Field notes & guides

What we get asked on the phone, written down. Buying guides, comparisons and troubleshooting notes covering core drilling and coring systems, drilling fluids and additives, downhole surveying, ground support, grinding media, mine haulage and the logistics of keeping a remote site supplied.

Impregnated diamond core bits and a bronze reaming shell set out on a steel bench at the rig

Buying guide

Choosing the right impregnated diamond bit for your ground

Matching bit matrix to rock hardness, and what it costs you when you don’t.

6 min read

Driller’s offsider feeding product into a jet hopper on a mud tank, with a Marsh funnel and mud balance alongside

How-to

Setting up a drilling fluid program that holds the hole

Polymer selection, mix ratios, and reading returns on a struggling hole.

6 min read

Gloved hands setting a depth block into a tray of drill core at a logging bench

Field notes

Core handling that survives the trip to the logging shed

Tray selection, orientation marking, and stacking for long-term storage.

4 min read

A corroded rock bolt plate beside a new galvanised one, with friction bolts and a mesh roll on a pallet underground

Maintenance

Ground support consumables: when to replace, not repair

Inspection intervals for friction bolts, plates, and mesh underground.

5 min read

A driller kneeling beside a core barrel and a row of impregnated bits on a pallet, with a rod rack and a track-mounted rig behind

Comparison

Wireline or conventional core drilling: which one the program needs

What each system costs you in trip time, capital and core quality, and the holes where conventional still wins.

5 min read

Gloved hands placing a wooden depth block between runs of split grey drill core laid out in metal core trays

Buying guide

BQ, NQ, HQ, PQ: choosing a core size and living with it

Core and hole diameters for the standard wireline sizes, and the trade-offs that should decide which one you drill.

4 min read

A tracked production drill working alone on a bench high in an open pit, with blasted rock stacked along the crest behind it

Comparison

Reverse circulation or diamond coring: picking the right hole

Where RC is the cheaper, faster and entirely adequate answer, and where it quietly costs you the deposit.

4 min read

A drill pad with rods laid out on a rack beside the mast, mud tanks and a support caravan, a driller working at the rod handler

Maintenance

Why drill rods fail at the thread, and what it costs to stop it

Galling, washouts and fatigue cracks all start in the same place. Most of the causes are handling, not metallurgy.

4 min read

Core barrel components, bits and casing laid out on a pallet at the front of a drill pad, with the rig and rod rack behind

How-to

Designing a casing program for unstable ground

How to plan the telescope before you collar, and what it costs when the hole decides for you at 150 metres.

4 min read

Impregnated diamond core bits and a bronze reaming shell laid out on a steel bench at a drill pad, one crown visibly worn

Troubleshooting

Poor core recovery: what to check, in order

Recovery falls for about six reasons. Working through them in the right sequence saves a shift of guessing.

5 min read

A geologist working along racked runs of drill core under the open side of a core shed, with forested hills beyond

Field notes

Core orientation you can defend

The measurement is only as good as the mark, and the mark is only as good as the core stub. How to keep both honest.

4 min read

A survey technician handling a downhole probe in a padded case beside a ruggedised laptop showing a deviation trace, with a drill rig behind

Buying guide

Downhole surveying: magnetic tools, gyros, and when each one is valid

A magnetic survey in magnetite or inside casing is not a slightly worse survey. It is a wrong one.

4 min read

Gloved hands working across runs of grey drill core in metal trays, with a marker and measuring tape on the bench alongside

How-to

Cutting core cleanly: choosing and running diamond saw blades

Blade bond follows the same backwards rule as a drill bit, and a badly cut half is a sampling error nobody logs.

4 min read

A driller feeding dry product from a sack into a jet hopper on a mud tank, with a Marsh funnel and mud balance on the tank rail

Comparison

Bentonite or polymer: choosing a base fluid

One builds a wall, the other keeps clay from swelling. Most holes need a bit of both, and knowing which is doing the work.

4 min read

A drill pad with mud tanks, a return line running to a sump, rods racked alongside the mast and a support caravan behind

Troubleshooting

Losing returns: a decision tree for lost circulation

Match the treatment to the size of what you are losing fluid into, and stop throwing product at a hole that needs casing.

4 min read

A Marsh funnel and mud balance sitting on the rail of a mud tank at a drill pad, with mixing hopper and return line alongside

Field notes

Four mud tests worth doing every shift

Funnel, balance, sand content and pH. Twenty minutes a shift, and they catch almost everything before it becomes a stuck string.

4 min read

A production drill working a bench in an open pit, with weathered rock faces and blasted material stacked along the crest

How-to

Drilling reactive clays and shales without swelling the hole shut

Tight hole, balling bits and rising torque are one problem with a chemical cause, and water is what starts it.

4 min read

Consumables laid out on a pallet at the front of a tropical drill pad, with an air-powered rig, hoses and a water tank behind

How-to

Foam and air drilling: getting cuttings out of a dry hole

Foam lifts what air alone cannot, at a fraction of the annular velocity. Getting the quality right is most of the job.

4 min read

Core bits, a reaming shell and a length of threaded drill rod on a steel bench at the rig, a gloved hand reaching across them

Maintenance

Rod grease, thread compound and hammer oil: small spend, big consequences

Three cheap consumables that decide the service life of three expensive ones. Most sites get at least one of them wrong.

4 min read

Two crew in orange hi-vis working at the controls of a yellow drill jumbo against a shotcreted underground face

Buying guide

Grinding media: choosing ball size, alloy and charge

Media is one of the largest consumable lines in the plant. Cheaper balls are frequently more expensive per tonne milled.

4 min read

A tracked production drill on a high bench in an open pit, blasted rock stacked along the crest behind it

Maintenance

DTH hammers and bits: getting the hours you paid for

Most hammers are killed by air quality, lubrication and a worn bit left in too long — in that order.

4 min read

A meshed and bolted underground decline with services on the wall, ground support consumables stacked on pallets in the foreground

Maintenance

Mine rail and haulage: the consumables that stop the derailments

Gauge spread, worn fishplates and a blocked drain cause most of them, and all three are cheap to fix on a schedule.

4 min read

Two crew in orange hi-vis at the controls of a hydraulic drill jumbo underground, hoses and hydraulic lines running along the boom

Field notes

Hydraulic hose failures, and why crimping on site changes the arithmetic

Hoses rarely fail from pressure. They fail from routing, contamination and an assembly that was never matched properly.

4 min read

A core shed on a remote exploration site, racked trays under a steel roof with forested hills and a graded pad beyond

Procurement

Keeping a remote site supplied: lead times, stock and cost per metre

What to hold, what to order against, and why the cheapest quote is frequently the most expensive delivery.

5 min read

Not covered here?

Most of these started as a question from a site. If yours is not answered, our team in Davao and Laguna will take the call and, often enough, write the next one.

Talk to us

Looking for the products themselves?

Everything referenced in these guides is in the catalogue, from bits and core trays to fluids and ground support consumables.

Browse the catalogue