Description

Mineral exploration projects usually involve a search for certain minerals or materials that are valuable assets on the world market. Exploration in drilling is described as a search for unknown or hidden minerals whereas investigation is the process or checking to establish if the mineral still exists in commercial quantity. Drilling is conducted for:

• Ore body exploration
• Stratigraphic information
• Seismic surveying
• Gravity, magnetic or geochemical survey interpretation enhancement
• Ore grade control
• Ore reserve calculations
• Ore body definitions

Diamond wireline drilling is the essential method for most efficient core sampling. This method allows for drilling in some of the hardest ground in New Zealand. Wireline drilling enables the core barrel, with its sample, to be pulled up by a wire inside the drill pipe without having to hoist and dismantle the whole assembly. It provides samples at hand in a small fraction of the time it would take with conventional drilling and a continuous, virtually uncontaminated sample of geological formation, even when drilling through caving or eroding formations.

Experience

Alton Drilling has been involved in coal and gold exploration for over 26 years.  This is our foremost area of expertise and we have several specialist rigs available for this type of drilling. We have worked extensively on the coal fields of the West Coast of the South Island, New Zealand, as well as various large gold exploration projects around the country, and mineral exploration worldwide. Our diamond drilling rigs are capable of drilling to depths of over 900 metres and produce PQ, HQ and NQ size holes.