News

by S&P Global Market Intelligence Mining industry capitalization and Exploration Price Index (EPI) increased In Q2, mining industry market capitalization rose 32% to USD 1.393 trillion. The Exploration Price Index (EPI) was at 135.9, its highest level since March 2013, driven mainly by its significant weighting to gold and the positive gold price performance in […]

by Nicholas LePan, Natural Resources Editor at Visual Capitalist The price of silver has been on an upward trend since 2015 and some would say it will keep growing. On January 31, 2019, the price of silver was at USD 18.04 by August it reached a high of USD 29. This bodes well for silver […]

by Andre Sonnichsen, CTO at Lantern As our industry evolves, it continues to reveal many inefficiencies around how drilling is monitored and reported, as well as the costs endured by mining and mineral exploration companies in the pursuit of the next big thing. With this mind, we built Lantern as a streamlined digital solution to […]

by Raúl G. Lyon, Vice President at Geotec Boyles Bros. S.A. This article discusses the successful development and implementation of new technologies, developed by Geotec Boyles Bros. (Geotec) in collaboration with selected Chilean vendors and manufacturers of diamond drilling products and equipment. The collaboration helped Geotec optimize their work process and contributed to safer, more […]

by Nick Rossides, General Manager Operations – Global, Swick Mining Services The increased market requirement for deeper diamond drill holes in the underground environment has become much more prevalent with mining companies globally. The opportunity to reach exploration target depths from an underground platform is entertained by many miners and proving to be both cost- […]

Dr John-Mark Staude graduated from Pomona College, US with a Bachelor’s degree in Geology in 1987, which was quickly followed by a Master’s degree in Economic Geology at Harvard, US. John-Mark’s academic achievements continued as he went on to acquire a PhD in Economic Geology at the University of Arizona, US, focused on the mineral […]

by Esme Whitehouse, Junior Mining Researcher at Spotlight Mining Excellon Resources (TSX:EXN) are a mid-tier mining and exploration company with projects in Mexico, the US and Germany. Their portfolio includes both precious and base metals, and they own and operate 100% of Mexico’s highest-grade silver mine, Platosa. The Platosa Mine is located 5 km (3.1 […]

by Doug Ramshaw, President at Minera Alamos Inc. What is a real exploration discovery? A discovery hole, even when it can not be classed as such, is what folks too often rely and pin their high hopes on. That hole can cause excitement both in and outside a company, and perhaps even a resulting stock […]

Grenville Whyte was raised in an off-the-grid homestead near Kirkland Lake, Ontario. He was the third child of four and back then, the implementation of school buses saved him from being home-schooled. In 1960, he wanted to go to the Arctic and a suggestion from his teacher helped him land a mechanic’s job there. Just […]

by  John Horne, Founder and Co-Owner of Global Drilling & Exploration Group Pte Ltd Established in 1993 in Indonesia, the re-badged Global Drilling and Exploration Group (GDE) has now spread its footprint throughout South-East Asia and into Australasia and Africa. While not in the realm of the largest drilling companies yet, the privately-owned GDE Group […]

by Colin Rice, Managing Director at Colin Rice Exploration and Training (Pty) Ltd. All manufacturers of diamond core drilling machines provide specifications that relate to the depth to which a particular machine can drill. Often, these specifications are confusing because the depth capacities claimed are substantially greater than the ‘legal’ depth capacity of the drill. […]

By Eric Eckberg, Geologist Innovation and creativity are at the heart of almost everything we do as explorationists and miners. I’ve yet to hear about a program that does not involve creativity in some way, except for perhaps failed campaigns. The following series of anecdotes is a quasi-scientific recollection of my time as the Senior […]

Drew Craig graduated from the University of St. Andrews (Scotland) in 1997 with a Bachelor’s degree in Geology and in 1999, gained a Masters from the Royal School of Mines at Imperial College, London. As a mineral exploration and project management specialist, Drew has a wealth of experience, gained from multiple projects focused on various […]

by Mitchell Smith, President & CEO and Timothy Strong, Project Development Manager at Global Energy Metals Corporation Nevada is referred to as the ‘Silver State’ and is deemed both a national and international gold and silver province. Annually, Nevada yields up to 5 % global gold production and 80 % of the US’ production. Annual […]

by Liam Cooley, Manufacturing at Drillware Under typical conditions in the field, it can take up to 577 600 L of water to complete the average 1000-meter N-size hole. In remote or sensitive areas, the costs associated with delivering this water are substantial, the logistics are challenging, and the process is unnecessarily wasteful. With this […]

by Louis Fourie, Owner & Principal at Terra Modelling Services Inc. A few months ago, there were industry indications that many commodities were beginning to return to a growth phase. Companies were positive, drill rigs were busy, and analytical labs were being inundated with samples. How quickly things change. The question remains as to how long […]

by Dave Williams, Director at Mudex X FRAC (DD) was formulated to streamline lost circulation remediation, minimize lost production time, and reduce the amount of additional drilling fluid to displace lost circulation material (LCM) from the rod string. Inspired by oil field lost circulation technology, X FRAC (DD) contains a mix of dissimilar sized materials […]

by Samuel Bolton, Exploration Geologist at Cornwall Resources Limited Located in east Cornwall, UK, the Redmoor tin-tungsten-copper deposit has been the focus of recent and highly successful exploration by Cornwall Resources Limited (CRL) – a subsidiary of UK-listed Strategic Minerals PLC. Redmoor’s success demonstrates the potential for substantial discoveries in one of the world’s most […]

by Thomas Ulm, Sales Manager at Multi-Power Products Ltd. Remote mineral exploration drilling is difficult. Rig mobilization, supply chain logistics, crew transportation, equipment maintenance, and water supply each pose potential risk through unforeseen delays or unexpected trials. Such is life operating off the beaten path. The phrase, ‘if it was easy, everyone would do it’ often […]

AMC BOS™ reduced drilling fluids needed by 50 %, eliminated the need for a costly, time consuming cementing/grouting and improved the average bit life used. The new solution delivered significant productivity improvements to the operation at a large mine site in Arizona, US. Challenge After a successful trial on another hole at the same mine site, […]

by Cem Hizar, Sales Executive at Son-Mak After a challenging day, nothing brings more joy and pride than when you exceed client, and your own expectations. This motivates us to continue doing what we do best. Regardless of your location – in the dustbowl, the toughest winter conditions, or hundreds of meters underground; we are […]

by James Anderson, CEO at Vangold Mining There are very few jurisdictions in the world that are truly mining friendly, and Mexico is one of them. Mining is generally accepted, encouraged and supported by the local people and all levels of the government. Unlike many other countries, if you discover something valuable at the end […]

by Juan-Luis Valenzuela, Regional Manager at Matex Drillers and geologists have long agreed to disagree over what takes priority at site – hole completion versus optimal core recovery and sample. But something we all agree on is that hole stabilization is critical, irrespective of focus or priority. With the right products on hand, mineral exploration […]

by Walker Dillabough, Drilling Fluids Manager at Di-Corp When we consider all the variables that can add to or subtract from the successful completion of a drilling program, one universally stands out: ground condition. Millions of meters of exploration has surely given us a healthy respect for the fact that ground is different everywhere and […]

Top 15 drilling contractors by mineral exploration revenue, (million USD) Top 15 drilling contractors by number of mineral exploration drill rigs *Coring was not provided with Capital Drilling’s and Orbit Garant’s mineral exploration revenue and the number of rigs devoted only to this type of drilling. For that reason, we have included the overall FY2019 […]

Chris ‘Hoppy’ Hopkins grew up on New South Wales’ south coast, and later in Sydney’s western suburbs, yet a relocation to Perth, Western Australia at age 11 proved the ideal change of scenery. If in search of Chris, you’ll find him in one of three places – underground, in the great outdoors, enjoying time fishing, […]

by Andrew Elf, CEO at Mitchell Services Limited Peter and Deidre Mitchell had less than AUD 200 to their name after buying a Mayhew 1000 Drilling Rig for AUD 11 500 in 1969 and even less after it broke down at the front gate on the way to its first job. Fifty years later, Mitchell […]

by Duncan McLeod, Product Manager and Dag Billger, Business Manager at Inertial Sensing One AB Running continuous gyro surveys while conducting borehole surveying within mining applications is becoming increasingly popular. There are multiple reasons for this trend, but chief among them are the following four points. Considerably faster survey time when compared to traditional multishot […]

by Filip Slavtchev, Sales Representative at MICON-Drilling GmbH German-based global drilling company, MICON-Drilling GmbH (MICON) offers directional drilling and coring services, including development and manufacturing of complete drilling bottom hole assemblies (BHAs). Projects are unique and therefore tailored to meet client expectation – as was the case with a Botswana diamond exploration project in collaboration […]

by Gina Rinderle, Project Coordinator & Safety Officer at Northwest Machine Works, Inc. Northwest Machine Works, Inc.’s internal casing cutters are machined and assembled using simple, unique and effective design. Three cutters have proven to be market mainstays – the CCNWC (3 in or 7.62 cm), CCHWC (4 in or 10.16 cm), and CCPWC (5 […]

by Rune Lindhjem, Product Manager at Devico AS DeviGyro’s 125 cm overshot design Borehole surveying technology has developed and improved rapidly in recent years – driven by an increased focus on accuracy, efficiency and safety, combined with the always increasing need of knowing the borehole’s true trajectory. This applies to all drilling industries and boreholes […]

Ili Cava was born on the small island nation of Fiji, before moving to the world’s largest island of Australia in 1984. A graduate of Queensland’s Townsville Grammar School, Ili worked as a driller for close to a decade, traveling across Australia, and to Europe and South East Asia – relishing every opportunity to learn […]

by Martina Samarova, Executive Officer at Coring Magazine The 88th Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) convention took place March 1-4 in the heart of Toronto. As usual, professionals from far and wide gathered to capitalize on the annual event’s myriad opportunities. The Coring team captured what we believe are PDAC 2020’s interesting moments, […]

by Jelle Terpstra. P. Eng. (Retired), President, Cartwright Drilling Inc. On August 22, 2019 Cartwright Drilling Inc. was awarded a 1500- to 2000-meter diamond core contract by Greenland Anorthosite Mining ApS. The Majorqap Qava project is located 125 km south of Nuuk, Greenland’s capital. The contract posed a challenge, despite Canadian-based Cartwright Drilling’s 16 years’ […]

by Lance Hubbard, General Manager at Hubbard Perforaciones Drilling in the Andes Mountains or South American jungle is challenging due to altitude, terrain, extreme weather and accessibility – or lack thereof, to remote drilling sites. Before starting a drilling program at a location deemed inaccessible, drilling contractors must consider many factors, and the most crucial […]

by Layne, A Granite Company Identification, definition and development of base and precious mineral deposits drives demand for drilling services. Layne, A Granite Company delivers quality samples that accurately reflect the location and orientation of mineral deposits. Founded 138 years ago, Layne is one of the world’s largest, most experienced water and mineral service companies. […]

by Johan Coetzee, Managing Director at Adamas Drilling and Exploration Adamas Drilling and Exploration (‘Adamas’) started its first drilling project in 2013. At that time, the company had only one core drill rig, an Atlas Copco Diamec-262, and an old Toyota Land Cruiser pick-up, a drilling team consisting of an operator, a core writer, two […]

by Liam Hardy, Operations Director at Spotlight Mining This May (2019) a new set of faces appeared on the Golden Triangle circuit. They were keen, enthusiastic, and financially backed to take a shot at the infamous region’s riches, but, planning a hand-son intensive drilling campaign takes more than enthusiasm. Crystal Lake Mining (TSXv: CLM) is […]

Michael Thomsen graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 1974 with a bachelor’s degree in Geology and in 1977 gained a master’s from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. As a mineral exploration geologist with world-class companies, including Newmont Mining Corp, Freeport-McMoRan Inc, and Gold Fields Mining Corp, Michael has visited and evaluated mineral resource opportunities in […]

by Graham Peterson, Geologist, Black Fox Mining LLC and GS Mining Company, LLC Gold Rush in Colorado and a New Mining Era In January of 1859, gold was discovered in Idaho Springs, Colorado. Several months later it was discovered in Central City, Colorado leading it to become known as the ‘Richest Square Mile on Earth.’ A […]

by John Sanchez, US Underground Coring Operations Manager at Boart Longyear Showing up on a mine site to perform contract underground diamond coring doesn’t always go exactly as planned. On one particular project, Boart Longyear mobilized underground coring rigs to a client’s mine in the US where the mine was faced with a big water […]

by Bill Ricciardi, CEO at Titeline Drilling Pty Titeline Drilling (‘Titeline’) has been operating from its base in Ballarat Victoria for over 17 years, and continues to grow, steadily meeting the demands of a diverse customer base. The company specializes in surface and underground diamond drilling, with the surface business focusing on deep directional drilling […]

It is rare for an individual to attest to a career of realizing true, impactful and sustainable industry change – preventing harm, saving time, money and most importantly – lives, while maintaining sensitivity to diverse cultural, geographical and political environments. Craig Lavrick is one such individual, and he’s far from hanging up his revered hard […]

by Jean Lafleur, P. Geo. (OGQ, APGO), Mineral Exploration and Management Consultant – Blainville (Quebec) Canada at PJLEXPL Inc. Life’s journey is challenging. Whether planned or unplanned, intentional or happy-golucky, or shortened or long, life offers a variety of trials and experiences in both personal and professional situations. My wish is that your lives are […]

Graham Brown was educated in Glasgow (Strathclyde University), graduating with a BSc in 1980. He gained his MSc at James Cook University, Australia in 1984. He has been a Fellow of the SEG since 1999 and participated in the Colombia as well as the Duke Business Leaders Programs in 2004 and 2007. In 2013 he […]

by Ilian Valkov Eng., Executive Manager at Geops-Bolkan Drilling Services Ltd One of the challenges of modern geological research is to identify the quality features of valuable resources at an early stage. The extraction of sufficient material for the initial technological research provides an opportunity to obtain critical data about the properties of the prospective […]

Sandra Lindberg is from Norsjö, in northern Sweden. She graduated in car mechanic studies in 2005 and after having her first child in 2007 embarked on a mining internship at Bergteamet (large Swedish mining services provider) that placed her in Malå and was completed in 2009. Sandra has numerous qualifications in drilling-related subjects, including an […]

by Noé Vilcas, Executive Director at Explomin Established in Peru in 2001 by an entrepreneur as a private enterprise with 100 % Peruvian investment, Explomin initially started operations with underground core drilling. Through the years it expanded its range of services to include surface core drilling and reverse circulation drilling (RC). Completing challenging projects in […]

by Duncan McLeod and Dag Billger, Inertial Sensing One AB Borehole surveying is a fundamental part of drilling operations to establish where a hole has actually been drilled. To accomplish this a variety of systems have been developed over more than a century to perform borehole surveys, based on a wide range of physical measurement […]

by Artur Makos, Product Manager, Exploration Products, Epiroc The design of the traditional wireline core drilling system has remained largely unchanged since its introduction to the exploration industry. Over the years, a number of safety issues associated with the traditional wireline coring system have been addressed by manufacturers. Most of the focus has been on […]

Background Russian service company OGK Group was established in 2012 following the merger of the leading domestic enterprises in exploration drilling. At that time, the company had 20 employees and two drilling rigs. At first, OGK organized and performed drilling operations in the solid minerals sector, and consistently developed this activity by investing in technical […]

Luc Paquet is an alumnus of Concordia University, Montreal, where he studied from 1976 to 1979 and gained a degree in Communications. Luc took his first steps in entrepreneurship by running his own business as a beekeeper. Afterward, he worked for a number of companies where he gained insights into management practices. In 1986 he […]

by David R. Walker, Managing Director at Terra Walker Drilling Background Terra Walker Drilling, led by David Walker, was awarded exploration drilling in 2016 by Vedanta – Hindustan Zinc Ltd in Zawar Mines, Rampura Agucha Mines and Kayad Mines, Central West in the state of Rajasthan (India). The company started surface exploration drilling at two […]

by Francine Long, P. GEO, Senior Geologist at Nordmin Engineering Ltd. The importance of using structural data in every discipline within geology cannot be overemphasized. Dedicated geologists spend enormous amounts of time collecting critical structural data. This same dedication should be used to validate and plot the data into products for use as tools to […]

by Andrew Cuthbert, Senior Manager for Global Marketing & Communications at Boart Longyear History In 1890, a young mining engineer named Edmund J. Longyear set a new standard for innovation in mining. Longyear, a member of the first graduating class at the Michigan Mining School, sank the first diamond drill hole on North America’s Mesabi Iron […]

by Colin Rice, Managing Director at Colin Rice Exploration and Training (Pty) Ltd Much exploration drilling is conducted in remote locations, far away from mining activity, which means these operations can escape scrutiny from the prying eyes of a safety department! In the past, this situation was particularly true in South Africa where drill sites […]

Brian Maeck is the Global Director for Environmental, Health, Safety & Training (EHS&T) at Boart Longyear. He was educated at Canadore College in North Bay, Ontario where he was a graduate of the Broadcast Journalism program. He achieved health and safety accreditations through the University of Fredericton and is currently working towards earning his Master […]

Statistics based on 2017 results by Martina Samarova, Marketing and Communications Manager at Coring Magazine After a long downturn, 2017, especially the last quarter, turned out to be profitable for most companies involved in diamond drilling. Coring Magazine reviews the 2017 annual results announced publicly by drilling contractors around the world and ranks the top […]

by Kent Swick, Managing Director and Jenna Aziz, PR Co-ordinator History Swick Mining Services has been operating for over 20 years and was founded by Kent Swick in 1995. Kent is a fourth-generation driller with a drilling heritage that goes as far back as his great-grandfather drilling water wells across the mid-western plains of the […]

Dr Mark Cruise is the CEO of Trevali Mining. He founded the company approximately ten years ago to take advantage of what he saw then as a tightening in the zinc market. Trevali has since grown to be a successful exploration company and now owns four operations: Santander in Peru, Caribou in Canada, Rosh Pinah […]

 by Nick Holroyde, Sales & Marketing Co-ordinator, Energold Group & Richard Thomas, MD Energold Group EMEA   Energold is a diversified, global, drilling solutions provider, that services the mining, geotechnical, water and energy sectors worldwide. Listed on the Toronto stock exchange under the ticker TSX-V: EGD, Energold has been providing a comprehensive range of drilling services for over 20 years in 24 countries. The Europe-Middle East-Africa Division is based in the UK. The company has operations in […]

 by Savannah Adkins Digital Marketing Co-Ordinator at Rig Source Inc. Drilling into the Surtsey Volcano Formed only 50 years ago from volcanic eruptions below the sea floor, Surtsey Island is a natural habitat protected by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site for scientific research. Named after a fire jötunn known as Surtr in Norse Mythology, […]

Professor Nikolay D. Nenkov was born in the town of Elena, Bulgaria in 1928. His academic career began at the Technical University of Sofia, from where he graduated in 1951, majoring in General Mechanical Engineering. Then, in 1959 he joined the Sofia University of Mining and Geology as a lecturer. Four years after defending his dissertation thesis on drilling mechanics in 1974, he was awarded the professorship of Drilling Machines and Mechanisms and Drilling Mechanics.  The creative path of Prof. Nenkov is […]

One doesn’t normally think of France as a mining country, let alone the home of the world’s third-largest mineral driller, Foraco International. However, France is where the adventure started in 1962 when “Le Forage Rationnel”, as it was originally called, was founded by Andre Lamothe, in collaboration with Rogers, an American geophysical exploration company. Mining […]

Filipe Pinto was born in Porto, Portugal. He graduated in Geology from the University of Porto Faculty of Sciences in 2012 and went on to write a Master’s thesis entitled “Study of Tin Distribution in the Panasqueira Mine” there. He has been working as a mine and exploration geologist at the Beralt Tin & Wolfram […]

By Grigor Topev   It’s March and I’m back in Toronto for the Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) 2017 trade show. Walking down the aisles in the Trade Show hall I get a strong sense of having seen it all before. Sure, you say, you have – last year. But that’s not quite […]

John MacPhail has been in the drilling industry for 38 years, working in seismic and oil field drilling then moving through to mineral exploration with air drilling and diamond drilling applications. After 10 years of being at the controls himself and then field operations manager, John, together with his brother Jim, started a supply company […]

  By Frederico Lana A. R. Figueiredo – Senior Exploration Geologist, Brownfields Exploration, AngloGold Ashanti AngloGold Ashanti’s deep drilling project in Brazil’s Cuiabá region was conducted between 2013 and 2015. The purpose of the project was the confirmation of important ore extensions of the Cuiabá mine gold deposit. The project’s success was possible through collaboration between AngloGold Ashanti as […]

by Kiril Apostolov – Directional Drilling Engineer, BG Drilling Solutions Very often during the process of drilling for mineral reserves, the campaign reaches the point where a drill hole or holes have diverted from the proposed trajectory. In these cases, the current azimuth and dip angles of a drill hole need to be brought back […]

by Shteryo Lyomov, Phd, Dept. of Drilling, Transport and Oil & Gas Production, Mining and Geology U., Sofia, Bulgaria Directional diamond drilling (DDD) is powerful technology in the service of the mineral exploration industry. Its application plays an important role and is constantly increasing. A close look at its application reveals the most important factors […]

A report by Grigor Topev The Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada is the biggest exploration drilling show in the world, and though thoroughly international, it has a strong Canadian f lavour. I have visited few mining exhibitions before, but this was my first PDAC expo. My purpose in visiting this year was two-fold: to […]

by Erik C. Ronald, PG – Mining Geology HQ The title may sound like the start of a bad joke, but this article aims to delve deeper into the relationship between geologists and drillers in the exploration and mining industries. These two professions are central and are at times glorified, with the heroic notion of […]

The Atelier Val-d’Or VD8000 drill rig A proven solution for deep hole surface drilling With years of use behind them, Atelier Val-d’Or’s VD8000 and its smaller sibling the VD5000 have shown that they have what it takes to tackle the most demanding surface coring jobs in a safe and efficient manner. The VD8000 was designed […]

Craig Scott Field Operations Manager, Hy-Tech Drilling Over the course of his drilling career, Craig Scott has worked in over 60 different countries. Prior to joining Hy-Tech Drilling in 2007, Craig had a 28-year career with Boart Longyear, where he gained significant experience in the diamond drilling industry, working his way up from driller’s helper […]

As depressed conditions in the mining and exploration industry persist, drilling companies have no choice but to respond to the situation according to their individual circumstances. Even as a relatively small player in the international drilling industry, Günzel Drilling has had to embrace the challenges of a perpetually cyclical industry, and an investigation of its […]

“There is an increasing focus on safety in the mining industry and the Diamec Smart series sets a new standard for underground core drilling rigs. Customers who have tried automatic drilling and rod handling never want to go back to the old way of drilling.” Martin Sommers Vice President Marketing – Exploration Equipment at Atlas […]

For our regular ‘Field practice’ feature, we ask coring experts to write a brief summary of their particular area of expertise. Here, Laurie Cyr and Grigor Topev combine efforts to tell us all we need to know about locking couplings and how to choose the right type. Locking coupling function The locking coupling (LC) is […]

Kevin has been with REFLEX for ten years and is in charge of the Drilling Solutions, globally. He is a holder of the Australian Prospect Mining 2010 Outstanding Contribution to Mining and Miner of the Year awards for his contribution to the 2010 Chilean mine rescue. Coring Magazine: How did you get started in drilling? Kevin […]