What a horrible comparison to 88E. Arctic Fox triple rig with 400k hook load, 3 mud pumps and 1200 bbl fluid system, huge BOP stack - none of it needed in LEG's case. Mobilization cost of that rig package alone would have been well over $1mill. ~2500m well design with multiple casing strings, cementing, LWD surveillance, 10 days of logging, SWC and MDT fluid recovery testing etc - all irrelevant to LEG. That's why their cost was $12mill.
You completely missed what I was trying to say. I'm talking about a single stack, coal seam gas rig or a rig used in coal seam degasification (they've been degasifying coal seams with horizontal drilling successfully for decades). Optimize your bit / fluid system design (even run a liner to isolate troublesome formations) by using geological data available to eliminate downhole problems encountered in current drilling. Drill a vertical hole with packed BHA that comes with MWD + motor used to only correct the trajectory if simple additional weight on bit doesn't work. Hit the target vertically and if you don't have a win complete your downhole surveys to see where it's hiding. Plug the hole above and kick off to test a target/s obtained from your surveys - at least you have that option. I'm talking about couple of hundred meters of directional drilling to hit the mineralization & confirm the trend, not horizontal drilling for kilometers. Then you can go back to minerals exploration with diamond drilling.
They’ve spent millions over 2 years on drilling, poking around using minerals exploration with limited success. They reverted to classic oil & gas 3D seismic survey in order to light up Mawson, which in my opinion has been a great success. Now they’ve spent additional 2 months of drilling trying to hit the target using minerals exploration without success -target missed and rods stuck in the hole. Sure, they might keep poking along and eventually hit it with 3rd/4th hole, but so far no cigar. That’s why I think their answer lies in amalgamation of minerals / coal seam gas drilling methods. They can achieve it at very reasonable lump sum cost targeting a entry level player (and there are a few) that delivers best of both worlds.
Now I’ve told you what I would do. I’d love to hear what you would do?
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