Know The Drill
NATIONAL equipment manufacturer Kwik-ZIP produces a value-adding component for many diverse industries in its centraliser and spacer system, which has been deployed to the waterwell and environmental drilling, civil construction, ground engineering and oil and gas sectors in Australia and overseas.
The company’s Australian-made centraliser and spacer system is manufactured from Kwik-ZIP’s engineered thermoplastic blend and was developed to solve support, grading and centralisation issues in the pipeline, vertical drilling, and ground engineering industries.
In the trenchless industry, Kwik-ZIP’s products are used in under-road and under rail cased crossings, and in slip lining applications for spacing, supporting and insulating water, gas and sewerage pipes.
For the oil and gas industry, centralisers are often used in oil and gas production wells of extreme depth and subject to varying temperatures, or in waterflood and water-injection wells.
Centralisers play an important role in ensuring a well casing is centred in a borehole during the installation stage, in turn assuring that the required grouted thickness is achieved around the casing.
Another purpose of centraliser and spacing products is to ensure a pipeline casing stands away from the wall of a borehole during the grouting process to reduce the potential for cross contamination.
An additional reason for requiring a uniform cement grouted annulus around a centralised casing is to avoid transmission of potentially harmful fluid via the annulus.
An incorrectly grouted production casing can allow vertical leakage of saline or contaminated surface water into fresh groundwater sources.
It can also allow inter-aquifer connection and the transfer of different quality groundwater between otherwise confined aquifers.
In the case of a PVC casing, the installation of centralisation systems can prevent collapse due to temperature spikes affecting pipeline grouting during the grouting curing process.
According to a company spokesman, the importance of using a suitable cement or grout envelope to adequately protect production casings from aggressive formation water has been highlighted in recent water well remedial works and replacement bore programs.
“Such protection is important where budget constraints require the use of mild-steel production or pump well casing instead of the superior inert alternatives of FRP and stainless steel,” he said.
Australian regulations require casing centralisers or pipeline spacers to meet certain construction standards and sewerage codes and Kwik-ZIP’s products are a cost efficient and simple solution for clients.
Included in the company’s product range is the HDX and HDXT casing spacer series which is suitable for medium to heavy weight pipe in cased crossings.
This product is compatible with all types of pipe material from steel to concrete and minimises friction during the installation process.
Another Kwik-ZIP product is the HD series of casing spacers used for trenchless and cased crossings, and has additional applications in grade control for wastewater and sewer pipelines, and is also applicable for use in the drilling industry.
Kwik-ZIP has accreditation for its products from the Water Services Association of Australia, and they comply with the South-East Queensland Water Supply and Sewerage Design and Construction Code.
The Melbourne Retail Water Agencies includes Kwik-ZIP’s spacers on its approved products list.
The company supplies clients in Australia, New Zealand, the UK and US, and ships products from its warehouse facilities in Sydney, Texas and Leicester.
Kwik-Zip’s website at www.kwikzip. com has additional information on the company and its products, along with its contact information.
DEEP drill holes are the culmination of time-consuming and costly work, including mapping, geophysics, geochemistry, seismic and shallower drilling to refine small targets or target areas.
DDH1’s directional drilling techniques ensure reliable spatially accurate intersections of planned drill targets.
The company recognises that deep hole drilling is a costly business and those costs have been preceded by significant investment to refine drilling targets.
Missing targets is not just about the cost of the hole but includes project costs when a critical decision is based on a drill hole result.
Multiple intersection directional drilling These same techniques are valuable for drilling multiple intersection core holes with up to 35 evenly spaced intersections drilled from a single parent hole.
In many mines, development does not allow an ideal underground drilling platform for drill programs that are significantly ahead of mine workings.
In others, sustaining an underground drilling operation may overload mine services of ventilation, power and water limiting mine production.
Mine service holes
Miners are increasingly using DDH1’s directional drilling expertise to drill mine service holes to accurately break into mine workings.
Uses include cable drop holes to run high voltage electrical cables direct from surface rather than running down declines.
Another use is paste fill holes drilled directly from a paste plant to intersect current workings.
Potential accuracy is about one metre over a kilometre and the directionally drilled core holes are opened from 20-600cm and cased with oilfield casing and grouted back to surface.
The deepest mine service hole drilled in a single pass is 1450m with multiple successful projects completed in excess of 1000m.
First pass exploration
DDH1, through its subsidiary Strike Drilling, offers a complete suite of drilling services, including first pass air core drilling with Strike’s track and truck-mounted crossover air core/RC rigs.
These machines have taken air core drilling to another level by using 6m drill rods, KL rod handlers, hands-free breakouts and stationary cone sampling systems.
This concept of using one drill rig for both air core and RC is proving very popular allowing program flexibility and saving on mobilisation costs.
When deep RC drilling is required, Strike’s powerful 685 Schramm rigs are the industry standard.
Iron ore specialist
Ranger Drilling has recently merged with DDH1 and are the group’s specialist iron ore RC and core drillers.
Primarily operating in the Pilbara, Ranger’s systems and procedures are geared the most exacting standards expected in that industry segment
All drilling services from first pass air core to the deepest mineral drill holes in Australia can now be sourced under a single contract or individually from DDH1, Strike or Ranger.
Regardless of the service required, there is common commitment to safe personalised service delivery and technical competence.