Not Nation,

From Khareema's post today, which I read once and then again for a second time, he points out several valid points. Lifting whatever rock is in the drill rods is not an issue if the drills are engineered for the load. So these technical problems being reported might just be lack of experience by the operators at these deeper depths ??

From K's post:

" Drilling to these depths is a very specialized business, and takes a very special kind of person to be able to do it."

Does CYR Drilling really have these special kind of people? I think so but there can't that many in the entire industry.

The challenging task of deep diamond hole drilling is something that is rarely attempted in an early exploration stage venture like NOT much less on a proven extension at an existing mine. Most drilling happens above the 1200 meter level, at least most mines have proven ore bodies closer to surface. That is why there are few "directional" diamond core drillers with the abilitiy to manufacture and operate a rig with the capacities at depths below 1500 meters. Checking for diamond core drilling depth records on the internet, the winning drillers completed a 2950 meter hole in Western Australia somewhere using an Atlas Copco drill rig. The drill string of BQ rods was said to weigh 13 tonnes.

Pictured below is the rig that Cyr is the deep drill being used, only the NOT drill is a beefed up version of what you see pictured. For reference I checked the BTV clip which has a great shot of drill rod getting loaded into this same type of rig. Only the hydraulics look bigger.

http://www.cyrdrilling.com/index.php/our-drills/silvera-5

As CYR specifies using HUSKY drill rods, I checked the rod spec's on the HUSKY website. A 10 foot section of NTW drill rod shows a weight of 49.8 lbs. each.

So if we calculate 6500 ft. of drill string (650 rods) we come up with 32,000 lbs. That's 16 tonnes. All this weight before an ounce of core material enters it.

Now that's some heavy lifting being done.

For the operators on the drill pad, they have to have issues that arise frequently that are all "technical" in nature. That being said, the operators have experience at running the rig and know what problems to avoid mechanically. It is the unforseen problems that hamper operations. Any down time on the drilling platform is not good for the program, and there is probably at least one clause in the CYR/NOT drilling contract that penalizes certain types of delays. It is not cheap keeping drill crews employed in the Far North either, so it is to CYR's best interest to get things done.

Link below show the rig from Groupe Forage Major that is their top of the line deep drill which is rated to 4000 meters.

http://www.majordrilling.com/catalogue.cfm

I really want to believe that they reported these technical problems with the drills but did not tell us that it was due to testing the limits of their machinery, implying borehole in depth... greater than.... 2500 meters.... on their way to 3000 meters??

Now wouldn't that be a problem worth having.

GO DRILLS GO!

mynot