Achieving Global Standards As An Exploration Contractor

Q: How would you evaluate 2021 and its challenges and opportunities?

A: 2021 was a great year for Maza Drilling. Our operations continued to advance despite COVID-19. Our equipment and units enjoyed 100 percent use and occupation rates throughout the entire year. After a successful 2021, we want to create synergies as we move further into 2022, although we are already seeing a slight decrease in our scheduled work for 1Q22. Activities within our different units were divided between the states of Sinaloa, Durango and Chihuahua. In 3Q21, we also completed the acquisition of two drilling units from Duralite Diamond Drills to satisfy the needs of one of our clients, which led to growth in our unit inventory. 

The pandemic has increased the time it takes our clients to finish laboratory analysis of geological samples. It now often takes them between three and four months to process their extracted rock core samples as part of their exploration campaigns, which delays all other processes. However, interest in Mexican mining exploration campaigns is still significant. We see a healthy and sustainable market for our services in the country. 

Q: What kind of conversations are you having with your clients and workforce regarding safety and accident prevention?

A: We have ongoing improvement processes to address these issues. Every time we identify a shortcoming in our procedures that could potentially lead to an accident, we focus on mitigating that risk to improve our safety standards. We have also created synergies between us and our clients. We have learned from them and their best practices to guarantee the safety and security of our operations and that of our collaborators. This also includes prevention of environmental accidents and spills. 

Our environmental standards are rooted in continuous improvement, such as more efficient and environmentally friendly water use. We communicate directly with our clients and their department supervisors, which guarantees an agile response to any potential accident or safety issue. This strategy has allowed us to guarantee zero fatal accidents. It is important to note that we have reached 100 days without accidents in our most complicated and extensive project.      

Q: How are you decarbonizing your processes?

A: This is a complicated matter because the heavy machinery we use consumes a large amount of diesel. We apply more environmentally friendly additives compatible with the correct functioning of our equipment to mitigate this fuel’s environmental disadvantages. Through these and other applications, we can make our operations as efficient as possible when using our equipment continuously, thus reducing our carbon emissions. The company also constantly researches new ways to replace diesel but we have yet to find a solution that can give us the same drilling power. Maza Drilling is willing to listen to all available suggestions on how to best generate the energy it needs for its drilling campaigns in the most responsible manner. We are testing solar panels to replace diesel generators, monitoring their energy yield and researching the feasibility of switching to this solution permanently.

Maza Drilling is a Mexican company founded in 2007 in Mazatlan, Sinaloa. Its founder has over 35 years of international experience managing diverse drilling operations for top companies. It delivers underground, surface and portable drilling solutions.