Mitchell Drilling Technology to Deliver Safer Chinese Coal Mines - June 2007

As part of the Chinese Governments push to improve safety in China's burgeoning coal industry, Australian company Mitchell Drilling Corporation has been appointed to utilize their revolutionary Dymaxion® Surface-to-inseam (SIS) drilling technology to drain coal seams of their coal bed methane gas in the Shenhua Ningxia Group's Baijigou Coal Mine in the Ningxia Province of China.

The $10 million project will include 44,000 metres of drilling including the works undertaken by Mitchell Drilling using their Dymaxion® drilling process, with other companies also involved in additional underground drilling services and gas testing, analysis and modelling consultancy.

The project has been nominated as one of the six Special Safety Projects for 2007 by the State Administration of Coal Mine Safety, and will demonstrate the huge opportunity China has to improve safety and productivity by pre-draining the dangerous mine gases well in advance of the mining process.

Brisbane based, Mitchell Drilling Corporation will provide their innovative Dymaxion® technology which facilitates a vertical borehole being intersected by a lateral hole from the surface. This lateral hole is drilled down through the strata and is gradually curved to intersect and run along the coal seam for a distance of 1,000m. The pumps are installed in the vertical wells and once the water is drawn down, the gas flows to the surface and can be captured at the wellhead for further use.

Recognized as world leader in the Surface-to-Inseam industry, Mitchell's Dymaxion® technology is currently deployed in Australia, India and the United States with a significant 250 holes and successful intersections completed to date.

The added value of this technology is it facilitates the harnessing of the methane gas as a major energy source in its own right. Once captured, the gas can be utilised for the purpose of firing gas powered generators for electricity, significantly helping to reduce the harmful emissions of methane gas that occur in China today.

This project will be Mitchell’s first into China and sees them working via an alliance agreement and a Joint Venture company they have created with a Canadian firm, PACE – Mitchell Guizhou Drilling – a Chinese Joint Venture company.

The Chinese mining industry is set to absorb the gas drilling capabilities of Australian companies like Mitchell Drilling Corporation as the Chinese Central Government is legislating to insist on improved gas drainage performance in an effort to reduce the number of fatalities and improve productivity.

Mitchell Drilling Corporation is very proud that like their innovations in the Indian CBM industry, they will be a major contributor to mine safety that will ultimately save lives in the Chinese industry.