Company History

Hydracore Drills Ltd. started out as Wink International Drilling and exploration in the mid 1970's. The main business at time was contract drilling with JKS Winkie drills. The JKS Winkie drill had been designed by Fred Wink who was the owner of the company. The Winkie was at that time the best drill available for jobs with short holes requiring hand moves.

Truman Younie went into Partnership with Fred Wink in 1979. The HydraWink drill was then designed. The HydraWink was intended for Helicopter work it had a VW 50HP Gasoline engine and could drill about 750' of BQ. Hydracore's contracting activity shifted towards working with the HydraWink rather than the Winkie and began manufacturing Drills. The HydraWink sold well because it was the lightest machine of it's capacity available at the time. Also there was a lot of exploration for open pit copper mines for which the HydraWink was very suitable.

Fred Wink Left the company in 1980 to Develop the Wink Vibracore Drill. Truman Younie changed the name of the company to Hydracore Drills Ltd. In 1981 Longyear Company made an agreement to sell the HydraWink worldwide; the name of the drill was changed to Hydracore 28 at that time. Longyear continued to sell the 28 until 1990. Over 67 Hydracore 28s have been made with different engines and options to date.

In 1982 Nigel Spaxman began working for Hydracore. In 1983 the first Gopher Drill was built. The Gopher was originally intended for short holes A size with hand moves. Hydracore began selling Gophers and also started contracting with Gophers around British Columbia.

In 1984 the first Underground version of the Gopher was built. The first drill was tested and eventually bought by Morrissette Drilling in Val'Dor Quebec. Morrissette bought 9 Gopher drills which they used in Ontario and Quebec in many of the new mines that were opening up. Like the surface Gopher the U.G. could out drill most larger drills up to its rated depth capacity. Hydracore sold lots of these because it was the right time and price for a drill like this. The U.G. Gopher was so successful that Longyear built a very close copy, called the LM22.

In 1988 the first Prospector Drill was built. The Prospector was built for short holes with hand moves just as the Gopher had been. The Gopher had at this point grown so that it was no longer easily moved. Most of the Gophers were being built with Kubota Diesel engines.

In the early 90's a very original drill called the Neway Drill was built and tested. Unfortunately it didn't drill as fast as was required so it was scrapped. Improved versions of the U.G. Gopher were built using some of the parts that were designed for the Neway Drill. The Gophers with this design of feedframe are called the MKII U.G. Gophers. This feedframe design has the advantages of shorter overall length, and greater strength.

In 1994 Truman Younie decided to retire, at that time Truman and Nigel sold their shares in Hydracore to a new owner, Fern Boisvenu who presently owns the company. Fern also owns F. Boisvenu Drilling a B.C. based contract drilling company that does underground and surface, work all across Canada. Hydracore no longer does contracting but remains involved through Boisvenu Drilling. The involvement in contracting is important because it gives us the ability to test our new products in the field, and benefit from the suggestions and experience of the drillers.

Just before Truman retired the first Pack Drill was built. About 7 of these have been sold so far. Almost all the Pack Drill owners have requested that the drill be improved by adding a hydraulic feed cylinder. In 1998 we built the first Pack Drill with a hydraulic feed cylinder. Like all of the drills designed by Hydracore the Pack Drill is getting larger. The Pack Drill is of similar capacity to the original JKS Winkie that the Company started out with in the mid 70's.

The Prospector has grown to a similar capacity to the original Gopher Drill. The Gopher Surface Drill has now grown so that it has similar capacity to the original HydraWink. The HydraWink has grown into a drill we call the Hydracore 2000 which has a capacity of 2000' of BQ which is more than double the capacity of the HydraWink. All the drills are being increased in capacity without huge increases in weight. We still remain specialized in equipment that is much more compact than is offered by other manufacturers.

Hydracore Man Portable Diamond Drills

In August and September of 1997 Hydracore Drills Ltd. built two drills for Cyprus Amax for use in locations that are not accessible by either road or helicopter.  The drills were designed so that the heaviest parts would weigh no more than 120Kg so that men could carry the parts over difficult terrain.  Some work like this is done by much larger machines moved by teams of twenty or more men, but this is mainly because the only machines available of sufficient capacity were originally designed to be moved by truck, or Helicopter.  Cyprus Amax had determined that they had work for a machine like this if something was available.  Some of the drill sites that they had planned would be very difficult to drill with conventional equipment.  Cyprus management gave geologist Jonathan Supree the job of finding the best machine available for this up coming work.  After narrowing the search for a machine down to a few manufacturers, Jonathan visited drill sites where similar machines were already in use in Ecuador and Dominican Republic before deciding on the Hydracore Gopher Manportable.

The original specification called for a depth capacity of 200 meters of BQ or 60 meters NQ.

The drill was developed from the Hydracore Gopher surface diamond drill, which has been built in several versions since 1984.  The Gopher was made originally as a hand portable drill for A size drilling and was based on the design of the Hydracore 28 helicopter portable drill.  The original version had only 36HP Gasoline engine, which was plenty for A size drilling.  The most popular version was the 28HP Diesel version, which developed a reputation for drilling faster than much larger drills. The reputation of the Gopher Drills was spread by word of mouth around the mining exploration world by geologists and drillers who had used it.  

The specifications for the Drill that Cyprus Amax required exceeded the depth capacity of the Diesel powered Gopher even with the now available 40HP turbo charged Diesel.  Also the diesel engine is heavier than the maximum weight required.  Nigel Spaxman of Hydracore suggested using two small 25HP Kohler Gasoline engines.  Johnathan Supree of Cyprus asked if there was any reason why three engines could not be used so that the drill would have plenty of power. This was the configuration decided on. The three engine configuration would also allow the drill to continue drilling even if one of the engines broke down.  Hydracore had built drills using the Kohler engines before; also Hydracore had built drills with tandem engines.

The first drill exceeded the original expectations, and met a need that Cyprus had, so they very quickly ordered a second one.  The first Drill was tested in Schrieber Ontario, it was then sent to Idaho for a short job. Next the drill was sent back to Hydracore’s shop in Richmond, British Columbia, Canada for a few modifications that were suggested by the Drillers. The first drill was sent to Honduras and a second one was built and sent to Panama.  After successful completion of these jobs one drill was sent to Papau New Guinea, and the other one was sent to Zambia where they completed other projects.  Many holes have been completed to depths of 350 meters BTW.  NTW is often used down to about 120 meters. The rate of production is comparable to larger machines. 

Because of the success of Cyprus Amax with their Manportable Drill another Hydracore Customer, Energold Minerals, decided, in 1998, to convert the Gopher Drill they were using in the Dominican Republic to the 3 engine hydraulic power pack, so that it would be identical to the Cyprus machines.  This machine was originally powered by a VW 50 HP flat four engine.  More depth capacity was required so this machine was converted to 75 HP with 3 small 25 HP Kohler engines.  This conversion not only increased the power by 50% but it also made it easier to move by hand.

Later Energold was the first use the new heavy duty feedframe.  This feedframe uses a larger hydraulic cylinder to increase the safety margin for pulling stuck rods.  This new feedframe is barely any heavier than the original version.  On the heavy duty version the cylinder can be quickly removed from the feed frame to lighten it for moving.  This is not possible with the original frame because the cylinder is incorporated into the frame.  All the 350 meter holes were drilled with the original smaller version.  

In 1999 Cyprus Amax, Kluane International Drilling and Bradley drilling all had the requirement for a Manportable machine that could operate at high altitudes in Ecuador and Peru.  The original version would not be suitable because the gas engines lose 50% of their power at 16,000 feet.  What was required was a Turbo charged engine.  The engines that were chosen in the end were the Kubota V1505T (40 HP) and also the V1105T (30 HP).  These engines lose only about 20% of their power even at 16,000 feet.  Cyprus had decided to use a machine with three of the 30 HP engines because the weight of these engines in the carrying frames is 320 LBS which is easier to move than two of the 40 HP engines which weigh 400 LBS.  Cyprus never went ahead with the purchase of these machines because they were taken over by Phelps Dodge and the drilling projects in South America were no longer a high priority.   

Bradley Bros. Drilling already had a Gopher Drill with a single 40 HP V1505T Kubota so that machine was converted to a double engine configuration.  This machine has now been in use since September 99 in Ecuador.  An identical machine was built for Kluane International Drilling; it has now been shipped to Ecuador and will begin working in February 2000.

In August of 2000 another Manportable Drill was built for Kluane International Drilling, this time with 3, 30 HP Turbo Diesel engines.  The power of the machine was increased from the previous two 40 HP version but the weight of the engine units dropped from 400 to 320 LBS By Feb. 2002 Kluane had a total of 4 Diesel powered Manportable Drills, and two gas powered ones. Later in 2002 Kluane purchased another Manportable drill for use in Yemen.  After this contract was finished this drill was sent to Eritrea.  In January of 2003 Kluane ordered another two Manportable drill for delivery in May.  These new drills will use the Briggs and Stratton Vanguard D954T Turbo Diesel 3 cylinder engines (made by Daihatsu).  These engines are 40 pounds lighter than the Kubota D1105T.  They have exactly the same torque as the Kubota, but with a higher horsepower rating due to the fact that they can rev to 3600 RPM rather than the 3000 RPM of the Kubota.  Also these engines are smoother running than the Kubota. By the beginning of 2004 Kluane owned about 14 Hydracore Gopher Manportable Drills.  Kluane has always advertised that they made these drills themselves, but in fact we made all of them, as well as supplying the parts service and technical advise.

There are many other options for the Manportable drills, some that Hydracore has not built yet.

Hydracore has two drill heads with hydraulic chucks that could be fitted to the Manportable drills to extend the drills depth capacity, size range and rod handling speed.  The original top drive head is limited to about 350 meters of BTW. Kluane once managed to drill to 600 meters of BTW. We have now built two machines with HQ drill heads, which are being used in China, and Ethiopia during late 2004.

Smaller and lighter drills are also available from Hydracore with less capacity than the Gophers.  The smallest drill is called the Pack Drill.  It can be equipped with a 13 or 20 HP engine.  The Prospector is the next size up; it comes with a 25HP gas or 26 HP Diesel.  The Gopher can be powered by single engines from 40 to 57 HP.

Hydracore Drills also manufactures the Hydracore 28 and Hydracore 2000 drills.  These drills have also been used for Manportable work.  They can drill to Depths of 500 Meters NQ.  Hydracore also makes underground drills 30 to 125 HP.