the dangers of working directly against a high wall.

Communication with the rig will be via umbilical cord connections and the inline electric operated pilot controls will look and feel as much like the current control panel on the rig. The remote operations trailer will be equipped with six cameras capable of night vision showing needed angles and with viewing monitors in the cabin. Current LED lighting will be doubled for better night vision and an intercom system will be installed for communication to helpers outside. Due to the electric power, operating noise levels are extremely low compared to its Diesel Hydraulic brother. The mobile drill cabin trailer will be a 7.5X14 foot mobile office trailer, set up with electrical, insulation, lights, windows, air conditioning, and heat.

It’s just another example of how Boart Longyear is, at your service.