Drilling on the access tunnel alignment for Pike River Coal was the first job for Helidrill. The rig used for this job was a diesel powered LM75 (which has since been replaced).

This job required the two man drilling crew to camp on each drill site for up to 10 days at a time. The campsites were well set up with toilet, shower, kitchen and sleeping quarters. All drilling and camping equipment had to be flown in and between sites with a helicopter. At the end of each 10day stint the crew were helicoptered out for a 4 day break. This continued for about 4 months and was challenging at times, given the high rainfall on the Westcoast and the steep rugged terrain.

Once drilling on the access tunnel was completed, the crew then moved on to a drilling and grouting program at the surface of the proposed vent shaft. The drilling and grouting program took about 2 ½ months to complete.

The final project for Pike River Coal was to drill two 150mm holes to mine level from the surface to allow water to be pumped into the mine to facilitate the mining operation.

Most of the work at Pike River was completed with just the Driller and Offsider on the site, the communication of the drilling progress to the Geologist was done each evening via Satellite phone.