Issue link: http://resourceworld.uberflip.com/i/492982
48 www.resourceworld.com a p r i l / m a y 2 0 1 5 MININGWORLD G eotech Drilling services Ltd. proves that adaptability is the key to a drilling company's survival during an industry downturn. Though unemployment was high in the exploration and mining industry last year, Geotech took on a record 197 employees during the peak 2014 drilling season. That's impressive for a company that started out with just 12 employees back in 1995. The company put down its roots in environmental drilling and is now a busy, mid-tier exploration and geotechnical drilling company with projects in Canada, South America, Greenland and Africa; looking to double in size over the next five years. "We're trying to be diversified. We know the domestic market isn't the best and there's opportunity elsewhere. We're definitely not nervous to try new things" says Geotech Exploration Division Manager, Ryan Samis. Samis explains that the big changes began in 2008 when Geotech was awarded an exploration drilling contact for a proj- ect in Nunavut. It was their first foray into exploration drilling and they've since drilled over 186,000 metres on the project. "One of the biggest advantages of being a multi-dimensional company is when the exploration is slower we're able to count on the geotechnical to see us through, and it seems that when geotechnical is slow, exploration is booming," says Marketing Manager, Brant Jackson, who began as a driller's assistant with Geotech at 17 years of age. Geotech's first international drilling project was in Greenland in 2009 and they built on this international experience to move into South America in 2010. Two Geotech rigs travelled to projects in Africa last year and in addition to continuing projects in Greenland and South America, they are discussing opportunities in the Middle East. Although Geotech has evolved to become 50% geotechnical and 50% explo- ration drilling they haven't forgotten their roots in geotechnical drilling. In recent years they have provided geotechnical drilling to Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) companies planning pipelines and pro- cessing stations across northern British Columbia. They've seen a growing demand from LNG companies who require geotech- nical investigations to move forward with permitting. Diversifying their drilling services hasn't been the only big change. The health and safety culture within Geotech has been comprehensively overhauled too. "Our health and safety cul- ture was OK but we started working for larger clients and we needed to have the proper infrastructure and systems. There wasn't a choice. You had to either adapt or you weren't going to be selected for pro- posals," explains Samis. Geotech addressed the gaps in their process and procedures and worked hard internally to change their health and safety culture. At first it was to access the big players in the AdApTAbiliTy: the secret to Geotech's success by Kylie Williams Heliportable geotechnical program, Greenland. Photo courtesy of Geotech Drilling Services Ltd.