ACTx™: Ballard Mining and Frontline Drilling boost core orientation consistency

Key outcomes

The opportunity

At Ballard Mining’s Mt Ida gold project in Western Australia, consistent core orientation is critical to maintaining high-quality geological data and decision confidence, whilst driving logging efficiency and smoother operational workflows.

Their existing, industry-standard core orientation approach executed by Frontline Drilling supported effective day to day operations from drill rig to core shed. As drilling activity and data volumes increased, both parties identified a strategic opportunity to further strengthen orientation consistency, enhance data visibility and streamline core logging without adding complexity for driller nor geologist.

The solution

Ballard and Frontline partnered with IMDEX to deploy the ACTx digital core orientation solution across the Mt Ida exploration drilling program. ACTx complemented their established workflows, capturing consistent, high quality orientation data at the point of measurement, while improving data transparency and traceability across the process.

The introduction of ACTx enabled drilling contractor and resource company to unlock measurable improvements quickly. 

Successful orientations were consistently maintained at approximately 95%, up from a pre-ACTx figure of around 75%. Importantly, despite the change to the core orientation workflow, Frontline Drilling also maintained their pre-ACTx metres drilled rates.

As a result, Ballard’s logging workflows became even more efficient, verification requirements were simplified, and core yard rework was reduced to near zero, freeing up valuable time for their core yard team.

Unique to ACTx, the system automatically captures comprehensive information on orientation quality, which can be reviewed in HUB-IQ. Drillers can also enter digital notes when issues occur during a drill run. This additional functionality provided clear visibility of orientation quality across each drill hole, supporting confident data use, rapid identification of issues, and reliable re-orientation when required.

What ACTx brought to Mt Ida

ACTx supported consistent, efficient core orientation at Mt Ida by combining physical tools with digital controls and structured data capture.

Comprehensive QA/QC delivered richer, more reliable information and enhanced data sets

Stringent front and side marking guides on the orientation jig increased the consistency and quality of core marking

Real time data uploads supported informed and timely decision-making

Ability to add digital notes for intervals where orientations were unobtainable or problematic, improved communication between drilling and geology teams

A lighter solution with no-break comms reduces manual handling risks during the orientation process. The jig is rotated rather than the inner tube full of core.

The results

• Over 32 holes were drilled and orientated using ACTx

• 4,770+ metres were successfully orientated across 1,650 orientations (and counting)

• Orientation success rates were consistently maintained at over 95 percent

• Core yard rework was reduced to near zero

• Faster core logging and smoother end-to-end workflows

ACTx has supported Ballard Mining’s ability to efficiently manage growing exploration activity while maintaining confidence in core orientation data and collaboration across teams.

For Frontline Drilling, they’ve been enabled to deliver even higher quality orientation outcomes for their customer without sacrificing drilling rates or introducing operational disruption.