Business North November 2021

| 81 DCN Drilling CONTRACTING Extracting earth’s secrets DCN Drilling operates eight two-man crews the company utilises eight drills ranging from a small man-portable machine that can be dismantled down to easy to carry pieces, right through to large nine-tonne machines carried to location on a transporter. A s a specialist in environmental, geo- technical and geothermal drilling ser- vices, Waikato based DCN Drilling Ltd is all about bringing up the past, something that Managing Director Dave Penney is deeply passionate about. “Getting core sample out of the ground gives you gratitude, because you’re handling millions of years of history. You talk with the geologists and they explain how many millions of years old the sample is, that the ground used to be flooded or used to be trees.” Dave remembers bringing one sample up including what looked like a pebble and being told by the geologist that it was actually a raindrop petrified from the effects of volcanic activity 20 million years ago. Back to the 21st century AD, Dave, his wife Joyce and their son and daughter Corey and Natasha founded DCN Drilling fifteen years ago. Starting with one drilling machine father and son drilled up and down the country and only managed to have three days at home in the first six months of operation. These days, located southeast of the Bom- bay Hills in Maramarua, DCN Drilling concen- trates on the North Island. Operating eight two-man crews the company utilises eight drills ranging from a small man-portable ma- chine that can be dismantled down to easy to carry pieces, right through to large nine-tonne machines carried to location on a transporter. The diverse rig lineup includes cone pene- tration, sonic, ecoprobe drill, and coretec drill capability. “Each machine is designed for different pur- poses, depending on size, location and access,’ says Dave. “Much of our work is geotechnical drilling, getting core samples for the purposes of site T Richard Loader investigation for the construction of small or large structures. The geotechnical engineer is on site with us while we’re doing tests down the hole as we drill. Every metre and a half you drill you pull a core sample out for testing. We also drill for installations in the ground to monitor movement and water tables. Some- times we drill for ground contamination by putting a piezometer in the ground.” DCN’s projects have included ground inves- tigation for the Newmarket viaduct, geother- mal investigations and installation for Mighty River Power, geotechnical investigations and installations for Onewa Bus Way. With geology varying all around the country the depth of hole remains an unknown quan- tity until the job is done. “The deepest hole we’ve drilled is 330 metres. We generally take 30 metres of gear with us to site every day because that’s what we would generally drill in a day. If we need more we bring another 30 metres back from the yard the next day.” Dave says the secret of DCN Drilling’s success over the last fifteen years has been an unwavering commitment to efficiency and honesty and that comes down to the company’s team of reliable and experienced operators. “Corey is our Head Driller. He recently obtained his drilling qualification, which is an apprenticeship recently brought into the industry. All the other guys are going through that qualification now but up till now our training has all been on-the-job. “Most of the guys have been with me for four years or more and one guy has 28 years drilling experience.” Far from a boring job, no hole is the same. Dave and his team are continually helping the earth reveal her secrets for the benefit of current and future generations of Kiwis. Proud suppliers of professional Diamond Drilling & Cutting Products to: DCN DRILLING Ltd www.sadt.co.nz admin@sadt.co.nz FREE PHONE: 0800 88 59 61