Coiled Tubing Drilling for definition of Mineral Deposits – Phase 2: MinEx CRC Project 2

The Challenge

Drilling is a vital component of mineral exploration, providing physical samples to test potential mineralisation beneath the surface. Operating current drilling technology in remote landscapes is both expensive and resource-intensive, and as explorers push deeper searching for future mineral discoveries these costs risk becoming unsustainable.

Key Findings

Pre-commercial trials of a prototype coiled tubing (CT) drilling system delivered performance competitive with established commercial drilling in terms of penetration rate, speed of hole completion, and consumption of water and fuel.

The system routinely provides chip samples with high depth fidelity and geological representation, and demonstrated significant advantages in workplace health and safety, and environmental footprint of drilling.

Overall drilling productivity was greater than double the productivity achieved by conventional techniques in like-for-like drilling.

Benefits to WA

Cheaper drilling with a lower environmental footprint will be important in enabling future mineral exploration in Western Australia, where many exciting exploration targets lie below deep cover. Development of this platform in WA could also support growth of innovative local METS providers delivering the new technology to the mining industry.

Report DOI

DPO: 10.71342/344764211913