Anticipation of a continued upturn

The financial year has concluded, and Ranger Drilling are approaching the new fiscal year with anticipation of continued upturn in exploration drilling industry.

There are signs of movement with an increase in enquiries.

With the State Government’s announcement to increase gold royalties, the industry is holding its breath hoping the increase does not go ahead – as it can only hurt the slow regeneration of exploration activity. Ranger Drilling are actively assisting the gold industry groups to negate this increase. We urge all of our clients to take a stance on this matter.

Our new X350 RC/Air Core rig was mobilised to site to commence works this quarter. The commissioning went smoothly, with the machine producing well from the get go. Austex have delivered another quality machine. It is refreshing to see the versatility of the rig after utilising heavy RC rigs consistently over the past few years. Ranger feels that this machine will break the mould regarding the use of heavy rigs for lighter scoped work.

Ranger are interested in testing new technologies on the rig and across the business. There is a shift occurring amongst our clients with regards to the demand for technologically advanced machines. The push for new technology on the rigs is, as per previous years, not only safety based.

Clients are realising the need to extract value, not only from the drill hole itself, but through a reduction in costs via manning levels where roles can potentially be reduced through the implementation of machine automation. It is feasible and the drive has commenced, although there is fair testing ground required to achieve this level of automation and reliability in operating conditions.