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In a continued effort to stay abreast of new technology in geotechnical investigations and exploration drilling, Geomechanics recently took delivery of its new R7million, track mounted Sonic 450-24 drill rig.
Sonic Drilling offers many advantages over conventional rotary core and percussion drilling techniques in overburden ground conditions: It delivers superior information collection; it reduces waste by up to 80%; it is 3-5 times faster than conventional drilling; it is superior for well construction; it reduces risk of project failure due to unknown or difficult subsurface conditions and it enables more to be done with a single borehole because it advances a temporary outer casing as the borehole is drilled.
The upshot is that sonic drilling can be used in many applications including geotechnical and geothermal projects, environmental investigations and mineral exploration.
According to Dave Rossiter, CEO of the GeoGroup, “Sonic drilling will be of particular value when drilling in sand and soft ground conditions where core is difficult to produce, time consuming and expensive. The exploration of mineral sands was previously undertaken using reverse circulation drilling, a vacume drilling or hammer drilling method that produces dry sample but does not like to work well in saturated conditions. The sonic method of drilling, which uses vibratory energy and slow rotations to produce core samples, is better suited and has become the most apparent solution to provide core samples in sand, clay and soft ground conditions,” says Rossiter.
The Sonic Drill Corporation’s patented Sonicor 50K drill head works by sending high frequency resonant vibrations down the drill string to the drill bit, while the operator controls these frequencies to suit the specific conditions of the soil/rock geology. Resonance magnifies the amplitude of the drill bit, which fluidises the soil particles at the bit face, allowing for fast and easy penetration through most geological formations. An internal air spring isolates these vibrational forces from the rest of the drill rig. By providing the necessary rotational and vibrational forces, the sonic rig is able to core and case holes in soft and saturated overburden material, drilling easily where most other rigs can’t.
Geomechanics is committed to operating a state of the art, well maintained fleet and currently has over 60 rigs in the fleet. It achieves this through its 4000 square meter in-house engineering workshop near Lanseria Airport which maintains existing rigs and constructs new ones.
About Geomechanics
Geomechanics and Geomech Africa provide a drilling and testing service to the minerals exploration market as well as the Geotechnical and Civils industries and have over 20 years experience in Southern Africa.
Today, through a continued policy of upgrading of staff and equipment through training, replacement and maintenance, Geomechanics is one of the leaders in its field.
Geomechanics (Pty) Ltd is the founding company of the GeoGroup. The GeoGroup is a group of companies comprising Geomechanics, Geomech Africa, Terra Power Solutions, Geopile, Terra Monitoring, Terra Solar Energy, GeoSolar and Green-a-Planet.
These companies provide a range of services from geotechnical and exploration drilling, renewable energy and emergency power supply systems.
The essence of the GeoGroup is entrepreneurial initiative, integrity and honesty.
