Watson Drilling has been investing heavily in new machinery in the last 4 years. This has included the purchase of brand new drilling rigs from Bournedrill, in Brisbane. These rigs are truly multipurpose, have been custom built to Watson Drilling specifications, and they have all of the following features as standard:

  • Mounted on a MAN TGA or TGS 41-480, 8 Wheel Drive, All Terrain truck.

  • 5 1/2’ x 8’ Duplex piston mud pump.

  • Atlas Copco XAH4 air compressor, delivering 520CFM x 200 PSI.

  • FMC W1122B triplex bean pump for coring.

  • Applications include Rotary Mud, Rotary Air, Wireline and Conventional Coring, DTH Hammer,

  • Dump and Angle Mast.

  • Nominal specifications.

-     860 metres with 3 ½” Drill Pipe

-          HQ coring to 1000 metres

-          NQ Coring to 1500 metres.

-          40,000 lb Pullback, 80% rating

-          Rotary Head speed up to 1100 RPM

-          17,600 lb Main Winch

-          200 metres/minute wireline winch

However, to ensure that the rig is working to its capacity, it is vital that the rig is supported by the appropriate equipment. To achieve this, we have purchased a number of new MAN 6 & 8 wheel drive support trucks. These trucks are all fitted with a 15,500 litre water tank, a large Hiab crane, UHF, flashing lights, fire extinguishers, first aid kit and other mandatory safety equipment as required.

Transporting the staff to & from the drill site is our fleet of light vehicles, which are made up of a mix of Hino dual cabs, Isuzu’s, Toyota Landcruisers and Toyota Hilux’s. All of these vehicles are 4WD and are fitted with UHF’s, Satellite phones where required, flashing lights, fire extinguishers, first aid kit and other mandatory safety equipment as required.