DRILLING METHODS

Drilling is the process of making a hole into a hard surface where the length of the hole is very large
compared to the diameter. In the context of mining engineering drilling refers to making holes into a rock mass.
Importance of Drilling and Sampling includes identification of mineral exploration procedure, delineate
subsurface conditions, tests ideas and theories developed during prospect and target generation, locates and
defines economic mineralisation.
1. Percussive Drilling:
In this one of the oldest method in which the hole is drilled by striking a number of times at short
intervals on the rock by a chisel-type tool and between the blows the tool is rotated slightly. The rock is chipped
away with each blow and a circular hole is formed. During drilling the chisel is suspended from the surface by
rods or wire rope and the weight of the chisel, rods, etc., is utilised to give the striking force. The rods are Ni-Cr
or carbon steel. Each rod has a male screw at one end and a female screw (screwed socket) at the other. Steel
rods are usually in lengths of 3 m with nearly 38 mm x 38 mm square cross-section. The drilling tool used varies
greatly in shape and cutting edge according to the type of ground to penetrate. For soft surface deposits which
consist of alluvium, clay etc., auger and worm auger may be used. These are given a rotary rather than a
percussive motion. The straight chisel is commonly used for hard strata and the V chisel and T chisel, for very
hard strata. Every type of drilling requires a derrick which may consist of three or four legs and may be of wood
or tubular steel. It is used chiefly for lifting the rods from the hole with the aid of a winch. In the mining
localities, some petty drilling contractors undertake percussive drilling of 50 mm to 75 mm holes up to a
maximum of 25 mm depth with the help of rods without installing any derrick.

Manual Drilling:
The general arrangement for manual drilling consists of a rocking lever connected to the drill rods. The
drilling rods are given a percussive motion with the help of a device to which they are attached through a stirrup
and a brace-head. A brace-head is simply a pair of crossed handles fixed to the end of a short top rod which is
screwed to the column of the rods. Two or three men press down the free end of the rocking level, thereby lifting
the rods while one man turns them slightly by means of the brace-head. The men then let go the free end so that
the rods fall and the drilling tool gives a blow on the rock. Water is poured in the hole at intervals and the process
is repeated. As the hole gets deeper, the rods are lowered in the stirrup by a screw, and when this can no longer
provide for the increasing depth, a short rod is added to the column of rods and the screw runs back to repeat the
same process of drilling. Short rods are added till the depth drilled by such small rods is slightly more than the
length of full-length rod and the short rods are then replaced by a full-length rod. A device known as retaining
key is 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, by a device known as “bulldog safety clamp”. 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 cuttings brought to the surface in the sludger give an indication of the rock being drilled. The
bottom of the drill hole is always kept full with water during drilling. Sometimes a rod or chisel breaks in the
drill hole during drilling. Devices like the crow’s-foot and the spiral worm may be used to catch the broken rod
under a joint in the borehole. Broken pieces of chisel are sometimes raised with the help of powerful magnets. In
diamonds drilling, the diamonds sometimes become loose and fall in the hole. The operation of tracing the
broken and lost parts in the hole and withdrawing them to the surface is known as fishing the borehole.

Power Drilling With Rods:

Drilling with manual labour without the help of power is suitable for holes up to 150 mm in diameter and
up to a depth of 30 m or so. Beyond that depth, it is impossible to drill without the use of power from a diesel or
petrol engine, the common source of power in isolated drilling sites. The beam is mounted on steel springs which
give elasticity and cause sudden recoil of the drilling bit thereby preventing 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. Water flushing
practically eliminates the use of a sludger.

Rope Drilling or Cable Drilling:

Where the percussive method of drilling is employed cable drilling is commonly adopted for holes deeper
than 30 m. In this system the rigid rods are replaced by a steel wire rope to which the drilling tool is attached.
The surface arrangement is practically the same as for drilling with rods, but the end of the working beam is
attached to a temper screw. The rope from a winch is taken to the clamps of the temper screw across the pulley of
the derrick. During rope drilling no device is necessary to give a twist to the drilling tool between successive
blows as the stranded rope causes the tool to twist slightly. The steel rope may be 18 mm diameter for a depth of
300 metres. The ropes have always a left hand lay, so that the spin of the rope which tends to rotate the drilling
tool also tends to tighten the joints between them. (Cable drilling is also known as churn drilling)

2. Rotary Drilling
For rotary drilling, hollow drill rods of steel or aluminium are used. These are thread-connected and
transmit torque and feed pressure to the drilling bit or drilling tool which is attached at the end of a column of the
drill rods. Rotation of the drill rods is through gearing driven by a prime mover at the surface. As the rods rotate,
the drilling tool abrades 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. In some drillings, specially those for oil
exploration, mud which is not very viscous, is circulated instead of water. The mud which keeps back any water,
gas or oil pressure encountered during drilling is known by various trade names such as bentonite, aqua gel, etc.
and these muds serve different in the mining areas it may be necessary to resort to mud flushing when passing
through a fractured or friable zone.
Aluminium rods weight only half as much as steel rods, but owing to their bigger gauge they possess
90% of the mechanical strength of the latter. The couplings, which are the parts most exposed to wear, are made
of chromium-nickel steel. Aluminium rods offer numerous advantages, such as increased machine capacity,
easier handling, more rapid and simple recovery of the drill string and faster rotation, all of which contribution to
simplifying drilling and reducing costs.
The various methods of rotary drilling are known by the type of drilling tool used but the diamond
drilling method is quite common.

Diamond Drilling:
This method is commonly adopted where cores of rocks passed through are desired for accurate records
of the strata or for testing the rocks for their strength, composition, porosity, etc., the common type of drill bit
which 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. These diamonds are not useful as jewellery but are used in the drill bits for their
hardness and the bit is suitable for the hardest rocks. The hole sizes in diamond drilling are designated as NX,
BX, AX, and EX. The drill rods and the drill bits are specified under two main groups, X series and W series, as
per the standards laid down by DCDMA (Diamond Core Drill Manufacturer’s Association), an international
Association.

Wire Line Drilling:

Normally core barrels of 0.5 m to 3 m length are employed. For removal of core during the conventional
method of drilling, all the drill rods have to be withdrawn to the surface, after drilling a length equal to length of
core barrel. The withdrawal of the rods and their re-introduction into the borehole with the additional drill rod,
after removal of core, takes a considerable time, nearly 75 to 90% of the total time spent on drilling. A wire line
drilling technique is an improvement to reduce this time. The rods are not taken out to remove the core which is
collected in the core barrel tube during drilling. The tube is pulled out the surface through the drill rods with the
help of a catcher which is lowered through the rods by a 5 mm dia. wire rope. The catcher grips the tube
containing the core. Core sizes less than BX is not possible to use for wire line coring equipment, which is
therefore used for drilling holes of NX and BX size only. Wire line drilling is possible up to a depth of 1000 m.
The rods used for wire line drilling have specifications. Ordinary drilling equipment can be adapted to wire-line
drilling and hoisting equipment with suitable modifications. Some of the recent drills in the market are equipped
with hydrostatic drive. In such drive an electric motor or a diesel engine runs a water pump. Its pressure is used
for rotation of drill rods through a hydraulic motor and also for hydraulic feed. Its main advantage is that speed
can be varied from zero to a certain limit without any fixed ratios that are possible in a geared drive.