Goldilocks of Mineral Exploration Drilling Rigs

An aggregate and masonry producer, York Building Products has sand and gravel operations as well as limestone and granite quarries in Maryland and Pennsylvania. To gather new reserve estimates, they launched a mineral exploration drilling program during August 2023 focused on the sand and gravel sites in Maryland.

“We were relying on borehole data from the ’60s and ’70s,” Kyle Hoffman, project manager, said. “By starting the drilling program, we’re gathering brand new data for new reserve estimates to show our team.”

In search for mineral exploration drilling rigs powerful enough to achieve depths, but small enough to maneuver around trees and woods, they discovered the 7822DT.

“The 7822DT fell in the goldilocks zone of size and power. We needed to do 50-100 foot depths and do off roading in some tough areas and up and down hills,” Hoffman said. “Its versatility means we can do a couple types of drilling, depending on the situations — depths, type of material, geology encountered. It’s versatile to cover a couple of different roles.”

The blade on the rear of the 7822DT helps them maneuver through the woods even though the small size means they don’t have to do a ton of clearing. Being lightweight, they maneuver through lots of wet areas while preserving the ability to drill on fairly steep slopes.

“We’re able to establish more accurate reserve estimates,” Hoffman said. “We can hone in on reserve tonnages through modeling and can communicate with our operations team firm tonnages and plan out the future life of our mines.”

In the past they’d had mineral exploration drilling performed for them, but they were fairly shallow samples.

“They would hit refusal at 30 feet,” Hoffman said. “We generally get to 50 feet with no issue and go up to 100 feet.”

Initially they started with DT325 direct push drilling and hollow stem augering, but have found DT22 direct push drilling results in the best data collection and hole depths.

“DT22 is very fast, we can get to 50 feet or so in an hour. If we have clear access to the site we can do five holes, so 200-plus feet per day is definitely doable,” Hoffman said. “The only thing that slows us down is if we’re having to make an initial pass through the woods. Once we’re on the bullseye, it’s surprisingly fast.”

They’re drilling through sand and gravel, sometimes 50 percent gravel. They’re also dealing with some hard clay seams and trying to punch through to see what’s underneath.

“DT22 has been the key for us,” Glenn Hensley Jr., operator, said. “It’s much quicker and doesn’t miss areas like when using split spoon. It doesn’t hit refusal or if it does, we’ve been able to work with Vic [Rotonda, northeast region sales representative] to solve the problem.”

They describe Vic Rotonda’s role as integral to the process from initial interest, through purchase, even support as they’ve been mineral exploration drilling.

“He’s shown us techniques to go deeper, handle the water table, handle maintenance issues, and help us get parts,” Hoffman said. “We couldn’t have asked for a better sales person.”

Having the East Coast Service Center nearby is also an added benefit.

“One of the other nice perks of Geoprobe^® is we’re only a half-hour away from East Coast Service Center in Oxford,” TJ Greene, engineer, said. “We can load the 7822DT on a trailer and have it to a rig specialist the same day. The team in Oxford has been helpful every step of the way.”