Rotary Air Blast Drilling-RAB

RAB drilling is used most frequently in the mineral exploration industry. The drill can use either a pneumatic reciprocating piston (hammer) to energetically drive a heavy drill bit into the rock, or just drill with rig pulldown if the ground formation allows. The drill bit is hollow, solid steel and has ~20 mm thick tungsten rods protruding from the steel matrix as 'buttons'. The tungsten buttons are the cutting face of the bit.

The cuttings are blown up the outside of the rods and collected at surface. Air, or a combination of both air and foam are used to lift the cuttings.

RAB drilling is used primarily for mineral exploration, water bore drilling or blast-hole drilling in mines, as well as for other applications such as engineering, etc. RAB produces lower quality samples than other forms of drilling primarily because the cuttings are blown up the outside of the rods and can be contaminated from contact with other rocks or soils. RAB drilling rarely achieves more than a total 150 metres in depth as encountering water rapidly clogs the outside of the hole with debris, precluding removal of drill cuttings from the hole.

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Last modified: 11/21/07