Bits ‘n Pieces – The Driller’s Blog

Geology is really tied to diamond drilling and although geologists are key players in drilling operations, drillers need to have a basic understanding of geology. The deeper the hole - the more that geological influences become complex. We wrote a blog a while ago on geology basics that drillers should understand. As more and more new drillers and helpers are joining the world of diamond drilling, I thought it would be a good idea to revisit geology and in particular, geological terms that drillers should know.

Let’s face it, core recovery is what it’s all about in diamond drilling – it’s the reason we are out there on a drill site. The more core that you are putting in the box, the happier your boss or the mining company will be. Not surprisingly, this is a topic that our field technicians get asked about a lot and that our subscribers say is a challenge. Read more about improving core recovery here.

For the last couple of blogs, we’ve been looking at core barrels. A wire line core barrel typically consists of a double tube system that includes an inner tube and outer tube. We’ve looked at the parts that make up the inner tube assembly and the head assembly. In this blog, we will look at the parts of the outer tube and the role of each piece of Equipment.

Why are we spending a lot of time looking at this equipment? Because in order to maintain good drilling performance, diamond drillers should have a thorough understanding of their drilling equipment. With that said, let’s look at the components.

In an earlier blog, we looked at the core barrel assembly, this being the equipment that is used to recover core, and plays a very important role in the diamond drilling operation. The success of an operation depends on retrieving core efficiently and effectively. We looked at the parts of the inner tube of which the head assembly is a part. It is a complex part so it is well worth looking at it in detail.

In order to be able to get good drilling performance, diamond drillers should have a thorough understanding of their drilling equipment. They should be familiar with the individual pieces, their function and how they work together as part of the drilling process. The core barrel plays an important role as this is what you use to recover core. Today, most diamond drillers use wireline core barrels. A core barrel typically consists of a double tube system consisting of an inner tube and outer tube. You should understand the role of each piece in the coring system which we will describe below.

With PDAC now over, it is pretty clear to everyone that this is the dawn of a new economic upturn in our industry. While this is great news, it does bring with it the problem of trying to find qualified employees, a topic we covered in an earlier blog. Many of our readers mention hiring as one of their most pressing challenges.

We spend a lot of time discussing core bits and drilling rods as they are important parts of the drilling system. But there is other drilling equipment that we should look at as every piece has a role to play and is important in the overall drilling process. We recently looked at core bits and reaming shells, and in this blog, we will look at casing shoes and their high performance cousin, the crown shoe.

Whether you work in diamond drilling or another industry, we all face some misconceptions about our jobs. For me, it appears that when people ask what I do and I tell them I’m a diamond driller, there are always false assumptions and some confusion. Maybe it’s because it is not a well-known industry in general but I find myself repeating the same corrections. In this week’s blog, I thought it would be interesting to look at the most common myths about diamond drilling.

Recently, I had written about a case study about our Eddy Water Treatment System in a North American urban setting. Today I wanted to describe another case study, also with the Eddy and the same customer, but this time where conditions were vastly different. The good news is that the results were still great.

 A lot of the time I talk about the different challenges and problems diamond drillers face when the drill site is off in some remote location. It gives the impression that all diamond drilling is done in rural settings, off the beaten track. Now we know that geotechnical drilling happens in urban centers but there are times when a mineral exploration drill site is located in the city.