For Boart Longyear’s exacting exploration drilling customers, the quality of core extracted by its Drilling Services Division is expected to be of optimal quality: “Our customers make major decisions that can cost them millions of Rands and impact on hundreds of lives based on the information derived from our core,” says CDD managing director, Gordon Hogan, “so it is critical that we deliver reliable results.”

Time is money, of course, so there’s also heavy pressure to produce those results within tighter and tighter deadlines. However, there’s a need to balance drilling speed and drilling depth against drilling performance, guards Hogan. “It’s not good enough to get to the desired depth on time if it means the quality of the core sample is compromised as a result.”

At CDD, the focus is on timely delivery and reliable information and - just to prove that the two are not mutually exclusive - machine operator Joseph Mlambo and assistant Mbulelo Daveli have set what is believed to be a new record in underground AXT drilling at Anglogold’s Mponeng Mine.

During the course of a contract to provide ongoing exploration drilling, cover drilling and grouting services to the mine, the pair drilled 343 metres in a hanging wall application in 23 days using a pneumatic MetreEater. “That’s an average of 15 metres per eight hour shift, versus the accepted average of 4,5m,” says delighted section supervisor Stefan Schoeman.

Even more remarkably, this included the drilling and grouting of a 3m2 NX casing, five shifts to transport machinery and equipment from one drill site to the next, plus four rigging/de-rigging cycles – each of which can take a full shift to complete.