Benefits of RC Drilling

Compared to diamond core drilling, RC drilling with inherently faster penetration rates provides several benefits:

1. Direct drilling cost reductions in the range of 25% to 40%.
2. Faster completion of drill programs with quicker delivery of results.
3. Reduced man-hours at the drill with decreased exposure to potential accidents.
4. Indirect cost reductions gained from a simplified sampling process.
5. Requires less water than diamond drilling.

Setting Up Your Rig

When setting up or buying a rig to commence exploration RC drilling there are a lot of factors to consider. Initial costs are high so you need to get it right the first time. Talking to peers in the industry plus rig and consumable manufacturers is a great way to get firsthand experience so that costly mistakes can be avoided. It would difficult to overemphasis the importance of paying careful attention to initial equipment purchases.

Choices like the type, configuration, and setup of a rig have downstream effects on production rates, downtime, profitability, and operator safety.

Exploration drilling requires support equipment. This can vary depending on the amount and depth of holes to be drilled as well as the remoteness of the location. Drilling companies will typically be set up with caravans, satellite communications, lighting towers, auxiliary compressors (with boosters) and support trucks carrying water, fuel, spare equipment & drilling consumables.

RC Drilling – Site Grade Control

Reverse Circulation is the most commonly used drilling method for grade control in open pit mining operations. Grade control is used to define the ore grades and ore blocks in the pit and also provide knowledge for mine planning and blasting.

This information is critical to reduce waste rock (dilution) in concentrator feed as dilution can vary from 5-40%. RC grade control is the most cost effective and accurate way to define boundaries between waste rock and ore bodies..

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