Bits ‘n Pieces – The Driller’s Blog

We have another video and this one is about some of the most important equipment in core drilling: drill rods, casing and water swivels. Watch this video to learn about the purpose and different types of drill rods used in both conventional and wireline drilling.

Newcomers to the mineral exploration world are often looking for information that can help them learn more quickly and be more efficient on the job. They may also have a lot of questions that they don’t know want to ask or don’t know where to look for answers. There is a lot to learn and not every experienced driller has the time or the patience to teach. We’ve started publishing a series of blogs and videos that go back to some of the basic information that drillers and helpers, new and old, should know.

Ever wonder about the different types of international standards that exist for drilling equipment? Are there more than just Imperial and metric? Why are they also referred to as DCDMA and CMS?

The next in of our series of videos about the diamond drilling industry is all about the components of core drilling. These videos are ideal for newcomers to the industry, and for workers looking to advance in their careers. We know that when you have questions, information can be difficult to get. It is why we produce so many guides, blogs and videos.

Since our integration with Epiroc, we have been working hard at integrating our product lines and updating our guides and documentation.  We started by updating our most popular guide, Mineral Exploration: Guide to Choosing the Right Core Bit, a few months ago and followed up with the Fundamental Guide to Core Bit Configurations. Now, we are happy to report the new, updated version of our free Guide to Protecting and Handling your Drill Rods is available.

Ever hear the term greenfield exploration and wonder what it refers to? Or what the difference is between greenfield and brownfield? Newcomers to the mineral exploration world may not know and may not want to ask these questions so we will be publishing a series of blogs and videos that go back to some of the basic information that drillers and helpers, new and old, should know.

We are happy to announce that as of August 2, 2021, all Canadian Fordia offices will be making drill rigs available to their customers. In an earlier blog this year, we announced that drill rigs would be available for sale in the USA and that proved to be successful, so Canada will now join the USA in adding drill rigs to their portfolio of drilling equipment for the mineral exploration industry.

The mineral exploration industry has seen a lot of change in the last few years. One of the most common challenges is finding employees. Between the cyclic nature of the industry and the recent pandemic, many experienced drillers have left and replacing them has been difficult for many companies.

At the beginning of the year, we decided to update our popular eGuides so our customers would have the latest and greatest information. We started with our most popular guide on choosing the right core bit and are now in the process of taking each guide and updating its information to represent the many changes that have occurred over the last few years.

Directional drilling technology has certainly come a long way in the mineral exploration world, with Gyro-guided tooling and the ability to core while steering the borehole.  There have never been so many options and methods of steering a hole. One of the oldest methods of directing a borehole - wedging - remains an important tool in the drillers box!  Wedges are commonly used to kick the hole trajectory back on line or to scoot past lost tooling in the hole. For one of our customers, the Prism directional wedge was the perfect tool for their needs.