What synergies did the merger with Versadrill unlock for MBI Global?

This boosted our capabilities by adding a mix of exploration core and geotechnical drills. The integration has been extremely successful and has kept us very busy over the past years. It made MBI Global a much better company when we present ourselves to potential and existing customers around the world.

What is demand looking like for your exploration and your geotechnical drills?

On the exploration side, we have a good order book. The geopolitical and macroeconomic environment has made exploration activities complicated since July 2022. But since our footprint spans over 30 countries, we have the flexibility to keep busy; if one market is slower, other areas of the world are picking up. We have seen a lot of upswings on the geotechnical drilling side. Demand is very strong due to all the infrastructure work being made in North America.

How is MBI Global adapting R&D expenditures to prepare for upcoming work in the lithium space?

We were ahead of the curve in that aspect, as our preparations have been ongoing since 2017. We have been seeing a consistent decline in available resources, meaning that the basis for exploration drilling is looking good. Likewise, and as mentioned before, the North American demand for geotechnical drilling is also strong thanks to very high investments made for construction and rehabilitation. The bulk of our R&D has been on the equipment side of the drills using automation and information gathering.

At PDAC in March 2023, we revealed the first underground autonomous drill, and now we want to take that technology up to the surface. Our first underground autonomous drill was deployed in the Abitibi region. Within the next 12-18 months, MBI Global will be able to offer automated drills on all of our surface drills, which will assist the industry in areas to address the ongoing lack of human resources and for geologists to help them with improved data collection thus assisting them for quicker decision making.

Looking at the autonomous drill, one key element is that various mining departments will have access to various data for their planning (ie: geologists, rock mechanics, and mine planning). We will be blending rod and inner tube handling with the automated drill to respond to increased safety legislation where workers, in some countries, cannot manipulate the rod or its components. The safety legislation and the fact that automation offers access to another pool of labor give us a great base. We are very pleased to see more women joining the industry as expert drillers. Automation is a new technology, acceptance is thus key. The newcomers in drilling have been a great influence on the more mature drillers in accepting and benefiting from this new technology. Managing rod handling takes away that extra physical aspect. We like to say that our workers can go to the gym after their shift!

Is the industry opening up to fully automated solutions?

Absolutely. We have our first automated drills at Agnico Eagle (Goldex mine). Now, whenever we have a quarterly meeting, we have the benefit of having several mine departments for their input relevant to the added data made available. We can collect various data from the drill and using AI we can give information that has an impact on drill planning, and setting of automatic parameters to improve productivity per shift as well as overall cost savings on drill maintenance and use of drilling consumables. We now can also drill between shift changes.

What makes Québec special for drillers?

Québec is and will continue to be an important territory for drillers given all the work that will come in from existing well-known minerals found as well as that for the push for metals required for the electrification push. The Government of Québec has announced significant investments to facilitate mining exploration and further construction impacting geotechnical drilling.

What will top MBI Global’s agenda in 2024?

Being proactive through continuous R&D, automation, and safety advancements. Our relationship with our customers is our strongest value. We pride ourselves on understanding them and asking the right questions. This creates an environment of confidence between us and them.