Drillers Report Higher Rig Use as a 10,000-Metre Abitibi Gold Program Goes Out to Tender
USA News Group News Commentary - Demand for diamond drill rigs is climbing. Val-d’Or-based Orbit Garant Drilling said in September that it reached a drill rig utilization rate of 70% in its fiscal fourth quarter, its highest level since fiscal 2012, on record quarterly revenue, while Foraco International reported third-quarter rig utilization of 53%, up from 35% a year earlier. Across the Abitibi Greenstone Belt, which runs from Timmins, Ontario to Val-d’Or, Québec, one explorer is now lining up a contractor while other gold companies report new results from drill programs on both sides of the provincial border. Companies menti