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.

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.

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.

When we wrote a blog a little while ago comparing RC drilling to diamond drilling, one of the things that we didn’t mention was that there is little standardization in RC drilling. Unlike diamond drilling, most of the parts that make up a drill string are not compatible with parts from other manufacturers. This means that configuring, or choosing the types of equipment you need, can be complex and difficult.

Picking the right diamond tool for your drilling project is a topic we’ve covered before in a lot of detail. We’ve written blogs and guides on how to choose the right core bit and the right configuration for that core bit. Oftentimes, our guides include a matrix selection chart to help drillers choose the right core bit depending on the hardness of the ground on Mohs scale.

Subscribers who have been reading this blog for a while know that I am a big fan of drilling additives.  When you are drilling in difficult conditions, drilling fluid additives can really help improve drilling performance. There are additives that are great for most conditions and other that were developed for specific ground conditions like sand or clay.

We did a blog not long ago on reverse circulation drilling compared to diamond drilling, examining the ways in which they differ and are similar. One area where they are similar is the challenge that drillers face when equipment becomes stuck in a hole.  Equipment that is stuck is always bad news as it stalls operations and lower productivity. We’ve done a few blogs on stuck equipment in diamond drilling, so let’s look at the world of RC drilling.

When I talk about new products in this blog, I hate to overpromise. I like to think I provide fair information about what a new product does and why it was developed. The DiscovOre is a new core barrel system that I think really is something different… maybe even revolutionary. It addresses two big issues for drillers, safety and productivity.

One of the most challenging ground formations for diamond drilling is fractured ground. When drilling in highly fractured or broken ground, you run the risk of hitting a void or large fracture and having your drill water escape through that fault. Similarly, in an underground drilling environment, groundwater is often unexpectedly encountered in the drill hole. Extremely high flow rates and pressures are not uncommon.