Published in June 2007 Australian Longwall Magazine

Brisbane-based Mitchell Drilling and Canadian mining services company PACE established a Chinese joint venture which will undertake part of the work on a $10 million de-gassing project at Shenhua Ningxia Group’s Baijigou Coal Mine in China’s Ningxia Province. The project is one of six nominated by the Chinese State Administration of Coal Mine Safety as special safety projects for 2007.

Shenhua Ningxia will extract a 20m coal seam using multiple 3m passes. The mine currently only has the capability to drill about 150m ahead of mining, while the Australian companies enlisted in the project – Mitchell Drilling, Valley Longwall and GeoGAS – can drill up to about 1km.

Gas drainage ahead of mining is essential in this seam which measures 11-plus cubic metres per ton of gas, slow desorption and short lead time, calling for close spacing of drillholes.

The project will include 44,000m of surface-to-inseam drilling. Mitchell Drilling will use its Dymaxion drilling process – where a vertical borehole is intersected by a lateral hole from the surface. This lateral hole is drilled down through the strata and is gradually curved to intersect and run along the coal seam for a distance of 1000m. The pumps are installed in the vertical wells and once the water is drawn down, the gas follows.

The process also allows the methane gas to be harnessed.

The biggest challenges on this project, according to Mitchell, are jumping through China’s bureaucracy hoops and weathering its environment.

“First, the environment has been surprisingly harsh. The project is in a remote and challenging environment where it is very cold – even the locals tell us it’s tough for them!” Mitchell Drilling chief executive Nathan Mitchell said.

“Having earned our stripes in the drilling business in places like the Australian outback, we thought we knew what ‘harsh’ meant – we have revised our definition.

“Second, learning the ropes on the unique nature of Chinese bureaucracy has been interesting. This impacted particularly in getting our equipment into the country and off the docks.

“We have now worked out processes and developed local relationships which are getting results, so things are now going smoothly and we have learned a great deal about equipment deployment and logistics for future projects in China.”

The project will run until the end of the year, and upon completion Mitchell Drilling hopes it will prove its mettle and expertise.

“China presents a massive opportunity for Mitchell Drilling as the Chinese coal mining industry seeks to resolve their safety issues and deliver better outcomes for their miners,” Mitchell said.

“Our plan is to continue to deliver the range of quality, surface-to-inseam drilling services that had us selected in the first place to complete the groundbreaking safety project in Baijigou. If we do that, coupled with the strategic relationships we are currently developing, I envisage that Mitchell Drilling could see a tripling of our business over the next five years.”

The company plans to place itself in the marketplace as a supplier of technical expertise with the “equipment and world-class manpower to deliver that”

Mitchell has already entered the Indian market successfully engaging in the development of the burgeoning coal bed methane industry, with an office of 20 employees in New Delhi.

“This is always a fundamental approach of how we do business in any market we enter. In the Indian market for example, we sponsor their bright young engineers to visit our Australian operations to assist them to better understand how our systems and equipment operate,” Mitchell said.

“This technology and IP transfer means we have productive, well remunerated local workers in each country and it keeps our costs competitive in each market. We’ll replicate this in China in the medium term as well.”

Back home, Mitchell Drilling has also been keeping busy with work in the Australian longwall sector. The company has been involved with work at Moranbah North, North Goonyella and the Bulga and Newlands mines.