Not too surprising, drillers are BUSY in Alaska.
Unfortunately, they won't waste time talking to a small miner. Without citing names of known drillers, just for an idea of the cost involved, a drilling PROJECT involves people and equipment that require MOBILIZATION. That aspect of drilling takes time and money. The mobilization can take several days and cost thousands of dollars. Then, when ON LOCATION, the cost of drilling can be thousands of dollars each day. They don't go out to drill ONE hole. Their bid on a project will require a real, honest to God, Drilling campaign of a hundred holes and most of a season. It isn't unreasonable that a drilling campaign will cost a million dollars for a season. Yep, they have to pack it all up and go home (DE-MOBILIZATION). That all gets rolled into the cost. Projects are planned out years ahead of time in order to get all of the core bits, expendables and permitting in place.
Of course, if you really were involved in core drilling, you already know that. You already know who the drillers are, the costs involved and the time and permitting requirements. Right?
- Geowizard
