In Chile, a brand-new LF160 top-drive coring rig is being added to a current customer project, where two LF160 rigs are already working on site. The LF160 rig paired with the FL262 Freedom Loader provides 100% hands-free rod handling. This combination is even safer as it removes the driller's assistant from the hazards associated with handling rods manually, including the risks of injury involved with adding or removing rods from the drill string, including rotating parts, heavy lifting, awkward body positions, pinch points, fatigue and repetitive strain.

The operations team in the US is also adding two LF160 rigs, and a brand-new LF350e rig. The LF350e is the latest deep-coring surface rig that can reach up to a depth of 3,360m of NQ V-Wall and can deliver 3,050m of HQ core or 1,800m of PQ core using HRQ V-Wall and PHD V-Wall rods. The LF350e rig also uses the FL262 Freedom Loader for hands-free and safer rod handling.

Also in the US, the Boart Longyear engineers and technical services group is working on several up-fitting projects, including adding a rod loader to an LR90, a large rotary rig, and putting remote controls on an LR90H large rotary horizontal rig, to add drilling controls to a trailer that can be as far away as 100ft (30.5m).

In Africa, the company is purchasing two new Schramm T685WS rigs for multi-purpose drilling applications, including exploration, and adding two LF230 surface coring drill rigs. The LF230 deep-hole drill has a 40,000lb (18t) hoist. The PQ Nitro-Chuck is field-tested and designed to offer performance and reliability for difficult projects. The LF230 is suitable for both wireline coring and rotary drilling with tri-cone bits.

Global director of commercial drilling services, Bob Buto, commented: "Adding these new rigs to our global fleet is just another way that we are diligently working to meet the needs of our customers. We will continue to evaluate opportunities where we can help our customers meet their 2018 exploration goals using the latest technology. These new rigs help us meet safety and productivity goals by increasing our drill efficiency with features like the hands-free rod handling and visual wireline on the LF160 rig."