Engineering & Mining Journal

DEC 2015

Engineering and Mining Journal - Whether the market is copper, gold, nickel, iron ore, lead/zinc, PGM, diamonds or other commodities, E&MJ takes the lead in projecting trends, following development and reporting on the most efficient operating pr

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8 E&MJ; • DECEMBER 2015 www.e-mj.com In 1890, a young mining engineer named Edmund J. Longyear set a new standard for innovation in mining. Today, the successful company that bears his name continues to do so. Longyear, a member of the first graduating class at the Michigan Mining School, sank the first diamond drill hole on North America's Mesabi Iron Range in northern Minnesota. He soon formed a contract diamond drilling company to serve the rapidly growing U.S. iron ore mining and steel industry. That company is now known as Boart Longyear. Still driven by the desire to help customers safely decrease costs and increase produc- tivity, it has grown to become the world's leading provider of drilling services, drilling equipment, and performance tooling for mining and drilling companies globally. It also has a substantial presence in after- market parts and service, energy, mine de-watering, oil sands explo- ration and production drilling. As the industry has evolved, the Company has followed the exam- ple its founder established, remaining at the leading edge of innova- tion in products and safety. Current product development efforts are focused on innovations that drive productivity and safety on site, with an emphasis on percussive tooling, exploration tooling, drilling equip- ment and incremental enhancements to existing products. Expansion of its comprehensive line of rod handling solutions with three recent product launches—the LF™160, LF™350 and LF™90D—is but one example of Boart Longyear innovations that drive safety on site. With six global manufacturing locations, Boart Longyear has devel- oped and introduced some of the most advanced drilling technology on the market, including the genuine Q ® wireline system. The original Q ® system, released more than 60 years ago, was the industry's first wire- line core retrieval system. The system revolutionized the diamond drilling industry by increasing productivity on the worksite and making tripping core from the bottom of the hole safer for the drilling assistant. Boart Longyear consumables have been equally innovative. Q™ and RQ™ rod threads were introduced, resulting in improved reliability in deeper holes. The Company's High Productivity Coring System features a V-Wall ® coring rod, a Quick Descent™ head assembly and the industry- leading Stage™ diamond coring bit. Each system component increases shift capacity and productivity, delivering efficiencies to the driller. Boart Longyear was also the first U.S. firm to utilize sonic equip- ment for environmental drilling. Sonic technology utilizes high fre- quency resonance to eliminate or minimize the friction between the subsurface material being encountered and the tooling/core barrel being advanced. This allows both efficient penetration and maximum core recovery in a variety of subsurface conditions. In the 1980s, Boart Longyear engineers secured a reliable source of high-performance synthetic diamonds, which triggered the develop- ment of a revolutionary bit design—the impregnated diamond bit. With decades of powder metallurgy experience behind them, Longyear engi- neers set out to develop a new crown that consisted of synthetic dia- monds evenly distributed throughout a composite matrix. This new design could drill further and faster than surface-set bits and cut through much harder material. The rich history of bringing drilling innovation to customers global- ly will continue well into 2016 with the introduction of Boart Longyear's new rod presenters and handlers. Collectively, the LF™160, LF™350 and LF™90D offer the industry's first and only truly hands- free rod handling solution as well as one of the deepest drills on the market and the industry's best solution for safe and partially automat- ed handling of coring drill rods on both short and long holes. Boart Longyear has withstood the industry cycles for more than 125 years. Through it all, it has held on firmly to its founder's com- mitment to productivity, innovation and safety. For more information, visit www.boartlongyear.com. COMPANY PROFILE-PAID ADVERTISEMENT Boart Longyear: Always Setting a New Standard

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