Geothermal Drilling Prospect
Cheal was contracted by Mighty River Power to supply drilling consultancy services for the Mangakino Geothermal Drilling Prospect during 2004 and 2005.
The type of drilling was exploratory and on several occasions there was a need to fit the 55m tall rig and all of its’ ancillary equipment into some challenging topography. In one particular well location, enabling works to construct a suitable site required the following items to be considered:
- Bulk earthworks on very steep ground, resulting in 10m+ cut faces and cut to waste of poor quality materials.
- Large scale importation of suitable fill material to cover the deficit of cut to waste. In order to get the material to site, the existing access track had to be raised and re-graded just to enable delivery of fill.
- A large catchment area above the site posed a threat of inundation during a storm event, so an earth dam and bypass channel was designed and constructed to divert any storm flows away from the well pad.
- Due to the steepness of the site, a second earth dam wall had to be designed and constructed at the down stream end of the drilling sump.
- Cheal has built a reputation on our ability to adapt quickly to change, which is vital when supplying services to the Geothermal Drilling industry.