Drilling
Adapting to shifting demand
The cyclicality of commodities spares no one, nor do exogenous events like wildfires, which halted much of the province’s drilling activity for several weeks between May and June. Fortunately, the poly-commodity potential of Québec, along with the flexibility given by the regional and global footprint of the province’s main drillers, allow for the sector to continue thriving, with no signs of stoppage in sight. Exploration waves supported by strong commodity prices and supply-demand fundamentals are good for business, and the world’s growing appetite for lithium notably will most certainly keep Québec’s drillers busy in the coming year.
Constantly adapting
The volume of foreign direct investment (FDI) seen in 2022/2023 in Québec, at a level unprecedented for a decade, had a trickle-down effect across all segments of the value chain. Drillers, traditionally contracted by established local operators, saw demand coming from newcomers. In the winter of 2022/2023, five of RJLL’s 12 customers were Australian companies exploring La Belle Province’s lithium. FDIs were mostly directed toward lithium projects, and this will likely remain the case in the short term, given Australian miners’ experience in the area, compared with Québec’s relative virginity. In the words of David Bradley, the co-owner of RJLL: “The current lithium frenzy is a positive game changer for us. I believe we will see significant demand coming from the lithium sector over the next five years.”
Compensating for a slowdown in gold exploration in a province like Québec, which built its reputation on the precious metal for centuries, is by no means an easy task. Drillers in the province have traditionally generated most of their revenues from Val d’Or’s golden land. The world race for lithium currently unfolding in Québec thrown a lifeline for the drilling segment. Celebrating the second anniversary of the merger with Versadrill, MBI Global CEO Daniel Misiano, stated: “A slowdown in gold and other metals has been compensated by an increase in demand for lithium.”
"Québec is and will continue to be an important territory for drillers, given all the work that will come in from well-known minerals, as well as from the push for metals required for electrification."
Daniel Misiano, President, MBI Global
The Québécois mining industry is known for its capacity to adapt. Perhaps, centuries of boots-on-the-ground exploration in some of the coldest, harshest, and least-welcoming environments on the planet (Puvirnituq, in the Inuit territory next to Glencore’s Raglan mine, records temperature of -41°, some of the coldest in Canada) have made the province’s people expert innovators. Originating from Rouyn-Noranda, MBI Global is a superb example of a contractor with a global presence and at the forefront of innovation. Indeed, visitors at PDAC in Toronto in March 2023 may have witnessed the firm’s first underground autonomous drill, currently in use at Agnico Eagle’s Goldex mine. Speaking to the advantage of automation and AI for operators, Daniel Misiano explained “We can give information that has an impact on drill planning and setting of automatic parameters and, in the end, can aspire to improved productivity per shift as well as overall cost savings on drill maintenance.”
These benefits were seconded by Diafor’s Mathieu Donne: “Real-time data collection and live communication with drill rigs will be a big improvement in terms of monitoring drill specifications to define areas where we can decrease energy and fuel consumption.”
Fully electric drill rigs are likely to remain a long-term objective rather than a short-term reality, however. With high volumes of battery components required in the drill come security hazards, particularly linked to flammability. As summed up by RJLL’s David Bradley: “The bottleneck is the batteries and further development is still needed to address these challenges.”
Getting some height
With environmental norms becoming more stringent, drillers’ ability to stand out with efficient, safe, and sustainable offerings will remain key in the long term. Coupled with the remoteness of mine sites in Québec, part of this story will be written through the advent of heli-portable drills. Mathieu Donne, president of Diafor, doubled the size of the business since 2022. Having had consecration at the explorer stage, the firm is actively trying to tap into the major market. Part of its competitive offering is the firm’s capability to deploy a heli-portable drill, that ticks boxes for operators on the environmental, efficiency, and remoteness aspects. He detailed: “In the summer and winter of 2023, the heli-portable drill will be the star of the show, especially regarding environmental impact and access to land factors. In the James Bay region, access infrastructure to lands is not as developed as in the mid and southern parts of Québec. It is then greatly beneficial to be able to fly the drill to the property.”
Look up, and you might catch one of RJLL’s seven drill rigs flown by helicopter over Québec’s Arctic region, James Bay, or Val d’Or. Among them, the Mancore 900 drills stand out: capable of drilling down to 1,000 m below surface, these drills can be disassembled and then built on-site, allowing easy aerial transportation in the province’s most remote sites. According to David Bradley: “I believe that the remote operating environment of many exploration projects in Canada will lead to increasingly more demand for heli-portable drilling services.”
Promising incentives
Québec’s ambition to become a hub for global electrification will have to be supported by reliable infrastructure. And as processing plants, construction sites, and facilities crop in the province, a well-tailored network of roads, ports, and power lines is also key to benefit the province’s drillers. MBI Global was able to leverage the growing infrastructure in North America to bolster its order book. Seeing upswings on the geotechnical drilling side notably, Daniel Misiano shared: “We are benefiting from announcements of the rehabilitation of infrastructure or decisions related to new construction.” This trend is unlikely to wane anytime soon, particularly with a clear strategy at the governmental level: “The Government of Québec has announced significant investments to facilitate mining exploration and further construction impacting geotechnical drilling”, he concluded.
Article header and separator images courtesy of Diafor