ABOUT COLIN RICE

Colin Rice established Colin Rice Exploration and Training in September 2009 with the purpose of offering consulting and training services to the exploration drilling industry.

After leaving university, Colin taught high school mathematics in Zimbabwe for eight years before moving to South Africa in 1984. He has been actively involved in many aspects of the Southern African drilling industry since then.

He was a founder partner in SA Mud Services (Pty) Ltd, later SAMCHEM (Pty) Ltd and he was Managing Director of Professional Diamond Drilling Equipment (Pty) Ltd for eleven years when the company was acquired by Atlas Copco AB.  In 1995, Colin and his business partner launched Borehole Survey (Pty) Ltd and imported the very first electronic borehole survey tools into the country. Borehole Survey (Pty) Ltd was a first service company in sub-Saharan Africa to utilize state of the art electronic survey tools and the successful application of electronic survey technology acted a springboard for the systems in other African countries. 

Colin has always had a keen interest in improving the level of understanding of drilling principles through training and was responsible for setting up the National Diploma, Drilling Practice Course at Technikon SA. He has been delivering drilling and exploration related courses at a number of institutions and in a number of other Southern African countries for the past twenty years.

Colin was a member of the steering committee of the Pilot Carbon Storage Project, part of a joint World Bank and SANEDI project and is an Honorary Fellow of the Geological Society of South Africa. More recently, Colin was a member of the working group that designed the newly registered QCTO Driller qualifications. 

In 2017, Colin Rice Exploration and Training (Pty) Ltd. proudly re-launched "DrillSafe, The Southern African Drilling Industry Safety Forum". Colin was the driving force behind DrillSafe which aims to improve the ability of people involved in the drilling industry to effectively identify hazards on drill sites and manage the associated risks.

ABOUT SIÂN GAUTIER

Siân is the Director of Exploration Training and Safety and looks after all the administration of the training courses.

SOME OF OUR PROJECTS

DEVELOPMENT OF DRILL SITE SAFETY STANDARDS AND SAFETY AUDITING CHECKLISTS FOR SEVERAL MAJOR MINING COMPANIES

The interpretation of legislative requirements for exploration drilling is difficult and so these standards incorporate all legal and fatal risk control protocol requirements into a single standard that is easy to understand and apply.

As such the standard is designed to be an integral part of the tender specification which ensures that all bids are prepared on the same basis and so are more comparable.

Projects have included the development of standardised safety audit checklists that are used by customer staff to conduct periodic safety audits and inspections.

Projects have been completed for Kumba Iron Ore, Debswana Diamond Company, AngloGold Ashanti (CARO) and Anglo Coal (exploration drilling and directional drilling).

SAFETY AUDITS FOR NUMEROUS MAJOR MINING COMPANIES

 We have conducted safety audits of drilling operations for numerous local and international mining companies. These safety audits have included small exploration operations and multi rig projects. 

PRE-DEPLOYMENT SAFETY AUDITS FOR MAJOR MINING COMPANIES

We have conducted safety audits of drill rigs and ancillary drilling equipment for a number of mining companies prior to deployment to ensure that all equipment is appropriate and fully complies with either the company standard or our own drill site safety standard . 

CONDUCTING OF RISK ASSESSMENTS

We have conducted risk assessments on ranges of drilling equipment and operations for several exploration drilling projects, manufacturers and equipment suppliers.

AUDITS OF DRILLING OPERATIONS

We have conducted audits of production aspects of drilling operations for numerous customers. These audits were aimed either at identifying causes of problems or to identify areas of improvement in productivity or safety. 

DEVELOPMENT OF BOREHOLE SURVEY STANDARDS AND PROCEDURES

We have developed standards and procedures for borehole surveying operations using both electronic multi-shot and gyroscopic survey instruments. These include procedures for checking the accuracy of instruments before use and quality checking data produced in a survey.

DEVELOPMENT OF TENDER SPECIFICATIONS

We have been involved in the development of Scope of Work specifications for a number of exploration projects including long term exploration projects and deep-hole directional drilling projects for major mining companies.

ASSISTANCE IN THE EVALUATION OF TECHNICAL AND FINANCIAL ASPECTS OF A MANUFACTURING COMPANY FOR A POTENTIAL ACQUISITION

We have assisted a major international investment fund in the evaluation of a manufacturing organisation for potential acquisition.

DEVELOPMENT AND PRESENTATION OF TRAINING PROGRAMS FOR THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF SOUTH AFRICA (GSSA)

We have been involved in developing and presenting drilling specific training programs for the GSSA since 1994 as a part of the organisation’s Professional Development Program.

DEVELOPMENT AND PRESENTATION OF NUMEROUS CUSTOMISED TRAINING PROGRAMS

We have developed training programs for numerous companies, universities and organistions including courses on:

  • Waterwell drilling

  • Waterwell development and rehabilitation

  • Borehole surveying procedures and quality assurance of survey data

  • Horizontal drilling for a major underground coal mining company

  • Directional drilling for major coal mining company

  • Reverse circulation drilling for a major mining company

  • Diamond core drilling for a major mining company

  • Drill site safety courses for numerous mining companies

  • Practical hazard identification courses for numerous mining companies

  • Introduction to drilling courses for numerous universities and organisations – University of the Witwatersrand, University of Pretoria, University of Zimbabwe, University of Zambia, The Borehole Water Association of Southern Africa.

ASSISTANCE IN RESOLVING TENDER OR CONTRACT DISPUTES

We have assisted in the resolution of disputes between exploration companies and contractors – these included, the resolution of disputes over the cost of remedies for in-hole problems and the cost of directional drilling interventions.

COMPILED A COST DRIVER MODEL FOR A MAJOR MINING COMPANY

We have developed a drilling activity cost driver model for a major mining company.

DEVELOPMENT OF OPERATING AND SAFETY MANUALS

We have written operating and safety manuals for drill rigs and a range of downhole equipment for a major drilling equipment manufacturer.