Procedures for RC Drilling and Sampling

Regional Exploration
Rosebel Gold Mines N.V.
Suriname

Introduction:
The purpose of this tutorial is to provide the novice or new employee with an
overview of RC drilling and basic sampling techniques generally used in exploration. RC
drilling is a fast and relatively inexpensive means of collecting samples and evaluating
sub-surface materials. The pace of drilling can be quite rapid so it is imperative to be
alert, attentive, and ready to work at the RC drill rig. ‘RC’ drilling stands for reverse
percussion drilling. The drill uses high pressure air to cause the bit to vibrate, pulverize
rock material below, and blow the pulverized sample back through a tube to the ‘cyclone’
which slows the air down and delivers the sample to a bucket below. Usually about two
5 gallon buckets of material are generated per 1.5 meter interval; one quarter of this
material is sampled.

Equipment:
 Dust masks  Cutlasses  Stapler
 Hard hat  5 gallon buckets  Scissors
 Safety glasses (~20)  Sieves (at least 2)
 Chip trays  Cargo pallets (3 – 4)  ‘Ziploc’ baggies
 String or Twine  Plywood boards (at  Spoons
 Shovels least 2, 1m by 1m)  Plenty of water
 Tarp (~1m by 1m)  Plastic sample bags
 Tent  Cloth sample bags

Safety:
As working at any drill rig can be hazardous, care should be taken not to get too
close to any moving parts of the machinery unless explicitly explained. One should
avoid the areas marked with caution signs on the drill itself, and be careful of areas
specified by the driller. The hose coming from the drill chuck to the cyclone should
generally be avoided, especially between runs as it can move violently when there is a
change in pressure within. Because the bit of the RC rig works by hammering the rock
below a great deal of dust is generated during RC drilling. Therefore, dust masks should
be worn during the drilling and sampling process by all parties involved. Safety glasses
should also be worn to avoid getting particulates in the eyes, and a helmet should always
be worn when in proximity to any drill rig.

Setting up the area:

The following items need to be arranged before the drilling begins: Plastic
sample bags should be labeled to a depth of approximately 35 meters; chip trays need to
be labeled to a depth of 50.5 meters or the total intended depth of the hole; small plastic
sample baggies should also be labeled to the total intended depth of the hole. After
getting all of the labeling done, the workspace needs to be arranged in order to maximize
the efficiency of the sampling procedure. If it is intended to be in the same location for a
long period of time, a tent should be set up approximately 15 meters away from the
cyclone so that the workers involved can get some relief from the sun and or rain. Cargo
pallets (3 or 4) should be set approximately 10 meters to the right of the cyclone, but far
enough away to avoid the hose mentioned previously. A plywood sheet to hold the
sample bucket as material comes out of the cyclone should be placed under the cyclone
and buckets (20) should be arranged in proximity to the cyclone. A larger plywood sheet
(2m * 2m) and tarp (depending on the splitting technique) should be arranged about 3
meters from the cyclone as well. Two or three buckets need to be filled with water and
placed near the cargo pallets where the geologist or geotech will work. If possible, a
truck or other vehicle can be backed in so that the tail borders the cargo pallets thereby
allowing the person doing the sampling to place the samples directly on the truck, thus
facilitating a speedy getaway.

Figure I: Drillers emplace casing. Cyclone on left with bag attached

Sampling procedures:
The sample interval for RC drilling is generally always 1.5 meters. During
emplacement of the casing (which varies in length depending on ground competence),
samples from the first (usually) 4.5 meters will be collected by the drillers in pans placed
behind the drill rod. Following casing emplacement, samples will come out of the
cyclone. At the beginning of a run, two 3 meter drill rods are connected to the chuck
which, at that point, will be at the top of the mast. Therefore 4 samples will be produced
during every run (1.5 times 4 equals 6). There are markings on the mast for the first three
1.5 meter intervals, and the bottom of the mast represents the fourth. It is imperative
that the personnel collecting samples from the cyclone watches the chuck position in
order to know the beginning and end of the sample intervals. Do not merely rely on
the driller signaling where the intervals begin and end as they are busy with their
own work and cannot constantly be reminding people when to take samples.

The following pertains to sampling dry material: First, the bottom of a plastic
sample bag should be cut opened and the bag should be attached to the bottom of the
cyclone. A bucket should be placed beneath the cyclone at the beginning of the interval
and changed as often as necessary. When a bucket is full it can be dumped on the tarp
previously mentioned. At the end of the interval the sample should be well mixed on the
tarp and cut into eighths. Two eighths from different halves of the pile should be placed
in the plastic sample bag. In addition a small portion of the sample material should be
placed in one of the small ‘Ziploc’ baggies. A handful of the material should also be
placed in a sieve and washed in order to observe any rock chips present. After a sample
is taken it should be delivered to the geologist or geotech so that they can log the sample.
Following logging, one sample tag is placed into the bag, and one is stapled to the top of
the bag. The bag is then tied and set aside in order with the other samples.

Figure II: Collecting dry material from the cyclone

When the water table is encountered the sampling procedure changes a bit. The
same care should be taken to watch the position of the chuck along the mast in
order to tell when an interval begins and ends. A wet splitter is used in order to take a
random fraction of the sample material during wet sampling. The wet splitter works by
sending two halves of the sample material through two different chutes at the bottom of
the apparatus.
Figure III: Top of Wet Splitter Figure VI: Two chutes at bottom of wet splitter

A bucket is placed beneath the side chute to collect the sample and the material
coming out of the bottom chute can be sieved in order to collect rock chips. The split
fraction is one half by default of the apparatus but can be changed as needed depending
on recovery. It is generally preferential to take two eights of the sample in order to be
consistent with the sampling of the dry material but any fraction of 16 above one half can
be sampled using the wet splitter. When the bucket placed under the side chute of the
sampling apparatus fills with water, it can be allowed to overflow for a period of time
until it is about half full of rock material, after which point it should be exchanged for a
new clean bucket. The material from the bucket is then placed into a cloth sample bag
bearing the number of the interval from which it was taken. The sample labeling
technique used for the wet samples is the same as listed above for the dry samples.
Weather sampling wet or dry material, every tenth sample taken should be a
duplicate for quality control purposes. The same sampling technique as described above
is used to take the duplicate. The last sample for each drill hole will be a standard sample
and can be made back at the office. However it is important to remember to save an
extra sample tag at the end of every hole in order to maintain the proper sequence
of sample numbers.
After each interval, a portion of the sample should be washed in order to observe
any rock chips present. Then a portion of the chips should be placed in a pre-labeled chip
tray for later observation.

Logging forms:
To increase efficiency of sampling and interpretations, two logging forms have
been created for use in the field during RC drilling (see attached); the first of which is for
the geotech, and includes columns for split fraction, moisture content, etc. The second
form is for the geologist. To ensure sampling proceeds smoothly, intervals on the
geotech form should be filled out prior to starting a hole and compared to the bag
numbers during drilling to minimize the chances of missing an interval or mislabeling a
bag. After the hole is complete, data collected on the forms should be entered into the
RC drilling database.