Wireline Core Drilling Rigs

About the FYQX wireline core rigs

The FYQX range is a full-hydraulic diamond core family built around the wireline system. Instead of pulling the whole rod string to recover every core run, a wireline rig sends an overshot down the inside of the rods and brings the inner tube back on a wire. That is why auxiliary time per metre falls away as the hole gets deeper. The machines use electro-hydraulic central control with built-in fault diagnostics, so the operator works from one control station and a fault is reported rather than chased. They are specified for mineral exploration, resource definition and geotechnical work where the core itself is the deliverable.

Typical applications

• Metalliferous mineral exploration — Copper, gold, iron, lead-zinc and polymetallic prospects where grade has to be established from core.
• Resource definition and infill drilling — Tightening the spacing on a known deposit to move classified tonnage upward.
• Geological mapping and structural study — Oriented core for bedding, foliation and fault geometry.
• Geotechnical and slope investigation — Foundation, dam, tailings and cut-slope work where rock mass quality has to be logged.
• Aggregate and industrial mineral assessment — Core for physical testing where a cuttings sample will not do.

How it works

A thin-wall diamond bit cuts an annular kerf, and the core that remains rises into the inner tube as the bit advances. When the inner tube is full, an overshot is lowered on a wireline, latches onto the inner tube head, and is winched back to surface with the core inside while the rods stay in the hole. On a deep hole this is the difference between recovering a core every three metres and recovering one every thirty, because the wireline trip takes minutes while tripping the full string takes hours.

• The rods are the system. A smooth bore and a reliable landing shoulder matter as much as the rig, because the overshot has to latch at depth every single time.
• Core recovery is set by the bit, the flush medium and the ground. A broken or clay-rich zone will lose core on any rig, so recovery is a procedure question before it is a machine question.
• Electro-hydraulic control holds feed force and rotation consistent, which is what protects the core in soft or fractured intervals.
• Wireline and conventional coring use different rod strings, so the rig has to be ordered against the string you will run.

How to specify the right model

Start from the core size the programme needs to log and test, then the depth, then the ground. The rig follows from those three, not the other way round.

• Core size drives everything downstream: AQ, BQ, NQ, HQ and PQ give different core diameters, sample volumes and rod sizes.
• Check the depth rating against the final depth of the programme rather than the first hole, because deep holes are where the wireline advantage and the hydraulic capacity both matter.
• Settle the ground conditions first. Broken or swelling formations need the flush and casing plan decided before the rig is chosen.
• Ask about wireline winch capacity and the overshot system, including which core barrel series the rig is set up for.
• For geotechnical work, confirm whether oriented coring is required, because that changes both the barrel and the rod string.