ACARP ACARP ACARP ACARP
Underground

High Speed In-seam Drilling System for Effective Gas Drainage

Underground » Ventilation, Gas Drainage and Monitoring

Published: July 16Project Number: C24008

Get ReportAuthor: Scott Adam, Joel Kok, David Barry, Siqi Pan, Nathanial Thomlinson, Enver Bajram, James Welsh | CRCMining

A continuous feed, high speed drilling system for underground gas drainage promises to transform productivity of underground coal gas drainage drilling. CRCMining has been developing continuous waterjet drilling technology for over two decades. Recent commercialization of the surface to inseam variant, TRD, has demonstrated the commercial reliability and performance of the tools for the surface to inseam application. This project aimed to address the remaining technical risks associated with Underground In-seam deployment for cross panel drainage. The UIS application is referred to as High Speed Cross Panel Drilling.

Since the last High Speed Cross Panel drilling project (completed 2005), wherein the drilling results were poor due to immature drill head technology, water jet drill head design breakthroughs have resulted in a boost to drilling performance and drilling tool reliability, with up to 300m+ long laterals drilled during the surface-based Tight Radius Drilling (TRD) trials at Broadmeadow Mine in 2010. In 2013, TRD was applied at BMC's South Walker Creek mine in a 5 well stimulation commercial pilot, proving that water jet drilling can be applied economically. Continuous drilling rates of between 2 and 4m/min were regularly demonstrated during this operation. With a peak productivity of 535m total laterals drilled in just 6 hours, the vision for a 1000m per shift drilling technology has been set as a reasonable target. The recent outstanding success of the TRD application has led to greater confidence in the waterjet drilling technology. This confidence boost has resulted in the waterjet technology being identified for possible use in a wider range of applications, for both the open cut and underground sectors.

The proposed works were divided into two phases. A first Risk Mitigation Phase comprises a laboratory based investigation of the four key outstanding technical risks. This was followed by a field deployment phase. As proposed the first Phase risk mitigation tasks were:

1. Long lateral drilling

· Assess options for improving drilling range. These relate primarily to net system thrust, friction effects and dynamic pressure effects in the borehole.

· Investigate the use of hose injectors, agitation & vibration effects on hose friction.

2. Steering control improvement

· Assess feasibility to optimize steering orientation through hose twisting.

· Add a collapsible centralizer to the TRD tool body to maintain better trajectory.

· Investigate the steering bias consistency

3. Survey accuracy assessment

· Develop tool calibration process, equipment and procedures for field assessment & optimization of survey accuracy.

· Investigate cutting edge technologies which may be best applied to continuous survey whilst drilling in a relatively high vibration environment.

4. Borehole quality optimization for operation in all coal types

· Investigate the feasibility of consistent borehole quality (straightness, diameter etc) in variable borehole conditions.

The second phase included preparation for and deployment to a field trial in a portal entry mine, Peabody Wambo Mine.  

This report details the outcomes of these investigations. Upon the instructions of the industry monitors, the field trial was cancelled after it became apparent the host mine selected site was unsuitable due to a range of operational and geological constraints.

Underground

Health and safety, productivity and environment initiatives.

Recently Completed Projects

C34019Longwall Bretby Cable Handling Monitoring With Fibre Optics

This project examined the potential of using fibre optic sensing tec...

C27049Mine Machine Radar Sensor Integration

The aim of this project was to develop an integrated radar sensor an...

C29007Innovative Coal Burst System To Investigate The Influence Of Confinement Loss And Pre-Conditioning On Coal Burst Mechanism

The challenges associated with designing and operating a safe and pr...

Underground

Open Cut

Safety, productivity and the right to operate are priorities for open cut mine research.

Recently Completed Projects

C33035High Water Recovery, Low Cost Desalination Using PV-Powered Membrane Capacitive Deionisation (Mcdi)

Capacitive deionization is a robust, energy efficient and cost effec...

C28035Topsoil Deficits In Site Rehabilitation Accelerated Transformation Of Spoils To Functional Soils

The incorporation of commercial biological amendments (compost, worm...

C34036Tyre Handler Testing Rig Stage 2: Lifting Trials

Tyre handling is a major source of risk in surface mining operations...

Open Cut

Coal Preparation

Maximising throughput and yield while minimising costs and emissions.

Coal Preparation

Technical Market Support

Market acceptance and emphasising the advantages of Australian coals.

Recently Completed Projects

C34060In-Situ Investigation Of Coke Structure Formation Under Stamp Charged Coking Conditions

Stamp charged cokemaking has emerged as an effective technique to im...

C34062Improving The Classification Of Microstructure Distribution In Coke CT Images Using Deep Learning And Lineal Path Calculations

This project builds on a number of earlier projects that have helped...

C29071Source Of Variability Of Reactivity Of Coke In The CSR Test

The Coke Strength after Reaction (CSR) test is used worldwide to det...

Technical Market Support

Mine Site Greenhouse Gas Mitigation

Mitigating greenhouse gas emissions from the production of coal.

Recently Completed Projects

C28076Selective Absorption Of Methane By Ionic Liquids (SAMIL)

This third and final stage of this project was the culmination of a ...

C29069Low-Cost Catalyst Materials For Effective VAM Catalytic Oxidation

Application of ventilation air methane (VAM) thermal oxidiser requir...

C23052Novel Stone Dust Looping Process For Ventilation Air Methane Abatement

This multi‐phase project is concerned with the mitigation of m...

Mine Site Greenhouse Gas Mitigation

Low Emission Coal Use

Step-change technologies aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Recently Completed Projects

C17060BGasification Of Australian Coals

Four Australian coals were trialled in the Siemens 5 MWth pilot scale ga...

C17060AOxyfuel Technology For Carbon Capture And Storage Critical Clean Coal Technology - Interim Support

The status of oxy-fuel technology for first-generation plant is indicate...

C18007Review Of Underground Coal Gasification

This report consists of a broad review of underground coal gasification,...

Low Emission Coal Use

Mining And The Community

The relationship between mines and the local community.

Recently Completed Projects

C16027Assessing Housing And Labour Market Impacts Of Mining Developments In Bowen Basin Communities

The focus of this ACARP-funded project has been to identify a number...

C22029Understanding And Managing Cumulative Impacts Of Coal Mining And Other Land Uses In Regions With Diversified Economies

The coal industry operates in the context of competing land-uses that sh...

C23016Approval And Planning Assessment Of Black Coal Mines In NSW And Qld: A Review Of Economic Assessment Techniques

This reports on issues surrounding economic assessment and analysis ...

Mining And The Community

NERDDC

National Energy Research,Development & Demonstration Council (NERDDC) reports - pre 1992.

Recently Completed Projects

1609-C1609Self Heating of Spoil Piles from Open Cut Coal Mines

Self Heating of Spoil Piles from Open Cut Coal Mines

1301-C1301Stress Control Methods for Optimised Development...

Stress Control Methods for Optimised Development and Extraction Operations

0033-C1356Commissioned Report: Australian Thermal Coals...

Commissioned Report: Australian Thermal Coals - An Industry Handbook

NERDDC