INTRODUCTION TO MINING
MNE - 201 (ESO1)
Lecture-13
Principles of Drilling:
1. Drilling by downward thrust
2. Drilling by hammering impact
Drilling by downward thrust:
It is mainly used in rotary drilling. The weight of drill creates
the hole by shear force, breaking the tensile strength of rock
The energy is transmitted by rotational torque in the drill rod
It used for low tensile strength rocks , eg. - Silt, Limestone etc
Material of drill bit – Tungsten carbide or carbon steel
Drilling by hammering impact:
This type is applicable in percussive drill
The energy is generated by pneumatic (compressed air) or
hydraulic rock drill
Percussive drilling:
It is the oldest method of drilling
In this method a great variety of bits suspended from
cables or rods have been used to drill through different
kinds of rock
The hole is drilled by Hammering effect
Drill bit is chisel type
Drilling is done by striking at very short intervals
Between each blow, the drill bit is rotated slightly and
rock is chipped away in each blow
During drilling the chisel is suspended from the surface
by rods or wire rope, and the weight of the chisel, rods or
wire is utilized for providing strike force
Striking impact is usually 40-60 blows per minute
1.Drilling by rigid rods:
The drill rods are of Ni-Cr or carbon steel
Each rods has a male screw at one end and a female
screwed socket at the other end
Steel rods of dimension 3m long and cross-sectional
area is of square type with nearly 38mm x 38mm
Derrick (consist of three or four legs) is used for
every kind of drilling, used for lifting rods from the
hole
For soft surface deposits (mainly alluvium) - clay auger
and worm auger may be used (These are given rotary
motion rather than percussive)
For hard surface - straight chisel is commonly used
For very hard surface - V chisel and T chisel may be
used
Drilling with manual labour
without the help of power is
suitable for holes upto 150 mm
in diameter and upto a depth
of 30 m
The rods are lowered by this
device (for deeper hole )
Figure: Stirrup and screw
Water is not supplied through hose
Manual drilling: pipes under pressure and the crank
Upto depth of 30 m
operated beam is replaced by a
rocking lever connected to the drill
rods. The drilling rods are given a
percussive motion with the help of a
corking level to which they are
attached through a stirrup and a
brace-head.
Fig.: Power drilling with rods. Arrows indicate water course
Bulldog safety clamp :
A heavy duty foot-operated
safety clamp for deep and
large hole drilling
Used at the time of raising
or lowering the rods of square
cross- section
The same purpose is served
in the case of rods of circular
cross section with flush joints
Fig.: Bulldog safety clamp
Sludger:
During drilling the bottom of the hole soon
gets filled with cuttings and has to be
cleaned out frequently. This is done with
the help of a sludger which consists of a
long cylinder or pipe, open at the top and
with a flap valve at its lower end. The flap
valve opens upwards. When attached to
the end of the rods and worked up and
down the sludger gets filled with the
sludge. It is then withdrawn to the surface
and the process repeated till the hole is
cleaned. Fig.: Sludger
The bottom of the drill hole is always kept full with water during
drilling
If a rod or chisel breaks in the hole during drilling.
Device like crow’s foot and spiral worm may be used to
catch the broken rod under a joint in a borehole
Fig.: Crow’s foot Fig.: Spiral worm
Broken pieces of chisel are sometimes raised with the
help of powerful magnets
The operation of tracing the broken and lost parts in the
hole and withdrawing them to the surface is known as
Fishing the borehole
Lining of a drill hole:
During drilling a steel pipe is used for
lining the drill hole from surface upto
the hard rock, and the drilling tool and
rods pass through the pipe.
Diameter of the drill hole upto which
the lining pipe has to be fitted should
be larger
Lining pipe is generally withdrawn after the hole is
completed though it may sometimes be necessary to leave
it in its position to prevent caving of sides, e.g., drill hole
for stowing, water pipes, etc.
The lining is done by hammering first a special steel
pipe with a cutting edge. Pipes of 6 m lengths and having
screwed joints are added to that pipe.
Power drilling:
Beyond depth of 30 m or so,
power is used
Fig.: Power drilling with rods. Arrows indicate water course
Figure shows the general arrangement
where power is available for drilling with
hollow rods. A power operated winch is
used to raise and lower and the rods. The
walking beam is operated by a crank
through gearing from an engine to give the
drilling tool 25 to 30 blows per minute.
The beam is mounted on steel springs which give elasticity and
sudden recoil of drilling bit to prevent jamming. The rods are
attached to the rope with a swivel attachment and brace head. The
rope of power-operated beam is slackened from time to time to keep
the drilling tool in contact with the rock.
Water is forced down the hole of the hollow drill rods by a pump to
keep the cutting tool cool. Such water returns to the surface from the
outside of the rods with the sludge. With this arrangement it is
possible to drill a depth equal to the length of one full rod at a time.
2. Rope drilling or Cable drilling or Churn drilling:
Commonly adopted for holes deeper than 30m
Rigid rods are replace by a steel wire rope to which the
drilling tool is attached
Digs a vertical hole using the principle of a freely falling
chisel bit hanging by a cable to which percussive motion is
imparted by power units
The power units work by manual lift and drop, compressed
air, and electrically driven winches
A tungsten carbide bit fitted in a hammer is lifted a few
meters up and allowed to drop to hit the bottom of the hole
The crushed material is removed from the hole bottom at
regular intervals to form a sample
Fig.: Rope drilling or Cable drilling or Churn drilling
No device is necessary to give a twist to the
drilling tool between successive blows as the lay
of the stranded rope causes the tool to twist
slightly
The steel rope may be 18mm diameter for a
depth of 300m
The rope is always a lefthand lay, so that the
spin of the rope which tends to rotate the drilling
tool also tends to tighten the joints between them
The surface arrangement is practically the same
as for drilling with rods, but the end of the
Fig.: Rope attachment
walking beam is attached to a temper screw in Rope drilling or
The rope from a winch is taken to the clamps of Cable drilling or
Churn drilling
the temper screw across the pulley of the derrick
Left Lay: Wires wrap to Right, strands wrap to Left (S outline)
Right Lay: Wires wrap to Left, strands wrap to Right (Z outline)
Different types of drill bits used in percussion drilling
Clay Auger: for soft surface deposit
Worm Auger: for soft surface
Straight Chisel: for hard surface
V Chisel: for very hard surface
T Chisel: for very hard surface
Auger Drilling:
The auger drill has limited use, but it plays
a significant role in sampling and evaluation
of soft and loose ground like soil, beach
sand, mine dump, and tailings
Auger drills can be hand operated (Fig. A)
or mechanically powered
The hand-operated augers can penetrate up to 3 m with hole
diameters between 10 and 15 cm
The mechanically driven augers with efficiently designed cutter
heads (Fig. B) can drill 30 m or more depending on subsoil
condition
The advantages of auger drilling are mobility and speed at low
cost
The samples are useful to provide grade, moisture content, and
other specifications quickly at low cost
Rotary Drilling:
For rotary drilling, hollow drill
rods of steel or aluminium are used.
It is cylindrical in shape and they
are connected through threads
Rotation of the drill rods is
through gearing driven by a prime
mover (steam engine, petrol engine,
diesel engine) at the surface
As the rods rotate, the drilling tool cuts the rock
and the cuttings are cleared by pumping water under
pressure or compressed air down the hole through
the hollow drill rods
The water or air, along with the cuttings, comes to
the surface through the space between the drill rods
and the sides of the drill hole
Rotary drilling can be subdivided as:
Drilling by Diamond drill bit
Drilling by Roller cone bit
Drilling by Saw toothed cutter
Drilling by Chilled shots
Drilling by Drag bit
Diamond drill bit:
This is used for accurate records of the strata or for testing the
rocks for their strength, composition, porosity (water perculation
rate)
The diamond drill unit consists of an engine (motor) attached to a
drilling head and hoisting units, cutting bit with crown and reamer
shell, water pump, drill rods, core barrel, core lifter, casing pipes,
cutting tools, and a tripod or single stand
The drill rods are attached to a core barrel and diamond bit
The total drill string is forced downward with high-speed rotation
of the chuck resulting in cutting of the core and the making of a
hole
A tripod is commissioned by erecting three poles about 30 feet
long around the drill unit. The function of the tripod is to raise and
lower 10 or 20 feet rods during the drilling operation with the help
of a hoist
Drill bit is consists of a cylindrical cast steel shell having in its
lower face a number of small sockets in which pieces of black
diamonds are set
Bit is suitable for hardest rock
The hole sizes in diamond drilling are designated as NX, BX,
AX, and EX
Standard Hole diameter, Core diameter,
mm mm
NX 75 54
BX 60 40
AX 47 28
EX 38 21 Fig.: Standard diamond core bit
The reaming shell is mounted between the cutting bit and core
barrel. It is an annular bit with diamonds set only on the outer
surface or periphery. The reamer shell widens the borehole
diameter drilled by the diamond bit by about 0.30 - 0.40 mm. It
maintains a uniform hole diameter, reduces wear and tear of the
core bit and barrel, and improves the flow of returning water
Fig.: Standard reamer shell coupled behind the core bit embedded with
diamonds at the outer surface to increase the hole diameter
for easy flow of returning water and fine cuttings
A core barrel is attached between the lower end of the Drill
rods and the reamer shell. It holds the core inside while drilling
and is brought to the surface. The core barrels are single tubes
used for drilling under the best core recovery conditions or
noncoring bits in blast hole drilling. The double tube core
barrels are suitable for better core recovery, where the inner and
outer tubes are connected and rotate simultaneously
The surface arrangements for diamond drilling include:
1) A derrick- for lifting rods
2) An engine - for power supply
3) An winch- for rotating wire
4) A pump - for supplying water under pressure for flushing,
5) A setting tank,
6) A platform for keeping the drilling rods lifted for removal
of core or changing the bit,
7) Core boxes for keeping the cores, and
8) A driving and feed mechanism for the drill rods
Feed mechanism – Screw feed and Hydraulic feed
How planar surfaces look in drill core
