DRILLING: A GENERAL DISCUSSION

THE IMPORTANCE OF DRILLING

 Types of Drilling
 Choosing the Right Technique
 Targeting Holes
 Drilling on section
Introduction
• Drilling is one of the most important, and can be the most
expensive, of all mineral exploration procedures;
• It is drilling that locates and defines economic
mineralization, and drilling provides the ultimate test for
all ideas, theories and predictions that are generated in
the preceding prospect generation and target generation
phases of the exploration process;
 Types of drilling
• There are a
large number Standard Drill
Reverse Circulation Drill Types of bit
of different
drilling Blade Bit Roller Bit
Drill Rods
techniques. In Compressed Air
order of Circulation

increasing
cost, there are Chisel Bit
auger
Inner tube
drilling, for cuttings

rotary
& air return

percussion Simple drills for

collecting sub-surface
drilling and geochemical samples
diamond Cut-away sections through rotary percussion drills
drilling
 Choosing the right technique
• Selecting the right technique or combination of techniques is always Cable
a trade-off between speed, cost, required sample quality, sample
volume, logistics and environmental considerations. Drill Rods

• Augering and RAB drilling provide relatively low levels of geological

knowledge but are quick and cheap and so are useful principally as
geochemical reconnaissance tools for collecting samples below areas Latch Assembly
of shallow overburden.
• Large rotary percussion rigs can quickly drill a large-diameter hole
(100-200 mm) with good sample volume and at reasonable cost. TOP OF
Core Barrel CORE BARREL
• They are powerful machines capable of penetrating much deeper and
through harder rock than the RAB rig. However, normal rotary
percussion drilling, the long sample return from drill bit to the
Water
surface along the outside of the rods may produce contamination Drill Core circulation
from the walls of the hole.
• The sample recovery system used in the RC drill rig is designed to
overcome the contamination problem and for this reason RC rigs are
nowadays specified in most rotary percussion drilling programs; Diamond
cutting bit BOTTOM OF
• Diamond drilling provides the premier sample for both geology and CORE BARREL
geochemistry. A diamond impregnated cutting bit produces a solid
Core Lifter
cylinder of rock.
Cutaway section through a diamond drill bit, drill rods and core barrel
 Diamond drill core permits sophisticated geological and structural observations to be made, and can also yield a large-volume,
uncontaminated sample with high recovery suitable for geochemical assay.
 Drill core can be oriented permitting structures to be measured;
 Diamond drilling is also the most expensive technique. As a general rule, for the cost of 1 m of diamond drilling, up to 4 m of RC or 20 m of
RAB can be drilled;
 From almost all points of view, the larger the core diameter the better.
 Large diameter holes provide better core recovery and deviate less. Lithology and structure are much easier to recognize in the larger core sizes
and a larger volume sample is better for geochemical assay and ore reserve calculations. However, as the cost of diamond drilling is roughly in
proportion to the core size, a comprise on hole size is usually necessary;
 The specific requirements of an exploration programme play a large part in the choice of drilling technique. For example, if the area is
geologically complex, or the exposure is poor, and there are no clearly defined targets (or perhaps too many targets), it may be imperative to
increase the level of geological knowledge by diamond drilling. In this case, the geological knowledge gained from the diamond drill core can
be used to help prioritize surface geochemical anomalies or develop conceptual targets.
 On the other hand, if discrete and clearly defined surface geochemical anomalies are to be tested to see if they are the expression of blind but
shallow ore bodies, it may be sufficient to simply test them with a large number of RC or even RAB drill holes.
• In arid terrains the RC drill has been used in the discovery and development of a large number of gold ore bodies within the weathered rocks
of the upper 80 m or so of the surface.
• It has proved to be an excellent compromise between cost, good sample quality for geochemistry, and some geological return in the form of
small rock chips;
• RC rig is principally a geochemical sampling tool and it is dangerous to attempt to define an ore body on assay numbers alone.
• RC drilling data can seldom give an adequate geological understanding of mineralizing process and in most cases will need to be
supplemented with detail mapping (when outcrop is available), by trenching and/or a selected smaller number of diamond drill holes;
• RC rigs (and the larger RAB rigs) are generally very large, truck mounted machines which have difficulty getting into some rugged areas
without track preparation, and cannot operate on very steep slopes.
• Diamond drill rigs are much more mobile; they are truck or skinned mounted, have modest power requirements compared to an RC rig, and
can be disassembled if necessary and flown to site by helicopter.
• Some rigs are even designed to be man-portable on dismantling. Diamond rigs, however, require a large, nearby water source. The ability to
be flown or carried into a site also makes the diamond rig is suitable for operation in environmentally sensitive areas.
• The air core machine is a compromise that has some of the features of RC, Diamond and RAB drills.
• In ideal conditions the drill can produce small pieces of core and so provide better material on which to determine
lithology and structure than normal RC cuttings.
 Targeting holes
• A single drill hole produces a very small sample of rock and • In order to most efficiently define the size and shape of a potential
the ore bodies we seek are already small relative to the orebody, drill holes will normally be aimed at intersecting the
barren rocks that surround them. boundaries of the mineralization at an angle as close to 90 ◦ as
possible.
• Even after an initial discovery hole has been made into a • If the expected mineralization has a tubular, steep-dipping shape, the
potential ore body, if the subsequent holes are poorly ideal drill holes to test will be angle holes with an inclination opposed
positioned, the ore body may remain undiscovered, or, at to the direction of dip of the body.
best, an excessive number of holes will be needed before its • If the direction of the dip is not known (as it often the case when
true shape, attitude and grade are defined. drilling in an area of poor outcrop, or testing a surface geophysical or
• When geologist drill targeted holes they are testing a mental geochemical anomaly), then at least two holes with opposed dips,
intersecting below the anomalous body, will need to be planned in
model of the size, shape and attitude of a hoped for ore
order to be sure of an intersection of the target.
body.
• Flat-lying mineralization (such as a recent placer deposit, a
• The more accurate that model, the greater the chance that supergene-enriched zone above primary mineralization, or perhaps a
the hole will be successful. The model is the result of manto deposit) is normally best tested by vertical holes.
extensive detailed preparatory studies on the prospect, • Holes are normally positioned to intersect mineralzation, the hole will
involving literature search, examination of known be aimed tointersect below the anticipated level of the oxidized zone;
outcropping mineralization, geological mapping at regional • Ore bodies – such as stockwork or disseminated vein deposits - that
and detailed scales as well as geochemical and geophysical are normally mined in bulk along with their immediate enclosing
studies. barren or low-grade host rock can presenst special problems for drill
• The first few targeted holes into a prospect are always hard targeting.
work, and it is in how she treats this stage of exploration
that the explorationist most clearly reveals her true worth
 Cont……..
• The boundaries of the miner- alized zone determine the size of the zone • Epigenetic4 vein or lode type deposits occur as the result of mineral
and hence the tonnage of ore present; mineralized structures within deposition from fault fluids in localised dilation zones that result from
the body, however, control the distribution of grade, and these fault movement (Cox et al., 2001; Sibson, 1996). High grade ore shoots
structures may not be parallel to the overall boundaries of the zone. therefore will tend to have the same shape and orientation as the
dilation zone.5 Dilation zones in faults are typi- cally highly elongate and
• In the case of such deposits, the drilling direction that is ideal to assess
pencil shaped. An elongate ore body is known as an ore shoot. If the
overall grade may be very inefficient at defining tonnage. However, for
long axis of an ore shoot has a shallow pitch 6 on the fault plane, any hole
initial exploration drilling, it is normally better for the first holes to be
targeted to drill below a surface indication or initial discovery hole is
aimed at proving grade, rather than tonnage.
likely to pass below the shoot and so miss it.
• Once an intersection in a potential ore body has been achieved (a
• If the ore shoot pitches steeply, a hole collared along strike from an
situation often described as having a “foot-in-ore”), step-out holes from
initial discovery hole may lie well beyond the shoot. Obviously, being
the first intersection are then drilled to determine the extent of the
able to predict the pitch of an ore shoot is important. How can we do
mineralization.
this? The answer lies in understanding the nature of the fault structure
• The most efficient drill sampling of a tabular, steep-dipping ore body is which controls it.
to position deep holes and shallow holes in a staggered pattern on
• E.M. Anderson (1905, 1951) pointed out that most faults forming in the
alternate drill sections. However, the positions selected for the first few
upper few kilometres of the earth’s crust are the result of principal
post-discovery holes depend on confidence levels about the expected
stress directions that are oriented either parallel to, or normal to, the
size and shape of the deposit and, of course, on the minimum target
earth’s surface.
size sought.
• This has produced three common fault categories known as Andersonian
• Since the potential horizontal extent of mineralization is usually better faults. They are: normal faults, thrust (or reverse 7) faults and strike-slip
known than its potential depth extent, the first step-out hole will in faults. Normal faults are the commonest type of fault to form in the
most cases be positioned along strike (at a regular grid spacing in upper few kilometres of the crust: they are steep dip- ping, but tend to
multiples of 40 or 50 m) from the discovery hole, and aimed to intersect flatten with depth. In normal faults, the direction of displacement –
the mineralization at a similar depth. Once a significant strike extent to known as the movement or slip vector – lies in the direction of the fault
the mineralization has been proven, deeper holes on the drill sections dip such that fault movement produces a horizontal extension of the
can be planned. crust.
 Cont……..
• Thrust faults are shallow dipping: the movement vector lies
SECTION THROUGH NORMAL FAULT SECTION THROUGH THRUST FAULT
in the direction of dip so that fault movement causes a
Fault Fault
horizontal compression or shortening of the crust;
• Strike-slip faults are always vertical or steep dipping and
the movement vector lies in the direction of the strike.
• Movement across the fault plane is defined as being either
left-lateral (sinistral) or right-lateral (dextral). These fault
Dilational
categories are illustrated in the figure. Veins Dilational
Veins
• Dilation zones that form as a result of movement in all
PLAN VIEW OF SINISTRAL STRIKE - SLIP FAULT
faults are highly elongate with their long axes parallel to
the fault plane and oriented at a high angle to the
movement vector for the fault.
• How can we know what category of fault we are dealing
with? To classify faults as normal, thrust or strike-slip, it is
necessary to know (1) the attitude of the fault and (2) the
movement vector across it. Dilational
Veins
• The movement vector can be determined from displacement
Fig. 5.4 Sections illustrating the geometrical relationship of tensional openings (and hence
of marker beds across the fault (based on field mapping or
poten- tial sites for epigenetic ore deposits) with the principal classes of fault. In each
drill hole interpretations) and from observing sense-of
illustration, the principal dimension of the dilational vein is at right angles to the page
movement indicators that can be seen in outcrop or drill
core.
• In normal faults, the long axis of dilation zones (ore • For strike-slip faults, dilation zones
shoots) will tend to be subhorizontal and to lie
within portions of the fault that are steeper dipping will tend to be steep-plunging. For a
than the rest of the fault, or within steep dipping sinistral strike-slip movement, a
sprays off, or adjacent to, the main fault (Cox et al., dilation zone occurs in any left-
2001). For this type of fault an initial ore discovery
should be followed up by drilling a hole to along stepping bend in the sur- face trace of
strike from the discovery hole to intersect the the fault. For a dextral strike-slip
target at the same depth. movement, the dilation zone occurs in
• For thrust and reverse faults, the principal any right-stepping bend in the strike
dimension of dilation zones will tend to be sub-
horizontal and lie within those portions of the fault trace of the fault (Cox et al., 2001). In
that are shallower dipping than the main fault both cases, initial ore discovery
plane, or within shallow dipping splays off, or adja- should be followed up by a deeper
cent to, the main fault (Cox et al., 2001; Sibson et
al., 1988). For this type of fault, initial ore discovery hole on the same cross-section
should be followed up by drilling a hole to the same
depth as the discovery hole and along strike from it
 Drilling on Section
• Once a zone of mineralization (potential ore) has been discovered, and its shape and attitude approximately
outlined, it needs to be defined in detail by a follow-up program of in fill drill holes;
• Each drill hole provides a one-dimensional (linear) sample through a prospect. The problem facing the
explorationist is how to use this restricted data to create a three-dimensional model of the mineralization and
its enclosing rocks.
• The best way to solve problems (conceptualizing complex 3 dimensional shapes and relationships) is to
concentrate drill holes in a series of vertical cross sections. Each section is thus a plane of relatively high data
density and will facilitate interpretation.
• A series of parallel interpreted drill sections are two-dimensional slices through the prospect: they can be
assembled (stacked) to produce a three dimensional model.
• Where drill holes deviate off section, assay and lithology data can be projected orthogonally (i.e. in a direction
at right angles to the section) onto the drill section plane. Such projections are usually done by
mining/exploration software programs.
• On these programs it is possible to specify the width of the “window” on either side of the section from which
data will be projected. Obviously, if holes are not drilled at right angles to the strike of the feature, orthogonal
projection will tend to distort true sectional relationship – a problem which will be exacerbated the further
the data has to be projected (the wider the “window”) onto the section.