http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/business/a/-/wa/8415515/coretrac...

http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/business/a/-/wa/8415515/coretrack-extends-gains-after-contract-win/

Coretrack shares jumped a further 12 per cent yesterday after a 32 per cent spike on Friday when the Perth drilling company announced it had been awarded its first commercial contract.

Coretrack chairman Matt Birney told shareholders at the annual meeting in Perth yesterday the contract, for Woodside Petroleum, was an important step for the group as it started to move out of its research and development phase.

But Mr Birney would not reveal the value of the Woodside contract, which he said had been quoted at a day rate.

"It's not minuscule but it's not large," he said. "It's just a good one for us to start on, especially given it's (with) Woodside." Mr Birney said the hole would be 1.7m wide but shallow, at only 14m in depth.

Coretrack executive director Warren Strange, who designed the company's flagship GT3000 drill, said work at the Karratha wharf was expected to start at the end of the week and take about two weeks to complete. Mr Strange said the drill would then return to Merredin, where work on a test well started this month to examine whether the GT3000 could reach depths of 3000m through granite rock. It had reached 800m before striking an aquifer, which needed to be capped.
At the meeting, Mr Birney also hinted there would be an announcement this week about Coretrack's other product - a core level recorder system, which lets drill operators know when a drill has jammed. Coretrack shares added 2.5? to 23? yesterday after gaining 5? on Friday.