Exploration drilling machinesExplorati

Drilling devices are diverse depending on the desired goals and in general, due to the variety of well drilling methods, about 9 models of these devices are produced by manufacturing companies, of which they are used in water well drilling, oil well drilling, geotechnical studies, explosive well drilling. and exploratory studies of mines use. Most of these devices crush the path stones during drilling and the pieces of stones come out of the well opening (Percussion Drills), and in some models, the stones of the well path come out of the well intact and with little crushing (Core Drills). In the past few decades, exploratory drilling was done with Core Drill Rigs, and the non-use of percussion type devices was due to two reasons: the mixing of the output rock chips with the well wall rock and the impossibility of lithological investigations and other studies on the output rock chips. Here are the latest methods used in exploratory drilling:

Exploratory drilling by RC method: In recent years, this method has gradually opened its place in the exploratory excavations of mineral deposits. In this method, in order not to mix the outgoing rock fragments with the fall of the well wall, the rock fragments are pushed out by the pressure of air or water from the space between the two pipes and will not have contact with the well wall, in another model of these devices, compressed air or water It enters the well from the space between the two pipes and the small stones are directed out of the well from the space of the central pipe, and therefore no pollution is caused by the stones of the well wall. Right now, more than half of the exploratory drilling in the world is done by RC (Reverse Circulation Drilling) devices, high speed and lower cost are among the major advantages of this type of devices compared to core drilling devices, and in every exploratory project for early and quick recognition of reserves. Mining can be started with this method. Currently, in exploration projects, in order to speed up and reduce drilling costs, more than half of the wells are drilled with RC devices and the other part with coring devices. Of course, this method also has disadvantages, for example, if the air pressure is low, heavy minerals such as gold may fall to the bottom of the well, or if the mineralization is in small cracks, there is a possibility that the minerals will come out of the small rocks and fall into the well. Currently, RC drilling is also possible up to a depth of 500 meters.

1. Directional Drilling Core: In this type of drilling method, after digging a well at a certain depth of the said well, according to the desired goals, other deviation wells can be dug, and therefore, with this method, a lot of time and cost of drilling will be saved. This method was invented in the last few years. And it is still not widely used in exploration projects in the world, and it is more useful for layered or vein deposits. In this method, to control the direction of drilling in depth, a variety of auxiliary tools are used in the drilling machine, and one of the most important of them is Steerable Core Barrels. Currently, wells up to 700 meters deep can be dug with this method.
2. Multipurpose Drill Rigs: These devices, which are usually installed on the track, are made according to the goals of the drilling operator and are used in exploration projects that require two or more drilling methods. The most common ones are diamond core drilling and RC drilling machines, which can be used for diamond drilling up to 1300 meters and RC drilling up to 400 meters. Of course, it should be noted that some of the latest models of core drilling machines dig up to a depth of 3,000 meters.
3. Special drilling machines: For drilling in hard-to-reach areas with no access roads, drilling machines have been built whose parts are opened within an hour and the parts are transported to the project site by helicopter, and the opened parts can be assembled in a short period of time, in the early stages of exploration. Portable coring devices can also be used, which are light devices and dig up to a depth of 100 meters. These devices are also transported by helicopter.

New analysis devices

In addition to the tremendous progress made in chemical analysis with the introduction of Inductively Coupled Plasma (ICP) methods in this field, which has greatly contributed to the discovery of mineral deposits, portable analysis devices that can be used in field environments are being developed. Among the devices that have shown good performance in the last three years are a portable X.R.F device, which by placing this device on a rock sample, the device measures and records the amount of elements in the sample with acceptable accuracy, and about 25 elements are measured by this device. . Currently, these devices are not able to measure elements lighter than calcium in the periodic table. The presence of this device in the desert, especially in exploratory excavations, helps the expert to quickly summarize, and we recommend its use in exploratory projects in Iran. Among the other devices that have been widely used in the field identification of minerals in the past few years is the Portable Infra-red Mineral Analyzer (PIMA) device, with this device and the use of a computer and related software (Specmin), the amount of minerals can be determined in the sample and For example, by measuring the amount of minerals on a grid designed on the ground, he drew a map of all kinds of alterations. With this spectrometer, a wide range of sulfate minerals, carbonates and hydrosilicates can be identified (https://inodu.ir/articles)