Boart Longyear

Good Vibrations
International sonic drilling provider, Boart Longyear, recently moved into its new European headquarters in Alloa, Clackmannanshire. Projects co-ordinator Gus Rennie is part of the management team for the E&I drilling division within Europe, who provide a sonic drilling service for geotechnical and environmental site investigations.

Sound drilling methods
Rather than drill by conventional means the sonic drilling method uses high frequency vibration to induce resonant energy on to the drill bit and can advance through the majority of ground conditions including boulders, concrete and rebar.

Originally developed to obtain high quality samples with at or near 100% core recovery the sonic drill rigs are also used for a number mining, environmental and civil engineering applications. Some of the other advantages the sonic drilling system provides includes penetration rates up to five-times faster than conventional drill rigs and reduces waste arisings up to 80 percent.

Return to Falkirk
Boart Longyear has been working with Pirtek Falkirk since 2006 but, according to Gus Rennie, it is a relationship that has grown. "Originally we used Pirtek Falkirk just for hydraulic hoses but soon realised that they’re good engineers too. Although this company operates worldwide, we always come back to Falkirk,” Gus Rennie adds. “I am very impressed with general manager Jim Spence and the service his team provides. It's very rare that we need something urgently, but when we do, Pirtek Falkirk always comes up with the goods."