Bits ‘n Pieces – The Driller’s Blog

Who would have thought a few months ago at the beginning of this year and this decade, that COVID-19 would impact so much of our lives? We had all heard about it, but it seemed far away. Now it has landed in just about every country and in everyone’s life. It has had a huge impact on so many industries such as healthcare, but how is it impacting the world of drilling and mining? We talked to a few sources to find out.

There is a lot of negative news circulating, so we thought it would be a good time to launch a new, free guide available now for download. Our newest publication is the Diamond Drillers’ Guide to Extending Core Bit Life. It provides a lot of information and advice on how to get the most life out of your core bit. We touched upon this topic a while ago in a blog, but this guide has a lot more information that has been requested often since we wrote the blog.

In our last blog, we looked at the expression “pushing a block”, what it meant and why drillers should never try to advance in a hole when the core is blocked. However, in many parts of the world, especially where dry hole drilling is common, or when the hole is very deep, different advice and procedures should be followed. We are going to look at these different situations and the recommended procedures.

Like many other industries, diamond drilling has its own language. I’ve done a few blogs about the acronyms and the terminology that newcomers to the industry should know. There are always a few expressions that don’t get onto a list and “pushing a block” is one of them.

PDAC 2020 is in a few short weeks and companies in the mining and mineral exploration business have kicked into high gear preparing for it. The PDAC is the largest exploration event every year and an excellent opportunity to launch new products, videos and promotions. This year’s version will be taking place from March 1 to 4, 2020 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre in Toronto, Canada.

The Fordia technical team spends a lot of time visiting drill sites where they answer questions, fix problems and suggest equipment. I love when I hear that a customer was happy with a recommendation and got good results. That’s what happened with Foundex, a Canadian, employee-owned company headquartered in Abbotsford, British Columbia.

Pumps are an essential piece of equipment on a diamond drilling site. They are responsible for getting water to the site and for lubricating the bore hole and flushing drill cuttings. For efficient operations, you will need a pump that will produce the same flow at a given speed, so drillers choose positive displacement pumps. Your pump also needs to be reliable so that operations do not stop. When you need to get a new pump, there are several important questions you need to ask yourself.

Oftentimes, while I am visiting a customer, I will see a new helper struggling to carry some of the heavy loads that are common on the drill site. Additive pails, core boxes filled with core – they all weigh a lot.  This happens to young guys who are fit and train often at the gym and they are annoyed and puzzled by how hard it is to carry heavy things.

The launch of a new product for diamond drilling can be an interesting time. Along with logistics and marketing efforts, the technical team is eager to have customers try a new product. We do a lot testing before a launch but as we all know, drilling conditions can vary enormously from one drill site to another. So we are really happy and a little bit relieved when we suggest a new product to a customer and they get great results.

The launch of the DiscovOre system generated a lot of buzz in the drilling world. Drilling companies are all happy to hear about a new product that claimed to improve safety at the same time as productivity. Companies committed to improving worksite safety were eager to try a core barrel that eliminated or improved safety issues while at the same time improving efficiency.