Bits ‘n Pieces – The Driller’s Blog

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.

We love to pride ourselves on being able to supply our customers with everything they could possibly need for drilling in either mineral exploration or geotechnical drilling. We’ve got an amazing selection of core bits, drill rods, casing and in-the-hole equipment like core barrels and recovery tools. Our product line includes lubricants, thread compounds and additives, pumps, and even a drilling water treatment system. From the smallest core lifter to burlap bags and core boxes. What you might have noticed missing from this list is drill rigs.

One of the benefits of joining forces with Epiroc is that we get to share and combine our knowledge, expertise, products and processes. In doing so, we bring our customers the best products. Recently, this happened in our Montreal drill rod plant, in Dollard des Ormeaux (DDO). The engineering team is happy to report that a new phosphate treatment system is up and running. While this phosphate system is new to the Fordia plant in Montreal, it is not new to Epiroc. The process has been in place at Epiroc for quite some time, so it was important to implement the process at the Montreal facility.

A lot of changes can happen to a company’s product line over the course of a few years. Products get launched, retired, rebranded…. It’s hard to believe but it has been over 5 years since we launched our Mineral Exploration: Guide to Choosing the Right Core Bit. Since then, not only have we changed our product lines, but we merged them with Eprioc’s products, all with the goal of offering our customers the best products for the mineral exploration industry.

At this time of year, our teams are hard at work preparing for the world’s most important convention for mineral exploration and mining. While the pandemic has forced a lot of changes, PDAC will take place as usual, but in another form.

Finding reliable staff in the diamond drilling industry has always been a challenge. Many of the challenges we hear about from our customers involve problems with training. Some prominent drilling companies are investing in training of upwards of 100 employees per month and only end up with 10% of them moving the next phase of training.

The equipment needed for underground drilling is different than what you need for surface drilling. The main and obvious difference is that with surface drilling, you’re drilling downwards while when you are underground your boreholes can go up or horizontal. That means that you are often drilling with gravity working against you. To counteract the effects of gravity, you need equipment that can help you install in-hole equipment into an up-hole. A stuffing box is an example of that type of equipment and it’s great when you can find a stuffing box that gives you extra features.

One of the events we all look forward to with the start of each New Year, is the AME Roundup event, typically held in Vancouver, Canada at the end of January. This event kicks off the annual mineral exploration season and helps get us ready for PDAC in March. This year, COVID-19 has had a significant impact on the drilling world, along with the rest of the world. It has forced our industry to find creative ways to continue doing business and AME Roundup is no exception. That is why we are happy that the event has gone virtual, allowing the global exploration industry to get together safely.