ADI Australasian Drilling Institute

The drilling industry offers a wide range of sectors. ADI offers training in Mineral Exploration, Environmental, Geotechnical, Water Well, Oil & Gas on Shore, Blast Hole, Seismic and Mineral Production & Development Drilling.

Mineral Exploration usually involves searching for hidden particular minerals or unknown materials which are seen as valuable assets on the world market. This includes Ore body exploration, ore grade control, ore reserve calculations and ore body definition (length, shape, grade etc).

Environmental drilling is the specialised application of geotechnical and waterwell drilling methods to monitor groundwater and its quality and to assist in the control of groundwater pollution.
Areas such as site testing and monitoring for landfills or lagoons that have the potential for pollution or testing to determine the source and extent of known pollutions problems, or to assist in the identification of a product is specifically what environmental drilling and sampling methods are used for.

Geotechnical drilling is carried out to determine soil and rock characteristics and in some cases, gather information about the nature and position of the water table from particular sites. Conducting this type of drilling allows assessment of potential construction sites and the conditions of those sites. Determining the nature of these sites through detailed information obtained from this style of drilling, avoids buildings or tunnels being placed in unstable or weak material areas.

Water Well drilling is usually carried out by private contractors in rural and suburban areas with larger organisations covering more extension regions. Water well drilling is used for monitoring wells or water levels, domestic and stock use, irrigation of crops, town water supplies, industrial plants, injection wells and dewatering wells for mines and construction sites.

Oil & Gas drilling is conducted both on shore & off shore. This type of drilling involves "Wildcat" exploration drilling, water or gas injection wells for secondary recovery and production wells

Blast hole drilling is utilised for the removal of rock and ore through the placement of explosives, aimed at the production of evenly or particular sized material.

Seismic drilling involves shallow holes being drilled for the placement of explosives required for reflection and refraction surveys. This helps identify possible mineral or oil and gas exploration targets with improved knowledge of the subsurface geologies.

With this diversity comes the need to ensure there are highly skilled people ensuring the drilling process is successful. Drillers are as diverse as the industry they work in and most will have similar characteristics in common. Drillers have a preference for outside work, are adaptable to living and working in isolated areas, enjoy travelling and most enjoy working on machinery and have a good mechanical background. Drillers are used to challenges and like variety in their work; they will work long hours and preserver under adverse conditions. Drillers are seen as resourceful people capable of problem solving. A driller knows the processes and has the knowledge to alter his drilling methods to suit each application. Considering the diversity of these characteristics it is understandable that good experienced drillers are very interesting people.

The driller is a professional person who doesn't just drill the hole. They carry a high level of responsibility and constant decision making and are the back bone of the industry.