One of the challenges faced during underground diamond drilling is managing water ingress, particularly high water pressures and temperatures encountered in the underground mining environment. Installing standpipes is essential to managing water. However, conventional methods have proven time-consuming, inefficient, and prone to failure. For example, using cement during the standpipe installation process can result in inconsistency in withstanding high pressure, and it often requires up to 24 hours to secure one hole, risking setbacks in project timelines.
With extensive experience in water management during drilling operations across various projects, Swick offers a different approach to standpipe installation that meets the underground environment's demands. Swick’s innovative process involves using chemical resin to set standpipes up to 12 metres in length, complemented by high-performance ball valves rated to 2,000 PSI, ensuring durability and reliability. This approach allows Swick to reduce setup times from up to 24 hours to just hours, achieving an efficiency gain that far surpassed previous methods while ensuring a 100% success rate in pressure testing to 2,000 PSI, and withstanding water temperatures up to 75 degrees.
Introducing new methodologies requires thorough risk assessment and collaboration. Swick conducts comprehensive risk assessment meetings, engaging with our clients to ensure mining, geology, and safety requirements are met. During these sessions, Swick can demonstrate capabilities through case studies from similar projects where high-pressure water has been encountered, demonstrating the reliability of our resin-based standpipe installation process.
Supported by our in-house engineering team, Swick can provide technical validations, including pressure ratings, for all process components, such as resin sticks, rods, ball valves, and vent adaptors. Swick’s engineers meticulously validated each component, ensuring compliance with each project’s water conditions. These combined efforts ensure that Swick clients have full confidence in our solution.
Our processes demonstrate the reliability of resin-based installations and improve overall project efficiency. With Swick’s unique standpipe installation method and the deployment of our Swick GenII or DeepEX underground diamond drill rigs, our team can increase drilling productivity per shift. Our optimised drilling methodology has become a reliable solution for water intersection management and exemplifies Swick’s commitment to "Excellence unearthed."
From the start, Swick's culture and collaborative approach foster a strong relationship with clients built on trust and mutual respect. Swick’s innovative solutions and commitment to safety and productivity create value for underground mine operations, enhancing project outcomes and setting a new benchmark for underground drilling.
Swick is committed to continuously enhancing efficiency and maintaining industry-leading standards in safety and productivity.
