Cabo Drilling Corp. - Company Blog

Explanation of Exploration Process – Part 3 - Geophysics

February 19, 2013

In my last article I talked about geochemistry as a mineral exploration tool. Geophysics, today’s topic, like geochemistry, is such a broad topic that I’m afraid I’m barely going to be able to scratch the surface of its function and application. Geophysics is a highly specialized field that has been advanced, largely by Canadian scientists and technicians, because Canada has such a vast amount of highly prospective land covered by overburden Read More...

Herb Butler - Interview

February 14, 2013

Herb Butler is the General Manager for Cabo Drilling’s Operations in Panama & Colombia, but during one of his trips through Vancouver, BC, before Christmas, I had an opportunity to sit down with him to get to know him a bit. In this blog I would like to share some of the things I learned about our man in Latin America with you.Growing up in Northern British Columbia, where he still maintains Read More...

Kevin Zuk - A New Corporate Asset

December 18, 2012

I had the privilege of meeting Kevin Zuk (pronounced Zook), one of Cabo’s newest Operations Coordinators, at the Northwest Mining Association Convention, which took place December 5thto 7th. Kevin and I worked the booth together (along with Sheri Barton, Cabo’s Corporate Communications Coordinator), called on potential clients at the show and shared a couple of meals. I got to know him a bit and was amazed at how much he has Read More...

Explanation of Exploration Process – Part 2

December 04, 2012

Subsequent to the “boots on the ground” prospecting program, an exploration company will often conduct geochemical and geophysical programs to help delineate exploration targets. In this article I would like to look specifically at the geochemical exploration processes. Readers may be under the impression that geochemistry is a recent field of study, but some of the basic principles of geochemistry have been on record since the 14th century. What we would call Read More...

Explanation of Exploration Process – Part 1

November 13, 2012

Some investors in the mining sector may find the time lapse between a company’s acquisition of exploration property and their launch of a drill program to be nothing short of mystifying. They also might find the lag time between the announcement of a drill program and subsequent news regarding the results to be unpredictable and puzzling. It is a rather interesting dichotomy with some investors that they have such a love Read More...

Coping with the Mining Industry Labour Shortage

October 25, 2012

On October 12thof this year, Pat Bell, British Columbia’s Minister of Jobs, Tourism and Skills Training, put out a news release1 outlining his ministry’s policies on temporary workers in British Columbia. The purpose behind the release was to set the record straight on the ministry’s decision to allow temporary foreign workers in two mine sites in northeastern British Columbia.The two work sites are the focus of coal exploration and are Read More...

Bio-Fuels & Underground Drilling/Mining

October 18, 2012

It seems you can’t read a major newspaper, magazine or science website without coming across an article about bio-fuels. Once a fringe product, totally in the domain of university labs and inventors’ garages, bio-fuels are now gaining wide recognition and acceptance.Certainly, the benefits to be gained by the economical creation and distribution of bio-fuels, to replace or supplement fossil-oil derived fuels, are very great. Concerns Read More...

Land Reclamation – After the Mine Closes

October 02, 2012

In a previous Blog we looked at the significance of environmental responsibility in the exploration and mining sectors. We talked about the role the drillers, like Cabo Drilling, play in that responsibility and how their performance reflects directly on the companies that utilize our services.In this posting I want to speak to an aspect of the environmental component of mining that does not directly impact on drilling companies, but certainly does have an Read More...

The Junior Exploration Companies are Attracting the Majors

September 12, 2012

For anyone who has been in the mining/exploration industry for any length of time, the year 2008 is indelibly etched in memory. This was the year the effluent hit the whirly blades. Stock prices plummeted as investors sought liquidity, covered margins, diverted investments to debt payments and just generally fled the market. Significant gold discoveries failed to move stock prices, or even generate volume beyond a single trading session.The road Read More...

Mining...A Balancing Act

September 06, 2012

In light of the sometimes negative media attention on the environmental and community impacts of mining I thought it time for a reminder as to the importance of mining.The truth of the matter is that this world could not support the population it has without the benefits that mining has brought us. Take agriculture for example, even if one were to eliminate the mechanized marvels that till our soil, tend and harvest our Read More...

Cabo Drilling - Relationships in Panama

August 20, 2012

Cabo Drilling Corp is anchored in relationships; with its employees, its customers and the communities it operates in. Because of a recent event in Panama, in this Blog I have an opportunity to highlight one way in which the Company has demonstrated its commitment to building relationships with employees and the communities they live in.From July 28th to August 8th of this year John Versfelt, the President of Cabo Drilling Corp, and his Read More...

Cabo Drilling Recognizes the Prospectors

August 09, 2012

In this article I would like to draw your attention to the Prospector; the “unsung hero” of the industry that Cabo Drilling serves.I once heard a very accomplished and respected geologist say that the most valuable tool in exploration was the prospector. He said something to the effect that, and I am paraphrasing here, “while geologists went out looking for rock types and structures, prospectors went out and found gold.” While a geologist Read More...

Finding Good People – Training Workers

July 26, 2012

It has often been said that the most valuable assets a company has go home every night; in few industries is that more true than in diamond drilling.When I first joined the mining industry about 7 years ago I worked on the junior exploration side of the business. Early on in my tenure I noticed we were having trouble getting drills for our exploration projects and I asked what seemed to me to Read More...

Drilling & The Environment - Specific Guidelines

July 24, 2012

In last week’s Blog article I touched on the importance of environmental responsibility in the drilling industry. However, as much as drilling companies are motivated to conduct themselves in an environmentally responsible manner without concrete guidelines to follow and a system of accountability few would achieve the desired practices.The environmental strictures that drillers adhere to are either governmentally mandated or honored voluntarily. This article will address both, however due to the Read More...

Drilling & The Environment

July 12, 2012

Today’s drilling contractors operate in the same environmentally sensitive climate as the rest of the mining industry. Drillers, like miners, have very stringent guidelines to follow. Long gone are the days when the mining and drilling industries exploited our natural resources with absolutely no regard for the environment.The pressure on drilling companies comes internally from a desire to keep the areas that we work in clean and safe, and externally from Read More...

Alliance Agreements with Inuit First Nations in Labrador

July 04, 2012

Over the past couple of weeks Cabo Drilling has announced two alliance agreements that have very positive implications for the Company. Both Nunacor and Torngat Services Limited have agreed to work closely with Cabo to seek out opportunities with exploration and mining companies, within the Labrador region of Canada.Nunacor is the development corporation subsidiary of NunatuKavut Community Council (“NCC”), and is responsible for the economic and business development of the NCC. The Read More...

Directional Drilling

June 27, 2012

The layperson may be under the impression that, particularly with modern technology, a diamond core drill hole is a straight hole, heading directly to the anomaly the geologist wishes to test. In actual fact, no matter how careful the driller is, every hole will deviate to some degree depending on the amount of torque of the bit against the rock, rod flex as the depth of the hole increases, deviation of the bit caused Read More...

Gold Nanoparticles & Cancer Research

June 13, 2012

At Cabo Drilling we are excited that the metals that we are helping companies discover in remote locations around the globe are being used by research scientists to push the frontiers of treatment for a host of diseases prevalent in society. Our last entry looked at a breakthrough in using gold at a nanoscale level to deliver anticancer drugs directly to cancer cells, allowing the drugs to penetrate the nucleus of the cancer cell. Read More...

Gold Nano-Stars Deliver Death to Cancer Cells

June 05, 2012

One of the benefits of being a drilling company is that you are able to participate in the discovery & mining of the entire range of metals. This means that the discovery of new uses for any given metal stands to benefit Cabo Drilling. Given that correlation, this article is part of a series highlighting exciting new developments in metals application research. The article below is one of a number dealing with amazing Read More...

Silver – A Better Anti-Cancer Drug?

May 22, 2012

The first 5 months of 2012 have seen a plethora of studies reporting the amazing potential of silver and gold in treating cancer.In this article we look at a study published in early February by scientists at the University of Leeds 1 that tested the efficacy of silver based chemicals against colon and breast cancer cells over six-day periods.The study reports lab tests that demonstrate silver based chemicals are as effective as Read More...

The Rise of Molybdenum

May 10, 2012

Molybdenum, or Moly as it is commonly referred to, was discovered in 1778 by a Swedish chemist named Carl Wilhelm Scheele. However, a century passed before any practical use was discovered for this silvery metal. In 1906 engineers discovered it was very useful as a heating element in furnaces and as a support wire in incandescent light bulbs, which sparked its initial industrial demand.World War I saw a spike in demand for this Read More...

Antimicrobial Copper Saves Lives

May 04, 2012

Continuing on the theme of new industrial uses for metals, in this posting I would like to look specifically at a fascinating new development for copper.In the past year a number of studies have given new insight into the antimicrobial properties of copper. The following statistics1 serve to highlight just how significant this property of copper could be to our lives and to our economy. Every year globally 7 million people become Read More...

Silver – Industry Finds Another Use

April 27, 2012

Last week we looked at Silver as an industrial metal, but just barely touched the surface of the varied uses it has.One item of particular interest that has just come to my attention is an application that silver has in conjunction with tin and copper: solder. It was approximately six years ago now that the European Union banned the use of lead in solder, which has historically been a blend of tin and lead Read More...

Silver - An Industrial Metal

April 19, 2012

In accordance with the basic economic principal of supply and demand we should expect silver to continue to be a valuable metal, and in all likelihood, increase in value.And how is it that we should expect this? In short, it is because the use of silver continues to multiply in a number of different fields and because it is increasingly seen as a monetary metal. This multiplicity drives demand, and supports the Read More...

Safety - The Competitive Advantage

April 07, 2012

In our last entry we looked at the culture of safety within Cabo and how that culture benefits our employees, the companies we drill for and the greater community. In this entry I want to focus on an aspect we only just touched on briefly last week, the impact of safety on the bottom line and the benefit that accrues to investors. According to Arnold et al. (2004), in an article for the Read More...