Directional Drilling

REI currently operates a fleet of ten (10) directional drilling units that include permissible long hole, high capacity drills, down hole steering tools, and water pumps. We offer a variety of drills for various mining conditions on surface or underground including thin and thick coal seams. The drills are matched to the project for long and short boreholes in rock or coal.

The roots of our directional drilling technology and capabilities were initially developed through methane drainage applications in the coal mining industry. Application of our directional drilling has expanded exploration in advance of projected mine workings to delineate:

• the absence of voids and old workings
• geologic structure and anomalies
• water drainage of adjacent and overlying workings
• water drainage of strata and working seam
• stress relief
• utility purposes
• ground control

REI is contracted an increasing amount to directionally drill for mine planning, particularly when moving to geologically complex un-mined, virgin districts, to enable strategic planning and layout of panels, maximize coal recovery near geologic anomalies (particularly near outcrops, clinker or active coal burn) and to control water and gas to improve the efficiency of mining. Now more than ever before, coal mine operators cannot afford unforeseen conditions ahead of mining. Changes to mine plans due to unexpected geologic anomalies have significant economic impact to mines and could be avoided by a comparatively small investment in pre-mining directional drilling for exploration. As profit margins decrease mines can no longer afford to explore with their continuous mining equipment.